The recent Nintendo Direct announced a free update coming to Animal Crossing: New Horizons on February 25th, celebrating the Super Mario franchise’s 35th anniversary. The update will add new Mario-themed items to the Nook Shopping machine on March 1st. The announcement came with a short trailer showing off an island decorated with Mario items, and players wearing full outfits based on Mario characters: Mario himself, Luigi, Wario, and Peach.
Crossover items with other Nintendo franchises, including Super Mario, have always existed in the Animal Crossing. However, Mario themed items were missing from New Horizons until now. The update remedies this with a number of new items on offer, including clothes, furniture, rugs, and wallpaper.
New Clothes
New clothes and accessories are always a welcome addition in Animal Crossing, as part of the fun of the game is dressing up your character and villagers. Animal Crossing: New Horizons makes it even easier to collect outfits through the Wand feature and the game's expanded storage space. With this update, players will be able to cosplay their favorite Mario characters or just add on accessories to their favorite outfits.
- Luigi Hat
- Mario Hat
- Princess Peach Crown
- Luigi ‘Stache
- Mario ‘Stache
- Wario ‘Stache
- Luigi Outfit
- Mario Outfit
- Princess Peach Dress
- Wario Outfit
- Luigi Shoes
- Mario Shoes
- Princess Peach Shoes
- Wario Shoes
New Decorations
Another main feature of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the addition of exterior design on the island, rather than just the interior design customization of resident homes. In the trailer, the island was completely decorated with items right out of a Super Mario level: brick blocks, coins, and even hazards like the Thwomp and Fire Flower. Some items not shown on the island were listed on the Nook Shopping catalogue, which also included new wallpaper and rugs. As of now, it's unknown what the Mushroom Mural, Lakitu's Cloud Rug, and Yoshi's Egg Rug actually look like in-game.
- 1-Up Mushroom
- Block
- Coin
- Fire Flower
- Floating Block
- Goal Pole
- Large Mushroom Platform
- Pipe
- Shell
- Small Mushroom Platform
- Super Mushroom
- Thwomp
- ? Block
- Mushroom Mural
- Lakitu’s Cloud Rug
- Yoshi’s Egg Rug
One of the most exciting new items is the Warp Pipe, as it can make travel across the island quicker and easier. In order for the travel to work, there can only be two present on the island. Nearly all of the new furniture items appear to be interactive; the coins disappear when walked through, and the Thwomp falls and rises the way it would in an actual Super Mario game. It’s unclear whether it's possible for the Thwomp to actually hit the player, though.
Even though the update won't allow players to buy the new items until March 1st, players can start planning and rearranging their island if they want to create a new project with the furniture. The prices for each item are shown in the trailer, so players can start saving up lots of Bells in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now on the Nintendo Switch.