As a creative outlet, Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons has offered its players the opportunity to make some rather incredible things inspired by video games. Sometimes the work is an immense spectacle, like when one player recreated chunks of Pokemon Gold and Silver using custom design tiles, but other times the work shines just as brightly as a simple concept executed well.
Earlier today a player who goes by valor_le_loulou on Reddit uploaded a gif to the r/AnimalCrossing subreddit comprised of a series of stop motion pictures which create the effect of them playing beloved puzzler Tetris — though it's more of a brief proof of concept rather than a full-fledged game. Using the pathing unlocked alongside terraforming through a 3-star island rating, valor_le_loulou creates Tetris blocks (or Tetriminos for hardcore fans) from different colors that fall into place on a board made of fencing, and smoothly disappear as they create a full line.
What makes the gif really impressive, beyond how smooth it looks in its finished state, is how long the process clearly must have taken to get things just right. Villagers walking in the background and clouds floating by suggest a huge stretch of time goes by during the production, and as another New Horizons player points out there's even a yellow balloon caught on a frame. When asked about it, valor_le_loulou said they hesitated at first but couldn't resist shooting it down for long.
The potential for what players can create in New Horizons thanks to its terraforming and outdoor decorating mechanics seem nearly limitless. While many have opted to recreate other video game locales or references on their deserted islands, others have made versions of real-world places like Disney's Magic Kingdom to great effect.
That creative potential, alongside the social aspects of the Nintendo Switch title (particularly relevant during an ongoing global pandemic), has made Animal Crossing: New Horizons immensely popular. During its recent fiscal year earnings call, Nintendo announced that the game has sold 13.41 million units since release, with some notable players like New York Congressional Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Though valor_le_loulou's gif stems from a simple puzzle game like Tetris, translating it into the world of Animal Crossing is truly something to applaud. As Nintendo has promised continuous updates for the game, hopefully it will have a long shelf life so more amazing creations can keep appearing online.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for the Nintendo Switch.