But by the time Animal Crossing emerged in Japan in 2001, the N64 was already nearing the end of its lifespan, and it was never localized for a worldwide release. First developed for the ill-fated 64DD add-on, Animal Crossing (or Dōbutsu no Mori, which translates to Animal Forest) was ultimately released as a standard cartridge. Animal Crossing was originally developed for the N64.Īlthough Animal Crossing would eventually become best known as a GameCube title-to the point where many assume this is where the series began-the game actually originally appeared on the N64. Receiving letters from your mother, getting a job (from the game’s resident raccoon capitalist, Tom Nook), and gradually filling your empty house with furniture and collectibles all sprang from Eguchi’s memories of first moving to Kyoto.

“I wondered for a long time if there would be a way to recreate that feeling, and that was the impetus behind Animal Crossing,” Eguchi told Edge magazine in 2008. But Animal Crossing was inspired by Eguchi’s experiences from his earlier days, when he was a 21-year-old graduate who’d taken the decisive step of moving from Chiba Prefecture, Japan, where he’d grown up and studied, to Nintendo’s headquarters in Kyoto.Įguchi wanted to recreate the feeling of being alone in a new town, away from friends and family. He was the director of Star Fox (or Star Wing, as it was known in the UK), and the designer behind the adorable Yoshi ’s Story. He’d designed the levels for the classic Super Mario Bros 3. Animal Crossing’s inspiration came from an unlikely place.īy the late 1990s, Katsuya Eguchi had already worked on some of Nintendo’s greatest games. Here are a few things you may not know about the video game. The 3DS version now one of the most popular games available for that system, and the franchise was catapulted into further fame when Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released on Nintendo Switch in March 2020. It’s a formula that has grown over successive generations-which is all the more impressive, given the game’s obscure origins. Casting you as a newcomer in a woodland town populated by garrulous and sometimes eccentric creatures, Nintendo’s Animal Crossing is about conversation, friendship, and collecting things rather than competition or shooting enemies.

Current version of animal crossing