There's no doubt that the Animal Crossing franchise reached a turning point when Nintendo released New Horizons, coincidentally just as the COVID-19 lockdown began. That strange situation in which we were stuck at home whilst enjoying the peaceful life on Nook Inc.'s islands led millions (many millions) of players to discover the series for the first time, but Tom Nook, K.K. Slider, Isabelle, and dozens of other charming anthropomorphic animals had already been keeping life-sim lovers company across several generations of consoles. And today they're celebrating.
Because on this very day, 25 years ago, Dōbutsu no Mori was released in Japan for the Nintendo 64 (and a few months later on the newly launched Gamecube). Even back then, we could find the familiar structure in which a new resident must settle in a land and build their home, whilst getting to know their neighbours, acquiring furniture, and religiously paying their mortgage.
It doesn't seem that much has changed a quarter of a century on, except that title is now the second best-selling game on Nintendo Switch, and has recently been updated to a native Nintendo Switch 2 version. Nintendo wants to celebrate the day with its players in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and has sent them all (check your in-game mailbox) a Leaf Item, a giant statue of the series' logo—the green leaf with a hole in the side—as part of update 3.0.2.
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In addition, the Nintendo account has also shared a special illustration to mark the milestone, which we've included below.
Are you still expanding your house and enjoying life in the Animal Crossing franchise?