Summary
TheAnimal Crossingseries has exploded in popularity over the past few years after the success ofAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, and many fans are eager to see what the series has in store next. There are a variety of directions the next game could go as it builds upon the foundation of its predecessor, such as an open-world game or one that emphasizes underground exploration. While the follow-up toAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsis likely in development, the series should take a page out of theMarioseries' book in the meantime.
Despite theAnimal Crossingseries existing since the GameCube era, the franchise has never seen a remake or remaster of the earlier titles. It can be hard to access some of the olderAnimal Crossinggames since they are relegated to outdated consoles that are no longer supported. Given how many new fans likely jumped into the series withAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, it would make a lot of sense for Nintendo to remake or remaster the earlier entries in the franchise in order to give these new fans easier access to the series' roots.
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Fans of theMariofranchise are being treated quite well by Nintendo with remakes and remasters of classic titles likeSuper Mario RPGandPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorset to release in the near future. TheMarioseries has historically done a great job at making sure its games are accessible with each new console generation utilizing services like Nintendo’s Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online. Now the series is bringing more classic titles back into the spotlight with these upcoming remakes, and theAnimal Crossingseries should follow suit with its classic titles as well.
In contrast to theMariofranchise,Animal Crossinghasn’t been made nearly as accessible, likely due to the online multiplayer and real-time gameplay aspects of the series. However, with how popularAnimal Crossinghas grown in recent years, it would be worth it for Nintendo to put the effort into remastering some of the franchise’s older titles. TheAnimal Crossingseries could start by following in the footsteps ofSuper Mario 3D All-Starsand release a collection that includes the originalAnimal Crossingfor GameCube,Animal Crossing: Wild World, andAnimal Crossing: City Folkfor the Nintendo Switch.
Many fans consider the 3DS’Animal Crossing: New Leafto be the best entry in the series, so a remaster of the game on the Nintendo Switch would likely be very popular. Now is the perfect time forAnimal Crossing: New Leafto get a remaster as well since its online component will no longer function onceNintendo shuts down the 3DS serversin Spring 2024. WithAnimal Crossing: New Leafgetting hard to find physically, and completely unavailable digitally, Nintendo should take this opportunity to remaster the game and preserve its legacy for new fans of the series to enjoy before major aspects of it become unavailable after the 3DS servers are taken offline.
One of the reasons Nintendo likely hasn’t remastered or remade anyAnimal Crossingtitles is so as not to undercut the player base of the current game by supporting two games with real-time events simultaneously. However,Animal Crossing: New Horizonsexisted alongsideAnimal Crossing: Pocket Campon mobile devices without issue, and barring asurprise update forAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, the Switch title is no longer receiving new content. As theMariofranchise has shown, remastering or remaking the series' classic titles is a great way to fill the gap between mainline releases and help preserve the legacy of these games by making them accessible to modern audiences.
