Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game series made by Nintendo, created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. Players control a human character living in a village filled with anthropomorphic animals, where they can fish, catch bugs, hunt for fossils, and more. The series is famous for its open-ended play, funny dialogue, music that changes each hour, and its use of the console’s internal clock and calendar to mirror real-world time.

Since the first game in 2001, five main Animal Crossing titles have been released worldwide: one for the Nintendo 64 and iQue Player (later enhanced and re-released for the GameCube), and one each for the Nintendo DS, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch. The series has been both a critical and commercial success. Its best-selling game, *Animal Crossing: New Horizons*, had sold 49.91 million copies worldwide as of March 31, 2026. Three spin-off games have also come out: *Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer* for Nintendo 3DS, *Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival* for Wii U, and *Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp* for mobile devices. Paid downloadable content for the Switch game, called *Happy Home Paradise*, was also released.

**Gameplay**

In *Animal Crossing*, the player takes on the role of a human who moves into a rural village populated by anthropomorphic animals and lives there indefinitely. There are no set goals; instead, players are free to spend time collecting items, crafting, planting, catching bugs, fishing, and socializing with residents. The game runs in real time, using the console’s clock and calendar, so the time of day and seasons in the game match reality. Some events, like holidays or tree growth, happen at specific times or after a certain amount of time has passed.

Customization is a major feature. The player’s name and appearance (including clothes, accessories, and hairstyles, the latter introduced in *Wild World*) can be changed. The player’s house can be furnished, decorated, and expanded, with furniture placed anywhere and wallpaper and flooring swapped out. The village’s terrain, building locations, and first residents are randomly generated when the game starts (except in *New Leaf* and *New Horizons*, where the player chooses from four given towns or islands). The player also decides the village’s name, anthem, and some residents’ catchphrases.

Collecting items is a big part of the game. Players can gather fruit, seashells, and discarded items from around the village. Almost everything can be sold for Bells, the in-game currency, which is used to buy furniture, clothing, home upgrades, and to play games. Special tools help with fishing and bug catching. Rare items like fossils and paintings can be donated to the museum. Players can socialize with animal residents by talking, sending letters, trading, or playing hide-and-seek. Residents may move in or out depending on the player’s actions.

All *Animal Crossing* games allow some form of communication between players, both offline and online. A single village can hold up to four human players (eight in *New Horizons*), though only one can explore at a time. Players can leave written messages at the post office or bulletin board. The GameCube version let players travel to other villages by swapping memory cards, while later games allowed online travel via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. *City Folk* also let players use the DS Suitcase to visit others’ towns.

**Characters**

While each game has its own set of villagers, some characters appear in every installment. Tom Nook is a tanuki (or raccoon in the American version) who runs a shop and acts as a real estate broker, giving the player a no-interest loan for their house and upgrades. Mr. Resetti is a mole who pops up from underground when players turn off the game without saving, scolding them for resetting. In *New Horizons*, an autosave feature meant he was “laid off,” but he found a new job as the Rescue Service operator.

K.K. Slider is a canine traveling musician based on series composer Kazumi Totaka. He performs on certain nights in the player’s town and gives away a free copy of the song he plays, saying his music “wants to be free.” Some fans saw this as support for music piracy, though Nintendo denied it was intended as social commentary. In *New Horizons*, Isabelle appears as the town community manager and secretary to Tom Nook. She was first introduced in *New Leaf* as an assistant to the player, and in *New Horizons* she lets players change the town’s flag, tune, and reset certain aspects like nicknames and villager outfits.