Animal Crossing Following Pokemon’s Lead Could Solve New Horizons Problem

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 25, 2024 3 Views 7 Min Read
Animal Crossing Following Pokemon's Lead Could Solve New Horizons Problem



Animal Crossing has firmly established itself as one of the biggest games in the cozy genre. Its lo-fi gameplay, snug aesthetic, and cast of cute characters have captured the hearts of gamers across the globe. Animal Crossing’s villagers are arguably the main culprit behind the franchise’s success. With so many players adoring villagers in particular, Nintendo should look at some of Pokemon’s most popular gameplay mechanics to satiate Animal Crossing’s playerbase.




Though gamers have claimed villagers as their favorites since the franchise’s inception, Animal Crossing: New Horizon escalated this trend to a whole new peak. A new culture behind villagers was born involving real-world money rather than bells. None of this money is being funneled into Nintendo’s pocket. While this hypothetical solution would not lead to more profits for Nintendo, it could at least damper villager buying and trading.

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Villager Trading Could Solve Animal Crossing’s Third-Party Selling Problem

Animal Crossing: New Horizons features 413 unique villagers that players can invite to their island. With thirty-five different species and eight different personality types that villagers can be categorized under, there is some overlap between a handful of villagers. Nevertheless, many players choose specific types of villagers when deciding which lucky few can set up shop on their island.


For example, some players only invite cat species or jock personality types to their islands. Other players have their hearts set on specific individual villagers. These wishlist villagers are known as “Dreamies” in the Animal Crossing community.

Popular Dreamies in Animal Crossing: New Horizon include unique villagers like Tangy, Zucker, and Merengue. Some players also hunt for iconic villagers in the franchise, like Rosie or Ankha. However, Raymond, a new addition to the franchise first introduced in New Horizons, exemplifies the new villager culture that erupted from New Horizons.

Trading Villagers Can Be Pricey

After his introduction, Raymond quickly secured himself the title of fan favorite, with prices on popular Animal Crossing trading platforms like Nookazon listing him for millions of bells. For players that opt to buy and trade using real-world money, Raymond has been previously listed on eBay for $1000.


This trading system not only drains the pockets of players in both real world and in-game cash, but leaves Nintendo out of the equation. It’s a system that the company likely wants to at least limit before releasing a new installment in the Animal Crossing franchise. Therefore, a system similar to Pokemon’s would be a great addition to Animal Crossing.

A Not-So-Sketchy Way to Trade Villagers

One of the most popular, and arguably easiest and cheapest, ways to trade villagers in New Horizons involves an empty plot of land and a lengthy friends list. If, by coincidence, a villager on a friend’s island is in the process of moving out, players can visit the “boxed” villager and try to convince them to live on their island instead.


This is not a concrete solution for trading. Firstly, not all players have a lengthy friends list in Animal Crossing. There are lots of “ifs” hanging in the balance, such as a friend coincidentally having the Dreamy a player wants. To make this solution more tangible, forming an online trading post for villagers, similar to trading Pokemon, would be simple and far less tedious.

If this feature was implemented directly into Animal Crossing, rather than through community-run sites, Nintendo would be able to crack down on scams and make sure trades are processed correctly. To add some barrier to villager trading, Nintendo could perhaps implement a new feature similar to Nook Miles Tickets, though these in-game currencies are also popular on fan-mart sites.

Pokemon may encourage its players to “Catch ‘em al!”, but Animal Crossing’s community is far more determined to pick the exact villagers they need for their island. Though no new installment has been announced, a Pokemon trading system for Animal Crossing would be the perfect addition to the franchise’s next entry.

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