I Need This ‘Pokémon’ and ‘Animal Crossing’ Crossover To Be Real

Animal Crossing and Pokémon are simply two of the best Nintendo games to ever grace this damn planet. It blows my mind that we haven’t seen some sort of official crossover title yet between the two, where villagers and Pokémon meet.

And no, Super Smash Bros. doesn’t count—we’re talking about Animal Crossing gameplay combined with Pokémon characters, not Pikachu beating up Isabelle. Never mind my complaining, though. In fact, imagine my utter delight when I realized there’s animated fanart going viral on Twitter, depicting a Pokémon in an Animal Crossing: New Leaf-like setting, talking to the player.

In it, Mareep offers the user a gift, saying it “found this pretty stone, and I thought you might want it!” Mareep then dances, before the animation zooms in on the Pokémon, displaying the artwork’s credits. All the while, Mareep speaks with the Animal Crossing villager sound effect while the “1 A.M. Snowy” song from New Leaf plays.

Rendered by Twitter artist @beefuwu, with reference from @Gokuchan, the whole animation captures that classic New Leaf feeling perfectly. I actually assumed @beefuwu had created some kind of Animal Crossing x Pokémon fan game when I first saw the clip.

“In hindsight, this seems like a very smart and lucrative idea… that Nintendo will never do,” one Twitter user said, praising the animator’s hard work. For the record, @beefuwu’s talent did not go unnoticed. The animation has over 7,700 retweets, with more than 35,000 likes. If that’s not an endorsement for some kind of crossover video game, I don’t know what is.

Now feels like the perfect time for this idea to come to life, too. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the latest installment in the series, which (in)famously came out in 2020—shortly after the quarantine phase of the pandemic began. For many players, Animal Crossing was the game that grounded them in reality, offering a brief reprise from pajama-filled work-from-home shifts, Postmates toilet paper orders, and microwaved depression meals eaten in bed. Perhaps it’s time for Nintendo to shake things up a bit by breathing some new life into the Animal Crossing franchise. Minus the deadly virus that ravaged the world outdoors while we built up our islands, that is.

In the meantime, give @beefuwu a follow and check out more of her work.

(feature image: Nintendo)