Nintendo holds events titled “Nintendo Direct” any time they desire to announce new games, updates to games, or possible new hardware for their consoles. The first Direct since this summer’s E3 Conference was held on September 13th and had many exciting announcements. From new game titles to footage from previously announced games, this 35-minute Direct was chock full of various information. The end had quite the surprise for many longtime Nintendo fans…
A brand-new Animal Crossing game that follows the series was announced at the very last minute of the Direct. Nintendo, being Nintendo, knew that fans have awaited the announcement of this game since the initial announcement of the Nintendo Switch and decided to toy with their emotions. After Shinya Takahashi, the announcer for the evening, said that there was one more small announcement, Isabelle, a character who helps runs the town in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, showed up on the screen talking about how everyone is too busy “smashing and camping” that she might have to take over mayor-ly duties. Just when I began to get my hopes up, Pete, the town mail carrier, brought Isabelle a letter. Hoping that this would be the announcement, I got really excited, and that is when Nintendo did what it does best. Isabelle turned dramatically towards the camera and the text at the bottom of the screen read that she is being added as a new fighter in the upcoming Super Smash Bros Ultimate. This game took up almost the entirety of the E3 Conference this year, and as an avid Animal Crossing fan, I was devastated to find out that they still were only giving care and attention to Super Smash Bros.
After that, Tom Nook, a character who sells homes in the most recent game and runs a goods shop in previous versions, showed up. My initial reaction was to be upset, thinking that they are probably going to add him to Super Smash Bros Ultimate as well. Yet, the segment continued and Tom talked about how he was lonely because everyone was off doing other things. The screen then flashes black and out comes a Switch with the Animal Crossing logo on the screen with the year 2019 on it. Finally, it had been announced! After a year and a half of the Switch being released, they finally announced the one game I cared most about. I am obviously not the only one who got beyond excited over this announcement. Moments after the Direct ended, Animal Crossing was trending at the number two spot on Twitter. Many people were in complete bliss over the news that this game was finally getting its deserved title on the Nintendo Switch.
As a child, I grew up playing Animal Crossing on a DS Lite. I had a multitude of games, though my all-time favorite, till this day, was Animal Crossing: Wild World. This game consumed the majority of my childhood, and even as I’ve grown up, I continue to play the various versions of the series; the release of Pocket Camp on the App Store, or the Nintendo 3DS versions, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. I cannot begin to explain the absolute joy I feel knowing that in just a year I’ll have a brand new game to add to the series that I’ve adored for so long.