An Animal Crossing: New Horizons player has created a hilarious crossover with the Pokemon games in a fan video recently posted to Reddit. New Horizons is the most recent game in the Animal Crossing series and is also the best-selling game in the franchise. It’s also one of the best-selling games for the Nintendo Switch.
Fans have embraced Animal Crossing: New Horizons as an escape from real life, which is especially significant during the COVID-19 pandemic, when so many people are confined to their homes, with more free time than they would otherwise have. The game offers a much higher degree of customization options than past entries in the franchise, letting players craft their island home in any way they’d like. This has allowed fans to create some truly impressive creations and pay homage to beloved scenes from movies and TV. Even outside of the game, the outpouring of fan content for the game has been a sight to see, and the distinct culture that has sprung up around the game has led to some truly bizarre interactions like the wildly inflated prices involved in the buying and selling of certain treasured villagers.
But even amongst all the high-stakes villager trading and other bizarre forms of appreciation that have sprung up around the game, some people still just like to have fun. Reddit user ChuChuMcGoo proved this earlier today when they posted a video purporting to highlight a recent update that changed the function of weeds in the game. The video starts normally enough, with the player character approaching a clump of weeds with the intent of digging up a hole tucked away within them. The instant the character touches the weeds, however, the random encounter music from Pokemon plays, and the player finds themself in a Pokemon battle against one of New Horizons‘ most feared enemies: a scorpion. Watch the encounter play out below.
Nintendo changed how weeds worked in the last update from AnimalCrossing
The player’s summoned butterfly proves useless against the fearsome scorpion, and the Pokemon-style battle interface cruelly fakes out the player before forcing them to flee for their life from the beast. This is far from the only joke online about New Horizons‘ scorpions, whose aggressive behavior and incredible speed make them formidable foes. Their danger is offset by their high value, making them coveted and perilous finds.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a truly unique game. The level of creativity and imagination it fosters is truly a sight to see, and it has led to some very impressive and delightful creations. In the video game industry, there are games that sell well and then there are games that leave a legacy, and there is no question of where Animal Crossing: New Horizons falls. The game has made a huge cultural impact, and it will continue to garner loving fans for as long as Nintendo supports it, and probably long after that.
