Animal Crossing fans hope to have bicycles, skates, and accessibility items in the next game.
Animal Crossing is a social simulation game series developed and published by Nintendo. The first game was released on April 14, 2001, on the Nintendo 64. The latest game in the series, Animal Crossing New Horizons, was released for the Nintendo Switch on March 20, 2020.
The time in the Animal Crossing games is based on real-world time. Instead of in-game time, like the one in Stardew Valley, it utilizes the console’s internal clock and calendar. Events such as holidays also occur at certain times or when a duration of time has passed.
The game doesn’t have an ending, and players can keep building their worlds whenever they want. There are also no clearly defined objectives, and players can do activities such as fishing, planting trees and flowers, catching bugs, collecting items and furniture, and socializing with the other residents of the islands or village.
With the high degree of freedom and customization that players have in Animal Crossing games, some fans are now hoping to have the ability to ride bicycles or similar vehicles.
There were players who expressed that they’d love to ride a skateboard around the island. The ability to do tricks such as kickflips would be an added bonus. Another added rollerskates on top of skateboards and expressed that anything else feels excessive for a relaxing and slow-paced game like Animal Crossing. They also believed that the game worlds weren’t big enough and would require faster movement methods.
Another fan replied that they’d like this, but it would require a bigger village to compensate for the easy traveling. They continued that if the size wasn’t changed, it would seem too small to travel on a bike. They shared a solution for the next game if they take place in a city or have a market district similar to that of New Leaf, is to have a cinematic of the player arriving on a bike or a mini-game where players ride a bike for a short distance.
There have been rumors that players would be able to control vehicles in the next Animal Crossing game. The game is speculated to take place in a large city with skyscrapers, possibly similar to modern-day real-world cities. This larger sized space would compensate for the vehicles that could be included in the future installment.
Besides the suggestion of vehicles, the players also expressed wanting accessibility options such as usable wheelchairs. There is a wheelchair in Animal Crossing New Horizons, but it’s not completely functional. Players can only sit on them.
Another Animal Crossing fan suggested that the developers could add a question during character creation where players are asked: “Do you need any assistive devices?” This would then allow players to choose from glasses, hearing aids, canes, wheelchairs, and other accessibility items.
There’s a lot to look forward to in the next installments of Animal Crossing, and there’s a possibility that a new one will come out for Switch 2. Stay tuned for more updates on Animal Crossing!