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The Animal Crossing Franchise

Animal Crossing is a series of quirky life-simulation and role-play games on Nintendo systems, starting with the GameCube. In each game, you play a new arrival to a village, and get to know the comedic animal locals while designing your house, gathering things to sell, and doing whatever activities you choose. The time of day, season, and year progresses along with the real world, so you can always go back and find something new to do or see, making them the sorts of games you play in short bursts over a long time.

Although the series has always been popular for its low-stakes, whimsical fantasy escape, it was the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons in March 2020, right at the start of Covid-19 lockdowns, that the series exploded in popularity, as people used the game to connect with friends they couldn't see in person by visiting each other's islands and writing letters to each other. It went on to become one of the best-selling Nintendo Switch games.

  • Animal Crossing (2001) GameCube
  • Animal Crossing: Wild World (2005) DS
  • Animal Crossing: City Folk (2008) Wii
  • Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2012) 2DS|3DS
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020) Switch.

There have also been several spin-off games:
  • Animal Crossing Plaza (2013) for Wii U let players write letters to each other and communicate with Animal Crossing: New Leaf players. It was discontinued in 2014.
  • Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (2015) for 3DS is focused purely on designing houses for the villagers, and features a large variety of different items you can use to decorate each room.
  • Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival (2015) for Wii U is a party game similar to the Mario Party games, with a strong focus on Amiibo support.
  • Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (2017) for iOS and Android is an adaptation of the series for mobile devices, where you decorate a campsite rather than a town. The game is free to play, but has lots of in-game purchases for items and decorations.

There have been 5 games in the Animal Crossing franchise.
The first game was released in 2001 on GameCube and the most recent release was Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 2020 on Nintendo Switch.

The most popular game in the franchise is Animal Crossing: New Horizons with 391 likes. The franchise as a whole has 427 likes on the database. Unfortunately, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is not available on Android, Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X|S or iOS. However, there are other games similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons on these platforms that offer an equivalent experience.

DetailsFranchise Details

PEGI Ratings: PEGI 3 to PEGI 7
ESRB Ratings: ESRB EVERYONE
Australian Ratings: G
Genres: Adventure, Collecting, Communication, Creative, Narrative, Point-and-Click, Role-Play, Sequencing and Simulation
Release dates: 2001 - 2020
Platforms: GameCube, Nintendo 2DS|3DS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Wii U
Developer: @Nintendo
 

 

Games in the Animal Crossing Franchise

Games Like the Animal Crossing Franchise

The following games address a similar topic or offer a similar way to play. They are good options to play next and also good alternatives to the Animal Crossing franchise for younger age ratings.

Littlewood is a town and farming simulator a little like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing.

Littlewood is a town and farming simulator a little like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing. Here though, the twist is that the game is set after a grand adventure.

Garden Story is a role-playing adventure, crafting and farming game similar to Stardew Valley.

Garden Story is a role-playing adventure, crafting and farming game similar to Stardew Valley. It also features combat, dungeons and puzzles similar to the Zelda games.

Ritual of Raven is a farming game like Stardew Valley but here you add programming code to the inhabitants of the farm to help them grow and harvest the plants.

Ritual of Raven is a farming game like Stardew Valley but here you add programming code to the inhabitants of the farm to help them grow and harvest the plants. Similarly to Rabbids Coding, it's an intuitive and approachable way for beginners to learn to code.

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is a simulation game and digital interactive recreation of the famous Lofi livestreams intended to help you study and stay focussed.

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is a simulation game and digital interactive recreation of the famous Lofi livestreams intended to help you study and stay focussed. Rather than being played directly, it's designed to be put on in the background while working, studying, or doing chores, with different timers, styles of music, and events that you check in on when you're done.

Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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