Wait, Beloved Animal Crossing Almost Never Left Japan?? That’s Crazy!

Animal Crossing is a beloved franchise the world over. People love their little virtual lives with cute animal neighbors. Many people, myself included, were able to gain comfort from playing New Horizons for hours during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. However, did you know that we almost never got the series in the west? In fact, Nintendo couldn’t believe that the original game would ever get a worldwide release.

Animal Crossing‘s Journey to International Release

In a Time Extension interview with Nintendo localization manager Leslie Swan, she discussed the difficulties in bringing the original Animal Crossing game to the West. In Japan, the game was called Animal Forest, and when she was approached to localize the game, she was warned that it would be “difficult.” She talked about how the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata “burst out in laughter. He just laughed and said, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to do this.’ And it’s true, just everything in that game was so specific to Japan.”

She went on to discuss how characters, catchphrases, and events had to be renamed or rewritten. Even game items had to be revamped. Coming up with the Western name for the game itself was difficult in itself – Swan stated that they went through “hundreds” of possible suggestions and that it took “at least six months or maybe a year” for the final name to be confirmed.

The Work Was Worth It

Animal Crossing was released in America on the GameCube in 2002, and it instantly charmed players. Gamers quickly got addicted to the prospect of checking up on your village every day and slowly saving up for house renovations so you could store more items. The bug, fish, and fossil collecting, as well as the seasonal events, ensured that players would keep coming back to the game for months or even years. Now, Animal Crossing is one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises.

Conclusion

I’m one of the many gamers who fell in love with the Animal Crossing series. Like many others, I am eagerly awaiting a Switch 2 entry where I can lose hundreds of hours. We can thank Leslie Swan and her hard work for the fact that we Americans can take some time out of our busy lives to fish, catch bugs, decorate our houses, and pay back Tom Nook’s giant loans.