The Best Nintendo Game Every Year 1983 - 2024
5. 2020 - Animal Crossing: New Horizons
In a case of incredible timing, when the world was collectively told to stay at home and avoid human contact, Nintendo just so happened to drop their new social simulation game.
The Animal Crossing franchise is as iterative as it gets, with each game functioning largely the same as the last, and 2020’s New Horizons was no different. You shake trees, sell your fruit, buy furniture and welcome talking animals to your private island whilst paying off a non-negotiable loan with notorious tax dodger Tom Nook.
Of course, New Horizon’s most complete version of this makes for an endless drip feed of content and events, and enough variety so that when you go online to compare islands with your friends you’re guaranteed to have a good time. The relaxed, cosy pace makes it easy to lose hours every day.
We can talk about the importance of games for the industry's health until the anthropomorphic cows come home but Animal Crossing was crucial in a different way. As a sales juggernaut (especially in Japan, where it nabbed the silver for the country’s best-selling game behind the original Pokémon), you almost certainly know or, in fact, are someone who was positively affected by New Horizon’s release.
In the face of the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year, Animal Crossing was the perfect salve: whimsical, affable and warm.