Nintendo of America’s usually casual tweet about the debrief for Animal Crossing: New Horizons post-Slumber Island together with a picture. The game’s merrymaking side, more than anything else, was possibly the intent of the original tweet. However, it ended up being a major location for players to vocally articulate their numerous wishes and complaints almost immediately. Gamers rushed to the reply section for news on an ARMS sequel, to report tech issues, and to ask for a totally new Animal Crossing title, thus, by doing so, it was a clear sign that the community was indeed, very much alive and more Nintendo offering was the only cure to their pent-up feeling.
So, like, did Nintendo just drop very nonchalantly a tweet? Just a snug little picture and a note regarding a ‘post-Slumber Island session debrief.’ Looks like they were just refreshing, having virtual coffee after a big island party. But the thing is, the replies? They were absolutely nothing like the chill. It was just like to Nintendo had opened the community suggestion box and it had immediately exploded.
Initially, the mood was somewhat flaky. On the one hand, hardcore fans of Animal Crossing were the ones who were simply relishing the moment. The one expressing it was Baskin Gamer with the cookie emoji, totally on the same wavelength with ‘Island squad goals’. Hayami_Rose, the one asking if they could come to the sleepover, was, in fact, giving the most classic Animal Crossing answer ever. Tswana Boy99 was just being silly because he thought of the possibility of playing with others. That’s the good content we signed up for!
However, the flip side of that coin was soon reached very quickly – it got real very fast. Right from the moment Nintendo made its presence felt, it was as if every single person who had been quietly wishing for something had just received a loudspeaker. The number one? ARMS 2. Suddenly, samcandlesYT out of nowhere, asked to “debrief us on when arms 2 is coming out.” And they were not alone! Another user, 0xprincewill_, was even more direct: “We don’t need this. Let us know when Arm 2 is coming.” It is indeed fascinating how a peaceful Animal Crossing tweet was quickly transformed into a hotspot for fighting game fanatics by the mere power of words. The discussions around those replies even turned into a feud, with yggdrasilsaltar chiming in to say that it was frighteningly amazing to witness the two different ARMS 2 comments. The demand is NOISE.
Moreover, it wasn’t just about fresh games; players voiced some… feedback. Buyer Mehdi did not mince his words when he told Nintendo to “fix the rumble!! you made it too strong!! it stresses me out!!” What a particular and funny complaint; you can almost feel the annoyance. Then, there is ケント (that is Kent, by the way), who cannot believe it and he responds to Mehdi with disbelief: “They barely care to remember this game, you think they’re going to fix anything?” Ouch! That is about the same feeling that is prevalent. It could be that a part of the players feel that New Horizons, having been through a major updatin cycle, is now in maintenance mode.
Then, there are those who would like to discuss the ‘next game’. CrisGames64 stated that it is ‘time for a new Animal Crossing game for switch 2 !!!’ while nitobim69 simply announced ‘Time for a new Animal Crossing game!’ Clear and concise. Besides, Baskin Gamer even hinted at ‘Friend island time on Switch 2.’ Next-gen hype is undeniably real especially with the Switch’s successor not too far off.
Some other replies were pure and very chaotic. Greg saw the Xbox account and decided that it was the perfect time to say ‘Xbox is better’ nonstop. Than you, Greg, but that’s really not so helpful. Kaput commented very humorously about Tom Nook saying that he ‘definitely said “we’re all in this debt together” unironically.’ How true! And 169 UPDATES just wondered, ‘won’t this be boring’ which was quite rude but okay.
There were also some who dealt with practical issues. Jadenfire and ntendo3ds have both made requests that were almost as old as the franchise itself, which was for multiplayer mini-games. And Admiralhanky gave it to us with the understatement of ‘If i had 11 friends with animal crossing.’ That’s precisely how we feel. That’s a huge mood.
So what is the conclusion? The tweet was meant to be an easy-going and engaging post, but it became a raw and unfiltered focus group in a few moments. It shows that the players still love the cozy world of Animal Crossing but their interest is multi-faceted. They are looking for new experiences on platforms like PlayStation.
