Without a doubt the most ambitious Animal Crossing game to date, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a haven for creative players, allowing for more customization and control than what was seen in 2012’s Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Subsequent updates permitted wilder and more complex themed islands to take shape, and Reddit user u/Naydinfar-Crossing showcases this beautifully with a meticulously detailed recreation of Hyrule Castle Town from The Legend of Zelda series.
The thirty-second clip gives Nintendo fans a peek at a vibrant and cleverly-designed approximation of one of the most famous burgs in Zelda history. Partially presented via fixed camera angles reminiscent of Link’s childhood adventures in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, u/Naydinfar-Crossing’s castle-like island village makes use of tons of custom Zelda-themed designs and decorations to impart effects otherwise achievable in-game.
The streets are lined with flowerbeds, fencing, and rows upon rows of scrupulously-laid path tiles, and Hyrulian-garbed mannequins stand guard before the central gate. Structures like villager homes and the town museum are flawlessly worked into the theme, and custom wall panels are used in tandem with terraforming tricks to give the illusion of immense buildings that wouldn’t otherwise be possible to make.
The original poster makes all sorts of awesome designs, many of which are showcased on their Instagram page. Alongside Hyrule Castle Town, fans can also be treated to recreations of memorable Zelda locations like Tarrytown, the Sacred Ground Ruins, Gerudo Town, and even the Lost Woods. Many of u/Naydinfar-Crossing’s works seem to be based on the most recent mainline Zelda title The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but their version of Hyrule Castle Town is, thankfully, a bit more vibrant than the ruin seen Nintendo’s 2017 title.
Creating works of Animal Crossing art such as these must be an incredibly time-consuming process, but these labors of love are part of what makes the series so great. Animal Crossing: New Horizons doesn’t give the player any defined goals apart from paying off Tom Nook’s many loans, and, while many are content to kick back and spend their days fishing and hunting for insects, others are keen on coming up with island layouts so sophisticated that one might assume they could only be constructed on a developer’s workstation.
An ardent Animal Crossing fan, u/Naydinfar-Crossing’s work, fortunately, hasn’t gone unnoticed on Reddit, and Nintendo fans should be interested in what they’ll create when the new Breath of the Wild sequel comes out in the relatively near future.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for Nintendo Switch.
Source: Instagram naydinfarcrossing
