Animal Crossing and the New Museum

From Visitor Services Coordinator Talia Makowsky. To read more posts from Talia, click here.


Everyone has different ways to unwind. Hobbies are especially important right now, as we adjust to working from home and social distancing to protect ourselves and others. I know I’ve been doing a lot more baking lately, as a way to relax (more on that in a later blog post). But one of my favorite ways to unwind and find some escapism is through video games.

I can go on and on about how amazing video games have become, whether they be hugely epic, and story fueled, or a hilarious and fun way to play with friends. My most recent video game acquisition, and indeed becoming my new favorite, is Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

For some background, Animal Crossing is a franchise from Nintendo (yes, the Nintendo that makes Mario and Zelda games if you’re familiar), and the basic premise of all the games is the same. You are a person moving to a new town (or island), and your goal is to simply enjoy your new place. Players can earn bells, or money, to make their houses bigger and buy furniture or clothing to customize their abodes. They can also interact with their fellow villagers, who are all anthropomorphic animals, complete tasks for them, and become friends. To earn money, players can collect fruit, catch fish and bugs, and more.

One of my favorite parts of all the franchises has always been the museum. In each game, a loveable but talkative owl named Blathers acts as the museum director, accepting donations of fish, bugs, fossils, and artworks to the museum.

Blathers loves to tell you about the things you collect but has a fear of bugs. And given the facts he tells you about tarantulas, I don’t blame him!

I’ve always enjoyed working to collect all the different critters and objects that the museum accepts, and it’s incredibly rewarding to walk through the virtual museum and see all of the donations I’ve brought displayed. I guess I’ve always been a museum person, even from childhood!

These pictures from the Gamecube version of the game show the original museum. Forgiving the outdated graphics, the museum itself was not very dynamic, instead just a way to collect all of these different items into one place. In this image you can see the entrance way, the art gallery, the aquarium room, and the fossil room. This image is not mine.

With the new game, I was especially looking forward to the changes they made to the Animal Crossing museum. I had seen a couple of images of what the new museum looked like, but I wanted to explore for myself. And I was not disappointed.

Maybe due to my time spent as a museum professional, but I was totally impressed with the way they’ve updated the new museum. In the previous games I’ve played the most (Animal Crossing on the Gamecube back in 2002, and Animal Crossing: New Leaf on Nintendo DS), the museum was a simple display of all the items I’ve donated. I still found it satisfying to walk around and see the result of my hard work as I caught fish and bugs, but they didn’t look like modern museums.

This shows the entrance to the museum from New Leaf, which came out on the Nintendo DS in 2013. You can see it looks essentially the same as the one from the Gamecube version, but with updated graphics. This image is not mine.
At least in New Leaf they put benches in the aquarium, to watch the fish. But the museum was still limited in its creativity. This image is not mine.

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, however, it feels like they have a museum architect and exhibit designer on staff, for the entire building has had a major overhaul. The following images of the New Horizons museum are from my own game.

From the very start, it’s clear that the game designers have created something totally new.

Just in entering the lobby, you can see the differences between this game and the previous ones. The lobby is stately and exciting, with staircases leading to various halls. I have a feeling that as I unlock more of the game, this lobby will change too, to include more halls and rooms.

The new bug exhibit is lovely, with interesting paths and places to sit to observe. But my favorite part about it is the butterfly room.

If this was a real place, I’d sit here for hours.

This butterfly room gives me lots of nostalgia for the butterfly houses and gardens in zoos I visited as a child. And as you read the labels about the various butterflies, the camera focuses on each one.

One very museum-nerdy part of the bug exhibit is the little science lab in the back.

In this image, the paper kite butterfly sits in the tank, to be studied.

The addition of this little room really gives me the feeling that this is a real scientific museum. More and more science museums, and museums in general, are trying to find ways to engage their visitors and show them the behind the scenes work. Having a research lab that students can get involved in provides them with insight into the work required to take care and protect different animals and creatures and may inspire them to pursue science-based careers as they grow up. I thought this little addition was a great representation of the important work zoos and other educational places do to understand the creatures around us, and how to protect them for future zoo-goers to see and learn about.

This wasn’t the only part that made my museum-nerd heart sing. On the way to the fossil exhibit, I noticed a few small details that made me very excited.

In these two images I’ve pointed out the brochure racks and the fire panel that are in the entrance of the fossil exhibit.

It seems insignificant, but the inclusion of the brochure rack and the fire panels, along with many other tiny details like lights on the stairs, realistic looking seating areas, and more, truly transported me to this virtual museum. The people who chose to render these details really understood what makes up a museum. It’s not just the collection of objects or creatures inside, but in the way that people work to make it a welcoming and safe place. These details are a nod to all the various parts that make up a museum, from the curators to the visitor services coordinators. (So far, the only thing missing is a museum shop!)

The aquarium part of the museum is gorgeous as well, and from what I’ve seen, the fish tanks adapt and change as you donate more fish!

The aquarium is so fun to walk around, with places to watch pond fish, schools of anchovies, and more. They even have a display about deep-sea diving, and you can walk through tunnels in the tanks.

This area gave me big National Aquarium vibes, with the interesting and creative displays, and the way you can explore the area.

I look forward to expanding my Animal Crossing museum, while museums in our country remain closed to protect the health and safety of our visitors and staff. I’m sad I can’t go and explore real museums right now, but for the moment, this is giving me that taste of excitement and learning I crave when I visit. I highly recommend it as an alternative to actually visiting museums right now, and especially if you like these types of games in general. And if you do pick up a copy, let me know! I’d be happy to invite you to visit my island and give you a museum tour!

Come visit my island anytime!

 

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