Since 2001, Nintendo’s relaxing life-simAnimal Crossinghas become known for many things. Among pioneering real-time day/night cycles in games, the series has introduced fans to avariety of lovable animal villagers,clothing and style options, and customization galore. Additionally, the series has amassed an incredible collection of different furniture items in the last 20 years, allowing players to buy and sell furniture, amass their own collections, and place items around their homes. Now,Animal Crossing’s wide collection of furniture ranges from sets based on real-life Rococo period European art, to sets of furniture based on other Nintendo games likeMario.
With each newAnimal Crossinggame, many more pieces of furniture are added to the series. However, it goes without saying that some pieces of furniture have been removed in more recent games, particularly inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonson Nintendo Switch. Fans were disappointed to see a lack of Nintendo andMario-themed items in the game, especially sinceAnimal Crossing: New Leafincluded the widest range of Nintendo furniture since the first entry in the series. That being said, a recently announced update forNew Horizonswill bring new content based on everyone’s favorite plumber, Mario.
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As announced in September’sSuper Mario35th Anniversary Direct,Super Mario-themed furniture will be making its way to the game in March. Further,Animal Crossing: New Horizons' most recent update videoincluded a nod to theMario-themed update, though did not specifying whether it included more than furniture, like clothing items for example. And even though Nintendo hasn’t revealed all that will come along with theMario-themed update, looking at pastAnimal Crossinggames may show fans what they can expect next month.
A History of Animal Crossing’s Mario Theme
In the originalAnimal Crossinggame, fans could unlock pieces of furniture from the Mario Theme by tellingthe notorious Tom Nookcertain secret codes that were published in the now-discontinued Nintendo Power magazine. These items included a wallpaper based on the background from the originalSuper Mario Bros.game, a flooring based on the series' classic Block pattern, as well as other miscellaneous pieces of furniture based on the “?” Block, Koopa Shell, Super Mushroom, and more.
Furniture from the Mario Theme inAnimal Crossing: Wild Worldcould be downloaded by players at Nintendo DS Download Stations or via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.Wild Worldtook a more 8-bit approach to some of the items; blocky, pixelated versions ofSuper Mario Bros.' iconic Coin,Fire Flower, and Bullet Bill Cannon, while adding the Fire Bar and 1-Up Mushroom to the collection.Animal Crossing: City Folkwas the first game in the series that didn’t require players to enter a code or download the items from the Mario Theme, instead allowing players to use their slingshot to pop balloons containing the furniture.
InCity Folk, theSuper Mario-themed furniture tookWild World’s 8-bit approach a step further by making every item in the furniture set 8-bit shaped. However,Animal Crossing: New Leaf’s Mario Theme smoothed out the furniture set to make the items appear how they might look in a more currentMariogame likeSuper Mario 3D World.New Leafalso did away with secret codes and downloadable gifts, as players could find furniture from the Mario Theme in the game’s Fortune Cookies.
Finally, althoughAnimal Crossing: New LeafisNew Horizons' predecessor, it’s worth noting that the Mario Theme also appeared as part of aSuper Mariocrossover eventin theAnimal Crossing: Pocket Campmobile game. Items appeared as they did inNew Leaf, so some fans argue that Nintendo will simply bring the items as they appeared inPocket Campover toNew Horizons. However, since theSuper Marioevent inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsis meant to celebrateMario’s 35th anniversary, other fans think that the Mario Theme will appear in a more retro style as it did inAnimal Crossing: City Folk.
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Getting The Mario Theme in New Horizons
Of course, it’s likely thatAnimal Crossing:New Horizonscould bring players entirely newSuper Mario-themed furniture in order to shake things up. For example, new furniture based onSuper Mario Odyssey’s Moons, orSuper Mario 3D World’s Super Bell seem plausible. Fans have also speculated how exactly they’ll be able to get furniture from the Mario Theme inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons.
Of course, one of the simplest ways would be to obtain the items bypopping balloons in the sky,as many of the game’s seasonal items appear as DIY recipes. It’s unclear whether the Mario Theme will come as a pre-made furniture set, or in the form of DIY recipes, givenNew Horizons' huge emphasis on the new mechanic.
AlthoughAnimal Crossing: Pocket Camp’s crafting system functions differently compared toNew Horizons, it could serve as a base for how crafting the Mario Theme could work. By using Bells and new Super Mushroom, 1-Up Mushroom, and Mega Mushroom items,Pocket Campplayers could craft every item from the Mario Theme, including clothing.
Animal Crossing: New Horizonscould adapt this by making the Mario Theme worksimilarly to Bunny Day items.Fans could obtain DIY recipes forSuper Mario-themed furniture items from balloons or talking to villagers, and then find Mushrooms, 1-Up Mushrooms, and Mega Mushrooms scattered all over their island, finally using a combination of the items along with other materials to craft theMario-themed furniture.
Will There Be More?
Although theSuper Mario35th Anniversary Direct specifically mentioned thatSuper Mario-themed furniture would come toNew Horizonsin March, the most recent nod to the event didn’t elaborate on what’s coming. While this could mean Nintendo simply doesn’t have much to mention to fans, it could also mean that they plan on adding some extra surprises in addition to justMario-themed furniture. That could mean adding old clothing items like theMario, Luigi, and Toad Hats, among other surprises.Animal Crossing: Pocket Campalso included Mario and Luigi t-shirts, Peach’s Crown and Dress, and Wario’s Hat and “‘Stache.”
It’s possible that the newMarioitems could includeitems from previous games’ Nintendo sets,such as the Banana, Triple Red Shells, and Kart furniture pieces based on theMario Kartseries. And while it may seem like a long shot, there is also the possibility thatAnimal Crossing: New Horizonscould bring back a fully-playable version of the firstSuper Mario Bros.game on the NES, as it appeared in the originalAnimal Crossinggame. However, for the time being, fans really don’t know what exactly to expect from the collaboration event. Regardless, if it lives up to the rest ofMario’s 35th anniversary celebrations, the new event is likely to surprise fans come March.
