With Hello Kitty Island Adventure finally expanding to PC and reaching its first console, comparisons between the Sanrio-themed simulation game and other titles in the genre available for both PC and console have been unavoidable. Of course, Hello Kitty Island Adventure features the standard gameplay of other titles in the simulation genre, with plenty of villagers to interact with, critters and fish to catch, and plants to garden. But, one key Hello Kitty Island Adventure feature is surprisingly missing from the simulation genre’s Goliath – the Animal Crossing franchise.
Animal Crossing may have decades on Hello Kitty Island Adventure, but one feature of the new simulation game is surprisingly missing from the veteran franchise. Nintendo’s hit simulation franchise separates players from its Villagers, but Hello Kitty Island Adventure puts players on the same level as its Villagers by making them animals.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure Proves Its Time For Animal Crossing to Drop One Restriction
Despite only expanding to PC and console recently, Hello Kitty Island Adventure is already standing out among the crowd with one major difference.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure's Animal Avatars are Too Cute
Like most games featuring a character creation menu, Hello Kitty Island Adventure gives its players a wide variety of character customization options. Unlike Animal Crossing, Hello Kitty Island Adventure’s players are exclusively animals, rather than the human villagers of the Nintendo simulation game.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure players can make their avatar one of six different animal species: bird, cat, dog, bunny, horse, or sheep. There are five additional customization options beyond species choice, including pattern, palette, body, eye, and mouth shape. Certain animal species have more customization options than others, with horses and sheep getting the short end of the stick. However, the cuteness factor of these animal avatars certainly makes up for the lack of options, and updates for Hello Kitty Island Adventure are definitely in the game’s future. Perhaps more customization options for avatars will be headed to the simulation game soon.
These six species are small compared to the multitude of animal species that Villagers can be in the Animal Crossing franchise. In fairness, Hello Kitty Island Adventure categorizes certain species under the same category. For example, chicken is listed under mouth shape for bird avatars rather than being its own separate category. Nevertheless, Animal Crossing’s wide variety of animal species would lend itself perfectly for avatar creation for the franchise.
Animal Crossing Could Implement Animal Avatars Despite a Few Hurdles
But there are a few hurdles that Animal Crossing would have to overcome in order for animal avatars to be possible in its next title, though this new feature is not an impossibility. The number of animal species available in Animal Crossing not only gives players more options, which would likely receive positive fan reception, but it could also make the development process for the feature take more time. The Animal Crossing franchise has thirty-five different animal species that Villagers can fall under. While limiting the kinds of species players can choose for their avatar may make the development process for this feature less difficult, players may be upset that they aren’t able to play as their favorite Villager type.
Additionally, Animal Crossing Villagers are assigned a personality type. This aspect of Villager IDs isn’t mandatory for avatar creation, but if Nintendo decides to offer animal avatars, including personality types is an option. At the end of the day, players will play the game however they wish, but personality types could be a fun way to limit players during gameplay and make a future Animal Crossing title a tad more difficult. Personality types would also distinguish Animal Crossing’s version of animal avatars from Hello Kitty Island Adventure’s.
Overall, adding animal avatars to Animal Crossing is a possibility that Nintendo may want to consider. Even though the franchise is arguably the gold standard of simulation games, Nintendo could take the time to implement features that are inspired by competitors in the genre. Hello Kitty Island Adventure has made a splash with its PC and Nintendo Switch release, and Animal Crossing should certainly take notice.
- Released
- July 28, 2023
- ESRB
- E For Everyone
- Developer(s)
- Sunblink
- Publisher(s)
- Sunblink
- Engine
- Unity
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Life Simulation
