New Animal Crossing spinoffs exist because devs wanted Amiibos; “It would be really cute”

Announced at E3 2015 were the new Animal Crossing spinoffs called, Happy Home Designer and Amiibo Festival. Upon these releases, it was very plain that Amiibo Festival would incorporate the Amiibo figures that were introduced to the Nintendo franchise just a year ago, and now it is time for Animal Crossing to get involved.

Are cute Amiibos the only reason?

Aya Kyogoku, a director behind the Animal Crossing series stated that they simply wanted to merge Amiibos as soon as they could, and create an Animal Crossing spinoff that would be different from the traditional gameplay. The team definitely accomplished this goal by creating Amiibo Festival, which is more of a type of game board that resembles Mario Party with mini-games as you compete against other players.

“Initially when the Amiibo was announced, there was nothing really said about Animal Crossing Amiibos or any plans for that matter,”

“But as the Animal Crossing team, we were confident that if there was one, it would be really cute… honestly, we just wanted Animal Crossing Amiibo. We wanted the company to make Animal Crossing Amiibo, so that’s why we made a game that works with them.”

– Aya Kyogoku, Animal Crossing team Director

What about Happy Home Designer?

The release date for Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer is for September 25th on the Nintendo 3DS, while Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival is set for the Wii U later this year. Unfortunately, it seems that the Animal Crossing addition called Happy Home Designer will not include the Amiibo figurines. The task in this game is to design interiors for the homes that the residents own in town. This is similar to the earlier Animal Crossing gameplay which insists that you aid your fellow towns-members.

I can say as a long-time Animal Crossing fan, that I’m more looking forward to Happy Home Designer than Amiibo Festival. I’ve never been one to collect the Amiibo figures and don’t think I’d be too much into it. They do look very cute and would be adorable in a display case, but the price turns me away.