Since its release on Nintendo Switch last year, Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have created some awesome homages to the world of Pokemon. Reddit poster IanThaGame has shared the latest such example, with an island based on Phenac City, a location that appeared in the two Nintendo GameCube titles Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. In a short video, IanThaGame jumps between Colosseum and New Horizons to showcase how the desert location inspired his Animal Crossing village. It’s a very cool throwback to a Pokemon location that hasn’t appeared in more than 15 years, and it works really well!
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The original Reddit post can be found embedded below.
Long before the days of Switch, when Pokemon RPGs were confined to handhelds, Pokemon Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness were the closest thing GameCube owners could get to a main series game. Both games tasked players with traveling through the Orre region, where they attempt to defeat the Cipher organization and free the Shadow Pokemon. Phenac City is one of the prettier locations found in the game, and it’s easy to see how an Animal Crossing player might be inspired by it!
These days, Pokemon Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness don’t get a lot of love, so it’s pretty cool to see IanThaRobot make this kind of reference. The two games released in the middle of the third Pokemon generation, giving players the chance to obtain a lot of Pokemon that were missing from the then-current games. Those Pokemon can actually still be transferred to Pokemon Home. In fact, I still have some of my Pokemon from those games!
IanThaGame’s creation is a real testament to the creativity of the Animal Crossing community. We’ve seen some great creations from the games over the last year, and it will be interesting to see what else players come up with in the future. It’s possible that Nintendo will reveal more details about the game’s future at E3 this month, so fans will just have to stay tuned!
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available exclusively on Nintendo Switch. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the game right here.
Are you a fan of Animal Crossing: New Horizons? What do you think of this take on Phenac City? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
