A Reddit user has found an early copy of the unannounced Animal Crossing edition of Monopoly, and while for the most part this is unremarkable news, I thought the game’s accompanying miniatures were worth a closer look.
I’ve got one of these “Gamer” editions of the game — the Mario one — at home and from playing it (and looking over some other ones released so far, like Sonic) they’re…not great. Sure, there are some fun ideas here and there, like the Mario one including dice-rolling boss fights, but for the most part they’re a rushed licensing job that lacks the original Monopoly’s design strengths, but is also unable to cater to the strengths of whatever licence it’s mooching off.
Suffice to say, then, I am not excited for Animal Crossing Monopoly as a game. But look at those villagers you get to use as pieces! The colours, the poses, the surprisingly detailed footwear, the faces, the fact one of them is fishing, and another looking deeply suspicious cradling an apple like that, they’re perfect.
These are the four that ship with the game, but the Mario one ended up selling loads more in standalone packs, so you’d expect that would be half the business case for this particular edition. More villagers = more $$$.
I love them, and while they’re probably not worth the price of the game itself, if you ever find yourself stuck playing the game at an Animal Crossing-obsessed friend’s house, then at least you’ll have fun moving these guys around the board.
As for this particular version’s take on Monopoly itself, surprisingly for a game whose dark heart is all about property and mortgages, you’re not buying island homes. Instead you’re racing to collect Nook Miles, and by moving across the board you’re picking up resources like fossils and fruit.
While the game hasn’t been officially announced yet, this copy was purchased from a Wal-Mart in the US, and it’s available from a ton of European retailers for pre-order.
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