LGBT Games History: Animal Crossing
We’re pretty sure that everyone and their mother are waiting eagerly for March 20th, us included! After all, it feels so long since we had a new Animal Crossing that to have one so close is enough to make anyone feel dizzy with excitement.
Animal Crossing was first released on the Nintendo 64 in Japan back in 2001 and has won the hearts and minds of players alike thanks to its cute animal villagers, variety of activities and open-ended gameplay. With so much to do, and with how time is used throughout the game in such unique ways, it’s easy to see why it was so loved and is still popular to this day.
However, what we found surprising while doing research about the game, was how queer players felt about Animal Crossing and the LGBTQ+ references that are implicated within a few of the games. While none of these implications are considered ‘canonical’, there is enough of them for Animal Crossing to be included in our LGBT Games History column.
The first instance of queer content within this game comes from your neighbours, the anthropomorphic animals that reside in your town. While some can be rather prickly, others are much kinder and can be downright flirty at times. What’s worth mentioning is that these furry friends are happy to flirt no matter what gender you choose to play as. Isabelle, in particular, is very open about her feelings about your character and it is often hinted that she has a crush on you. Dare I say, Animal Crossing said gay and furry rights?
Jokes aside, there’s also the series use of crossdressing. While that alone isn’t enough for a game to be considered LGBTQ+ friendly, as LGBTQ Game Archives points out, “Animal Crossing has been largely progressive regarding gender and gender discourse compared to other large franchise titles.” It does at least give players the chance to dress however they like, despite still having a binary Male or Female option included within character customization. What’s more, nobody ever shames you for it. Unless a dress is really ugly, then, well, it’s your own fault at that point.
There are also the characters Saharah and Gracie to take mind of. Gracie, a very colorful giraffe, identifies as a man in the Japanese version of Animal Crossing: New Leaf, however there is no mention of this in the English version. The same can be said about Saharah, who is actually named Roland in the Japanese version. With this information, some fans have speculated that both of them are transgender, though nothing has been confirmed.
With that in mind, Animal Crossing is surprisingly more LGBTQ+ than we first thought. We wonder if it’ll be more explicit in New Horizons – let’s keep our fingers crossed for it!
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