Animal Crossing is a beloved franchise that's used more or less the same formula since the first title came out in the early 2000s. In the main franchise titles, players settle in and make their home among whimsical humanoid animal characters. The game proceeds in real-time, with life continuing on the island, town, or city, even when the player isn't logged in, with various daily and seasonal activities keeping players logging in regularly to check on their villagers.

Over the years, Animal Crossing has become a beloved cozy gaming giant with a vibrant community. The last game in the franchise, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, has sold over 45 million copies as of 2023, according to Statista. The games sell well because the formula works, and the few titles that tried something new, like Amiibo Festival, didn't sell as well as the main games in the franchise. Despite this, it would be fun to see Animal Crossing games that branch off from the regular game, especially ones that dive into a completely different genre.

10 Animal Crossing RPG

This Was The Original Plan For The Series

The Animal Crossing games fans know and love today almost didn't exist. According to Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, the original Animal Crossing game was meant to be a dungeon crawler where players commanded villagers to help them through various dungeons. The idea was scrapped due to hardware limitations, but it would be fitting to revisit the game's origins with an Animal Crossing RPG spinoff.

The game would have to focus on traversal over fighting since Nintendo would probably not want to see any of its beloved characters get hurt. Instead, it could adopt an Infinity Nikki-style RPG all about exploration, collecting resources, crafting, and solving puzzles. The villagers could be characters that can be found and "recruited" to the team similar to the 108 heroes of Suikoden. Players could then choose several villagers to travel with a "party." A central space would give the rest of the villagers a place to hang out and provide an opportunity for the decoration and design that are such staples of the franchise.

9 Board-Based Party Game

One That's Better Than Amiibo Festival

In 2015, Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival attempted to take the series in a new and fresh direction. The title was a party game like Mario Party, but it had the fatal flaw of needing to use Amiibo to add characters. The game was also criticized for being repetitive and not bringing much new to the table. But that doesn't mean the idea was a bad one, and an Amiibo Festival-style game is worth revisiting. A second chance for Amiibo Festival would keep the game's board game format but address the issues that plagued the title.

It would need to have more variety in its minigames, and more to do in general. A faster pace would also help retain players' attention, as would giving players a chance to play with their favorite characters without having to pay for additional game pieces. Mario Party has shown over and over that these types of games do sell, and Animal Crossing has all the charm it needs to attract players, so a better-executed Amiibo Festival could be a success.

8 Villager-Raising Sim

Something Similar To Tomodachi Life

It's hard to describe Tomodachi Life, which was a strange mix between Animal Crossing and The Sims. The 3DS title had players engaging with Mii characters on an island, guiding them to resolve their issues and live their lives. Players didn't control the Miis directly but rather offered them advice through a character they played as.

The idea of an Animal Crossing spinoff that's similar to a Sims game doesn't feel quite right. Throughout the series, players never directly control any of the villagers, who all have lives and personalities of their own. However, a game similar to Tomodachi Life would be right at home for the Animal Crossing franchise. Villagers could come to the player with their questions and the player would help guide them on the right path for them.

7 Animal Crossing Rhythm Game

Jam Along To K.K. Slider's Hits

Animal Crossing has a resident musician, a white dog who goes by K.K. Slider. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Slider visits the plaza every Saturday to play his songs, which span a huge variety of genres. There are 110 different songs by K.K. Slider in the game, more than enough to fill an entire rhythm spinoff game.

A musical AC game could take on many different styles, from the traditional style of rhythm games to a more unique take on the genre. An Animal Crossing game that incorporates the music-based mini-games of Rhythm Heaven would be particularly fun. YouTube creator 緑青くれは-Rokusho Kureha- has a fan-made video showcasing what this might look like, and it works remarkably well.

6 Harvest Moon Style

Add Farming Into The Mix

Animal Crossing already has many of Harvest Moon's elements, including the cute aesthetic and fishing. Since the two games already have a lot in common, it would make sense to adopt more of Harvest Moon's features into an Animal Crossing spinoff. This game could integrate farming into the mix, as well as a more robust system of resource gathering like mining for ore and more.

A romancing system would be very out of place in an Animal Crossing game, but a roommate mechanic would be a fun way to interact with the villagers. Players could choose which villagers they want to share a house with and decorate the space to suit the characters, similar to the way Stardew Valley lets players become roommates with the monster Krobus.

5 Museum Curator Simulator

Because Blathers Could Use A Hand

The most appealing reason for many players to keep coming back to the title is the museum. In Animal Crossing, the museum is slowly filled out by players adding various bugs, dinosaur skeletons, fish, and artwork to the collection. Completing the museum's collection requires a lot of time and effort since some critters can only be found in certain real-world seasons.

Although the museum design has evolved over time, there's no way currently to customize, change the layout, or add or remove decor in the building. A museum and gallery curation spinoff would let players work alongside Blathers on the receiving end of the bug, fish, dino, and art hunt. A curation game would allow players to decide the museum's layout, choose where and how to display certain artifacts, and decorate the space.

4 Hotel Or Resort Management

Happy Island Paradise

Animal Crossing: New Horizons takes place on a beautiful island paradise that, for some reason, no one ever visits (aside from a small handful of rotating NPCs). Continuing the theme of islands, one spinoff idea for the franchise is a resort management simulator. The setup could be this: Tom Nook finds another beautiful island to develop, but instead of inviting people to live there, he realizes it would be more lucrative to turn it into a bustling resort.

A game like this could ask players to create a functional and beautiful space, adding amenities but keeping things aesthetic. There would be many design and decor opportunities, from the recreational areas outside to individual themed rooms that different types of villagers would enjoy. Players could even manage the flow of villagers as more characters showed up to enjoy the resort.

3 Animal Crossing MMO

Add A Multiplayer Element To AC

When Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp was replaced by Pocket Camp Complete, the game lost an integral part of the experience: the multiplayer element. Although it wasn't a huge part of the game, many Whistle feature). The AC franchise has toyed with online multiplayer a few times, allowing players to visit each others' home islands through "dreams" and by opening up their airports to visitors.

However, a fully online multiplayer game would make the multiplayer aspects into core elements of the game. Players could work together on a central communal space but also have their own locations to decorate where others could visit but not affect anything. Things like resource gathering could become a team effort, similar to the way the indie cozy MMO Palia turns rare-resource hunting into a community effort. Of course, safeguards would have to be put into place to ensure that everyone plays nice, but an AC MMO would certainly work as a spinoff title.

2 Animal Kart Racing

Cute Character Kart Racing

This spinoff idea is possibly the least likely, but it would definitely be a fun one. Similar to the way the Mario brothers have a successful line of kart racing games, Animal Crossing could do the same. Animal Crossing, like the Mario games, certainly has plenty of cute characters for players to potentially choose from, so a racing game would have many options for riders. After all, Isabelle is a character in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and we have seen AC tracks in Mario Kart before.

Players could also be able to customize the vehicles, creating different themes to suit different villagers-turned-racecar-drivers. The game could have players racing through different Animal Crossing locations, like around a typical island home from New Horizons or down the train tracks from previous titles. The ability to fully customize and create tracks would keep things firmly within the Animal Crossing design formula and still give players a chance to unleash their creativity.

1 Fashion And Furniture Designer

Work For The Able Sisters Or The Alpacas

Animal Crossing has always been about making the game space custom to each player, whether that's through placing furniture in a room, laying down paths outside, or even terraforming the land itself. The more recent games also allow players to create their own custom designs to use on furniture and clothing, making the experience even more unique. That's why a clothing and furniture design spinoff game just makes sense.

This kind of game would have players working with either Cyrus and Reese, or the Able sisters, perhaps under Label's fashion brand. This spinoff game would focus on creating custom designs or even assembling entirely new furniture using unlockable parts. The game could integrate Happy Home Designer's system of "customers" asking for specific features in their orders to keep things interesting. Players could even export their designs to the next Animal Crossing title.

Source: Statista, 緑青くれは-Rokusho Kureha-/YouTube