LEGO Animal Crossing
Image: Nintendo / LEGO

Following rumours that LEGO was set to team up with Nintendo and unleash Animal Crossing-themed sets on unsuspecting wallets the world over, a short teaser yesterday revealed... well, very little really. But the leaks were true, and Animal Crossing Lego exists! Yes, official Tom Nook and Isabelle minifigs will be available to purchase at some point in the hopefully near future.

It's been a long time coming. For years, the Lego Ideas scheme — which lets fans submit designs for votes, with any that receive over 10,000 being judged by an official Lego panel with one being selected for production — has received Animal Crossing-themed submissions, and the massive mainstream popularity and cross-generational appeal of New Horizons on Switch made this collaboration feel like a no-brainer. Following the release and success of the Lego Super Mario sets, it was only a matter of time.

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Beyond the fun CG teaser trailer that debuted on Twitter via Nintendo's accounts, we don't really know anything more about the collaboration at this stage. We've seen a selection of villagers in minfig form, some fruit trees, a balloon, and that's about it. At this stage, exact details are still up in the air. Currently, Lego's site has an About page live at the time of writing, but it only contains the teaser and a message saying "Welcome to the LEGO® Animal Crossing™ world. More to be revealed soon…"

Looking back at the details from the leak isn't much help, either. Five sets ranging from $15 (170 pieces) to $75 (535 pieces) were rumoured for a March 2024 release, but even if that information is accurate, it says nothing about the form these sets will take, nor the novelties they might employ to set them apart from standard sets. Nintendo is all about 'the Nintendo difference', right? When we spoke to Jonathan Bennink, the lead designer on LEGO Super Mario, he had this to say regarding Nintendo's approach to that collaboration collab:

The brief that we got from our higher management was to make a product that only Lego and Nintendo could do together. That doesn't mean just licensing the IP, it also means utilizing Nintendo's qualities in terms of digital interactivity. And by doing a traditional plaything, they couldn't really add their magic sauce to it, so to speak.

It seems unlikely that things would change with this new range, so while some of us might prefer just some standard, nice-looking little sets and a bunch of adorable minifigs (c'mon Angus, my son!), it's entirely possible there'll be some of that "digital interactivity" worked in here, too.

So, bearing in mind how little know, Team Nintendo Life had a think about what it would like to see come from this epic collaboration between the Danish and Japanese toymasters...

Ollie Reynolds

LEGO Animal Crossing
Image: Nintendo / LEGO

I'm going to be exceptionally boring with this, so I apologise in advance. The thing is, despite the fun interactive elements showcased in the Super Mario collaboration, I just want some standard Lego sets for Animal Crossing, and that's it.

What I'm picturing right now is some sort of Starter Set that might comprise your own character's house with a few trees, plants, furniture, and tools. Throw in three or four accompanying villagers and you're good to go. From there, I envision Lego releasing new sets on a periodic basis to represent the various buildings you might find in your average town: Able Sisters, Nook's Cranny, the Museum... you get it. Each set would include more minifigures, trees, and furniture, allowing you to customise and create your own unique town.

Finally, I could see the Museum piece being quite ambitious; possibly the biggest of the lot. The basic set would come with the building itself and some bugs/fish/fossils to start you off, then perhaps Lego could release blind boxes that contain further 'contributions' to keep Blathers happy in the weeks and months to follow.

That's what I'd want, at least. It's simple, it's boring, but I think it could work.

Gavin Lane

Animal Crossing Fishing for (Captain) Pike
How about a water brick that you scan with your villager before taking your daily catch to Blathers? — Image: Nintendo Life

As much as I admire the ethos behind Nintendo's approach to the Lego/Mario collaboration, that "magic sauce" Jonathan Bennink mentioned is an ingredient that put me off the base, kid-focused Mario playsets. So, personally, I'm with Ollie — I'd like nothing more than a handful of cute dioramas with my boy Angus in minifig form adorning my shelf, à la the original Green Hill Zone Sonic set. Love that thing.

However, the possibilities go so far beyond that. In terms of the sets themselves, I'm imagining some sort of Happy Home Designer decoration component. Perhaps you grow crops on a modular island and sell them at Nooks for bells to buy items for your home which display on little tiny lo-fi screens built into the walls.

Or expanding on Ollie's museum theory, maybe you're scanning codes around the village and collecting random artifacts to give to Blathers. The player-character villager is notably absent from the teaser, and although the non-minifig Mario isn't my favourite design, the potential play possibilities it opens up beyond simply building stuff are enormous.

Even so, just give me a little Able Sisters store to recreate my Star Trek clothing range (which will require some custom decals, but hey, I'm down), and I'd be happy as a sandboy. I'm expecting a Nintendo-style twist, though.

Alana Hagues

LEGO Animal Crossing
Image: Nintendo / LEGO

If you could pluck a dream Lego collaboration from the sky, Animal Crossing would be mine. So let's just say I'm very scared for my wallet and house space — apologies in advance to my partner and our cat.

So they're going to do Blind Bags, aren't they? Every Blind Bag has a different AC villager or NPC, collect 'em all kinda thing. You can have different outfits for some of the major NPCs too. I also really like Ollie's idea for the museum Blind Bags, but imagine an interactive museum where you can use an app to tell you what each fossil, fish, or bug is. I think kids would love that — just look at how popular those museum exhibits in Japan are.

I think the figures will also interact with each other in similar ways to the Mario minifigures. Who can resist hearing Animalese coming out of the AC Lego characters?

Honestly, though, I just want a set in my hand — Kapp'n with a motorised boat, or Gracie's car, or the train from the GameCube version. Not asking for much, really. Just a whole island's worth.

Well, those are a few of our own thought-bricks, but what do you think? Are you hoping for some intricate gamified experience or would a handful of plain old sets and a minifig collection suit you? Let us know in the poll and comments below.

What do you want from the upcoming LEGO X Nintendo Animal Crossing collab? (424 votes)

  1. Just standard Lego sets, please61%
  2. A Museum with blind bags to add exhibits12%
  3. Happy Home Designer-style stuff7%
  4. Some sort of daily bells economy/system  0.9%
  5. Scannable bricks for catching fish and bugs2%
  6. A massive definitely-not-gatcha blind bag minifig collection13%
  7. A Mario-style non-minifigure speaking Animalese1%
  8. Something else, of course (comment below!)3%

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