After four days of painstaking terraforming.
While some of us have spent the start of Bunny Day frantically launching projectiles into the air as if in the midst of some apocalyptic invasion (although actually just because we really want those flying eggs), other Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have been putting their indoor time to far more productive use – with one such person turning their entire island into a surprisingly convincing recreation of Zelda: A Link to the Past’s iconic overworld map.
The brains behind this ambitious endeavour goes by the name of VaynMaanen on Reddit, and unveiled the fruits of their terraforming toils, which apparently took four days to complete, in a series of screenshots to the Animal Crossing subreddit earlier today.
As the comparison image below shows, the similarities are striking, even accepting the creative stand-ins used for Zelda elements tricky to accurately recreate in-game. All waterways and elevated terrain are present and correct, including the looming (or as looming as New Horizon’s height restrictions allow, at least) Death Mountain, and there’s even a recreation of Kakariko Village to the west, formed from a huddle of islander homes.
After 4 grueling days of terraforming I’ve modeled my island after Hyrule from Link to the Past! More pictures in the comments from r/AnimalCrossing
The plateaus of the Eastern Palace can be found on the opposite side of the island, nudging against Lake Hylia, while the Lost Woods appears to the north-west – although it’s admittedly more of a Slightly Misplaced Grove here. A scattering of bamboo makes for a reasonable facsimile of the Great Swamp, while a scruffy dirt patch acts as a stand-in for the Desert of Mystery. And, of course, Blathers’ museum does its stateliest impression of Hyrule Castle.
You’ll find a more illustrative selection of screenshots, highlighting each lovingly recreated Hyrulean landmark, in the image gallery accompanying VaynMaanen’s initial post.
Granted, it’s not 1:1 recreation by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a cute application of the expanded toolset available in New Horizons, and another wonderful example of the kind of creativity Animal Crossing is fostering on Switch. Plus, it’s reportedly a big enough faff just using New Horizon’s terraforming tools, let alone deploying them in any meaningful manner.
Eurogamer’s Emma Kent has also been embarking on her own creative Animal Crossing pursuits/slightly sinister sociological experiments since New Horizon’s release, having successfully established a communal swap shop and bartering economy for like-minded visitors – not including, you know, that one guy.
