{"id":156013,"date":"2025-01-14T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=484661"},"modified":"2025-01-14T14:28:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T14:28:05","slug":"to-release-animal-crossing-in-the-west-nintendo-had-to-change-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/14\/to-release-animal-crossing-in-the-west-nintendo-had-to-change-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"To release Animal Crossing in the West, Nintendo \u2018had to change everything\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"An image of a green leaf representing Animal Crossing sits on a background filled with illustrations of game controllers.\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"Graphic: Matt Leone\/Polygon | Source images: Boss Fight Books, Sonny Ross\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.polygon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/AC-leaf-2.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;%23038;crop=0,0,100,100\" \/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap has-text-align-none\">Credit the COVID-19 pandemic, social media, or turnip gambling, but as of Nintendo\u2019s latest financial data, <em>Animal Crossing: New Horizons<\/em> is second to <em>Mario Kart 8 Deluxe<\/em> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.co.jp\/ir\/en\/finance\/software\/index.html\">all-time Switch software sales<\/a>. At over 46 million, that\u2019s more than 10 million above <em>Super Smash Bros. Ultimate<\/em>, <em>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild<\/em>, or any Mario platformer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Back in 2001, few predicted this success. When the series began, it was a Japan-only Nintendo 64 life sim (<em>D\u014dbutsu no Mori<\/em>) designed without much thought about how it would appeal to the rest of the world, taking over a year to arrive in the U.S. and over three to reach Europe. Yet over the course of two decades, the series chipped away at audiences all over to become one of the industry\u2019s biggest franchises.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">In 2024, <a href=\"https:\/\/bossfightbooks.com\/products\/animal-crossing-by-kelsey-lewin\">Boss Fight Books released a book on <em>Animal Crossing<\/em><\/a>, written by game historian Kelsey Lewin, exploring how this all began. Below, as part of Polygon\u2019s Culture Shock special issue, we have an excerpt from that book looking at the challenges involved with localizing the original game for Western players.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The view from the Treehouse<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">On the surface, <em>Animal Crossing<\/em> doesn&#8217;t look like the kind of game that would make its way to the West. It\u2019s standard for a game to tone down or change cultural references in the localization process, but the original <em>D\u014dbutsu no Mori<\/em> is painted especially thick with Japanese elements \u2014 so much so that even its own Japanese players might not catch all the references. For example, there is an item in the game called the Static Shirt, an indigo-and-white-colored garment worn by a couple of villagers. In Japan, this item is called Kasurinafuku, or \u201cKasuri Clothing,\u201d and it\u2019s not just a simple pattern. Kasuri is a traditional Japanese textile with origins dating back to as early as the 12th century \u2014 and as you can imagine, that\u2019s not something every Japanese <em>Animal Crossing<\/em> fan would have known about. Similarly, the Painter\u2019s Shirt is called Shiborizonufuku, from the traditional Japanese dyeing technique shibori dating back to the 8th century. These are obscure references, so it makes sense that they were localized out completely. But this is just the tip of the indigo-dyed iceberg.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-vox-media-highlight vox-media-highlight\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.polygon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/01\/Polygon_CultureShock_final.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;%23038;crop=0,10.717639621171,100,78.564720757659\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\"><em>This week on Polygon, we\u2019re looking at how cultural differences affect media in a special issue we\u2019re calling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/special-issues\/505253\/culture-shock\">Culture Shock<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cI\u2019ll never forget [producer Takashi Tezuka] coming to us and saying, \u2018If we\u2019re going to [sell the game outside of Japan], you guys have to change everything,\u2019 because they had designed it so specifically for the Japanese market,\u2019\u201d said Leslie Swan, former localization department head at Nintendo who worked on <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>, in an interview for this book.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cWhen we first started working on <em>Animal Crossing <\/em>for N64, we really [&#8230;] weren\u2019t even thinking about having it localized [\u2026] for an international market,\u201d said director Katusya Eguchi in <a href=\"https:\/\/kotaku.com\/inside-the-treehouse-the-people-who-help-make-nintendo-1301809672\">a 2014 Kotaku interview<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t just a matter of changing the names of clothing. <em>Animal Crossing<\/em> is so saturated with Japanese culture \u2014 everything from holidays to little jokes in the dialogue \u2014 that translating the text would hardly scratch the surface of the work to be done. It would be the most daunting localization project that Nintendo of America had ever taken on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Swan, alongside other prolific localization staff like Bill Trinen and Nate Bihldorff, was a key member of the secretive division of Nintendo of America known as the Treehouse. Dozens of employees, consisting of translators, writers, marketing professionals, and even video producers, work together beyond a locked, unmarked door inside Nintendo\u2019s U.S. headquarters to bring games from Japan to the Western market. Everything they do is kept confidential, even to other Nintendo employees \u2014 and for good reason. Nintendo of America\u2019s relationship with its Japanese headquarters relies heavily on confidentiality. These are the people who spend months vetting, translating, and rewriting new Nintendo games, often months before anyone else in the company knows it\u2019s happening. There are times when the Treehouse may begin work on a game or project only for it to be canceled before it hits the public eye. The private offices and secretive nature of the division are especially important in those situations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">For a completely new franchise like <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>, keeping the work under wraps was crucial. Even though there were no plans to localize the game, Bill Trinen said<strong> <\/strong>on <a href=\"https:\/\/ignwii.libsyn.com\/nintendo-voice-chat-the-charming-people-behind-animal-crossing\">a 2015 IGN podcast<\/a> a few people at Nintendo of America did at least take a peek at its development early on. \u201cThe initial reaction they got [from the U.S. office] was, \u2018Yeah, we don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll launch this game in North America\u2019 \u2014 a rare occurrence for a game from EAD,\u201d said Trinen. And so, operating on the assumption that this game would never be localized, the development team went to work on making the game specifically for the Japanese market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cAs the game got close to being done, they said, \u2018Why don\u2019t you guys take a look at this one more time?\u2019\u201d Trinen continued. \u201cAnd they sent the version over to us.\u201d Unexpectedly, Trinen and his colleagues in the English translation department found the game impossible to put down.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cIt turned into a fight, on who could get the cartridge first every day,\u201d recalled Trinen. With the game\u2019s shop only restocking once each day, the first person to play would be the only one to get whatever new tool was on sale. \u201cWhoever gets there first gets a big up over everyone else.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.polygon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/AC-official.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;%23038;crop=2.7317150063052,0,94.53656998739,100\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Passing the cartridge around all day and chatting about their town, they decided to write an evaluation of the game that all but insisted it should be localized for the U.S. market. \u201cI actually came to Leslie [Swan] and said, \u2018I\u2019ll take a year, two years, myself and do this whole game. It\u2019s that much fun,\u2019\u201d said Tim O\u2019Leary, who worked on the game\u2019s translation, in <a href=\"https:\/\/kotaku.com\/inside-the-treehouse-the-people-who-help-make-nintendo-1301809672\">a 2014 Kotaku interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cUsually what happened was that the development team and our executive management would talk about the prospects for gaining success in the U.S.,\u201d explained Swan. \u201cWe would meet with the dev team to talk about what we thought needed to be done, and they would point out everything we should be aware of.\u201d But this was different than the \u201ceasier stuff\u201d the small team was used to, like naming Mario enemies. Much different.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody really understood how big the project was,\u201d Swan said. She recalled sitting in a small conference room, where producer Takashi Tezuka attempted to explain. \u201cWe really didn\u2019t develop this with the global market in mind at all,\u201d he told her. \u201cIt\u2019s just\u2026 everything in it is <em>so<\/em> Japanese. It\u2019s not just a matter of translating it for the U.S. market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Of course, the Nintendo 64 was nearing the end of its life cycle at this point. Nintendo of America was busy releasing the last few games it\u2019d have a hand in \u2014 <em>Conker\u2019s Bad Fur Day<\/em>, <em>Mario Party 3<\/em>, and <em>Dr. Mario 64 \u2014 <\/em>during the spring of 2001 when <em>Animal Crossing <\/em>made its Japanese debut. Its next console, the Nintendo GameCube, had already been announced at the previous year\u2019s Nintendo Space World trade show, so it wouldn\u2019t make a lot of sense to localize <em>Animal Crossing<\/em> for the Nintendo 64.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Thankfully, the team in Japan was already busy bringing the game to the next console generation. \u201c\u2018Why didn\u2019t you make this for the GameCube?!\u2019 is a complaint we heard all the time!\u201d said Tezuka in a 2001 Nintendo Dream interview. A Japanese GameCube version, stuffed with new features, events, and characters, was already in the works by the time <em>D\u014dbutsu no Mori <\/em>hit the shelves. This updated version, <em>D\u014dbutsu no Mori+<\/em>, is what the Treehouse team worked with, mostly arm-in-arm with the Japanese development team. \u201c[<em>D\u014dbutsu no Mori<\/em>] succeeded much more than they thought it would in Japan,\u201d Swan said in our interview, which surely played a role in the decision to embark on such a huge localization project.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">The literal translation process didn\u2019t start immediately. Those earliest days were earmarked as research time, as the team deliberated over what items or holidays would need to be added or removed to make a U.S. release feel more familiar to its audience.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cWe sat in a conference room for weeks and weeks working on naming characters,\u201d explained Swan in our interview. \u201cWe\u2019d get these stacks and stacks of pictures, just photocopied pictures of characters and items, and we\u2019d be like \u2018Okay, let\u2019s go name furniture sets today!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">It\u2019s difficult to overstate just how much work this was compared to other projects. It was <em>the<\/em> project that these Treehouse staff members continue to talk about. \u201c[<em>Animal Crossing<\/em>] is just so vividly imprinted on my brain,\u201d said Swan. \u201cI would look out and see my whole staff, the entire staff was dedicated to working on it at that time. Nate Bildhorff, with his hoodie up, just working like 12 hours at his keyboard.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cThose guys just, they all worked their tails off,\u201d she continued. \u201cBut it was a labor of love. I mean, none of us wanted to give up on it. We loved every second of it, but man, it was long hours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Translating a huge amount of text was one thing, as was determining which events and items would be tweaked or changed, but the final barrier was <em>accurately communicating<\/em> these changes to the development team back in Japan. The localization team was equipped with plenty of fluent Japanese speakers, but that didn\u2019t mean communication was flawless. Adding the barbecue grill item into the game, for instance, took a few passes of back and forth between the Treehouse and the developers. The Japanese design team wasn\u2019t familiar with Western grills or what kinds of food they typically cooked, resulting in some interesting iterations before the team reached their kebab-grilling final design.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Impactful localization is not just about translation, removing cultural references that won\u2019t be understood, or slapping some American items into the game. <em>Good<\/em> localization means that each part of the game will have the same effect on its Japanese audience as it does on its Western audience. A great example of this is the <em>Oyashiro<\/em>, a shrine that serves as the community center where holidays and events begin in the Japanese versions of <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>. Shrines in Japan have ceremonial importance, most notably during New Year\u2019s when nearly everyone goes to pray during their <em>hatsum\u014dde<\/em>, or first shrine visit of the year. In rural communities much like your little village in <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>, the shrines are small, but serve a broad community purpose. Typically, shrine visitors make a small offering of five yen when they go to pray.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThere was a certain amount of desire on both [the Japanese and American] sides to leave stuff in the game that is important to Japanese society \u2014 stuff that isn\u2019t understood the same way here\u201d<\/p>\n<p><cite>Leslie Swan<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">For Western audiences, the concept of a village shrine is alarmingly foreign. It feels ancient and oddly religious, but it\u2019s quite normal in Japan, even for nonreligious folk. This is where a localization team steps in to determine an alternative. The shrine in <em>Animal Crossing<\/em> was replaced by a wishing well \u2014 a close Western equivalent. Wishing wells also have ancient roots, stemming from European folklore, yet still feel contemporary and commonplace. Just as shrines are still used in Japan regardless of religion, people in many Western countries still throw coins into fountains and wells as they make a wish. The intent of both locations is nearly identical \u2014 but each is more meaningful to their respective audience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Of course, many things<em> were <\/em>completely stripped of their context in the localization process, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily make them bad. Several clothing items, like those named for ancient dyeing techniques, received more approachable names, no longer containing any sort of ancient cultural reference. The <em>okiagari-koboshi<\/em> is a traditional Japanese doll dating back to the 14th century. It\u2019s a wobbling toy, its weight distributed so that it returns to its upright position if knocked over; it\u2019s considered a symbol of resilience. In <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>, the small pink doll became \u201cWobbelina\u201d \u2014 a fitting but culturally meaningless name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">For some reason, all seven of the <em>kokeshi <\/em>doll items were renamed: Initially representing the female designers who worked on <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>, they were changed to names that are presumably Nintendo of America staff instead. The \u201cMaki Figurine\u201d is likely to be translator Maki Yamane, the \u201cYoko Figurine\u201d could be Yoko Yamauchi, one of the founding employees of Nintendo of America, and so on. Unless you possess extensive knowledge of the names of Nintendo employees, it makes no difference if they are named for the game\u2019s female designers or for assorted Nintendo of America employees. It\u2019s an inside joke either way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Surely one of the biggest changes to<em> Animal Crossing<\/em> in its localization is its holidays. Holidays like Children\u2019s Day hold no meaning to a Western audience, and Groundhog Day and April Fool\u2019s Day aren\u2019t celebrated in Japan. Even for holidays that both cultures share, the traditions surrounding them can be quite different. In Japan, New Year\u2019s is a time to visit Shinto shrines, purchase<em> omikuji<\/em>, a type of paper fortune at the shrine, and eat <em>Osechi<\/em>, special New Year food served in fancy boxes. In the U.S., we celebrate with a ton of noise, sparkling beverages, and fireworks, and declare our New Year\u2019s resolutions. The holidays in each release of <em>Animal Crossing<\/em> reflect these cultural differences, although slivers of Japanese influence still poke through in the game\u2019s international releases. In these versions, the fortune-telling panther Katrina replaces her <em>omikuji<\/em> with fortunes from \u201cthe sunshine lottery\u201d \u2014 which serve the same purpose, but don\u2019t sound quite so Japanese.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Some Japanese holidays weren\u2019t outright replaced, but were washed of any real meaning. Japan\u2019s Children\u2019s Day is still celebrated quietly as fish-shaped windsocks called <em>koinobori<\/em> spring up around town. As a kid who was unfamiliar with Japanese customs, I always assumed the colorful decorations to be a quirk of <em>Animal Crossing<\/em> rather than a reference to a holiday. When the windsocks appear, a post on the bulletin board reads, \u201cSpring is upon us! Flowers and warmer temperatures are a prelude to summer fun! It makes me want to fly a kite. Or a windsock. Be on the lookout for one!\u201d The windsocks just kind of\u2026show up. No mention of their origin.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Several villagers received cosmetic changes alongside their name changes \u2014 often little things, like fur color or eye shape \u2014 but I can safely attribute to localization only one. Jane, a gorilla villager likely inspired by <em>ganguro<\/em> fashion, shared some unfortunate similarities to blackface or \u201cdarky\u201d iconography. Her design was entirely overhauled for Western releases, given pink skin instead of dark brown, and smaller, pinker lips. Then she disappeared forever, never to appear in another Animal Crossing game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Localization also accounts for regional gender swaps in two characters. Gracie, known as Grace in Japan, is a self-described \u201cfashion \u2018it\u2019 giraffe,\u201d with famous designs known around the world. Heavily-makeuped and sporting a rather ostentatious getup, <em>she<\/em> is actually a <em>he<\/em> in Japan. The other change is in the camel character we know as Sahara, a traveling carpet salesman with feathery eyelashes who speaks in broken English. Sahara is known as Roland in Japan, and while his speech reads more \u201cforeigner\u201d rather than \u201cfemale,\u201d he became a lady camel in Western releases \u2014 because long eyelashes equals girl, I guess? It\u2019s unclear if the intention of these changes was to avoid what could be considered harmful stereotypes, or to avoid the idea of having effeminate male characters altogether.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Not everything needs to be localized, even if the context of a particular item or tradition is more meaningful to the audience of its origin. Catching bugs is a common pastime in Japan, especially among young boys, so its inclusion as a core component in <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>\u2019s gameplay feels natural and purposeful among a Japanese audience. Catching bugs may invoke feelings of nostalgia and youthfulness in a Japanese player, but they may not in an American player. It\u2019s a distinctly Japanese pastime that, while not as familiar to a Western audience, still makes for engaging gameplay. \u201cThere was a certain amount of desire on both [the Japanese and American] sides to leave stuff in the game that is important to Japanese society \u2014 stuff that isn\u2019t understood the same way here,\u201d explained Leslie Swan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Many old-world and traditional Japanese furniture items were kept, too. Entire sets, like the Mossy Garden Theme, have been present in all Western games in the series. Featuring several <em>t\u014dr\u014d<\/em>, or stone lanterns of different sizes, I only saw this set as something exotic and Asian-inspired when I first discovered <em>Animal Crossing <\/em>\u2014 an aesthetic to play with rather than a reflection of Japanese culture. The rare Tanabata Palm item is based on <em>Tanabata<\/em>, or Star Festival, wherein people write wishes on colorful strips of paper and tie them to the branches of a bamboo tree. The Mochi Pestle is an instrument for pounding steamed rice into the Japanese confection <em>mochi<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Retaining cultural references exactly as they are in Japan provides unexpected, and maybe even accidental, education. Because I had seen it in <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>, the first time I visited a Japanese garden, the stone lanterns and bamboo \u201cdeer scare\u201d felt familiar, like a distant part of my own life rather than something entirely foreign. These items are a small window into Japanese culture that feels right at home alongside Western additions like the \u201cbackyard\u201d set of furniture. Japan has mochi pestles, the U.S. has, uh, lawn flamingos. Ah, culture.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Keeping&nbsp;<em>Animal Crossing<\/em>\u2019s charm and whimsy intact for every market is the crowning achievement of the localization team, which rewrote hundreds of puns to make them applicable in English.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Perhaps the weirdest bit of Japanese culture still heavily present in the series is the Haniwa: mysterious statues that move and make noise when placed inside one\u2019s house. Localized as \u201cGyroids\u201d for their tendency to make rhythmic gyrating dance moves, the Haniwa were conceptualized by the game\u2019s sound team, led by Kazumi Totaka. \u201cThey wanted to create something where players could add their own little musical accent through sound effects that would sync with the background music,\u201d explained Katsuya Eguchi in an 2001 Nintendo Dream interview. They\u2019re a bizarre, grotesque, and yet absolutely necessary presence in <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>. Each makes awkward rhythmic motions, delivering grunts, dings, croaks, and whistles to be assembled together in an uncanny orchestra. It\u2019s a strange playground for musical and aesthetic exploration, which fits right in with the game\u2019s \u201cpoison-y cute\u201d style. There\u2019s also a seemingly sentient Haniwa that acts as your save point, wiggle-dancing right outside your front door.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Real <em>haniwa<\/em> are not musical, but simply hollow sculptures made of clay. Most scholars agree that they were used to mark the perimeter of distinguished graves and protect the deceased from evil spirits. That being said, in Japan\u2019s ancient <em>Kofun<\/em> and <em>Yayoi<\/em> periods, from roughly 300 BC to 538 AD when <em>haniwa<\/em> were popular, there was no writing system in place, so much of this history is speculative. In the game, you can only find them by digging them out of the ground, so there\u2019s perhaps the dark implication that not only does your town sit atop an ancient burial ground, but also everyone is perfectly comfortable decorating their houses with grave markers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">And the rabbit hole goes deeper \u2014 literally. The rabbit villager Coco gets her name in most languages because of her strange, lifeless face that appears to be a coconut with a bowling-ball-looking face carved into it. But her Japanese name, Yayoi, makes it clear that she\u2019s neither rabbit nor coconut \u2014 she\u2019s a <em>haniwa<\/em> straight from the <em>Yayoi<\/em> period. Yep, you might be neighbors with a walking, talking funerary sculpture!<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Another aspect of the original game that still made it overseas for good is <em>feng shui<\/em>. With roots in China rather than Japan, <em>feng shui<\/em> is the art of placement \u2014 a pseudoscientific set of rules for arranging objects that will \u201charmonize\u201d people with their environment and facilitate the \u201cflow of energy.\u201d <em>Feng shui<\/em> and its variations became something of a trend in Japan and the U.S., so including the concept seemed fitting when arranging a room is a core part of the game. The Nintendo Power official <em>Animal Crossing<\/em> guidebook has a nice little explanation about it without giving much historical or cultural explanation, in a section titled, \u201cA Furniture Force that Rhymes with Flung Clay.\u201d The book shows which color objects you should place on which side of your house for increased luck with money or items, and which items will bring you increased luck regardless of where you plop them down. <em>Feng shui<\/em> works \u2014 you really will find rare items more often when you put yellow furniture on the left side of your house \u2014 but it\u2019s not explicitly encouraged in the game. Your neighbors may hint at its benefits, but ultimately, it\u2019s another dimension of culture to play with if you choose.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Keeping <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>\u2019s charm and whimsy intact for every market is the crowning achievement of the localization team, which rewrote hundreds of puns to make them applicable in English. There\u2019s a little quip for each bug or fish you catch, and some of them are pretty groan-worthy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cI caught a bass! If I catch a drummer, maybe I\u2019ll form a band!\u201d the dialogue box reads as your character proudly holds up a freshly caught fish. This is a total rewrite of the pun used in Japan, which roughly translates to, \u201cI caught a normal bass! I wonder if it\u2019s just so-so.\u201d Because the fish in question is simply called a \u201cbass\u201d in English rather than (what translates to) \u201cnormal bass\u201d in Japanese, the pun wouldn\u2019t work as a direct translation. That\u2019s pretty common, as you can imagine, when dealing with wordplay for separate languages.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.polygon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/AC-book-cover.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;%23038;crop=0,31.003567622666,100,37.992864754668\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cWhen you start with something like that, from the translation side, you translate what&#8217;s written and then you leave a bunch of notes,\u201d said Bill Trinen on the same IGN podcast cited earlier, speaking about preserving <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>\u2019s humor. \u201cSo it&#8217;s like, \u2018Okay, this is what it says. But <em>this<\/em> is what it really means, and it\u2019s a pun on <em>this<\/em>, which doesn\u2019t work in our language.\u2019\u201d Communicating what makes a pun work can be difficult, and not every pun hits its mark. The important thing is that the overall effect is the same, which is making sure <em>Animal Crossing<\/em> is goofy and charming throughout.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">The same goes for the names of the characters, of which many are plays on words. I won\u2019t go as far as to say they\u2019re particularly <em>funny<\/em>, but they are definitely clever. Kaburiba, the old sow who buys and sells turnips in the game\u2019s \u201cstalk market,\u201d is a masterful play on words. <em>Kabu<\/em> means both turnip and stocks, while<em> uriba<\/em> is a place (<em>ba<\/em>) where things are sold (<em>uri<\/em>). A <em>kabu-uriba<\/em> would be a place to buy turnips. Her name in North America is Joan, as in Sow Joan, a play on the U.S. stock market index Dow Jones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">It\u2019s worth noting that while puns and \u201cdad humor\u201d have a reputation in the United States for being uncool and perhaps even childish, they feature strongly in Japanese humor, due to the language\u2019s enormous number of homonyms (like <em>kabu<\/em> meaning both \u201cturnip\u201d and \u201cstock\u201d) where the intended word is inferred through context. Because it\u2019s so easy to practically stumble into puns like that, their use is not limited to a lame type of humor only dads enjoy. So while Bill Trinen confirmed on the IGN podcast that the game\u2019s text is equally punny and weird in both translations, what we might read as endearingly dorky in the United States isn\u2019t necessarily interpreted that way in Japan. That being said, the concept of \u201cdad jokes\u201d does still exist in Japan, it\u2019s just reserved for the especially cheesy and groan-worthy \u2014 some of the jokes in <em>Animal Crossing<\/em> probably qualify.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">After all, dorkiness is everywhere in this game. It\u2019s in the dialogue, in descriptions \u2014 it\u2019s ingrained in <em>Animal Crossing<\/em>\u2019s very DNA. \u201cWelcome to my igloo! It\u2019s so <em>cool <\/em>to have visitors in here,\u201d quips my duck neighbor, Joey. For every normal conversation you have with a neighbor, there\u2019s another conversation where they joke that they should start calling you \u201cjuice,\u201d or that they\u2019re a little bit jealous of snails. There\u2019s even some personal touches from the localization team if you look closely: The clumsy seagull Gulliver starts to tell a joke about a duck, a cougar, and a husky, but stops himself short of telling you what \u201cthe duck says to the husky.\u201d This entire exchange is a reference to football rivalries between Washington State University (The Cougars), University of Washington (The Huskies), and Bill Trinen\u2019s alma mater University of Oregon (The Ducks), of which he\u2019s an extremely vocal fan. With dialogue like that, it\u2019s no wonder they managed to make communicating fun, no matter what language you do it in. <\/p>\n\n<h2><b>Commercials Cooperation Advertisements:<\/b><\/h2>\r\n<p><br>(1) IT Teacher IT Freelance<br> <\/p>\r\n<a href=https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress><img src=http:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/ITTeacherITFreelance-Website.png alt=IT\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2 java\u88dc\u7fd2 \u70ba\u5927\u5bb6\u914d\u5c0d\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2,IT freelance, \u79c1\u4eba\u8001\u5e2b, PHP\u88dc\u7fd2,CSS\u88dc\u7fd2,XML,Java\u88dc\u7fd2,MySQL\u88dc\u7fd2,graphic design\u88dc\u7fd2,\u4e2d\u5c0f\u5b78ICT\u88dc\u7fd2,\u4e00\u5c0d\u4e00\u79c1\u4eba\u88dc\u7fd2\u548cFreelance\u81ea\u7531\u5de5\u4f5c\u914d\u5c0d\u3002\/><\/a><p><a href=https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/findteacher>\u7acb\u523b\u8a3b\u518a\u53ca\u5831\u540d\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2\u8ab2\u7a0b\u5427! <\/a><br>\r\n\r\n\u7535\u5b50\u8ba1\u7b97\u673a -\u6559\u80b2 -IT \u96fb\u8166\u73ed\u201d ( IT\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2 ) \u63d0\u4f9b\u4e00\u500b\u65b9\u4fbf\u7684\u7535\u5b50\u8ba1\u7b97\u673a \u6559\u80b2\u5e73\u53f0, \u70ba\u5927\u5bb6\u914d\u5c0d\u4fe1\u606f\u6280\u672f, \u96fb\u8166 \u8001\u5e2b, IT freelance \u548c programming expert. \u8b93\u5927\u5bb6\u65b9\u4fbf\u5730\u5c31\u80fd\u627e\u5230\u5408\u9069\u7684\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2, \u96fb\u8166\u73ed, \u5bb6\u6559, \u79c1\u4eba\u8001\u5e2b.  <br>\r\n\r\nWe are a education and information platform which you can find a IT private tutorial teacher or freelance. <br>\r\n\r\nAlso we provide different information about information technology, Computer, programming, mobile, Android, apple, game, movie, anime, animation\u2026 \r\n<\/p>\n<p><br>(2) ITSec<br> <\/p><a href=https:\/\/itsec.vip><img src=http:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/ITSec-Main-Promotion-Image.png alt= https:\/\/itsec.vip\/\r\nSecure Your Computers from Cyber Threats and mitigate risks with professional services to defend Hackers.  \r\nITSec provide IT Security and Compliance Services, including IT Compliance Services, Risk Assessment, IT Audit, Security Assessment and Audit, ISO 27001 Consulting and Certification, GDPR Compliance Services, Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), Penetration test, Ethical Hacking, Vulnerabilities scan, IT Consulting, Data Privacy Consulting, Data Protection Services, Information Security Consulting, Cyber Security Consulting, Network Security Audit, Security Awareness Training.\/><\/a> \r\n<br><br> \r\n<p><a href=https:\/\/itsec.vip>www.ITSec.vip<\/a> <br> <br> \r\n<p><a href=https:\/\/sraa.com.hk>www.Sraa.com.hk<\/a> <br> <br> \r\n<p><a href=https:\/\/itsec.hk>www.ITSec.hk<\/a> <br> <br> \r\n<p><a href=https:\/\/penetrationtest.hk>www.Penetrationtest.hk<\/a> <br> <br> \r\n<p><a href=https:\/\/itseceu.uk>www.ITSeceu.uk<\/a> <br> <br> \r\nSecure Your Computers from Cyber Threats and mitigate risks with professional services to defend Hackers. <br><br>\r\nITSec provide IT Security and Compliance Services, including IT Compliance Services, Risk Assessment, IT Audit, Security Assessment and Audit, ISO 27001 Consulting and Certification, GDPR Compliance Services, Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), Penetration test, Ethical Hacking, Vulnerabilities scan, IT Consulting, Data Privacy Consulting, Data Protection Services, Information Security Consulting, Cyber Security Consulting, Network Security Audit, Security Awareness Training. \r\n<br><br>Contact us right away. <br><br>Email (Prefer using email to contact us): <br>SalesExecutive@ITSec.vip<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit the COVID-19 pandemic, social media, or turnip gambling, but as of Nintendo\u2019s latest financial data, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is second to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in all-time Switch software sales. At over 46 million, that\u2019s more than 10 million above Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, or [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2599,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[61,122,127,129,124,128,125,132,131,133,126,130,123,66,94,88,97,56,64,65,60,112,40,75,95,104,33,120,105,101,98,115,30,29,41,86,70,69,68,72,71,26,118,108,87,46,55,48,52,54,51,50,83,62,58,57,109,35,59,63,85,79,82,96,80,27,81,114,44,42,43,45,38,39,110,117,100,111,116,73,89,90,92,91,93,84,78,37,102,34,36,77,67,74,99,113,119,28,121,32,47,49,53,103,31,76],"class_list":["post-156013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game","tag-airpods","tag-anime","tag-anime-characters","tag-anime-cosplay","tag-anime-edits","tag-anime-merchandise","tag-anime-movies","tag-anime-news","tag-anime-recommendations","tag-anime-reviews","tag-anime-series","tag-anime-streaming","tag-animes","tag-app-store","tag-app-store-samsung","tag-appgallery","tag-appgallery-oneplus","tag-apple","tag-apple-music","tag-apple-tv","tag-apple-watch","tag-bbc-sport","tag-best-mobile-games","tag-bixby","tag-bixby-xiaomi","tag-champions-league","tag-cyberpunk","tag-cyberpunk-2077","tag-fantasy-football","tag-fifa","tag-football","tag-formula-1","tag-fortnite","tag-free-fire","tag-free-mobile-games","tag-freebuds-pro","tag-galaxy-a52","tag-galaxy-note-20","tag-galaxy-s21","tag-galaxy-watch-4","tag-galaxy-z-fold-3","tag-game","tag-games","tag-golf","tag-harmonyos","tag-how-to-backup-iphone","tag-how-to-factory-reset-iphone","tag-how-to-reset-iphone","tag-how-to-restore-iphone","tag-how-to-unlock-iphone","tag-how-to-unlock-iphone-5","tag-how-to-unlock-iphone-6","tag-huawei","tag-ios","tag-ipad","tag-iphone","tag-live-soccer","tag-lol","tag-macbook","tag-macos","tag-mate-40-pro","tag-mi-11-lite","tag-mi-home-security-camera-basic-1080p","tag-mi-home-security-camera-basic-1080p-huawei","tag-mi-smart-band-6","tag-minecraft","tag-miui","tag-mlb-scores","tag-mobile-game-design","tag-mobile-game-development","tag-mobile-game-marketing","tag-mobile-game-monetization","tag-mobile-games","tag-mobile-gaming","tag-nba-scores","tag-nba-standings","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-scores","tag-nhl-scores","tag-one-ui","tag-oneplus","tag-oneplus-9-pro","tag-oneplus-buds-pro","tag-oneplus-nord-ce-5g","tag-oxygenos","tag-p40-pro-plus","tag-poco-x3-pro","tag-pokemon","tag-premier-league","tag-pubg","tag-pubg-mobile","tag-redmi-note-10-pro","tag-samsung","tag-samsung-pay","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-steam","tag-steeam","tag-top-10-anime","tag-valorant","tag-when-do-the-iphone-7-come-out","tag-when-does-the-iphone-7-come-out","tag-when-is-the-iphone-7-coming-out","tag-world-cup","tag-xbox-series-x","tag-xiaomi"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2599"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156014,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156013\/revisions\/156014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}