SinceAnimal Crossing: New Horizonslaunched on the Switch last Friday, it seems as though the game has potentially been the most talked-about video game release of the year so far. Frommemes and reviews to long Reddit threadsand social media conversations, the world is seemingly loving being back alongside Tom Nook and his band of adorable friends.
Funnily enough, it seems as thoughAnimal Crossing: Wild Worldwas also heavily talked about when it released back in 2005, although, one article hilariously looked at the game a lot deeper than anything currently associated withNew Horizons.
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Published by the New York times back when the Nintendo DS game released, it appears writer Tom Zeller Jr foundAnimal Crossingto be a much more sinister game than many would ever believe, penning an article on a line of dialogue he found suspicious in the game. The dialogue itself comes from a scene featuring the franchise’s iconic guitar-playing dog,K.K Slider, with Zeller believing that a throwaway line said by the character indicated that he - and by extension, Nintendo - was an advocate of piracy.
The line itself reads, “Those industry fat cats try to put a price on my music, but it wants to be free,” and is said by K.K Slider as he gives away free copies of his own songs. In turn, Zeller argued that Slider was encouraging young players to entertain the notion of piracy, claiming Nintendo’s use of the character was social commentary that implied media should be free. The writer then goes on to e-mailNintendoto ask them about the use of the character, with the company’s reply being utterly hilarious.
Responding to Zeller’s claims, formerNintendo Vice-Presidentof Marketing Perrin Kaplan states “no real social commentary was intended. People can read a lot into a little.” She then proceeds to inform Zeller that “musician K.K. Slider – a guitar-playing cartoon dog – is saying only that he’s a free spirit who cannot be bought and sold for any amount of money.” In an effort to better explain the actions of an animated dog with a guitar, Kaplan proceeds to claims he wants to be “freed from his guitar, free from any constraints,” before reminding Zeller that Slider is “a dog, it’s understandable that he would not want to deal with any ‘fat cats’.”
The exchange is no doubt hilarious, but it also once again highlights just howadorably innocentAnimal Crossingremains as a franchise. Regardless, Zeller’s article has an amusingly interesting alternate perspective on the franchise as a whole, and while most will naturally disagree with his outlook, it’s worth a read while the series is currently so popular.
Animal Crossing: New Horizonsis available now for Nintendo Switch.
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