Animal Crossing Might Actually Be In The Startropics Universe
The world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons includes humans living alongside adorable anthropomorphic animals, a currency calls Bells, and trees that grow remarkably fast, but it might also be home to the alien race of Argonians and the sinister extraterrestrial invader Zoda from Startropics - at least based on dialogue from the unlucky seagull, Gulliver. When players speak with Gulliver he sometimes references a journey to Coralcola, the first village in the NES classic Startropics. While this is not explicit proof that Animal Crossing canonically shares its setting with Startropics, the amusing deep cut reference is a welcome shout out to one of Nintendo’s long-neglected franchises. Startropics and its sequel Zoda’s Revenge: Startropics 2 were released on the original NES, and have never received a third installment, but Gulliver’s reference prompts a trip down memory lane for some longtime Nintendo fans.
References to other Nintendo franchises are a common theme in Animal Crossing. Last year’s introduction of Mario-themed items was well-received, and players continue to find creative uses for New Horizons’s Mario warp pipes. Where Mario games have been a mainstay on Nintendo hardware from the NES to the Switch, Startropics is a smaller footnote in Nintendo’s history. The reference to Coralcola may appear only in the English localization for New Horizons, which is appropriate, if so, given that Startropics was a rare Nintendo game that was only released in the US and European territories, not Japan. The sequel, Zoda’s Revenge, released only in America, and was among the final games released for the NES in 1994, several years after the launch of the Super NES.
The 2006 animated Animal Crossing movie showcased two playstyles for the games in its protagonists Ai and Yu, but it also introduced the presence of alien life to the franchise. Gulliver appeared in a mock UFO late in the film, followed by true extraterrestrials summoned by Ai’s clever placement of Toy Day lights. Aliens also came as a late-game surprise in the original Startropics, where hero Mike Jones journeyed to the fictional C-Island in search of his missing uncle, Dr. Stephen Jones, who had discovered the truth of the alien invasion. An entity known as Prime Invader Zoda was hunting down the last survivors of the peaceful Argonian race, who had fled to Earth. The game ended with Mike defeating the sinister alien Zoda and rescuing the Argonian refugees who then decide to live on Coralcola.
Following the 2006 anime film, encounters with aliens became a reoccurring Easter egg in Animal Crossing. First appearing in videogame form in New Leaf, players can still have an alien encounter in New Horizons by paying attention to a TV furniture item at 3:33 A.M. on Saturdays. These aliens are clearly a different breed from the elf-like Argonians, or Zoda himself, who appeared both as a humanoid figure wearing a horned helmet and a cape, and later in a terrifying Xenomorph-style form. The Startropics connection is, still, surprisingly reasonable for Animal Crossing. New Horizons, in particular, tasks the player with setting up a community on a tropical island, and Startropics took place in a similar island chain. It is certainly possible that C-Island is the next island over from Harv’s Island Market, which added new shops in the 2.0 Animal Crossing: New Horizons update, but no aliens.
For those intrigued by Gullivar’s name dropping, the original Startropics is included among the NES titles available with a Switch Online subscription, though Zoda’s Revenge has yet to be added to the service. Startropics’ gameplay was similar to the Zelda series, with overhead Dragon Quest-style exploration and dialogue in towns, followed by action-adventure gameplay in dungeons, complete with hearts used to indicate health. The difficulty may have made the game overwhelming at the time of its original NES release, but the save state feature included with Switch Online helps mitigate frustration.
With Gullivar’s Coralcola line, history comes full circle, in a sense. Just as Animal Crossing: New Horizons includes a nod to Startropics, Startropics itself included an homage to Nintendo’s history. Mike Jones’ robotic companion Nav-Com was modeled after the NES’ R.O.B. peripheral, a piece of vintage Nintendo hardware that was underutilized at the time of its release, with only two compatible games - though one fan has recently found a way to use R.O.B. to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.