The Tokyo Fire Department is using Animal Crossing: New Horizons to share disaster preparedness and general safety tips on Twitter. It’s just one of the many creative ways that players have found to use the latest Animal Crossing for more than just relaxation, most of which involve recreating iconic characters or locations from TV shows and other games. Some players have taken things further, though, turning their New Horizons expertise into businesses and even hosting an online talk show in the game.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a great game as it is, but its customization features have given it a life beyond what its creators officially put into it. With the ability to customize a character, decorate their house, and even terraform an entire island, New Horizons has been the subject of endless clever crossovers and homages since it launched this March.
One unfortunate factor in Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ popularity is that it landed right as the coronavirus pandemic was getting serious for many people, leading to lots of players stuck inside and in desperate need of stress relief. The pandemic has of course disrupted life in lots of other ways, apparently including getting in the way of disaster preparedness efforts. That’s led the Tokyo Fire Department to use New Horizons to help spread the word about safety, according to Nintendo Soup, which translated some recent tweets from the department. The Tokyo Fire Department Twitter account announced its plans to find alternate ways to share safety tips along with an Animal Crossing screenshot, saying that it’s had fewer opportunities to spread the word the old fashioned way. Since then, the department has started sharing safety tips illustrated in New Horizons, including advice on how to avoid heat stroke and stay safe while swimming.
For many people, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been serving as a way to keep in touch with friends and express some creativity while practicing social distancing. Now, it’s becoming a platform for virtual summer vacations. Recent updates have added fireworks shows, given characters the ability to swim, and enabled players to visit other islands while dreaming. One of those may not be a typical summer activity, but it still provides a nice getaway.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons has proven to be more versatile than anyone could have predicted, becoming a platform for socializing and communication. The Tokyo Fire Department’s disaster preparedness updates may be the most original use of Animal Crossing: New Horizons yet, and one that’s as helpful as it is charming.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available on the Nintendo Switch.
Source: Nintendo Soup, Tokyo_Fire_D/Twitter