Few online communities out there are quite as passionate as Animal Crossing fans. Those that have rallied around Nintendo's charming animal villager sim over the years are genuinely so endearing in their enthusiasm for the smallest details the games have to offer, that it's hard not to get taken in by the charm of it all.
You only need to take a look on Twitter to see how incredibly excited Animal Crossing fans are about New Horizons, the upcoming instalment for Nintendo Switch. I've honestly seen these people lose their minds over the fact that the new game will feature buildable stairs - that's how wonderfully into this franchise they are.
Over on Twitter, acuteleaf has been sharing their love of Animal Crossing for years now. Posting Animal Crossing-related memes and content, and chatting about the games with followers, the account has become something of a must-follow for fellow AC lovers on the internet. With an impressive 61.9K followers, acuteleaf is definitely an established and well-loved part of the community.
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Speaking to me over DM, acuteleaf told me that their first memories of Animal Crossing came from watching their brother play the GameCube version. Years later, they'd pick up Wild World on DS and get into the franchise in a big way. Something I feel most of us who sank hours into that first handheld Animal Crossing can relate to.
"I started this account in 2015," acuteleaf explained of their Twitter success. "It was actually for a school project that I don't even remember what for specifically. I think my group was talking about something environment related... and since I loved Animal Crossing and it's such a nature loving game, I decided to include it!"
"After that I just decided to keep the account for fun and then I got really into posting memes, and gifs, and funny text posts," they continued. "A couple of my posts ended up doing really well and my account was able to reach other AC fans! And it kinda grew from there I guess!"
But ironically for a superfan that spends their free time helping to build hype for the newest game in the series, acuteleaf wasn't actually expecting to be able to play New Horizons. See, they didn't actually own a Nintendo Switch - nor were they thinking they'd be able to pick one up anytime soon.
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Enter sergibonnel. As a fellow Animal Crossing fan who's followed acuteleaf for some time now, he told me that he's seen a few tweets from the account saying that they didn't own a Switch and wouldn't be able to play the game when it came out. So Sergi decided to step in. He created a Gofundme so that he, along with a few other fans, could club together and get acuteleaf their very own Nintendo Switch.
After just one day, and with the donations of 23 kind supporters - including one incredibly generous anonymous donation of $163 - the mission was a success. A Nintendo Switch will soon be on its way to acuteleaf, and they couldn't be more more thrilled about it.
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"I was so not expecting a free switch by any means," acuteleaf told me. "I was totally blown away by the generosity of sergibonell and the community. I know everyone works so hard for their monies and I would never ask anyone to do something like this for me - so I seriously am just very grateful and thankful and a million other synonyms."
It's clear from even a quick glance at acuteleaf's account that it's a pretty wholesome environment for Animal Crossing fans - or anyone, really. The account, they explained to me, really is just for fun, to make people smile, and reminisce about playing the older games back in the day.
Hopefully with a shiny new Switch and a copy of New Horizons, acuteleaf and their followers can make new memories together... and plenty of fresh memes, obviously.
Featured Image Credit: NintendoTopics: Switch, Animal Crossing, Nintendo
