This Animal Crossing: New Horizons mod brings the Pokemon Scarlet starters to life as brand-new villagers

A talented modder has brought the starter Pokemon from the upcoming Pokemon Scarlet and Violet games into the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Doom Desire took to Twitter to share their creation, which gathers Fuecoco, Sprigatito, and Quaxly together in the adorable animal world as they’re accompanied by a lab coat-clad villager, meant to act as the “professor” that would normally let you choose which character you’d start the game with. The result is an amazingly realistic imagining of what it might look like if the Pokemon set foot into Animal Crossing. 

Each ‘mon is even wearing a fun little outfit that fits their elemental theme. Sprigatito is proudly sporting a T-shirt with a floral print, Fuecocoo’s shirt prominently features flames, and Quaxly’s outfit vaguely resembles another famous water fowl character: Donald Duck. 

Speaking to Polygon, modder Doom Desire noted that this project wasn’t something that anyone could just download onto the Switch, but something of a piece of art cobbled together from edited models through Blender and Switch Toolbox. The models were patched into Animal Crossing: New Horizons by way of a modded Switch. 

It’ll still be some time before we get to play around with the adorable new starters, as Pokemon Scarlet and Violet aren’t due out until late 2022. From what we know so far, it will be a “new evolutionary step” in the series with a “rich open world”, according to Nintendo. It’s certainly got everyone talking, and with Pokemon like these to adventure with, we can’t wait to see what’s next. 

Stay on top of all of the most exciting new releases coming to Nintendo’s console with our roundup of upcoming Switch games.