Hello Kitty Island Adventure Offers Immersive Underwater Exploration Lessons for Animal Crossing

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Despite debuting for PC and some consoles in January, Hello Kitty: Island Adventure has already proven itself as a mainstay of the simulation genre that can easily compete with giants like Stardew Valley, Disney Dreamlight Valley and the Animal Crossing franchise. In fact, the Animal Crossing franchise specifically could learn a thing or two from the new hit simulation game, as Hello Kitty: Island Adventure has introduced a perspective shift that could make the next Animal Crossing title feel even more immersive.

Hello Kitty: Island Adventure, of course, features the core gameplay of the simulation genre that many gamers are drawn towards. Collecting items, befriending Villagers, inviting visitors, and harvesting resources are all mainstays of the genre that players can expect from Hello Kitty: Island Adventure. But the game diverges from the genre with its new takes on certain simulation game staples, such as Hello Kitty: Island Adventure’s many different forms of travel. From climbing to fast travel, and even ziplines, the game has included some very helpful options. Among these, Hello Kitty: Island Adventure’s expansion of swimming involves a perspective shift that Animal Crossing should keep in mind for its next title.

Players Get to Dive into Hello Kitty: Island Adventure’s Waters

Unlike most simulation games that include swimming gameplay, Hello Kitty: Island Adventure allows its players to actually explore underwater in three dimensions. Of course, before players can dive into the deep blue waters of Friendship Island, they must first complete two separate quests.

Players must finish the “Finding Flippers” quest, which has a few prerequisites of its own. These flippers allow players to swim in Hello Kitty: Island Adventure, but not dive underwater to explore seabeds. In order to become deep sea explorers, players must also complete the “Deep Diving” quest, which is unlocked after reaching Friendship Level 6 with Kuromi and completing her first quest, “Re-Haunt The Spooky Swamp.” From there, crafting both flippers and the snorkel is simple.

Diving may seem like just a fun perspective switch for Hello Kitty: Island Adventure, but key quests and one lovable character are only available if players have both a pair of flippers and a snorkel. Hangyodon resides in the central sea map and so does My Melody’s final Welcome Gift. Sure, the scenery of Friendship Island’s waters is stunning, but the exclusive quests and characters make diving mandatory, and therefore, encourage players to admire this part of Hello Kitty: Island Adventure. The feature is also seamless for players, as flippers and snorkels are continuously equipped.

Animal Crossing Should Let Players Take a Dive

Swimming already exists in the Animal Crossing franchise, most notably in New Leaf and New Horizons. But full-fledged diving is something that the franchise lacks. Like Hello Kitty: Island Adventure, both New Leaf and New Horizons require players to acquire an item before swimming, this time a wetsuit. With a precedent already set for players to acquire items prior to swimming, it would be easy for Animal Crossing to introduce new versions of flippers or snorkels that enable diving.

Animal Crossing’s version of swimming also gives players easy access to sea creature catching. While short ten-second dives are part of sea-creature-catching gameplay, gamers don’t get to see the beautiful environment of the water surrounding their island like fans do in Hello Kitty: Island Adventure. Letting players catch these sea creatures in deeper waters would allow Animal Crossing to add more obscure sea creatures to the game that reside in the deep sea of the real world. If fishing were included in this expansion, the next Animal Crossing game could add not just new isopods, but angler fish, blobfish, and other elusive animals.

Taking pictures at coral reefs, alongside fishy friends, and in the serene deep blue waters of Animal Crossing could also make players excited about a diving feature. But until the next Animal Crossing title debuts, hopefully alongside the Switch 2, players that are interested in diving may want to give Hello Kitty: Island Adventure a shot.

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2025-03-15 16:09