A lot of Animal Crossing: New Horizons fans were surprised by the recent Sanrio collaboration, introducing the game's first batch of new villagers along with a haul of exclusive new items.

When Nintendo announced that the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Sanrio collaboration amiibo cards would be making their way to the west, many fans began to wonder if the cards would bring more new content to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. While the Sanrio amiibo cards have been available for some time in Japan, scanning them into Animal Crossing: New Horizons would only unlock a few promotional in-game posters. Now that fans know they'll also be able to unlock exclusive Sanrio villagers and themed furniture sets, the floodgates for desired Animal Crossing crossovers has been blown wide open

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The Zelda franchise has crossed paths with Animal Crossing in the past. While fans would likely be pleased with the return of villagers like Epona and Ganon, it might be a good idea to give fans a new set of faces to become familiar with. It would be interesting if, around the timing of Breath of the Wild 2's release, Nintendo could create a set of villagers based on the Breath of the Wild champions. Characters like Daruk and Revali would make great jock and cranky villagers, and they'd likely look equally as adorable.

A Breath of the Wild collaboration could give players a new sense of variety in terms of items. As with the recent Mario collaboration, the return of iconic items like the Master Sword and the Triforce would be mandatory, but Nintendo could also introduce Breath of the Wild's Shiekah technology as furniture. At the moment, Animal Crossing: New Horizons doesn't feature most of the more surreal furniture found in past games, but new shiekah furniture and items could bring a new sci-fi element aesthetic to the game, something perfect for getting an island or home designer's creative juices flowing.

Splatoon has done nothing but continue to expand and evolve as a series. Like Zelda, Splatoon has done a collaboration with Animal Crossing in the past, introducing squirrel sister villagers Cece and Viche along with Inkwell the octopus. Animal Crossing: New Horizons currently only has three octopus villagers so a fourth would definitely be appreciated. Nintendo wouldn't need to stop there either. Splatoon fans would likely get a kick out of seeing new octopus villagers based on Marina and Pearl from Splatoon 2.

With the ability to place furniture outside, players would likely be able to do a lot with Splatoon items. Islands going for a more urban look could have graffiti covered items all over, essentially transforming a player's island into one of Splatoon's battlegrounds. There's even a chance that players would be able to carry their very own splattershot blaster, giving fans something to do together on their islands as they wait patiently for Splatoon 3.

Star Fox fans can sometimes go years without seeing any love for their favorite anthropomorphic space pilots. With no reveals or hints about a new Star Fox project in the works, there's no telling when or even if the series will make an appearance on the Switch. To help keep the series relevant however, Nintendo could reintroduce the characters to the masses through Animal Crossing. The great thing about a potential Star Fox collaboration is that rather than themed villagers referencing their source material, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has everything it needs to bring the cast in directly. Wolves, birds (or eagles), bunnies, and frogs are all present in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so it wouldn't be too wild to imagine the Star Fox crew in the game.

Along with many other famous Nintendo items, Star Fox's Arwing ship has made it into a few Animal Crossing games in the past. Animal Crossing: New Horizons could bring some of the series' other vehicles like the Landmaster or the Great Fox. Pairing it up with space items already featured in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, fans would have the opportunity to honor the Star Fox series in their own way. It might not be a new game, but it would be great to see the Star Fox crew relaxing on an island until their next big mission.

The original Monster Hunter collaboration with the Animal Crossing series came as an unexpected but welcome surprise to fans of both franchises. Monster Hunter's felyne mascot made for a great addition to Animal Crossing's lineup of villagers and it brought unique items that paid homage to the Monster Hunter series. It would only make sense to have Felyne return for the sake of promoting Monster Hunter Rise but this time, Felyne could be joined by the newest companion seen in Monster Hunter Rise, the palamute.

Felyne and a palamute villager could carry the themes of Monster Hunter Rise with them in terms of items. While Felyne would have a lot of the furniture themed around classic Monster Hunter titles, the new palamute villager could could introduce furniture matching the Japanese inspired style featured in Monster Hunter Rise. This collaboration could be a great way to introduce unfamiliar players to the Monster Hunter series while continuing to promote the highly anticipated Monster Hunter Rise.

It's almost unbelievable, but Tamagotchis have made a comeback in America within recent years. Bandai released a new Tamagotchi in the west in 2018 that brought the v-pets into the modern age and has continued to release a a variety of collaboration devices with series like Pokemon, Neon Genesis Evangelion and even Demon Slayer. A collaboration with Animal Crossing: New Horizons would be a great way to continue expanding the series' reach in the west, reminding fans that the Tamagotchi brand is more than just 90's nostalgia.

A Tamagotchi collaboration for Animal Crossing could be similar to the upcoming Sanrio collaboration, featuring themed villagers along with a batch of new furniture for each one. What makes a joint project with Tamagotchi so appealing though is that it wouldn't need to stop at extra content in the game. In return, there could be Animal Crossing themed Tamagotchis, allowing players to raise and take care of some of their favorite villagers as v-pets. Little would be more cute than an entire line of pocket-sized villagers for fans to collect.

There's really no telling what Animal Crossing: New Horizons crossover projects Nintendo has in mind or how often they're going to happen. With how excited fans are for the Sanrio collaboration villagers and items and the fact that Nintendo plans to support the game for years, things are only looking up for the Animal Crossing series.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is currently available on the Nintendo Switch.

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