Animal Crossing's Hello Kitty Collab Was A Wasted Opportunity

Launching all the way back in 2012, Animal Crossing: New Leaf has quickly become a staple of the Animal Crossing franchise. With some of the most novel gameplay in the series, players still return to this classic as much as they do the newest entry, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. But one thing in particular about the New Leaf era could have been a huge success for Nintendo: New Leaf‘s Hello Kitty collab.

With an assortment of Amiibo cards released throughout the game’s lifetime, fans have been eagerly snatching up the selection that Nintendo has had to offer. Delivering players some of their favorite characters straight to their villages, or adding unique interactions with core NPCs, Amiibo’s have always had a lot of potential. But the 2016 Sanrio Amiibo cards are still to this day some of the most sought after of the bunch.

Animal Crossing’s Sanrio Amiibo Cards Were A Big Hit

Players Battled Scalpers For These Unique Amiibo Cards

Despite being released in 2016, the Sanrio Amiibo collection is still to this day a favorite for many fans out there. With a range of cute villagers from Étoile to Chelsea, as well as Hello Kitty- and My Melody-themed furniture items, these cards added a lot of cuteness to every player’s game. With such steep popularity, many of Sanrio Amiibo cards were prey to scalpers online, resold for higher prices and limited in who could truly get their hands on them.

Through so much success, it’s clear that the Sanrio Amiibo collection would’ve been easy money for Nintendo. As so many players yearned to get the exclusive furniture of the drops, as well as the gorgeous cards, it seemed like a no-brainer that there would be future collaborations to match the success. But as the only Amiibo collaboration in Animal Crossing history, this Sanrio hit will go down as one of the most successful but under-utilized bouts of potential that Nintendo could’ve built on.

Why Is Sanrio The Only Amiibo Card Collab For Animal Crossing?

This Hit Success Deserved Better

Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Sanrio collaboration

While games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons experimented with collaborations like Super Mario through unique clothing and furniture like warp pipes, Nintendo still hasn’t made full-use of its Amiibo potential. With players eager to see more Nintendo collaborations like The Legend of Zelda through a gorgeous ocarina, clothing, or weaponry, it’s a certainty that uniquely designed Amiibo cards for these kinds of releases would be vastly sought after. Even Pokémon could be implemented within the games, whether it be new characters or just items.

With so much opportunity just under the Nintendo license, as well as the chance to collaborate with other brands like Sanrio, it seems to be a missed opportunity that there’s only been one Amiibo collaboration in the lifetime of Animal Crossing. Whether it be large hits like Spider-Man or indie game inclusions like Stray, there’s so much that Amiibo cards could’ve included that just never saw the light of day. Despite picking up so many sales and reaching such large audiences, it’s evident that the Sanrio collaboration with Animal Crossing was very much a wasted chance to be something much greater.