Oftentimes, fans celebrate the announcement of new characters from series like Pokémon by creating memes and fan art of its characters. This time, one modder has taken their interest a step further by adding the three starter Pokémon from the new (and unreleased) Pokémon Scarlet and Violet to the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
The developer, Doom Desire, posted images of the mod on March 6. In a video, we can see the three starters from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly, standing side by side with outfits that match their overall look and type. The Pokémon were announced alongside a new generation of games in a Pokémon Presents in February.
That said, the mod isn’t just something that any player can download onto their Switch. Doom Desire told Polygon over Twitter that they made it by taking the villager models in the game and modifying them so that they looked like each Pokémon. From there, they used the 3D modeling software Blender, and Switch Toolbox to edit the Switch game files. After that, they used a jailbroken Switch to patch their custom files into the game.
Doom Desire makes Animal Crossing mods for fun, and said that they originally had planned on making a Pokémon villager mod after playing Pokémon: Legends Arceus. “But when I saw the gen 9 starters, I thought they would easily fit the existing animal types — cat, croc, duck — without heavy changes,” they said.
For even more mods, you can catch Doom Desire’s work on their Twitter account and other social feeds.