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Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released right on the brink of the pandemic when the world was shutting down. At such a time, Nintendo dropped its life-simulation title to maintain some semblance of reality, as players were required to build a life for themselves and their anthropomorphic villagers on the deserted island by using the limited resources provided to them by Tom Nook.
Over time, players began to discover several hidden pop culture references within the game, which made it a lot more interesting. Here are a few such pop culture references that make Animal Crossing: New Horizons very enjoyable for its players.
Popular culture references players found in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
1) Alfonso is a reference to Mario from the Mario series
Alfonso is a lazy alligator villager in New Horizons. He can be seen sporting a bright red outfit with the letter M on it. This is an obvious reference to the titular character from Nintendo's Mario series.
Furthermore, Alfonso's character's tagline is "it'sa me," which is also derived from Mario's catchphrase in Super Mario 64, "It's-a me, Mario."
2) Apollo
Apollo is an eagle villager in New Horizons, and his name is often considered to be a reference to the Apollo space program by NASA in the USA. Moreover, the villager is an eagle villager, which is the national bird of the nation.
Apart from this, Apollo's birthday is on July 4, the American Independence Day.
3) Marlo is inspired by Marlon Brando
Marlo is a cranky hamster villager in New Horizons, whose character has been inspired by the American actor Marlon Brando, who was popular for his role as Don Vito Corleone in the 1972 film adaptation of Mario Puzo's The Godfather.
Marlo even looks like a crime boss, which only adds to his resemblance to Marlon Brando.
4) Louie's outfits are inspired by Mario
Louie is a jock gorilla villager in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and his initial two outfits, the Li'l Bro's shirt and the Big Bro's shirt, are inspired by both Luigi and Mario from the Mario franchise.
On top of that, his appearance also seems to be a reference to Donkey Kong.
These are some of the most interesting popular culture references that are hidden in New Horizons.
