One BOTW player recently showcased how Hyrule’s NPCs are more terrified of bees than Animal Crossing: New Horizon’s villagers are of wasps.
While there are many dangers throughout The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, one player recently discovered that the denizens of Hyrule have a fear of bees and wasps that rivals the terror villagers in Animal Crossing: New Horizons experience when they encounter their game’s version of these insects. Nintendo’s most recent mainline entries for its Zelda and Animal Crossing series were released for the Switch to both major critical and financial success in 2017 and 2020 respectfully.
Besides being published by the same company, BOTW and Animal Crossing: New Horizons are two very different games. Like most Zelda titles, the game focuses on exploration and puzzle solving with BOTW containing the most diverse combat the franchise has seen to date. In contrast, Nintendo’s latest social simulator with cute anthropomorphic animals focuses on creation and creativity with little to no violence in it. What little the two titles have in common revolves around extensive rosters of unique NPCs as well as a few mechanics that are not direct copies of one another, but instead simply call to mind the vague similarities.
One such mechanic is how NPCs in both Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Animal Crossing: New Horizons react when close to angry bees or wasps. As shared by Reddit user TheLumbagoLord, Hyrule’s citizens will flee as fast as they can – and sometimes even trip over themselves – as they try to get away from the swarm of insects. One comment pointed out that this is how many NPCs react to hostiles in-game and bees are included in this designation. On the flip side, Animal Crossing players are the ones in danger from wasps, though villagers will react in horror should one come close.
The response from BOTW‘s NPCs is significantly more extreme when compared to how wasps are handled in Animal Crossing. Most villagers will simply make a frightened comment if the player is still being chased by the cloud of insects when spoken to. New Horizons villagers can also supply the DIY Recipe for Medicine to deal with stings after the player has fallen victim to the angry swarm.
It is an odd yet amusing common thread that multiple Nintendo titles have stinging insect swarms that simultaneously pose harm to the player and frighten nearby NPCs. The recent installments in both the Zelda and Animal Crossing franchises are extensive titles in their own right, with players still constructing their islands more than two years post-launch in New Horizons, and some BOTW secrets remaining unsolved after five years. The fact that they share that particular design choice could just be a coincidence, or it demonstrates a strange cohesiveness that Nintendo is choosing to put in its recent titles.
Source: TheLumbagoLord/Reddit
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