Summary
TheAnimal Crossingseries is home to a wide assortment of lovable critters that play key roles in the player’s town throughout each entry. However, with the introduction of island living inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, some of these classic NPCs have been relegated to cameo characters and have lost their usual jobs. While Mr. Resetti is one of the most famous examples of this type of character, the monkey train conductor Porter, has also lost his job in this latest entry, but could be in for a huge comeback in the nextAnimal Crossinggame.
It’s not clear just how the series will iterate upon the mechanics ofAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsin the next entry, but it’s likely that the nextAnimal Crossinggame will expand onNew Hoizons’customizationand town-building potential in some way. This potential direction could mean that some previous characters who were sidelined inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonscould return to the spotlight to showcase some of the game’s new features. If the series does take this route, Porter seems like the perfect fit for a job that could be a game-changer for the nextAnimal Crossing.
Porter’s Railway Expertise Could Allow the Next Animal Crossing to Expand its World
Porter debuted in theoriginalAnimal Crossingfor GameCubeas a monkey conductor who can be found at the train station on the northern edge of the player’s town. As the train station’s attendant, Porter allowed players to visit the towns of others if the GameCube had a second memory card withAnimal Crossingsave data inserted in the other slot. However, Porter’s role in subsequentAnimal Crossinggames became greatly diminished as the methods for accessing other players' towns changed from game to game, with the character missing entirely fromAnimal Crossing: Wild WorldandAnimal Crossing: City Folk.
InAnimal Crossing: New Leaf, Porter did return, as the train was once again the method used to transport players to visit others' towns. However, outside the request to renovate the train station as a public works project,Animal Crossing: New Leafplayers have little interaction with this monkey. Porter is due for a promotion in the nextAnimal Crossinggame, and there is the potential for him to play an even bigger role in this next title.
The nextAnimal Crossingcould bring back the train as a means to travel between towns, but this time it wouldn’t just be for visiting friends' towns, rather it could allow players to save multiple towns on the same system. One of the biggest issues players who liked building unique islands had withAnimal Crossing: New Horizonswas the fact that onlyoneNew Horizonsisland could be saved per Switch. The successor toNew Horizonscould fix this issue and allow players to create multiple towns per system and link them with the railway system that includes Porter as the NPC who oversees it.
While he was initially absent inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, Porter does appear following the 2.0 update. However, this appearance is only a cameo as he is one of the potential NPCs who can be invited to the Roost.
Not only would this design solve the issue of players having to delete their current island and start over if they wanted to create a new one, but it would also bring a forgotten NPC back into the spotlight. Although Orville and Wilbur were enjoyablesubstitutes for Porter inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, it’s time that this classic character returns in a larger capacity. With the nextAnimal Crossinggame likely to be even bigger thanAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, there is a good chance that Porter and the train system will return.
