A closer look
We almost got Pokémon with furniture. The original concept for Animal Crossing on the Nintendo 64 was a complex dungeon-crawling RPG where the player would command various animal companions to fight monsters. But as development dragged on, the hardware limitations forced them to scrap the combat entirely. Left with a bunch of cute animal models and no game, they pivoted to making a relaxing life simulator where a ruthless raccoon subjects you to predatory mortgage loans that you pay off by shaking fruit from trees.
