A dedicated Crossing animals fan has completed a 16-month quest to see all 43 artworks featured in it New horizons in real life.
In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there are 30 paintings to collect, including the Mona Lisa (simply called the “Famous Painting” in the game), and 13 sculptures, such as Michelangelo’s David (or the “Gallant Statue”, as the game calls it). All of these can be donated to the museum on your in-game island to create the ultimate virtual collection of artwork, although this is no easy task as players must differentiate between real and counterfeit pieces to complete the exhibit.
Like GameMe+ reportsTikTok and Twitch influencer mayplaystv (real name May) took this to the next level by documenting his journey to see all of these artworks in person and amassing quite a following online in the process.
From start to finish, May’s quest took him to 29 museums and exhibition venues (presumably not run by the Crossing animals series talkative curator owl, Blathers). To reach all these places was a lot of travel – in total he visited 17 cities in 10 different countries (from Italy to Japan), spread over three continents. That is no sinecure.
so 16 months, 3 continents, 10 countries, 17 cities, 29 museums and locations later…I have officially seen a version of all 43 artworks appearing in animal crossing: new horizons in real life!!! pic.twitter.com/ZwFbQwI3MuAugust 17, 2023
“Thank you to everyone who supported me with this goal,” says May tweeted, in honor of his tremendous achievement. “It really means so much and I’ve made so many friends and experiences with it (,) and I’ve traveled the world because of Crossing animals that is very surreal.”
Speaking to TRG, May says his idea first started in April 2022, when he was walking around London and saw a poster advertising that one of the paintings from New horizons was showing off. After joking that the exhibition is actually a Crossing animals exhibiting, he began to wonder where all 43 works of art goods shown, and realized that most of them could be found in Europe.
“It was easier than expected, (but) there were some obstacles along the way, like not being allowed to film in certain museums, or having to see fakes of certain pieces of art because the real copies aren’t on display,” he tells us. “There were times when museums were also closed or artworks were gone for an exhibition elsewhere, so during the goal I learned a lot about how to properly research a location.
“(I’m) always a little anxious when I travel to a new country to see a work of art, especially if they don’t have it,” he continues. “But once I get to the museum and see it, it’s a big relief, so that’s my favorite part. (My favorite) works of art I’ve seen are the statue of David, The Great Wave (near Kanagawa) and A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.”
May says he’s “overwhelmed by everyone’s nice words,” and says many have asked him to go see any of the game’s bugs or fish in real life after this. However, he has another idea.
“What I liked most about the artworks was that[they]were specific to a place,” he explains. “I saw a certain fish in many places, but the Mona Lisa, for example, was only in the Louvre. So maybe I’ll do the Gulliver items next, because they’re a bit more specific, like the pyramids and Stonehenge.
New horizons might be the The one from Nintendo Switch best wholesome fun game – it completely took over the internet when it launched in 2020, offering friends a friendly cute title to play together even when they’re not together. However, it got its last major content update in 2021, so many players have now, ironically, moved to new horizons, looking for new things to play.
For more great Nintendo games, check out our selection of the very best nintendo switch games now available. You can also view our list of upcoming Switch games to see what comes out later this year.