Animal Crossing Director on Upcoming Spinoffs: "Honestly, We Just Wanted Animal Crossing Amiibo."

The Animal Crossing series is getting two spinoffs in the coming months, Happy Home Designer and Amiibo Festival. In a new interview, the director of the series has revealed that the team is making the games simply because they wanted Animal Crossing to get Amiibo figures.

Talking with USGamer, Aya Kyogoku explained that the decision to create Animal Crossing spinoffs started with the possibility of linking the series to Nintendo's Amiibo figures and cards. The developer wanted to see if it could get Animal Crossing Amiibo toys, so it designed games around them. Kyogoku also wished to escape the limitations of regular Animal Crossing games.

"One thing that we focused on was, 'What kind of game play experience can we create using Amiibo figures and Amiibo cards?'" she said. "We also went in with the approach that we didn't want to be limited in the scope of what we can do based on what Animal Crossing in the past has been. So this is the result of our endeavor and coming up with a new game play experience with Amiibos and Animal Crossing."

When Amiibo figures were announced last year, there was no tie-in to the Animal Crossing series. That motivated the team to come up with a way to connect the two properties, Kyogoku said.

"Initially when the Amiibo was announced, there was nothing really said about Animal Crossing Amiibos or any plans for that matter," she explained. "But as the Animal Crossing team, we were confident that if there was one, it would be really cute... honestly, we just wanted Animal Crossing Amiibo. We wanted the company to make Animal Crossing Amiibo, so that's why we made a game that works with them."

In Happy Home Designer, your only task is to design houses for town citizens. In Amiibo Festival, you use Amiibo figures to move around a Mario Party-like game board, doing different tasks along the way.

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer launches September 25 for 3DS, and Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival is coming later this year for the Wii U.