Animal Crossing’s aquarium collaboration is the perfect day out

Alongside Pokémon, Animal Crossing was one of the first videogame series to sink its hooks into me at a young age. Ever since I got my hands on Wild World after hearing people at school talking about it, I’ve loved the series dearly, so naturally, I’ll jump at the chance to do anything Animal Crossing-related.

Ever since the first Animal Crossing: New Horizons Hakkeijima Sea Paradise collaboration in 2021, I’ve been hoping that Nintendo would bring the experience a little closer to my home, and those hopes were answered. In January 2025, Sea Life announced that its centers across the UK would be hosting the immensely popular cozy game, starting in Manchester.

Unlike Nintendo’s previous collaborations with Sea Paradise and Seattle Aquarium, which only had one location, the Sea Life experience is touring around several locations, so my experience might not reflect yours if you choose to visit Birmingham or London’s Sea Life Centre. Each aquarium is a little different, varying in size, cost, and exhibits, so keep that in mind! Also, the Animal Crossing content is purely additive, so if you’ve recently visited your local Sea Life Centre, you might not get as much out of it as I did, as I hadn’t visited Manchester’s location in around six years.

At the start of our trip around the aquarium, my friends and I received a stamp rally sheet and an adorable Animal Crossing-themed activity leaflet, filled with fun facts and challenges to complete using the information around the exhibits. This encouraged us to fully read and digest the information on each tank, rather than just looking at the creatures.

Sea Life already has plenty of informative signs on each of its exhibits, but they added tons more that are written in the style of Blathers, which was really charming. Each display felt like an interaction with the owl in the game, filled with personality and novel information. They even included his disdain for crustaceans!

The stamp rally was simple enough to follow – each section of the aquarium had a stamp station for two villagers, and you just needed to collect them all as you passed by. Stamp rallies are nowhere near as common in the West as they are in Japan, making the whole experience feel novel, though I hope the employees are able to refill the ink in the stamps, as some of them were already running dry during my visit. If you collect all the stamps, you can show the cashier in the gift shop and claim a commemorative postcard, which is now proudly displayed on my wall.

The biggest draw for most people to the Animal Crossing Sea Life collaboration is the opportunity to meet both Tom Nook and Isabelle. Without a Nintendo Museum or even a Universal Studios Theme Park in the UK, we get very little opportunity to meet and greet Nintendo characters, so getting to see the mascot suits in person was a delight. They’re extremely high quality, and Isabelle’s hair bells jingle as she walks past – so cute!

The meet and greet area felt a little impromptu, sitting just outside the center’s soft play area, but the staff were extremely efficient at taking photos and organizing the queues, so they really made the best of a sub-par situation. I’d recommend they move the photo area outside if the event ever returns, but it wasn’t a huge hassle.

Games like Animal Crossing and others that incorporate real-world wildlife have a great opportunity to be educational while still being entertaining for all ages, and I think this collaboration really encapsulates that. I’m not sure that Nintendo and Sea Life were expecting their main audience to be crowds of 20-something gamers, but much like the game itself, the experience appeals to a wide audience and makes for a great day out with family or friends. I used to love parroting wildlife facts that I’d learnt from Animal Crossing to anyone who would listen, and the series has definitely contributed to my ongoing fascination with the ocean.

If you fancy visiting Blathers’ museum in real life, make sure to check out the Sea Life website to find out where the collaboration is heading next and how to book tickets. Alternatively, find out more about Animal Crossing’s history in our feature, or get the lowdown on the series’ newest mobile game in our Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete review.