Instant gratification for Nintendo fans and sweets lovers.

Nintendo’s Animal Crossing franchise is all about reminding us of the importance of slowing down and relaxing, but ironically we’re so excited we can’t wait for the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which doesn’t come out until March 20. That’s a whole week away, but we want to chill with our animal pals right now.

Luckily, there’s a way to satisfy our intensified craving for Animal Crossing fun, plus our constantly maxed-out craving for sweets, at the same time. Japanese candy maker Furuta has teamed up with Animal Crossing for the latest batch of its Choco Egg snacks, with each egg containing an adorable Animal Crossing figure!

In total there’re 20 figures to collect, with 18 listed on the back of the box and two secret designs. That might sound like a lot, but the best part about Animal Crossing is how it makes you feel like you’re really part of a community, and since each Choco Egg is priced at just 200 yen (US$1.95), we dug through the cushions on our couch and found enough coins to justify buying…

…three full cases, or 30 individual boxes!

Drawing opening duty for this project was our Japanese-language reporter Saya. A long-time Animal Crossing fan, she had her fingers crossed that one of the 30 figures in our bounty would be the combo of Timmy and Tommy, her personal favorite characters from the games.

Taking the first egg out of its box, she unwrapped it, cracked it open, and…

…could it be?!?

Yes! Timmy and Tommy, right off the bat!

After taking an extended break to play with her two tanuki friends, Saya, honestly just about entirely satisfied, went back to work. Next up…

…Fang, followed by…

…monetary-minded mascot Tom Nook, carrying our starter fund loans inside a pleasantly plump Bell bag!

Things were off to a great start, but with 20 possible designs for our 30 Choco Egg figures, it was only a matter of time until we started getting some duplicates, and the fifth figure was another Fang, the second member of our eventual Animal Crossing wolf pack.

▼ Getting lots of Fangs does have the added bonus of providing you with lots of prop suitcases.

After 10 eggs, our growing community consisted of:

● Timmy and Tommy

● 3 Fangs

● Tom Nook

● Molly

● Fauna

● Peanut

● Stitches

● Goldie

Moving on to Case 2, we got a big thrill with the arrival of friendly and helpful administrative assistant Isabelle!

▼ Happy fan’s-eye-view sparkles not included

Case 2 was also where we finally got one of the secret designs, which turned out to be…

…no, not a murder victim, but the Boy Villager, one of the secret figures, sporting a custom Choco Egg T-shirt.

▼ Wondering if this is going to be a clothing option in New Horizons

When we were all finished, our village looked like this.

The list of residents:

● 2 Timmys/Tommys

● 5 Fangs

● 2 Tom Nooks

● 2 Mollys

● 3 Faunas

● 1 Peanut

● 2 Stitches

● 2 Goldies

● 2 Isabelles

● 1 Mabel

● 1 Boy Villager

● 1 Blathers

● 1 Julian

● 3 Bunnies

● 1 Hamlet

● 1 Rosie

That’s not quite a complete set, as we’re still missing K.K. Slider, Caramel, Apollo, and the second secret figure (which we feel pretty confident guessing is the Girl Villager).

All in all, though, we’re extremely happy with our collection of the Animal Crossing cast, as well as with our literal stockpile of Choco Eggs to munch on.

▼ We haven’t had this many in the office since our bulk-buy of the Pokémon Choco Eggs.

We’ve actually got so many that we’ve started melting them down into hot chocolate.

So if you’re looking for us, we’ll be sitting over here sipping cocoa for a few days, and also trying to find anyone looking to trade for one of our spare Fang figures.

Photos ©SoraNews24

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[ Read in Japanese ]