Last year, DOOM Eternal i Animal Crossing: New Horizons both released on the same day, March 20th. Inspired by this minor connection, fans of the two franchises began sharing online art of a friendship between Isabelle of Animal Crossing and Doom Slayer. Both Bethesda and Nintendo are aware of this fan art and have even encouraged it. To celebrate the start of 2021, Bethesda made things a little more official, sharing an image of Doom Slayer and Isabelle’s Nendoroid figures happily playing together alongside the text “happy new horizons”. It’s a cheerful way to sound like the new year and made the fans of the friendship very happy.
Bethesda’s tweet can be found embedded below. The same image and message were also shared by DOOM’s official Twitter account.
happy new horizons pic.twitter.com/bnj8keI3l0
– Bethesda (@bethesda) January 1, 2021
It will be interesting to see if the friendship between Doom Slayer and Isabelle is recognized or not within a real game. While it would be too silly in a DOOM or Animal Crossing game, there is one place that might work: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It has long been rumored that Doom Slayer refers to the game and seems even more likely after the purchase of Bethesda by Microsoft. The publisher already has two fighters in the game and companies like Capcom, Konami and Square Enix have three representatives, so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. With Isabelle as a playable character in Definitive, it’s not hard to imagine how much fans would like to see the couple actually show up together.
For now, the friendship between Isabelle and Doom Slayer will simply have to live on thanks to these little recognitions between the two companies and through the fan art that made it something. There’s something to be said about how fans established that connection between the two franchises and how it went from a simple joke almost a year ago to a recurring connection between the two companies. Even if nothing ever comes out of it, it’s good to see the influence fans can have on games.
Are you a fan of the crossover art of the two franchises? You want Doom Slayer and Isabelle to appear together in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about all the games!