‘Fantasy Life i’ Isn’t Even Trying To Hide Its Nintendo Influence Anymore – New Skin Is Literally Tom Nook

Level 5 celebrated selling one million copies of Fantasy Life i by giving players a free Tom Nook skin. Except, it’s not actually an official Animal Crossing outfit, despite being a direct clone of the greedy Tanuki. Fantasy Life isn’t even trying to hide how similar it is to other Nintendo properties.

‘Fantasy Life’ Gifts Players Temu Tom Nook Skin

In a June 19 tweet, Level 5 revealed that it was giving players a free gift after selling one million units of Fantasy Life i. However, many players were surprised after entering the code, as it gave them a knockoff Tom Nook skin. While it’s clearly not the Animal Crossing mascot, it’s pretty crazy how similar they look.

The Fantasy Life i Tom Nook skin even has his signature Hawaiian shirt from 2020’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I’m not alone in noticing the similarities, as the Tanuki was even trending on social media after Level 5 released the gift. Some players even jokingly called him “Tom Knack” or the “Temu version” of Tom Nook.

Over on the fantasylife subreddit, fans reacted to the Tom knockoff, with one topic creator even asking if Level 5 could “get away with it” being so similar. One user reacted, “Incoming NintenDMCA.” Another jokingly replied, “That’s Tim Crook, not Tom Nook.” Others pointed out that the Fantasy Life skin is a parody, and Nintendo won’t do anything about it. “It isn’t a direct copy of Tom Nook, so they’re getting away with it under the fact that it’s a parody.”

The Level 5 RPG Isn’t Beating The Nintendo Clone Allegations

The new Fantasy Life i Tom Nook skin actually comes from an April Fools’ joke video that Level 5 posted months back. However, the clip no longer shows up on their YouTube channel, as they delisted it 24 hours after it went live. The prank can still be viewed, though, as fans quickly saved and re-uploaded it.

While Tim Crook is clearly a nod to Animal Crossing, this isn’t the first time fans have noticed that Fantasy Life directly borrows from other Nintendo games. Did you know Fantasy Life i basically has a Deku Tree, Sword of Time, and Sheikah Slate from The Legend of Zelda? Heck, you even have to put your slate (I mean, “Weird Pad”) into towers to unlock the map. Just like in Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom.

Not that any of this is a bad thing. Fantasy Life clearly wears its influences on its sleeve. It’s actually one of my favorite games of the year, and I like it more than Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Still, it’s interesting to see Level 5 be this open with its influences. The Tim Crook Tom Nook skin is hilariously on-the-nose.