Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo. The series was conceptualized and created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. In Animal Crossing, the player character is a human who lives in a village inhabited by various anthropomorphic animals and can do various activities like fishing, bug catching, and fossil hunting. The series is notable for its open-ended gameplay and use of the video game console's internal clock and calendar to simulate real passage of time.