Animal Crossing: New Horizons is getting a major crossover next year. If you think the timing is odd, it lines up with Super Mario 3D All-Stars going into the Nintendo vault in March.
Cynics might say that Nintendo is trying to squeeze every penny out of two of its largest IPs by removing one and placing it in the other's universe; thereby encouraging players to get both games—or at least encouraging Mario fans to play more Animal Crossing. Those who are more forgiving may say that Animal Crossing has regular updates and the addition of Mario simply helps keep the game fresher for longer.
Either way, Mario is making its way (his way?) to Animal Crossing in March of next year. Isabelle—Animal Crossing's Twitter account—simply announced that there would be Mario themed furniture coming, so we don't know exactly what to expect. Obviously, it will be furniture of some kind, but what that furniture is, or which Mario characters will be featured is anyone's guess at this point. We're at least hoping for a Koopa chair.
As to why this crossover needs to wait until March, no reason was given. Perhaps March will become the "month of Mario" to make up for the arbitrary removal of 3D All-Stars. Perhaps it'll just be the same furniture that we already have, except, you know...with Mario themes. We assume that it'll be something worthwhile, given Animal Crossing's history of putting time and love into its content updates, but with Nintendo's new marketing ploys, we're somewhat wary of it.
Ultimately, we hope that both games are done justice. They are both beloved by many, many people all over the world, and deserve to be treated with respect. Specifically, the fans, deserve to be treated with respect. There would be nothing worse than to have this potentially great crossover be a bald-faced cash grab. However, our faith is in the Animal Crossing team to pull through for us and create something truly special. They have six months to make it happen—which is a strangely long period of time between the announcement and release—so it should be special.
Source: Twitter