The Red Bulletin June 2020 (US)

35
Games developer, 55, JPN.
For Nintendo, Eguchi worked on Super
Mario World, Star Fox and Wii Sports, but
his most famous game is Animal Crossing.
36
Diver and conservationist, 22, PYF.
The French Polynesian founded Coral
Gardeners—a project to restore and
conserve coral reefs—four years ago.
Katsuya
Eguchi
Titouan
Bernicot
NINTENDO, BEN ONO TOM GUISE, PATRICIA OUDIT
Company Man
On March 27, panic shook the
world: the Nintendo Switch was
sold out. A week earlier, a new
Switch game, Animal Crossing:
New Horizons, had been
launched alongside a limited
edition of the console featuring
images of its characters. Now
you could only buy one on
eBay, at twice its retail price.
The game’s popularity,
prompted by people seeking
distraction while stuck at home,
also connected on a deeper
level. Your character lives on an
island where they can pick fruit,
fish, decorate their house,
and—most vitally—go to other
players’ islands, with time
zones and seasons matching
their location. It’s a tonic for
those missing the company of
friends and family they can no
longer visit.
Released in 2001, Eguchi’s
original game was inspired by
his experiences of moving
more than 300 miles to work at
Nintendo’s Kyoto office as a
21-year-old: “I’d left my family
and friends behind. Being able
to talk and play with them was
important.” He devised
gameplay that later, when he
was a father, let his children
know he’d visited while they
slept: “The kids could play it
after school and I could play
when I got home at night; be a
part of what they were doing
while I wasn’t around.”
The game has struck a
chord with celebrities, with
the likes of Chrissy Teigen and
Brie Larson posting their
Animal Crossing musings on
social media. As British
comedian Stephen Fry reflects,
“Is it a metaphor for life itself?
I hope not, for I may have
pitched my tent ill-advisedly.”
animal-crossing.com
Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Nintendo Switch. It’s all
about “family, friendship and community,” says Eguchi.
Reef relief: Bernicot is saving the underwater world.
The Coral Campaigner
Today, 40 percent of coral reefs are gone. But
Titouan Bernicot fights on to regenerate and save
the remaining 60 percent. It’s essential.
“Half of the earth’s oxygen comes from the
oceans, and the coral reefs are the lungs,” he says.
“We must protect the reefs if we want to continue
breathing. The chief aim of my Coral Gardeners
project is to educate the public about the
importance of the coral reefs by spreading the word
in schools and online campaigns. Our program is
original: We’re asking people around the world to
adopt a reef. I planted my first coral when I was 16
and saw it triple in volume and swarm with crabs—
all in the space of just a few months!
“If we do this at scale, our lagoons will be
reborn. Bringing the coral reefs back to their
former splendor might seem utopian—some
think the reefs are finished—but I want to dream
up ways of saving them. Some corals are incredibly
tough and resilient—like the Red Sea reefs, which
are highly resistant to extreme heat.
“Deep-sea corals are another cause for optimism
as scientists examine how they reproduce and
produce larvae to reseed the shallow-water reefs
that are more vulnerable to the effects of global
warming. If we drastically reduce our carbon
footprint in the future, there is still hope.”
coralgardeners.org
THE RED BULLETIN 57