A Short Hike composer drew inspiration from Animal Crossing: New Leaf melodies

A Short Hike is one of the most relaxing games you can find on Switch. This award-winning title lets you play at your own pace as you explore a beautiful mountain, making friends and finding treasures along the way. It’s like a warm, digital hug, and the whole adventure is made all the more enjoyable by the game’s fantastic soundtrack.

The melodies for A Short Hike were created by composer Mark Sparling, and in an interview with Polygon, we learn that Sparling was inspired by the sounds of Animal Crossing: New Leaf in particular to create at least one of the game’s tracks.

The instrumentation for “Somewhere in the Woods” from A Short Hike is kind of a mix between Sufjan Stevens and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I wanted to layer the guitars (and other instruments) in a way that Sufjan does on a lot of his songs on Carrie & Lowell. The cute, minimalist percussion was very much inspired by New Leaf.

(Mark Sparling, composer)

If you want to hear the Animal Crossing: New Leaf-inspired track Sparling is talking about, you can listen to it below. For Animal Crossing fans in general, it should be pretty easy to recognize the inspiration.