It’s been nearly 2 and a half years since the release of Animal Crossing New Horizons and I have FINALLY caught every insect in my Critterpedia! The final little bugger was the almost impossible to find Golden Stag.
The Golden Stag is only available 2 months out of the year (July and August) and only comes out between 5 pm and 8 am. In the 3 summer seasons since the game’s release I would spend what seemed like hours circling my island hoping against hope that I would see his shimmering little bug shell on one of my palm trees, but alas it was nothing but common saw stags. Then on August 31st, the final day of the 2022 Golden Stag hunting season, it happened. I finally found him, held my emotions in check, crept up as slowly and quietly as I could,…. stay on target, stay on target…. pulled by my net… and… BANG!
“Wooooow! I caught a golden stag! Does this mean I can retire?”
I’ve been an Animal Crossing fan since the GameCube but I’ve never really been focused on completing everyone that the game has to offer. I would play a few minutes a day, usually in the evening to wind down. Catch some bugs or fish, sell some sea shells from the sea shore and then call it a day. New Horizons has been different. Maybe it’s because the covid lockdown had everyone playing the game at the same time, or maybe it’s because I now work from home and it’s easy to jump on the Switch when time allows, but now I am more focused on that elusive 100% completion.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate Blather’s reaction to the Golden Stag… his responses to being handed insects always crack me up:
“Yes. Yes. The golden stag beetle is quite the prize thanks to its metallic gold coloring. But let me speak plainly…The golden stag is NOT made of gold. It is made of BUG, through and through. And thus it is vile! Golden stag? Bah! Gross stag is more like it.”
Gross stag… that owl is a riot.
Now that the insect and fossil wings of the Rad Island museum are complete it’s only a matter of time before I finish off the fish and sea creature sections. If everything goes as planned they should be filled up by Christmas.
Then I’ll turn my attention to completing all of the Nook Miles badges. Earning 10,000,000 bells on the Stalk Market is going to be tough but I’m up for the challenge!
For now, I’ll just bask in the glory of the fully completed insect display and wait patiently for Blathers to send me my poster in the mail.