Following instructions from the takooni, whose empire also includes Nookington's, resident rep and visual artist Euan Lynn has recreated an incredibly detailed version of the station on his New Horizons island, which is named St Mary's after the tiny lighthouse-bearing island by Whitley Bay.
This is an exciting new development for Nexus, as currently the nearest Metro to St Mary's island is the Whitley Bay station. It is unknown who operates this new route, but it is rumoured that Orville and Wilbur, best known for operating the island's Dodo Airlines, will be staffing the route. It is hoped that this will help Euan's villagers on their daily commute to exciting locations such as Able Sisters, the town hall and their own homes, though it is also possible that Stitches and co. may also use it for nights out in town - once lockdown has lifted, of course. Remarkably, all services so far have had minimal disruptions and almost all have stuck to the timetable. It has been speculated that, rather than paying a fine, those discovered without valid tickets will instead be paid a visit by Resetti.
It took Euan around two hours to recreated the station virtually, which is surprisingly few given how many pieces had to be custom-made. The seats, a suitcase, a radio and the vending machine were available for him to download, but the rest he had to design himself. This includes the iconic title pattern, a community notice board and even a minute version of the Tyne and Wear Metro map, all of which he created by referring back to pictures of the station online. Perhaps surprisingly, Euan describes the iconic Calvert font that Metro uses as the most difficult thing he had to create for his virtual island.
Customer Services Director at Nexus, Huw Lewis, said: “Metro stations like Monument have an iconic and instantly-recognisable design which it’s amazing to see has even reached Animal Crossing.
“Metro is normally part of every day life in North East England, but not many of us can actually get out and travel around like we’re used to – but Metro is still obviously inspiring Euan to create new works of art and imagination while they’re cooped up at home."
Fellow New Horizons players finding the game disappointingly lacking in affordable public transport can download Euan's Monument Metro designs using his creator ID: MA-5022-8607-2411.
More of Euan's work can be seen here.
