All posts tagged in Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Oct 11, 2020
Halloween is coming up and I love nothing more than to cozy up with some of my favorite video games and celebrate the holidays in my favorite virtual worlds. Decorating my environment or simply enjoying the festive time with my favorite game characters is just so much fun. Here are some of the spooky or not so spooky games I look forward to playing this Halloween season!
Animal Crossing New Leaf
It has been 8 years that Animal Crossing New Leaf was released and I still pick it up frequently. Of course I am working hard to decorate my island in New Horizons, but New Leaf is still a lot of fun as well and I have yet to say goodbye to my old village on the 3DS.
The game features a really fun Halloween event where you can collect lollipops and various candy pieces from villagers in your town. You then have the choice to exchange these goodies with Jack who will be in your town on October 31st, Depending on what you hand over, you will get Spooky or Creepy furniture! Animal Crossing New Leaf is currently available on the Nintendo 3DS / 2DS.
Night in the Woods
Night in the Woods is an autumnal themed indie adventure game. Highly relatable to many, the game shows the crumbling former mining town of Possum Springs. After the protagonist, Mae Borowski drops out of college and returns to her hometown, she finds things as gloomy and hopeless as ever. But this time there’s something more. Strange and eery occurrences are happening. And there’s something in the woods. This charming game with beautiful music can be played on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Xbox One, Android, Macintosh operating systems, and iOS.
Luigi Mansion 3
Nintendo announced during their Nintendo Direct at E3 2019 that Luigi’s Mansion 3 is coming to the Nintendo Switch on October 31st, 2019. Now a year after its initial release, Luigi receives a dream vacation package with Mario and friends to a luxurious hotel. Once there however, King Boo reveals everything had been a ploy and now everyone is captured! Each floor of the hotel is its own unique level but this time, you don’t have to do it alone!
Thimbleweed Park
Thimbleweed Park is a puzzle-mystery game that features pixel graphics. The tiny town of Thimbleweed Park is home to 80 very strange people. Five people with nothing in common are drawn to the town. Although they might not yet know it, they are all deeply connected. They’re also all being watched. From a rotting corpse to an abandoned circus, the game is a far cry from Stardew Valley. The game is available to play on Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Linux, and Mac.
Costume Quest & Costume Quest 2
Costume Quest is a Halloween-themed party-based RPG game. The game is developed by Double Fine Productions and published by THQ. The player controls a kid who is out trick-or-treating with their twin sibling. When their twin is kidnapped by a monster, the player must travel around the neighborhood and collect candy, items for their costume, and other children to aid them in fighting the monster and rescuing their sibling.
The game was released on October 19th, 2010, and can be played on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, and Android. The game’s sequel, Costume Quest 2 was released on October 31st, 2014. You can check out Costume Quest and Costume Quest 2 on Steam for more details!
Little Nightmares
Little Nightmares is a stop-motion-esque game, with an environment uncomfortably reminiscent of one’s childhood nightmares. The game is a puzzle-platformer horror adventure game that utilizes imagery, empathy, and strange and bizarre encounters (as opposed to overused jump-scares) in order to evoke a sense of horror. With the PC version of the game garnering a score of 81/100, critics praised the game’s atmosphere, graphics, and audio.
Animal Crossing Pocket Camp
Animal Crossing Pocket Camp is the mobile version of the much beloved Animal Crossing series. While it doesn’t offer the freedom of the console games, it still does a great job at delivering a super cute gaming experience. During the month of October there will be plenty of Halloween themed events with spooky furniture and decoration items that you can use to turn your campsite into the ultimate Halloween Haunted House.
If you are on the lookout for a new game, check out my list of 13 magnificent pixel-art games that you don’t want to miss out on!
- Sep 21, 2020
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the first game in the franchise to not have seasonal events ingrained. To stop players from time travelling and experiencing seasonal events out of season, Nintendo have been introducing them via updates instead. Additionally, Nintendo haven’t been very forthcoming in sharing details about Halloween in Animal crossing: new Horizons. Only confirming that there will indeed be a Halloween event, the Big N have been trick-and-no-treating players super early!
An accurate representation of Nintendo winding us up Jack Is Back
Jack is a visiting spectre-like character with a pumpkin for a head. Like Zipper (who would actually be a creepier king of Halloween), Jack has a relatively humanoid appearance, but is rather short. It is almost certain he will make an appearance in New Horizons due to the presence of his Jack-o’-lantern head in Nintendo’s updates.
Shops Get A Spooky Makeover
Whilst we don’t know a lot about what the Halloween event will entail, there are some things we know for sure. It has been confirmed (thanks to Nintendo Direct gameplay footage), that your island’s shop exteriors will get a spooky makeover!
Are Animals Feeling Spooky?
Yes! At least enough to want to decorate the exteriors of their homes for Halloween. In regards to whether they will go trick or treating, we’ll just have to patiently wait and see. In the meantime, there’s nothing stopping us from getting spooky! Why not give your island a Halloween makeover with these awesome ideas?
A Blast From The Past
Halloween varies slightly throughout the Animal Crossing series. However, there are some notable elements of continuity. These include:
- Jack paying a visit on Halloween
- Trading candy/lollipops for halloween-themed furniture
- Costumes/masks
Running for your life from anthropomorphic animalsResidents getting spooky- Residents getting spooked
- That Halloween music that suggests you are about to see some freaky
walking, talking Jack-o’-lanterns
This consistency throughout the series means that we are likely to see the above features in New Horizons also.
Halloween-Themed Furniture We Might See
Animal Crossing: New Horizons could see the return of the following furniture from the Spooky Series:
- Pumpkin bed
- Pumpkin dresser
- Pumpkin lamp
- Pumpkin shelf
- Pumpkin cabinet
- Pumpkin sofa
- Pumpkin mirror
- Pumpkin chair
- Pumpkin style
- Pumpkin watch
- Pumpkin wall lamp
- Pumpkin wallpaper
- Pumpkin carpet
We could also see the return of the Creepy Series items introduced in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The Creepy Series consists of the following items:
- Scary Crystal
- Scary cauldron
- Horror Stone
- Scary mouse stone
- Scary skeleton
- Scary statue
- Scary coffin
- Scary watch
- Scary floor
- Scary wallpaper
Tips Based On Past Halloween Events
- Leave two free spaces in your inventory
- Have one undesired item on your person
- Do NOT have items in your inventory that you like
- Do NOT wear clothing items that you like
- If ‘Jack’ (residents dressed up as him) runs towards you, be sure to start running too; in the opposite direction.
- Jun 23, 2020
It’s true that MyPotatoGames posted an article on things that fans would like to see in the game. However, some of these have now been fulfilled. Additionally, as a few months have passed, players have noticed more things that would make the gameplay experience more enjoyable. Whether it be slight glitches, some multiplayer issues, spontaneous travelling merchants, etc, there are definitely a few more features and improvements that players would like to see.
I took the effort to ask fans what features they would like and improvements that could be made. There’s no denying that the game is extraordinarily entertaining, but take notes Nintendo, as I received hundreds of responses. 😂 Here are some features that would improve Animal Crossing: New Horizons even further.
Nintendo did promised us at least three more years of updates coming to New Horizons so hopefully we will be seeing at least some of these features in the game one day!
General Island-Related Features To Improve Gameplay
- Having two separate options when terraforming (build and destroy) to save so much time, effort and frustration,
and lessen the chance of a Switch console being yeeted out of a window. - Campers being able to roam around your island when visiting
- Having more items on sale in Nook’s Cranny
- Not being followed around by Mabel and the Nooklings when browsing in their shops (social distancing is a thing guys! Don’t make me get my yard stick!) 😂
- Allow bridges and inclines to be built the same day
- Return of the
Jediever so slightly creepy gyroids. - An island planner (like the ones online) that make laying paths, terraforming, relocating things, etc, easier
- Being able to relocate the town square. Many players have unfortunately ended up with theirs very close to the airport. However, that’s not to say you can’t work around this. As these awesome island entrances demonstrate:
Features From New Leaf That Would Be Nice
- Being able to swim in the sea (and look around underwater) 🏊
- Furniture series such as the Mermaid Series, Princess Series, various Sanrio sets, etc. 😔
- The introduction of more shops. I miss GracieGrace‘s furniture and clothing, as well as Leif’s gardening store 😭
- Minigames/multiplayer minigames like on the New Leaf island tours
- Animals popping over to your house, or scheduling times to come and visit
- The return of the dream suite, or introducing a similar feature
Features From Pocket Camp That Would Be Nice
- The addition of cute and quirky hairstyles and wigs from Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
- The addition of cool items from Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. For example the cute tents, swings, ferris wheel, treehouse etc.
- Animals being able to chill in pools, play on things, and interact with more items like they can in Pocket Camp
Characters From Previous Games That Need To Return
- Pete (
so I can shoot him down with a slingshot muahaha) - Tortimer (and his minigames)
- Brewster (and The Roost)
- Katrina
- Pascal
Kapp’n- Phyllis. (She is my spirit animal)
Features Regarding Visiting NPC’s
- A genie’s lamp to trap Wisp the absolute pest in
- Map markers to show where islanders and NPC’s are located on your island. (Celeste deserves to be featured in the Guiness World Records for best at hide and seek).
- The ability to use Mom’s tissues to wipe Daisy-Mae’s snotty nose
- A GPS ankle tracker for Gulliver (please!)
- Bail Redd out of jail so he actually visits my island again
Residents
- The option to muzzle islanders who sing for two hours straight. JK. Kinda..
- New dialogue for characters, as it can be quite repetitive
- Give the animals a bit more personality
- Getting more requests from animals, and receiving more interesting tasks
- Allowing more villagers to inhabit your island. There’s just too many cute ones! Fans have suggested 12-15 would be a reasonable amount.
- Having animals remember you if they leave and then move back in
- BRING BACK THE SAVAGERY
Events
- Bringing back the flower fest
- Reintroducing the flea market
- Reinstating Valentine’s Day
- Carrying on the tradition of fireworks shows
- Bringing back Leif’s Weeding Day and the Flower Set furniture rewards
Isabelle – (Yes she gets her own section 😂)
- The ability to
sack Isabellemake Isabelle use a swear jar, or rather, a ‘no-one-cares-that-my-new-magazine-arrived-or-that-I-found-a-missing-sock’ jar. - Have announcements from Isabelle when travelling merchants and special NPC’s such as Flick, Saharah, and Redd (when he does..😠) are visiting
- Apart from news-that-isn’t-news, and the occasional announcement, Isabelle doesn’t really do a lot. Somebody give that poor doggo a purpose!
Features That Would Save Players Time And Effort
- The ability to batch craft items
- Being able to bulk buy items such as customization kits
- Purchasing multiple items at once in the Able Sisters’ changing room
- Stronger tool durability, or at least making golden tools indestructible like in previous Animal Crossing games
- Being able to order more than 5 items from the shopping catalogue each day (I’m a shopaholic okay?!)
- Being able to rotate the camera 360°
- Having a bank card to use when shopping to avoid having to withdraw bells from the ATM in Residents Services
Storage & Space
- More storage space in your character’s home
- Being able to store DIY materials in workbenches to save on storage space
- Being able to store clothing and accessories in wardrobes to also save on storage space
- The ability the access your storage when outside of your home
- Being able to put flowers (stems) in storage. You can put three monster statues, a teacup ride, three jungle gyms, two oarfish and a shark in storage, but heaven forbid you try to store one white cosmos plant
- MORE DESIGN SLOTS!!
- Bigger side (and back) rooms in your house
DIY Recipes
Being able to slap that duplicate DIY recipe out of an animal’s hand when they force you to take it. Kindly being able to decline duplicate DIY recipes offered by crafting animals.- Actually being able to put DIY recipes in your storage
- Or introducing a storage box (or something similar) to store DIY recipes
- More frequent balloon presents and message bottles containing DIY recipes
Fun Features
- A museum gift shop (as has been hinted)
- A Nintendo app to link to the game that tracks steps (like the 3DS pedometer), and then rewards players with in-game items for exercising. (Two
owlsbirds with one stone!). - A feature that allows players to cook! (
all of the darn Sea Bass) - I wanna be able to kick the soccer ball and move about with it.. 🥺
- Being able to do things like play minigames on the switch console items
- The ability to participate in activities that islanders can do. For example, yoga, weight-lighting, tea-drinking in the square, dangerously running around with sticks in my hands, etc. Just the normal stuff 😊
Decor-related Features
- Being able to place rugs outside in order to save design slots for picnic blankets
- The ability to decorate the interior and exterior of islanders’ houses
- Custom paths making pattering noises like the other paths
- Being able to make and design public buildings like in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
- The ability to place items at an angle
- More bridge and incline designs to choose from
Multiplayer, Dodo Airlines & Glitches
- Improved, reliable, online gameplay with faster travel and less oopsies (we do pay for it with Switch Online after all)
- The option to
tie Orville’s beak togetherskip/speed through the chitter chatter when travelling with Dodo Airlines - Being able to open and close your gates remotely. It’s a pain when you forget to close them and then can’t terraform until you trek to the airport
- The ability to hop from one island to another without having to fly back to your island first
- Less glitches
Whilst it’s almost definite that not all of these features will be implemented, it would be fantastic if even a few of them were.
Please and thank you Nintendo 🙂
- Having two separate options when terraforming (build and destroy) to save so much time, effort and frustration,
- Apr 28, 2020
There’s a chance that a lot of seriously cool features could be headed to New Horizons in the future. In a recent interview with CNET, Animal Crossing: New Horizons director, Aya Kyogoku, announced that the game would recieve updates for years to come. Whilst we don’t know the exact features we may have to look forward to, dataminers have some theories. One of these features, suggested by dataminer Ninja, is the return of the Dream Suite in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
What Is The Dream Suite?
The Dream Suite was a feature first introduced to the Animal Crossing franchise in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Run by a Tapir named Luna, the Dream Suite allowed you to visit and wander around other players’ towns. You could either let Luna choose a random town for you to visit, or input a specific town’s Dream Address. Although you couldn’t access the shops in other towns, or bring back items, you could do pretty much anything else. If the mayor of a Dream Town had created their own custom designs and allowed others to access them, then you would be able to encounter walrus NPC Wendell during a dream in order to obtain them.
The Dream Suite was a nice addition to New Leaf in that it allowed players to share their towns with others, without the fear of vandalism. This is because any ‘town’ you visit is just an uploaded representation of that particular town. Hence the ‘Dream’ theme.
Could It Return In New Horizons & And What Evidence Is There To Suggest This? (Possible spoiler alert)
Dataminer Ninji thinks that the Dream Suite could well make a return to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and explains why below. However, like she herself emphasises, the feature hasn’t been confirmed, and her findings shouldn’t be taken as conclusive proof.
Whether the Dream Suite will return, what it would look like, and how it would work are still unconfirmed. On the other hand, Ninji was spot on in predicting the return of Leif and Redd, and the Museum’s art gallery expansion. So fingers crossed!
But please people, if it happens, NO
ANIMEAIKA. Hypno K.K. still gives me nightmares. ??
Hyp-NOPE K.K. ** - Apr 11, 2020
In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, a creepy alien broadcast plays on your television from 3:33am to 3:34am on Sundays and Mondays. Albeit on a Saturday instead, The 3:33am Alien Broadcast Returns In Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
If you own a TV in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and have it turned on at 3:33am on a Saturday, you will see the following slightly eerie alien broadcast. Like in New Leaf, it will last until 3:34am, when the static that preceeded the broadcast will return.
It’s one of the slightly creepier easter eggs in the game (although I can’t really choose between the broadcast and Zipper when it comes to creepy).
However, not many people are awake at that time, and the game is otherwise, (mostly) wholesome. ?
- Apr 9, 2020
Players have been posting some intriguing dialogue from their island’s residents to social media. Tweets of videos and screenshots shared from players’ Switch consoles and things people have noticed themselves, have left us Animal Crossing fans puzzled but excited. In a future update, it’s possible that an expanded museum, Brewster, and more shops could come to Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
An Expanded Museum
You may have noticed that the museum has a staircase leading to nowhere. Additionally, there is a cordoned off area in the far back right-hand side of the fossil section of the museum. This could simply be for decor however. You might also have noticed that the museum lacks a section for art, unlike previous games of the franchise. Excitingly, Twitter user @sylvidia posted the following tweet of a conversation between her and Fang:
Could an art section be included in an update?
Brewster And The Roost
The Roost, is a coffee shop run by a pigeon called Brewster. Brewster has appeared in all of the mainline games (as well as the film and some non-mainline games) since Wild World. He will always seem rather reserved at first, but will bond with players if you visit him and buy coffee a lot.
Therefore ’tis a crying shame that the coo-l pigeon is yet to make an appearance in New Horizons. This may be about to change however, due to the dialogue of Clay (shown below) who says that Brewster advised him not to drink that much coffee:
Additionally, in a French screenshot, villager Olympe (Maddie in English versions) specifically mentions Brewster and the Roost. You can tell this due to the colours of the words, which always indicate characters and places.
More Shops
Upon speaking to Isabelle in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, she sometimes gives an unusual tip. She says the island could do with more storefronts, but we can only build two, so are Nintendo planning more?
Below are some of the past shops/vendors/buildings that may or may not make a reappearance.
City folk introduced a variety of new shops/buildings/vendors to the Animal Crossing franchise. These include:
- The Auction House
- The Fortune Shop
- GracieGrace
- Kicks
- Phineas
- Shampoodle
- The Happy Home Academy
- The Marquee
New Leaf introduced the following shops/buildings:
- Club Lol
- The Dream Suite
- Leif’s Gardening Store
- The Photo Booth
Likelihood Of These Shops/Building/Vendors Returning
The marquee from City Folk is unlikely to be a building that players can visit, as players can now learn new reactions from other islanders.
Similarly, Club Lol is highly unlikely to make a return, as after progressing to a certain point in the game, K.K. Slider appears at the plaza on Saturdays, and takes song requests after 6pm.
The Happy Home Academy is also unlikely to be one of the buildings to appear in an update given that they sneakily evaluate your home without you noticing and will score/award you via mail.
Shampoodle is unlikely to be a shop included in an update given how players are able to change their own facial features and hairstyles and colors.
It’s possible that kicks could set up his own shop, especially as he is the only vendor of backpacks and bags. However, for the time being, he is one of the island’s travelling merchants.
Whilst nothing has hinted to it as of yet, the fortune teller’s tent/store run by Katrina would be a desirable addition to islands.
Again, nothing has hinted at there being a GracieGrace store in a future update, this was always a place where players could purchase high-end (albeit a little pricey) furniture.
Phineas has had two different roles in the franchise. His first appearance was in City Folk, and his second was in New Leaf. It’s unlikely he will hand out scout-like badges to players like in New Leaf, as Nook Miles have kind of replaced that. However, it would be super cute to see him handing out free pinwheels and balloons to players in the plaza, like he would do in the city in City Folk.
As there currently isn’t a section for art in the game’s museum, it would make sense that Redd would not appear and sell (mostly) fake art. However, it is possible he could appear in an update, especially if the museum had an art section.
It’s unlikely the Photo Booth from New Leaf will return, as players have a camera app on their NookPhone.
The Dream Suite would be a nice addition, as it would allow players to visit other people’s islands and share their own without the worry of anything being destroyed or taken.
Leif’s Gardening Shop would also be a nice addition, as Nook’s cranny is very limited in the plant department.
- Mar 29, 2020
Choose one of these adorable tunes for your island and watch villagers perform your new town melody.
Most people have probably unlocked the Residents Services building in New Horizons by now. Once you have the building, you can speak to Isabelle in order to change your island tune. Just like town tunes in previous games, you can only create short melodies.
But don’t worry if you are struggling to create an island tune that you are happy with. There are a bunch of awesome Town/Island Tunes that can be found online.
Additionally, there is a website where you can create and share island tunes called NookNet.
However, to save you the trouble of browsing, Here are 25 Great Animal Crossing: New Horizons Island Tunes.
If you enjoyed these creative New Horizons island tunes, why not check out the creative clothing people have been designing in the game here.
- Mar 26, 2020
Harvey is an easy-going hippie-ish dog NPC. He first made an appearance in Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome Amiibo, where he was in charge of the campground. Harvey returns in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, where he has his own island which he refers to as Harv’s Island. Here he runs a ‘groovy’ photo studio called Photopia. You won’t be able to access his island straight away though, and will need him to invite you. Here’s how to visit Harv’s Island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
How To Get Harvey To Invite You To ‘Harv’s Island’
In order to get to Harv’s Island, you will need him to invite you. And for him to invite you, you will need him to visit your island.
Before he will visit, you will first need to have built Nook’s Cranny, and assisted Tom Nook in preparing three houses for new residents. Nook will require you to build a bridge, choose locations for each of the three houses, and then craft specific interior and exterior items for each house. Once you have submitted and placed all of the required items for each home, residents will start to move in. These residents will be random, unless you have invited characters from other deserted islands before finishing the construction of the homes.
After the third resident moves into one of the homes, Harvey will travel to your island. The free-spirited spaniel will wander around your island, so it may take a little bit of time to locate him. Upon speaking to him, he will compliment the rapid development of your island, which he was expecting to be deserted. He will then suggest that you visit his island.
You will then be able to visit his island by heading to the airport. Speak with Orville and select the ‘I wanna fly!’ option. When asked where you’d like to go, choose the ‘Visit Harv’s Island.’ option. Dodo Airlines will then fly you over to Harvey’s Island.
Harvey will be pleased to see you upon your arrival. He will explain his photo studio (which he calls ‘Photopia’) to you and allow you to use it.
What is Photopia?
Photopia (which also doubles as Harvey’s home) is a photo studio with six different sets in six different rooms.
You can decorate these sets using any furniture that you have in your Nook shopping catalogue.
Whilst you can’t take the items back with you, as they are solely props for the photo shoot, you can customize them any way you want to create a perfect set for your models.
You can have up to ten characters as models in your set. These can be any of the residents that live on your island, or you can use Photopia’s amiibo feature to summon other characters.
The models will be able to pose using the range of reactions that you have learnt.
Like with furniture, you will be also be able to access a catalogue of clothing. Here, you will be able to dress your models in any of the clothes that you have in the catalogue.
There are two different ways to take photos in Photopia. You can either use the screenshot button on your Nintendo Switch console, or by using the camera on your NookPhone.
If you are unclear about anything, Harvey is more than happy to explain to you how each element of Photopia works.
Posters
When you decide to return to your own island, you will receive a call from Harvey. He will explain that he forget to mention something to you. Harvey then elaborates on this and explains that he takes a portrait of every model summoned to Photopia.
He turns these into posters of the character, which can be purchased for 1,000 bells each from the Nook Shopping section of the Nook Stop terminal.
