(Warning: This blog talks about the Covid-19 pandemic and have some spoilers from New Horizons.)
Back when the Nintendo Switch came out in 2017, Animal Crossing fans wondered how long until their favorite game will come to the hybrid console. It’s been four years since New Leaf came out (outside of Japan that is) to the 3DS. Two years since Happy Home Designer (which everyone somewhat like) and Amiibo Festival (which everyone DOESN’T like) came out the 3DS and the Wii U. And Pocket Camp wouldn’t come out to mobile for the next few months. They heard the Switch sold very well and figure it won’t be long until they announce the next game.
But it wasn’t until a year later during a Nintendo Direct, where Nintendo FINALLY announced that there will be a new Animal Crossing game! The fandom cheered as the long wait is nearly over and was ready to move on to the Switch as some of them got burned out from spending hundreds of hours in their little towns in New Leaf!
However it was until 2019, is where we were shown the trailer and the title during Nintendo’s E3 presentation (which little we know, it would be the last time E3 was held in person before Covid shut it down and three years later, they went out of business). The fandom was shocked that this one will not only take place on an island (insert the Swiss Family Robinson, Cast Away and Super Danganronpa 2 jokes from the trailer) but that we’ll developed our town, bottom up! That we can build our own tools by using some of the stuff we found on our island and even put furniture outside, something that fans has been wanting to do for years!
Originally, the game was supposed to come out the same year as the E3 presentation. But it sadly got delayed until next year in order to avoid crunch and maintain a healthy work-life balance for the developers. I know everyone don’t like it whenever their game gets delayed, but if it’s for a good reason, like to avoid crunch, then I think it’s worth it.
But little we know that the game’s new release date came out at a “very” good time…
Nine days before New Horizons came out, WHO declared Covid, as a global pandemic. This means most of everything had to shut down and everyone have to stay home for their own safety. As a person who didn’t have a job and was living with her mother in Germany when the pandemic happened, it sucks that I can’t take my normal walks outside without risking getting me and mom sick. Then there’s the fact that the Internet won’t stop talking about the pandemic for a while, sucked as well. Like, I need a distraction and need it now!
Prior to that, the Animal Crossing fandom joked that they hope they get the 20th off from work so they can play the game. But they didn’t expect the finger on the Monkey’s Paw to curl, where they CAN get to stay home and play New Horizons on the 20th. But that’s because they’re FORCED to by their government due to the pandemic!
Then I remember seeing on the Animal Crossing subreddit when the pandemic first came out, that fans were begging Nintendo to release the game sooner than usual, so they can play the game in order to keep the situation off their mind. They didn’t and so we were forced to wait.
While I was interested in the new game, I was hesitant of preordering it as I heard horror stories of people who preordered new games, just to end up having a sloppy and buggy mess when it eventually comes out! But Animal Crossing is from Nintendo, who rarely have bad games and is good having (mostly) completed games when it comes out.
I say that because I preordered their games twice in the past (Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D and Pokémon Moon) and I was never let down. So I figure since I still have some money left from my last job (that I resigned in 2019 due to graduating from university and moving back to Germany), I decided to pay for the full $60 game and think that everything is going to be fine at the end.
Then the reviews of New Horizons came out, where I expect the game get 7-8/10s, 3-4/5s reviews as it’s a popular, but it's not as popular compared to Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda. Instead, it got universal acclaim, where they got, 9/10s, 4/5s and even prefect scores, which is something I didn’t expect! It was after seeing those glowing reviews, that’s when I preordered the game since the critics are saying good things about this game, which is a good sign for Nintendo as this means this game is going to be a hit.
It did as it became the second-bestselling game in North America of 2020! Many said that the game came out at a good time as it was used for escapism from the pandemic. People were using the game to socialize with their family and friends since they can’t meet in person. Having multiplayer helps, where people can come to your island to hold weddings, birthdays and graduation since you can’t do it in real life (as long you pay for Nintendo Online that is…).
The game did so well, there were memes and jokes that came with it! Such that we can sell “weeds” that you can pluck off the ground. To the fact New Horizons was getting released on the same day as Doom Eternal and there were crossover fan art of the two VERY different series. That we flooded our island with donations for the museum, since we have to wait for it to open and there were sea bass jokes. So many sea bass jokes! There were even some pop culture jokes that happened when this game came out!
It was thanks to New Horizons, Animal Crossing finally became mainstream after being out for 19 years!
So yeah, I was happy that the game finally becoming popular after playing it on and off since 2007. I even remember some of the good memories of this game when I used to play it! One of them was on the day it was released; I stayed up until 7am (Central European Time) to play the game since I bought the American version. I remember spending hours decorating my island, going fishing and listening to the background music that switched every hour. It was this game that helped me cope with the pandemic and made 2020, a bit better.
However, the good feelings with this game ended when the pandemic went on longer than everyone think it did. Why? Mainly because the game started out slow as it’s nothing but you, two villagers, Tom Nook and his nephews on the island and it takes time for the island to build up. There was the fact the tools break easily after being used for a certain time (which was inspired by Breath of the Wild). The villagers’ dialogs are boring and lame compared to the past games, where they’re snarky and entertaining. There were no minigames that New Leaf had, where you can play either by yourself or with your friends. It didn't have Tortimer Island, where you can catch the rare bugs and fishes. The store in New Horizons only went through two upgrades, while the store in New Leaf went through FIVE upgrades, where the last upgrade became a three-store department store and one of the floors had GracieGrace, that sell five exclusive furniture items!
It because of all that, people started to realize that the game is, I would say 60% complete! It was because the pandemic as this means the developers were forced to stay home, which means it took longer to make updates to the game. As the result, most of people who bought the game on Day 1, end up abandoning their islands after six weeks for something else. It was so bad; some reviewers decided to REVISIT their scores and gave it a lower score due to how empty the game was! Then people start becoming negative about it, which I found that discouraging and had to be careful when reading the articles and the comments of the game during that time.
It made me sad as I thought the game was complete and that everyone would like it, but Nintendo lied and now we’re stuck with a half-baked game that was supposed to distract us from the pandemic!
Despite the backlash, I still end up playing the game daily. The only reason why I didn’t quit is because I only allow myself to play this game for two hours before forcing myself to take a break and move on. It also helped that it was the same time I had my Danganronpa Another and my Everlasting webcomic special interest that I can focus on instead. It was thanks to that, I managed to stay on my island until 2022, where I finally ditched it after 100% completing my museum (which I could never do in my previous games) and that there was nothing to do left.
Even with the backlash, the game still did update when they can. It the updates that brought us holidays, seasonal events and sometimes new gameplay feature. While the updates were enough to bring some back, it wasn’t and people end up leaving again after a short while.
Then around fall 2021, Nintendo announced that there's going to be a New Horizons themed Direct. When the fans heard the news of the Direct, many hoped it'll be good as they were getting sick and tired of hearing nothing from Nintendo for months! Because of that, some say this is Nintendo’s last chance to make it right to the fandom by giving the things they want in New Horizons.
And boy they did!
In that Direct, the game basically brought almost everything that was in New Leaf (Mystery tours, establishing ordinances, digging up gyroids) BACK to this game! They brought Brewster and The Roost back and the famous Froggy Chair that was heavily memed prior to New Horizons coming out! Not only that, they allow you to cook food and that you can eat them (which means you can finally get revenge against the sea bass at long last)! And they introduced Harvey's plaza, which allows players to find new purchasable items and services from shops. One of them includes Redd’s, which means it got easier to complete your art gallery!
The fandom cheered as this what they wanted to hear! That Nintendo is finally listening to them and do something that will make the game fully playable again! Too bad this means for some, they might want to restart their island in order to get the “true” experience that should’ve happened back in 2020.
And not only that, they also announced on the Direct, that there's a Happy Home Paradise DLC, which is basically a “sequel” to Happy Home Designer. This was one of the few times I actually bought the DLC due to people saying that if you like Designer, that you’ll like Paradise. Thankfully, the DLC was actually good and I think that, the big update and the Direct itself, what basically saved New Horizons at the end.
Then after the big update, that’s it! It was the last update of the game and it made fans disappointed. I agree with them too as New Horizons was their money making game and Nintendo end up abandoning afterwards. Like, I heard they still like to update Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, from time to time. But not this game…I guess!?
Sadly it appears the big update wasn’t enough for some and they end up ditching their island once more. Because of this, some of the fandom even went BACK to New Leaf! Where the villagers have (somewhat) better dialogs and that you can play minigames all the time. Where Label has her own store and not has her pop in the town hall square every week, same thing with Kicks and Leif as well. While you can’t decorate the outdoors with furniture, at least you can decorate the exterior of your town hall and the train station. Not like in New Horizons, where you can only decorate the exterior of your house.
Once again, it makes me sad that New Horizons has the potential when it came out. But then the pandemic had to go ruin everything. While it was a big deal when the game first came out, now I don't think anyone on the Internet talks about it anymore. Mostly talk about it in a postive way, that is. To make matters worse, sometimes if you see people rank their favorite Animal Crossing game as of late, there’s a chance that New Horizons might be on the bottom (along with Amiibo Festival) due to how disappointed they were with the game when they played it for long enough!
What a shame…
But with Nintendo Direct for the Switch 2 coming in less than two weeks, there’s a chance that we might be getting a new Animal Crossing game. With the pandemic is in the past, hopefully the game won’t make the same mistake as they did with New Horizons when it first came out five years ago, by being released half-baked.
If they do announce a new Animal Crossing game, I hope that not only keep most of what they had in New Horizons (but get rid of the breakable tools please!), but also bring back the minigames that New Leaf had and better dialog for the villagers! That’s my hope as this game is not only it’s one of Nintendo’s most popular game, but it was the game that made cozy game genre popular (even thought it was Stardew Valley that kick started the genre, back in 2016...). So everyone will probably have high expectations for Nintendo IF they announce the new game during next month’s Direct.
If they don’t announce it right away, that’s fine with me anyways. But I’m thankful that the game helped me cope with the pandemic better than if I didn’t get the game.
Now only if the game stops spanning sea bass so much…