It won't be long now before Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival launches in both North America and Europe. The polarizing party game was met with fairly lukewarm reception at its E3 reveal, so it will certainly be interesting to see how it's received once it's finally in gamers' hands. If nothing else, it'll likely be yet another excellent couch multiplayer game to add to the Wii U's diverse library. However, many will likely be disappointed with the news that its multiplayer will be exclusively local.
GameXplain recently got to try out the game at a press event and they received confirmation that Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival will feature absolutely no online multiplayer. If this is to be believed, it's admittedly a rather questionable decision on Nintendo's part. After its E3 reveal, this game was already going to be fighting uphill to appease fans that were expecting a more conventional Animal Crossing, and one would think that Nintendo wouldn't want to continue feeding the fire. Here's the tweet from GameXplain:
What do you think? Is this a deal breaker for you? What do you think of Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival? Drop us a comment in the section below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 63
Game of the year, 11/10 no b8 m8 don't h8.
Well, I had zero interest in this game to begin with so now my interest somehow decreased even more with this news. Now there's only Mario Tennis Ultra Smash left with the hope of having online multiplayer but I'm definitely not holding my breath with that. Keep up the good work Nintendo...
Mostly wanted it for the amiibos and potentially playing with people online, but now maybe not so much.
Sadly I knew they wouldn't add it. Nintendo have a trend of leaving online play out of all of their "party" titles.
Mario Party, Wii Sports, and Nintendo Land haven't had it so I saw it coming.
Still it is disappointing they haven't tried to at least broaden the audience a little to the people who can't quite gather their friends in 1 spot to play locally.
I think this was a really bad move on their part. This game didn't have a lot going for it to begin with, and now this.
"What do you think? Is this a deal breaker for you? What do you think of Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival?"
The whole game is a deal breaker. I just hope that Nintendo is working on an Animal Crossing title to launch with the NX, and that's why we're getting this tripe on Wii U.
So how exactly would a game that looks as complicated as Snakes & Ladders benefit from online multiplayer with no voice chat?
Why not make an actual Animal Crossing game for the Wii U and have some form of this as part of the game and be playable online. Imagine visiting somebody's town and instead of just been able to steal a bit of fruit or go fishing, you could do something like this together. Imagine the possibilities of decorating your own town using amiibo, I would buy such a game. As it is important don't see why it's a stand alone game and I don't have much interest in it.
lol
Haven't reps been wrong in the past?
A pointless game is now even MORE pointless, with the lack of online play!
What, exactly, is the point of this game other than being a glorified advert for the Animal Crossing amiibo range?
Wouldn't the news be that it DID have online?
Who seriously expected it to?
Anyway. Since watching GameXplains videos I'm a lot more on board.... I also want those amiibo
How is that a news and not a rumour? Reps are more often wrong than right and it has been confirmed already that it will feature online multiplayer.
@Nik-Davies:
Like this news?
http://nintendoeverything.com/animal-crossing-amiibo-festival-appears-to-feature-online-play/
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ5TJTOUMAAdoRq.jpg:large
Bottom left of this box says it will have online.
Good job misleading people Nintendo.
A) "cool, an after dinner game to enjoy with friends and family...takes me back to the N64 days."
B) "you mean I need to have physical relationships to play this game!? How will I persuade @WJfktof12-1 come round and log off Call of Duty?"
It didn't even 'cross' my mind that it would. Mario Party never, so this was hardly likely to be different.
Will this game actually sell?
Project zero and XCX can't come soon enough for me. Now those are Xmas/holiday games (that won't sell well cause Nintendo won't advertise them, as usual).
it's just a filler game anyway
A 4/10 game just turned 2/10.
@readyletsgo They will maybe advertise Xenoblade X, but Fatal Frame/Project Zero will not be advertised. But hey, at least the free demo will make some people interested in it!
Honestly, my regard for Nintendo is already so low at this point that, short of canceling the new Zelda for the Wii U or something similarly insane, nothing they do is even going to register for me.
It's like they're intentionally trying to offend people as much as possible with this abomination.
"it will certainly be interesting to see how it's received once it's finally in gamers' hands"
That is if anyone buys this 'filler content' in the first place.
Aaaw. Poor animal crossing being reduced to this.
I'll probably try it but I love Mario Party too much to spend much time on it.
Another reason to hate it.
As an adult, its not really feesable to just have people round my house on demand. Online play would have made the game a lot more appealing. After the GameXplain videos I was a little more interested, but with no online i wont be able to get anything out of it anyway so whats the point. After Happy Home Designer, I thought they would at least have some kind of network features, leaderboards or something, trade items etc. This has to be Nintendo's worst 'Holiday' release schedule on record surely. I mean its just awful.
I thought online was part of more recent Animal Crossing outings - isn't that kind of the social aspect of the game to visit other people's towns? Maybe they just meant for the demo version?
Not really surprising, to be honest.
@Captain_Gonru The strangest part to me has to be that Nintendo used Animal Crossing on the Wii to SELL the Wii Speak mic with the game having online voice chat. The game had commercials on TV and everything, they looked like those International Delights coffee commercials. How does a sequel of a Wii game with voice chat have no online at all? That's just a HUGE step backwards to me.
Still getting this for gamer day at my place.
I still can't fathom all the negative backlash this game is getting. It looks pretty good, like a Mario Party/Fortune Street hybrid. seriously, we don't need another full Animal Crossing game yet, and even if you believe we do, what's the harm in spin-offs? For what it is, Amiibo Parade looks really solid, I can see young kids loving it and it seems to have a good amount of content. People need to chill - this is a spin-off, you'll still get your precious Animal Crossing in due time...
A game where online makes perfect sense and Nintendo goes the opposite route. Typical.
People were actually interested in this game in the first place?
Considering none of the Mario Party games since the Wii have had online multiplayer, I've sort of come to expect this.
Well now I have no interest in the game since I have no local friends to play with and will have to cancel my preorder. I thought it was confirmed to have online a while ago?
I wasn't going to get it anyway...
Well I'm not surprised since most Nintendo party board games don't have online play. The only one I can recall is Fortune Street and It's not like online made much of an impact on people or the game.
@Ryu_Niiyama Gamer day? Is that (finally) a national holiday in the states?
No online multiplayer is a major letdown. Being in your thirties you'd want to use games like this to unbend your mind after a stressful day. But who the heck has friends in my age who'd want to play this hotseat? None. Ridiculous
I wasn't expecting this game to have online multiplayer because these games are the best played locally, although it seems other evidence proves that this game will have online play. I'm still excited for this game because I love the animal crossing series and the reason I'm getting it is for the local multiplayer and the fun.
@whodatninja LMAO! No, although that would be cool. A buddy of mine and I have a longstanding tradition of pilling into each others houses with pizza and games and then we play, talk and eat until we are too tired to stay up. My buddy's wife usually joins in until midnight or until the nerd discussions go above her head and she gets bored. Since we do local multiplayer at that time I don't mind the lack of online. I work 90 hour work weeks anyway...I don't have time to play online.
Why are people always so damn concerned with online play?
I echo @BJQ1972 's sentiments:
"So how exactly would a game that looks as complicated as Snakes & Ladders benefit from online multiplayer with no voice chat?"
How does the lack of online features detract from this game at all? If you have at least three friends (or relatives) to play with, you would automatically have more fun than you would online.
People need to stop getting such a hard-on for online play. Could you imagine having to sit and wait for someone to finish their turn who is taking forever? And if there was no real time limit on turns, imagine if they go to the bathoom and leave their controller? Or are checking their phone in between turns (which is guaranteed to happen)?
I was literally planning to play (over Skype of course) with my friends who live in different parts of the country. So I am super bummed right now.
Honestly, Having online multiplayer kinda defeats the purpose of a Party Genre game.
@Vandy Agreed, I get sick of these types of comments.
Even though i don't get to play games with her often, I have a niece that likes playing my games with me.
@TheFatLucario
Yeah, I play a lot of party games with my brother and our cousins/respective friends. It's not as often as I'd like, but we have a blast when we do.
I often find I have LESS fun playing multiplayer games online as people either figure out how to cheat/glitch games, or they're just far too skilled for me to keep up (I have no problem admitting this) and the game just becomes a frustrating endeavour as opposed to something enjoyable.
Besides, since when did we stop caring about the friends we have right around us and prefer to play with complete strangers? I agree that it can be fun to play with people all around the world, but I hate when that comes at the exclusion of any sort of local multplayer options.
Certainly never expected it to.
@Ryu_Niiyama Aww that sounds super sweet! Now I hope to hold a Gamer Day of my own someday soon... That's a tough working schedule you have. I only have school to worry about, but i'm good at procrastinating haha.
@AdanVC I believe Mario Tennis Open had online multiplayer, so I'd be surprised if Ultra Smash doesn't.
@whodatninja Oh I'm pretty much a zombie at this point. School, work, aikido and taiko. I'm not really sure why I haven't started taking coffee intravenously. The buddy I mentioned has pretty much called dibs on my game collection once I kill over from exhaustion lol! He has a baby on the way though so I'm expecting him to go first. Hilariously enough I've done more than this when I was going to school full time...ended up in the hospital over it though. So I know my limits.
@Vandy
You really can't fathom why people want online play? Honestly? Wow.
@electrolite77 Great job completely failing to understand the context.
What I don't understand is why online multiplayer is so important for EVERY game. We're at the point now where a company will release a game like Mega Man or Final Fantasy, a game that is intended to be enjoyed solo, and the chief complaint about it from people will be "YA BUT WERS THE ONLINE MULTIPLAYER FEATURES?!"
These party games are intended to be enjoyed as if they were a digital board game that you play while interacting with people in the same room. It's part of the fun seeing people react when you steal stars from them or send them back a few spaces.
But let's just keep shoe-horning those online features into everything because apparently no one has real-life friends anymore.
This game depresses me. I know some people will enjoy it but for me it will always remind me of e3 when I thought we were getting a wii u animal crossing and then saw we were getting a party game instead... maybe next year or as a NX launch title.
If this plays even a little bit like Fortune Street, I'll definitely get it and probably that KK Slider three-pack so I can have other players AND the KK Slider amiibo. And, well, if the game turns out to be nothing like Fortune Street--I'm still here for KK Slider.
@Vandy
"But let's just keep shoe-horning those online features into everything because apparently no one has real-life friends anymore."
I'm not sure if you're aware of this....but in 2015.... many, many people actually have real friends who don't live near them (sometimes in another country!!!) but would like to play video games with them! What a shocker.......I guess that's why Xbox and Playstation have mostly up to date online features in a majority of their games and Nintendo doesn't (because they seem to think everywhere is Japan or stuck in 1995)?
@TheFatLucario
How? You're still interacting with people by playing the same game together. Why should people who do not have friends that conveniently live 5 minutes away from them not get to play together in Nintendo board games compared to Xbox/Playstation and...for goodness sake, Mobile games?
Otherwise, I'd take this info with a grain of salt. Reps can be wrong and things can change before release.
This game sounded extremely shallow to begin with to the point where I was convinced initially that it was a free-to-play downloadable Wii U game, especially since it requires amiibo to play. As it stands, Mario Party 10 is still clearly superior, and it's hard enough finding anyone who liked it besides me.
Finally! A game without online play!
@Ryu_Niiyama Yeah stress can be very dangerous. It's good you know when to stop... I went down with stress a couple years ago too. Was one of the lowpoints of my life.
Animal Crossing is great stress relief tho
@Peek-a-boo Actually this game isn't an advert for the Animal Crossing amiibo, it was actually made as an excuse for them to exist.
.....pass on this one for sure and one more thing ....wait ill be back "goes to a random gamestop and trades in every AC game (I own) for in-store credit and pre-orders Xenoblade chronicles X (and no im not the hugest fan of gamestop tbh)" There we go! Now im really feeling (it) l about how the series of animal crossing turned into!
First there was no mics in Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Then there was Happy Hope Designer which just took out the Animal Crossing game.
Now there's this which is just a blatant cash grab to sell Amiibo but Nintendo messed that up by making it local only (I get that some people still love playing games with friends but they could have broadened their player base). i was looking nine of the Amiibo from the AC collection but really don't have a usage for them.
But it's free people! How can you not like FREE games!! So what I have to buy one amiibo, that makes this game $13, that's it!!
@BJQ1972 Have you played 100% Orange Juice ? Board game that has online play.
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