Nintendo Details Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Big First Anniversary Update

Well, i will wait the new update. 😀

And still no Brewster

@Nintendan64 Oh, he’s coming.

...I hope.

Big update? Not really. Still no brewster? The lack of non resident Npcs is really disappointing. All the colourful non resident npcs made the previous games special. I don’t understand why they havent at least given us brewster.

YES! I'LL FINALLY USE UMBRELLAS BECAUSE THE IN GAME ONES ARE SO UGLY

@RupeeClock Bunny Day is March 28th - April 4th. There's a few other things in the Nintendo UK article that isn't in this article.

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2021/March/Special-residents-themed-items-and-more-come-to-Animal-Crossing-New-Horizons-via-a-free-update-on-March-18th--1940171.html

@Maxz I laughed far too long at this

@Grumblevolcano Thank you, this article didnt mention that at all! At least that makes the update seem more ‘major’.

@Maxz honestly, i’d take it.

Still no word in certain quality of life changes like multi crafting.

You know what would have been a nice anniversary present? Being able to bulk craft.

I'm totally BORED of animal crossing, I was obsessed with New Leaf on 3DS...but this one just seems dead and lifeless.
Nothing to do but the same daily tasks...no where to socialise, like the cafe, very difficult to travel. Where's Capp'n? I loved going to random islands and meeting new friends there and playing games with them. This new update doesn't seem to offer anything new.

@Grumblevolcano Thanks for the link, still unimpressed though. The tour creator is cool, but I need to buy another $6 of physical
DLC to get other characters?

Unless they really change up the Bunny Day items I've already done all of that. Still have them in my house. Guess I was expecting something really inviting, a major change, not just more of the same. Oh well, even the new Mario items only had me play 4 or 5 days this month, guess I'm done. 🤷‍♂️

Still waiting for those Sanrio Amiibo cards to go up for preorder in the UK. They release in 10 days time and no where in the UK has them up for preorder

@Megz3 not to mention no shop upgrades still.

Doshin the giant villager and partnership still not out of the question

Out of everything mentioned here, the whoopee cushion has me most interested. I can't wait to place it right outside someone's door so the moment they come out of their house it goes off. And I hope the unsuspecting victim, if a real player, has their speakers accidentally too loud. .... ohhh this is gonna be goooooddddd....

Basically, the whoopee cushion better be functional.

NOOOOOO BUNNY DAY no why?!

@RupeeClock Apparently there's 50 new design slots in the new update too?!

@fox_mattcloud you can always grab the NFC chips/cards from etsy or ebay for cheap.

So Katrina has been added, but only in the Nook Ink app as an icon! I'm sorry Nintendo, but this is lazy... we're not getting any more NPCs are we? Feels like Nintendo has really prioritised designing over everything else for this game. Good for people who enjoy that aspect, but I really miss all the NPCs, additional buildings, capp'n, more shop upgrades and stuff. The series was originally meant to be a "communication game" and "life simulator" lest we forget.

@rjejr It's not like we weren't aware of the Sanrio characters coming via amiibos for a few months now It's also not anything new to the series as this same amiibo collection was released for New Leaf (albeit only in Japan and Europe). And my assumption is that Nintendo has to pass the cost somehow for this collaboration

As for new Bunny Day items, one of the pictures on the US twitter account shows an item, I'm almost positive, wasn't part of last year's Bunny Day. It some sort of egg shaped flag or sign. Hopefully, it isn't the only new item added to the collection

I'm personally excited for the extra custom design slots. It's been tough having to erase designs and picking and choosing which ones to keep or replace. I'm also excited the portal is being directly added to Nook Phone. It's a pain to have to wait for Able Sisters to open the next day to get a custom design after you've gotten inspired after 9pm

@Maxz &Knuckles

blows out water from mouth 50 additional design slots?! That's an insane game changer!

Very happy about the extra custom design slots, but I’m also sort of bummed about the continued lack of shop upgrades, gyroids and Brewster...fingers crossed we get a nice, packed 2.0 update in April!

@PickledKong64 Yeah in the past games the Nook store upgrades really felt like something to work for, also is it just me but i swear you could make the extra rooms added onto your house even bigger, now though the side rooms are so small. I feel like a complete complainer but hey ho if you can’t complain on the internet where else can you do it lol

@Clyde_Radcliffe i agree, this game feels more like an island designer rather than a town life sim.

i expected a better update since this is Animal Crossing New Horizons one year anniversary and the franchise 20th anniversary.

@UmbreonsPapa "after you've gotten inspired after 9pm"

Stores closing, while the residence center stayed open basically 24/7, always bothered me. I used to play a lot at night after doing whatever - tv, movies, other video games - at around 11 or so. So then I started playing right after dinner for 30 minutes or so before doing whatever. But it meant I was always rushing and just kinda going thru the motions.

"It's not like we weren't aware of the Sanrio characters coming via amiibos for a few months now"
"was released for New Leaf"
"albeit only in Japan and Europe"

Never played New Leaf, live in the US.

Shouldn't those other companies be paying Nintendo to put their characters in the games out of THEIR marketing budgets?

I made a couple of NY Mets jerseys and an island flag but that's the extent of my creativity. I did comment a few weeks after this game released that I saw the real draw of this game as making things, which admittedly isn't my thing, hence HHD being it's own game.

Thanks for all of the info. 😃

I'd love to have a better multiplayer experience. Not having to pause everything for someone to connect, being able to edit an island together, things like that.

Can you craft more than one bait at a time already?

@Megz3 They are hinting Katrina now

Go to the "Earn Nook Points with NookLink" section of that article and Zoom in the first picture

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2021/March/Special-residents-themed-items-and-more-come-to-Animal-Crossing-New-Horizons-via-a-free-update-on-March-18th--1940171.html

I was hoping for some significant new gameplay features and not just a collection of new items.

Sanrio characters? But no Aggretsuko?!
https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OGC.f464a44bf7a45a85f0427fba4fdd10df&pid=Api&rurl=https%3a%2f%2ffiles.gamebanana.com%2fimg%2fico%2fsprays%2f5a15a41ec3b1e.gif%3f1&ehk=P3CM%2bPi0SzSU8%2bgXJ86JBYAzSQPS8eGA2xjjs%2beECTQ%3d

mmmmmmm........ maybe time to do a £5-£10 DLC add on for this game that gives us lots of new gameplay etc etc. Great lockdown game but needs a serious injection of new things! An online social island for all would be a good start!!

Is that really all... you got to be joking right? Another update that adds nothing of value to this barren game..

Remember how when the game out, half the fanbase aggressively stood by the 'sure fact' that these updates would give us the missing content that the other games (like new leaf) have? One year out and only a fraction of that back (and not a single quality of life update or new non-traveling shop/upgrade)...

You'd think a game this wildly popular would warrant a lot more 'post-release' content....

@karatekid1612 it better be free. The game itself is overpriced for the amount of gameplay you get with it. They need to make up for the fact that this game is 60 dollars, as currently, it has less than a 30 dollar game.

@ares9090 Wow nice spot, still though seeing that makes me worry it’s a situation like resetti, heard (barely) but not seen.

@Megz3 I feel like most of the characters won’t return. Nintendo seems more focused on making this a design game, that they probably forgot about anything to do with the special characters, so they rather just include them as either not in the game itself, or throw them in the plaza and call it a day.

the Custom Design features are quite nice.

@RupeeClock nah. Bunny Day is still getting updated, and it’s ongoing for a week or two, so April fools will never come back sadly. Another reason to play New Leaf over this heaping pile of trash.

Yay, My Melody will return to my town ^3^
But this cake looks so sweet♡3♡

@VoidofLight I absolutely agree with you, however, if I had a choice between free cr*p updates and an excellent update with more to follow for £5-£10, I might be prepared to pay that (albeit begrudgingly). I remember paying about £10 for the MK8 DLC on the WIIU and that was worth it! But you are right when you say it should really be free when you are paying £40 (or 60$)for a game initially!!

@karatekid1612 I just couldn't bring myself to pay for it, since I payed more for less.

I really hope there's more to this game's 1-year anniversary than that. Brewster, Nookington's, Celeste's Observatory, the Museum Shop, full-scale gardening....a lot of stuff has been rumored almost since ACNH launched, but for the most part its updates have been minimal or even were part of the game already according to the Official Guide. This feels underwhelming to say the least.

@Megz3 I agree

@AtlanteanMan I feel as if they're probably going to only give us the rest of the game on the final year of updates, leaving it completely dry for the rest of the game's life.

@Goat_FromBOTW That's actually what concerns me as well. The game is selling so well that this is going to probably be the direction this series takes in the future..

@VoidofLight yep i think you’re right. I at least wish the villagers didn't seem so hollow inside, their dialogue is bare bones.

This is not a big update. It feels quite random, to be completely honest. A variety of whoopee cushion colors for April Fool's isn't a good thing. That's just an item in different colors. Where's Blanca? Most of the stuff I'm seeing here are niche items that will be used once and then inventoried forever within a day or two. Sanrio stuff is nice, and there's plenty there, but it's for a niche audience—and I'm saying that as part of that niche audience.

I keep writing this, but I can't emphasize it enough: the problem isn't that we're missing so many items and characters, it's that Nintendo isn't addressing that they're missing. A developer update stating that these features have been delayed due to the pandemic is completely understandable. The safety and well-being of the staff is the utmost concern. But until we know that might be the reality, then Nintendo will continue to see complaints left and right about what the game is lacking.

@Yorumi An indie AC wouldn't be that easy to make, due to how much charm the series has, and no one really has been able to do that to the same type of success. At least I have the older games to play while the series evolves in a direction that feels like it's devolving..

@Yorumi Maybe. I kind of wish that we'd get a full on remake of New Leaf, in the graphical style of New Horizons, with some quality of life updates, like a bigger inventory..

@Yorumi I feel like they tried too hard to replicate the big jump that New Leaf executed, when they should've just kept tradition of having the next game be effectively the same, but better and with some better features.

@Yorumi I think it was moreso they saw update models work for Splatoon and pocket camp, so they had to work for Animal Crossing. Due to this, they tried to make a games as a service game, and effectively instead of making new content fresh for the updates, they just took content out of the already existing game in order to patch back into it later.

Omg, expansion for custom designs! THE EUPHORIA!

@Bliquid I'm actually scared that in the future they might make people pay for a 40 dollar DLC that adds in all the missing shops and stuff.. and that people will actually buy it.

@Bliquid "It’s most unforgivable sin, though, is that New Horizons lacks soul"

This is such a good description. I don't know if it's the music, the bland dialogue or what but it really feels less warm and well... quirky than the older games. It's hard to put your finger on it but it has a different atmosphere and something is off? Everything feels more lifeless.

I still miss Kapp'n and his crazy sea shanties. Tortimer, Copper, and other old familiar faces are missing as well. Heck, you don't need to have a linear script to incorporate it, but it would be awesome to give NPCs like Copper something to actually DO, (like have actual "crimes" you need to help solve so you can put neighbors or visitors in AC "jail", for instance). But for a change, have the NPCs actually do something as opposed to just standing in place waiting for you to do everything for them. Fetch quests are a part of videogames, I get it, but the sheer lack of effort on their part not only gets stale and repetitive before long; it comes across as lazy in a fourth wall sort of way.

And really, would it hurt your animal neighbors on the island to help clean up weeds or other tasks that become tedious to do yourself after awhile? Being able to assign villagers to various tasks or even have "workplaces" where they could manufacture new items or offer services as opposed to aimlessly running around would be a great new mechanic. Or maybe you could trade items or money for furniture or other stuff in their houses that otherwise would be a crapshoot to get. And perhaps villagers could have and develop more complex and nuanced personalities than simply "Jock", "Big Sister", etc., and have actual memories of past events (such as living on your island in the event you encounter one who moved away).

Larger islands and houses would likewise be welcome; as we've already seen discussed here, many if not most of us ran out of practical room long ago. That alone could be at least part of what's preventing Nintendo from adding anything with a significant footprint (such as Brewster's or a Nookington's upgrade) at this point. There's a lot of possibilities left for this game, but unfortunately I feel that they may be saving most of them for the next installment.

No April Fool's Day Event still? Oh...

@Yorumi Not to mention how obsessed this game is with making it "multiplayer". The fishing tournament and the bug off is literally just points like you said, but they make the goal near impossible to complete unless you happen to invite loads of people to your island to help. Not to mention too how the Holidays themselves.. just feel sort of like blander copies of the ones from New Leaf, instead of them trying something new.

Not really a "Big" update is it, still no groundbreaking update that adds to the gameplay like last year's rumoured farming/cooking mechanics. Or maybe some multiplayer mini games? I just want an update that's adds things for me to do in game and make it worth playing more than an hour a week

The game doesn't have every feature from every previous game, which means it is a heaping pile of unredeemable garbage.

Nintendo, publicly apologize and add Brewster or you can kiss your business goodbye.

@westman98 That isn't our sole complaints about the game.. I already gave you an explanation in the other article.. and if you read what we were talking about, our opinions on this game are more complex than "CUT CONTENT MAKE GAME BAD". We aren't demanding Brewster either, or demanding them to force change. I might be sad and upset about the direction of the series going forwards, but I know I can't do anything about it, so I'll just vote with my wallet the next game.

-yawn- well Nintendo got my $60, good for them but I won't buy another AC at launch ever again.

That pattern storage upgrade is INSANE. I'm glad I'm waiting a few weeks before renovating a ton of my island. Next month is going to be a blast in AC

@Clyde_Radcliffe AC is slowly becoming a decorating/dress-up simulator. Cool I guess, but I really wish I could still get screamed at by a middle-aged mole.

Any news about the card availability in Europe/UK?

All I want is more than 8 ramps. God knows I don't ask for much.

The usual suspects are out in force again, just to tell us yet again how they do not like this game, and how it has no content, you would have thought they would have moved on by now, and just left the 30 million or so people who love this game to get on with it.

@VoidofLight,

Most sensible thing you have ever posted, if you don't like the games don't buy them, simple.... Now all you have to do it get over it, and stop moaning on every Animal crossing new horizons comment section.

@Clyde_Radcliffe,

You must be remembering a different series of games, as in all but this one the villagers say the same things over and over, which happens to an extent in new horizons too, but at least you do get some new dialogue mixed in with the repetition.

@VoidofLight Yep agreed, this is a problem with a lot of games these days! It's all a big cash in to create a game which is not really complete and then either charge extra for add on DLC or drip feed free token DLC which is not really pleasing the majority. Bring back the good ole days when games were complete from day one!!!!

@johnvboy The villagers had a lot more emotions and different moods in the older games, especially the GameCube game where they could even be downright nasty to you sometimes! They also used to fall out with one another more often.

Why the change from Rilla to Rita?

@Clyde_Radcliffe,

I prefer their ways n the new game, but I guess it's down to personal preference, I like the fact everyone just gets on in the game, although they still do argue with each other, I love getting in between them and listen to those conversations.

I just want gyroids back.😢 They were always one of my favorite aspects of Animal Crossing. I would dedicate entire houses to them and it was always exciting when you dug one up.

Increasing the number of slots for custom designs is a great update, but ....
... we´re still missing Brewster´s Cafe
... we´re still missing Tortimier Island and multiplayer minigames
... where are the gyroids ?

@Megz3 yaya you could make the side rooms really big. I hate this game so much. Imagine getting rid of features that were in the first animal crossing

@johnvboy So no more being able to express opinions, or talking about disappointment with others who share the same disappointment.. nice..

@VoidofLight,

You can express your concerns as much as you want, like I said I only have issues when you and others state them as facts to say the game is a mess, and that there are loads of people that share your opinions.

My comment about moving on stems from the fact it can't be good for you to complain on every Animal crossing article, I would love you and others to like this game as much as I do.

@Yorumi,

I don't reply to a comment section until someone complains, I have no issues with you guys complaining, it's the implication you are always right, and everybody shares your views.

@Yorumi,

I think you are understating your contributions to this and other comment sections.

And you do not simply state opinions, you and others always suggest they are facts, and the people that do not agree are simply wrong.

@Yorumi,

If it's just your opinions then fair enough, as it's just my opinion to have very few issues with the game.

@Yorumi,

So you and others do not think your opinions are correct, why make those comments in the first place then.

As for lying, not sure if one believes in their position it could actually be seen as lying, even if their views were incorrect.

@Yorumi,

You can think what you want to be honest, but there is no way that you and others do not have issues with the fact people still like this game, despite all your moaning and complaining.

That's the way I see it.

@Yorumi,

Did you not once suggest I had issues because I had played Animal crossing for more than a 1000 hours, with no knowledge of my family situation or life, thus indirectly suggesting issues.

@Yorumi,

You are wrong though, I have put in around 1065 hours in, send me a friend request and we will see.

@Yorumi,

Not sure why I have to justify anything, and am pretty sure there are many who have played more than this.

@Yorumi,

You are not factoring in the lock down, I would have had nowhere near the amount of spare time I have had this last year, and It was pretty much the only game I was playing.

@Yorumi,

What do you want to know, I spent a lot of time decorating my island, pretty much started from scratch a few times, I just do the day to day things but do not rush.

I also have quite a few friends that come and visit, we do this on a regular basis, my daughter also has a Switch and a copy of the game as well, this is where a lot of the time has gone as it's very easy to lose track of time.

If you feel I am being unhealthy that's your opinion and it's up to you.