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Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ March release is just around the corner and, while plenty of questions remain, we’ve learned a lot from Nintendo’s presence at E3 2019, the hands-on Treehouse presentation, various interviews, the September Nintendo Direct, recent online listings, our hands-on preview, the February Direct, and much more.
Here’s everything we know about Animal Crossing: New Horizons so far.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Release Date
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was delayed during E3 2019 from a 2019 launch window to March 20, 2020. It’s even getting its own special edition Nintendo Switch a week before the game is out. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=animal-crossing-new-horizons-limited-edition-nintendo-switch&captions=true"]No Cloud Saves But a Bit of Hope
Animal Crossing: New Horizons does not support cloud saves but if your Nintendo Switch gets lost or stolen you may have a way to recover the data. There are no guarantees, though, so you’ll want to be careful. The Animal Crossing: New Horizons store page on the official Nintendo UK website has two recently added disclaimers. They are:- This game does not support the Save Data Cloud functionality of Nintendo Switch Online. However, the ability to recover Animal Crossing: New Horizons save data from the server in the event of console failure, loss or theft will be available to Nintendo Switch Online members sometime in the future.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons does not support the ability to transfer your save file from one Nintendo Switch console to another.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Multiplayer
Animal Crossing: New Horizons multiplayer allows for both local and online play, but there are some limitations. Here’s what you can expect:- Up to 8 players can live on an island. You can only have one island per Nintendo Switch console. It does not matter how many copies of the game you have, as written on the Australian listing. This could pose a problem for you if you share a Nintendo Switch because, while you can still create your own character, you'll have to share the island.
- Up to 8 players can play together on one player’s island via online multiplayer or local wireless.
- 4 players of the same island can play together, at the same time, on a single system. This couch co-op setup is known as Party Play.
- There's an application on the NookPhone (an in-game app), named Call Islander, that lets you do Party Play Multiplayer. This is exclusive to those who have multiple islanders living on their island (i.e you have to be sharing an island with another player).
- There is no split-screen gameplay so the camera will default to whoever is “the leader” but you can quickly change the leader whenever you want, to whoever you want.
- You need a Nintendo Switch Online membership to access any online multiplayer features.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Amiibo and Amiibo Card Support
In their last Direct, Nintendo confirmed Amiibo and Amiibo Cards are supported but didn’t provide specifics. According to Nintendo Japan, as translated by GoNintendo, all Amiibo and Amiibo cards are supported but they have different functions and won't all be available at launch. You will be able to use all 16 Animal Crossing Series Amiibo and the Animal Crossing Super Smash Bros. Amiibo like the Villager and Isabelle Amiibo. In terms of Amiibo Cards, you can use Animal Crossing Amiibo Cards (Series 1-4), Animal Crossing Welcome Amiibo Cards, and Animal Crossing Welcome Amiibo Cards (Sanrio collaboration). According to the translated table, it seems some Amiibo can be used to take pictures within Photopia, an area designated for photoshoots with them. Other Amiibo will allow you to invite a villager to a campground on your island, but campground details haven’t been revealed yet. You can check out the full breakdown of Amiibo and Amiibo Card Functionality here.Animal Crossing: New Horizons Free Updates and Holiday Events
Like previous Animal Crossing games, New Horizons has Holiday Events. However, these will be rolled out in a series of free updates. The first update will add an April event called Bunny Day. This means you likely won’t be able to change your Nintendo Switch’s system clock to jump ahead to Christmas, and its unique items, if you’re in (real world) July.Animal Crossing: New Horizons Gameplay
Animal Crossing: New Horizons seems to maintain a lot of its core pillars but this time there’s a heavy focus on crafting and an even bigger emphasis on customization - in terms of your character and your island.Crafting and More With NookPhone Apps
NookPhone Apps can be accessed from the smartphone Tom Nook gives you at the beginning of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Over the course of the game you'll get new apps, similar to how the design feature worked in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. So far, the following apps have been confirmed:- DIY Recipes: View crafting recipes for tools, furniture, nature-based accessories, and other items made completely from scratch. DIY recipes can be unlocked by taking DIY workshop lessons at resident services, finding new items, purchased with Nook Miles (an in-game currency), getting them directly from villagers, finding them via messages in bottles, and more. You can also further customize your items by taking customization workshops at resident services or using your own patterns via the Custom Designs app.
- Custom Designs: Used to decorate and customize your furniture, clothing, and other items with your own unique designs and patterns.
- Nook Miles: Nooks Miles are a new currency earned by completing challenges that appear in the Nook Miles app. These miles can be exchanged for items and activities, such as a Nook Inc. uniform, DIY recipes, and other services that are part of Nook’s rewards program.
- Passport: An identification card that can be customized with titles you unlock by completing Nook Miles challenges.
- Rescue Service: If you get stuck or lost on the island this will bail you out by transporting you back to your home.
- Island Designer: Once the island is "fully decked out," you'll get a permit that lets you do construction work. Freely pave your own paths with the pattern of choice and unlock other permits to modify rivers and cliffs so that you can customize the terrain itself.
- Camera: This opens a photo mode featuring filters. You can also select an emotion to express before snapping the photo.
- Nook Shopping: Presumably an easy way to shop on the go.
- Best-Friends List: Mark some friends as Best Friends to give them access to all tools when visiting your island. Other friends and players will be restricted so there’s no risk of them ruining your island.
- Call Islander: Allows you to do co-op party play with those sharing your island.
- Map: View the map.