The Mainstreamification of Animal Crossing

A tale of how the Animal Crossing series went from weird social simulator to everyone's favorite sandbox, and the consequences of such transformation.
I'm a day late, but I'm sure you've figured out deadlines aren't my thing

[@arandomguy3630]

New horrizons would be the best game if the villagers were actually good. But it’s still a good game even if it’s worse than new leaf. Happy 3rd birthday

[@makaniistorm8664]

I’ve started playing new horizon and new leaf back to back and you can have you pick in whats better but I instantly found that new horizons has more playability than new leaf. But new leaf definitely has better villagers

[@Maha-rg5xh]

Can't forget mini games. That's what my friends and I would always look forward to, but there are none at all in new horizons. You basically have to make your own diy games on your island.

[@iamrococoo]

@F C yessss. I love the postcards in NH but the feeling of collecting them from wild world and being able to store them etc. was so precious!

[@jorge_m-h4g]

New horizons just felt like a job I stopped playing it.

[@subconboi7242]

Ngl i think villagers in new leaf were also kind of bland 😅

[@nickk3077]

Older AC games had this beautiful sense of mystery, where the player couldn't predict what could possibly happen in their town next. It made the games feel alive! New Horizons strips away any feeling of mystery and adds in some of its own poorly designed mechanics that go at odds with the original ideas of Animal Crossing. New Horizons is just formulaic and predictable in a lot of ways, where everything sorta becomes routine.

[@-lord1754]

Brilliantly said. There was something great about playing City Folk as a kid and not being able to predict what I would wake up to the next day

[@christmastree3035]

"Poorly designed mwchanics that go at odds with the original idea of Animal Crossing." Perfectly worded! I had that same exact feeling with BOTW too

[@StevenJones851]

​@@christmastree3035i thought everyone liked BOTW??

[@silent_pete]

The first few AC's reeeally nailed the "you are a stranger to this established community" vibe. Wandering around at night on GC felt just a bit other-worldly. Those games dripped with atmosphere.

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

@@StevenJones851 This is happening with a lot of Switch games really. Namely the otherwise brilliant 3D Kirby game.

[@Chubby_Bub]

This made me remember something, the original game was advertised as "the game that plays whether you're there or not." Despite a larger degree of control, this is still somewhat there in _New Leaf,_ but in _New Horizons_ the whole island depends on you. It's impossible to play NH like you're a character from the original games because you can't just be another villager; there is a constant expectation that you should doing something for the town or for the villagers.

[@Awoo_San]

NH is so therapeutic for SO many people. I agree that the entire island depends on you in NH and it totally stresses me out lmao. I've never been very good at designing so my island looked awful, and I felt bad about it. But in the older games, you can just be a part of the town and do whatever you want. It's not for everyone, but for me that's perfect. The game does play itself, and nobody will miss my villager if she doesn't appear for a week or two. It's more relaxing to me to be a part of a world and not the focus.

[@glitchysquid1137]

Agreed. ACGC - 'ehh the villagers will take care of themselves. If they hate it, they will move'. ACNH 'I better talk to everyone to make sure everything is ok even though they can't technically leave without my permission". It's almost like they took the humanity out of the villagers, which is ironic since they're animals.

[@doctorgrubious7725]

@@Awoo_San " therapeutic for SO many people" Those people are not of valuable consideration for life, let alone as fans for a game.

[@Awoo_San]

@doctorgrubious7725 Bro chill out its just an animal crossing comment 😭😭

[@Nooby.]

You all had to be there for 2013 Tortimer Island . The amount of drama that took place 😭

[@cyschan]

NO WAY???? elaborate

[@niicespiice]

drama??? i play new leaf but not in 2013 please tell me

[@DMP64]

Omg i saw some sh*t there in 2014

[@kayro2234]

shit was wildin

[@bluetoad6848]

@@niicespiice lots of bell beggars trapping players on the island. This was eventually fixed on the update, but it was still quite the experience, for like the first 3 years of New Leaf.

[@NintendoHero]

This is such an interesting topic because while New Horizons has many flaws, easily the best part about it is how it expanded the series so massively. Like my siblings used to hate the Animal Crossing course in Mario Kart 8 cuz it was "weird," and now when we play they're shouting "OH MY GOSH THERE'S THE MUSEUM!!" I really hope that this new level of popularity will result in an overall positive direction for the series, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

[@niicespiice]

hopefully, unless it goes back to roots and people complain that it's "not customisable enough." OR we go the other way and it's just new horizons 2.

[@DVD-hf6wl]

@@niicespiice honestly I see no reason why we couldn't have all the customization aspects of New Horizons while also having the depth in other regards that previous games had, so I definitely hope the team in charge of the next Animal Crossing game gets the balance right

[@niicespiice]

​@@DVD-hf6wl true

[@TheFloodFourm]

LOL they don’t sound the brightest. Don’t worry, the series will continue to look after these folk.

[@simmehchan]

i miss when it was weird and more about socialising :(

[@kennynelson3189]

This. Now it’s about making the prettiest and coolest island and people legit getting depression that their island isn’t “good enough”. Remember when it was about making friends??

[@MarsMakes]

True. I honestly spend more time hanging out with my villagers than making my island look pretty lol

[@senderunknown9278]

At this point, I’ve accepted that the Animal Crossing franchise will never be the same after NH threw the formula in a different direction. I’m actually very curious about what will be the next game’s main new mechanic.

[@tripleg6]

That's a pretty scary thought. That each new game will depend on a new gimmick that will be remove in the next installment.

[@hisuianpitch]

hopefully the new game has actually good villagers which is kinda, yknow, one of the part of the LIFE SIM its supposed to be

[@princesszelda8577]

the only thing i can vouch for is that from here on out the villager designs would be a lot more aesthetically pleasing. with the success of raymond and the newest villagers being instantly popular with a theme going for them. i feel like theyre going to follow that route where they'll put focus on villager designs that is liked by many which i guess is pretty exciting

[@vivvy_0]

​@@tripleg6 like pokemon xD

[@BIueharvest]

It better not be fuckin crafting that's for damn sure

[@willcooper8028]

If new leaf had the customization of new horizons it would be the greatest game I’ve ever played

[@swepli]

Yes, it really would have been! New Leaf was complete when it was first released, and when the free update was given out it pretty much doubled the content in the game, making it so much more fun to play! If New Leaf had the ability to put items outside, then I truly believe it could have been the perfect game as well!

[@RinkuSonic41]

New Leaf was complete at launch. It also had a sense of progress, and the fact that 3 years after the game came out, a free update came out almost doubling the content showed that perfectly. The town felt pretty lively, with all the activities and the villagers were fun to interact with. New Horizons feels like it's just blocked when it starts showing signs of growing for your island, and the villagers are just boring. Yeah, the island aspect makes it so that you can personalize however you prefer your island, but it also "isolates" (sorry for the wordplay) the player in a way. The thing that saves this game for me is just the graphics. Everything looks gorgeous, as it should in a game whose main purpose is to be creative with decorations, but it maybe lost a bit of the game aspect of it.

[@swepli]

Very true, I agree with this completely!

[@joylox]

I didn't even get the amiibo update for New Leaf (guess it's too late now...) and it still felt like it had a few years worth of content. New Horizons, even with the update, I still lost interest in it 2 years in or so. New Leaf was something I'd still check on every now and then, but I don't think I've touched New Horizons since Christmas. It's not adding anything new for the events, and since collecting all the things was much easier, it means once you've played each holiday once or twice, you're good and don't need to play again. If they added something like the Pave furniture set, added more dialogue than the same things over and over again with different catchphrases, and tweaked some of the personalities so every single normal villager isn't the same as every other one just with different favourite colours, I'd get more play out of it. I wouldn't mind trying the DLC, but didn't feel like paying for something I'm not even sure I'd use.

[@ya-qj4ze]

​@@joylox no its not late u can still get it

[@joylox]

@@ya-qj4ze Even with the eShop gone?

[@ya-qj4ze]

@@joylox ah yes i forgot about that :/

[@Protendo]

I give ACNH a hard time, but the positive aspects of mainstreamification are important to acknowledge, like you said. I’m often so shellshocked by the current culture around the series that I don’t really consider how insanely positive something like 40 million sales is for the franchise. More than ever, I’m on the edge of my seat, waiting to see where Animal Crossing goes from here. What effect is that budget increase gonna have on AC6? How will EPD5 balance the newfound popularity of both AC and Splatoon? Will the message sent by sales numbers drown out the message sent by disgruntled Protendos? All I know is this: bring back resetti cowards

[@robothing6531]

new horizons making the franchise popular is awesome but it’s a shame isabelle launched a drone strike at tortimer island. i’m gonna miss it

[@jorge_m-h4g]

Not really, too many furries would just make all the s*** up and ruin it.

[@kaisemporium8549]

next game I hope they give the nuclear codes to the player instead ❤

[@reallyradrabbit]

@@jorge_m-h4g huh

[@br3akstuff]

@@jorge_m-h4g bro what

[@jorge_m-h4g]

Wow you guys don’t even know what I’m talking about -_-

[@BulbaWhat98]

I'm hoping that they streamline some things to make them less tedious to do. Like being able to craft multiple things at once and not having tools break at all or take way longer to break

[@justsomerandomgamer6736]

I cant get over how golden tools break in nh now

[@jlouiseknust]

Let me buy multiple items in the dressing room ffs. As a capitalist swine nookazon clothing reseller, weeks of my life have been spent on simply reentering the dressing room to purchase an style in every color 😤

[@Kogami]

FINALLY a video that mentions the "simulation Animal Crossing" vs "sandbox Animal Crossing" thing and explains the reasons why it became this way. I do think both types of games have their pros and cons and have certain things one game does better and the other doesn't, but ultimately I think judging either game would become much clearer once you understand the aim behind it; as you said with the original AC being "you're the only human outlier in town so everyone is rude to you" game vs ACNH being the "you're in control of everything so everyone sees you as the god" game. Obviously, the former type of game is what makes AC unique from every other simulation game and I will severely miss it--though sadly it's not the type of game that's gonna appeal to the mainstream, and things like customizations are much easier to spread through word-of-mouth these days; which is what Nintendo would want. I almost wish this diversion could be solved if they just separated both genres into two different titles/sub-series of mainline AC games, but obviously that's not something they'll ever do. (That said, yeah. Even as a purely sandbox-type game on its own, ACNH still has a lot to catch up with...)

[@MagillanicaLouM]

I was 7 playing wild world and genuinely was in love with Phyllis, but haven't kept up with the series at all since so sucks that it seems she's apparently not around anymore lol. Didn't know about the shift in villager personality, my girl too sassy for the new gen

[@RUBBERDUCKSSSSS]

i giggled at this comment

[@HollyWoomy]

I still wish that Nintendo had implemented the quality of life features people were asking for from day 1. It's like they had New Horizon's timeline set out from the get-go, and didn't add any more to the budget even though it was selling phenomenally well. I truly believe things like bulk crafting and better villager interactions would have extended it's lifespan! 😭

[@ducky19991]

I do think the need for even more mainstream appeal made NH worse than NL. I love that it’s gotten so hugely popular but I feel they sanitized it too far. The vibes are just off in NH

[@swepli]

Yeah, same, New Leaf was like a home away from home for me. No one at my school really knew what it was, but the people who did know what the game was were true friends to me. Now almost everyone I know has heard of or plays New Horizons, and it’s kinda strange to see all these new people coming in to the fandom ngl

[@princesszelda8577]

it really shouldn't be a problem that many people know about it/ play it now. isn't that supposed to be a good thing? whats so strange about new people coming into the fandom? it lowkey sounds elitist and toxic. everyone deserves to discover and enjoy AC just like all the veterans have.

[@raid--er4083]

​@@princesszelda8577I don't think thats the issue, its probably the fact that now that New Horizons was extremely successful it means that the next games will probably be almost exactly like what made it mainstream to begin with and a TON of fans of the series aren't happy about the changes in New Horizons

[@ameliabutcher3425]

As someone who very much loved and still loves NL, I will be very sad if the next game does not return to that formula in some capacity. Even though the story is always fairly light in AC games, at least it usually makes sense. I legit do not know why Isabelle would give up her job as the secretary (and also have a complete personality change), or why Nook, the twins, the Able sisters, Reese and Cyrus, etc. would give up their jobs ig on what is considered the mainland. Lottie only kind of makes sense, since the island real estate agency is a fair development on her career, but it meant leaving behind Digby? It sucks that they trashed a lot of character development and aspirations to retcon them into this island plot. It would have made way more sense if nook was running the project off island, and perhaps you were his employee, thus justifying the influence you have over the island better than the island rep thing. I also really don't like how plastic-y and blocky the art style seems, among other qualms.

[@swepli]

I’m okay with the art style, I think it turned out pretty alright for it being a switch game! I do believe that New Leaf’s style had more of a charm to it, though, but I can’t pinpoint why

[@TommyBKWL]

​@@swepli I think you're getting art style confused with graphics. Yeah the graphics are good for switch but it's not a good art style for animal crossing.

[@joylox]

I totally agree. I would have liked it more if they took the idea of islands in the direction of a trip to a mainland shopping district (like the main street in New Leaf) perhaps with smaller outposts run by one of the characters (like Mabel and Tommy, while the others kept larger shops in a shopping district), going to Tortimer's island again, and stuff like that. I feel like Harv's Island was a start, but could have been taken further. I also would have liked some reason for why the player character had more say. Like if Tom Nook were, say, going from island to island making startups essentially, sure, each island would need a rep because he wouldn't be there all the time, and perhaps he could visit with advice. But I'm just not sure the island idea went beyond, "hey, if you liked being mayor, what about having a whole island to play with?" When it could have been much more. Even if you could have villager submitted requests that would gain friendship with them for if they wanted to move, or requested a bridge or something to make them less like mindless robots saying the same things over and over.

[@swepli]

@@TommyBKWL Ohhhhh okay okay sorry dude, I mix up words a lot, thank you-

[@hlavco]

The change in scenery for New Horizons was refreshing, but I'm ready to go back to the cozy railroad town now.

[@sappy.3xe]

My dream AC game is basically New Leaf with: NH’s quality and extra customizations + WW’s villager personalities/dialogue.

[@brokewithexpensivegames]

to be fair, I have played every title since wild world and, despite thinking i would probably play new horizons for a month and give it up, i've now played it almost every day for 7 whole months. It massively improves upon older titles in so many ways, adding things that I could only dream of as a kid. It hasn't wholly lost its charm, I think the basis is still there. Create my little paradise genuinely does feel like my paradise. I do however agree with the statement you made about it prioritising the player and not the simulation. I think with the next title it could definitely work on this. I think the gameplay should be more unpredictable. Right now, new horizons just allows you to control every aspect to the point where you are never shocked or charmed by something unpredictable happening - because it never does.

[@princesszelda8577]

just remove time travel fully, implement a deep A.I system to the villagers, put in a lot more atmosphere from the get go. and im pretty sure itll be amazing. just those things.

[@princesszelda8577]

i truly feel like the people who say that the game is boring just got burnout from fast forwarding everything with TT. theres honestly a lot of things to do without TT when you think about it and it honestly just makes it a lot more amazing.

[@br3akstuff]

@@princesszelda8577 People have been time travelling in AC games since the beginning lmao. It was EXTREMELY easy in the GC one.

[@Senor_andy]

I’m at this weird crossroads where I do like New Leaf better, but now that I sunk so much time into NH and am used to it, it’s hard to go back to New Leaf

[@Dondon-wt5mw]

If only we would’ve just gotten a new leaf HD port and just make it so that we can have new horizons ability to put stuff outside your house, ability to kick out villagers, the gamecube personalities and dialogue, stuff like that😭

[@SMCwasTaken]

Nah, in that parallel universe people will be angry because the switch has lots of ports and people will be tired of all the ports

[@koramora]

This is such a good dive into why New Horizons feels like it's missing some of the old charm. Hopefully they see that in the next game. But my expectations are low 🙃 great video!!

[@cyschan]

i’m just surprised as to how much the games have changes over the years. if you want less control and more “life” to the characters, play an older game. if you want more quality of life and customization and don’t care about how the villagers act, play new horizons or something. i prefer the older games, but that’s on me.

[@maverickREAL]

The problem is one that plagues every Nintendo game. It is bland to appease everyone and ends up appeasing no one. There's no teeth, no soul. The dialogue is stale and inoffensive, the scope hasn't expanded since the 3DS years and there's no real sense of... anything. They're walking on eggshells for groups that don't exist, paranoid that any outcry from anyone would cause diminished sales. And that's what it all comes back to. Trying to make a product not ENJOYABLE for all, but PURCHASABLE by all.

[@TheGoblinsWithin]

Man, I remember when I picked up New Leaf in 2013 and it felt like an obscurity. Animal Crossing as a series is more mainstream now than ever before, but it has me worried that Nintendo will see those 40 million sales New Horizons has and let that overshadow the long-term fans' complaints about the game. I'm really hoping that's not the case and that AC7 will bring AC back to it's former glory WITH the added benefits New Horizons brought to the table, but that's honestly wishful thinking at this point (though it *did* happen once, so who's to say it won't happen again?). Anyways I loved the video, it was really well-worded and I'm really glad you covered this subject as it's been something that's been on my mind ever since the game blew up over quarantine, almost quadrupling the player base. Keep up the good work my guy!!

[@CBaller]

I feel there’s a much better compromise between customization and simulation; NH just feels like they maxed in one and abandoned the other. Add in NH’s abysmal support cycle and you have a game that feels like a shadow if it’s former self (even without Welcome Amiibo, New Leaf and even City Folk had free DLC drops for YEARS). If they can make a game that has the customization of NH, the interaction of NL, and the spontaneity of older games (and maybe the item variety of Pocket Camp as a bonus), they’d be set and everyone could have a place without feeling alienated.

[@swepli]

I believe this as well, they could have made a much healthier balance between all of the aspects

[@Momo4060i]

This has happened to so many of my favourite franchises that I have a hard time finding something new to play nowadays

[@kinasakuraba]

I really do hate the whole town- er, island, revolving around me. It's the worst talking to a villager and they're gossiping about me instead of each other. Yes, I planted a money tree. Again. No, you can't have my money instead. Don't I give you enough gifts anyway? 🙄 Literally every day I was having this conversation. It also sucks to turn on NH knowing nothing will have changed, besides the season and I'll have to clean up some weeds. Maybe I'll get lucky and a holiday will be happening. I guess I'm glad they added some villager dialogue but I miss when they'd gossip about each other all the time. Oh and I miss when the shop would get bigger all the time. My disappointment at the shop only getting one upgrade cannot be measured. I don't care if it would subtract from the resort island vibe, I want an effing mall on my island! And a post office so I can see more pelican drama! And for the Able sisters to tell me about their past! Oh and Nook too! Ugh maybe I just need to turn Wild World back on.

[@luketj]

i do miss when animal crossing wasn't as popular. it felt more special. and the community was better

[@johnlucas1543]

voyan, I was there from the first internationally released game Animal Crossing for the Gamecube. I got into it through Super Smash Bros. Melee & its Trophies. Smash Melee was my first game bought for Gamecube. "Who is Mr. Resetti?" "Who is Tom Nook?" "Who is Totakeke?" That's what I thought when I saw this new Nintendo franchise promoted in Smash Melee. By now I trusted Nintendo inherently as a gamemaker. Stuck with them in the Nintendo 64 era with the 3rd Party Exodus. Had been with them since they broke through internationally with Donkey Kong arcade in 1981 so I'm of the VERY FIRST American Nintendo generation (Donkey Kong cereal & Saturday Supercade anyone?). I wanted to expand my gaming horizons & try new things so I wanted to give this game a shot just like Pikmin & Chibi-Robo. I spent pretty much the entire Gamecube era with Animal Crossing in the console. That's almost all I played. Saw the series grow up as it expanded to handheld (smart choice by Nintendo). Saw all of the growing cast of characters. And I thought New Leaf was the highwater mark for the franchise until I saw how New Horizons performed. I was VERY late to the Switch era because of financial issues & didn't get one until 2022. Latest I have EVER been to a Nintendo console purchase. I had also lost touch with gaming for a bit in 2016 following politics so I stuck with my early 8th Generation consoles 3DS & Wii U when I DID play something. Satoru Iwata's death in 2015 probably had a little to do with me slipping away from the gaming scene as well. But after 2020 soured me on poltiics & I started to plug back in to gaming & noticed the record-breaking sales Switch was making in hardware AND software. And Animal Crossing: New Horizons was one of these record-breakers in software. Once I played it I understood why it was so popular. The villagers have so much more life to them. They do more random things & are more varied in their activities & routines. Watching them randomly sing & interact with the items blew my mind. Plus the graphics were sublime on New Horizons. THAT SUNSET, man! It coming out at the genesis of COVID-19 was the cherry on top. Right game in the right time in the right place. I'm not bothered with the shift in focus like you may be because the core Animal Crossing experience is still there in my eyes. Yes, Nintendo took some of the edge off of the characters over the years to lessen chances for offending people. Yes, New Horizons' locale deemphasizes certain beloved characters & Isabelle continues to dominate as one of the mascots. But none of that means that the franchise has lost its way now that it's in the echelon of Mario, Zelda, & Pokémon. They can always add a little bite back to the characters & old characters can be brought back in new roles at any time. New Horizons' success allows Nintendo to do more things with the series now that it's a guaranteed hitmaker. I'm GLAD it's mainstream now because I knew it was a breakthrough series all the way back in 2002. In my eyes, the whole world had finally caught up to me. Now multi millions of people realize Animal Crossing's greatness.

[@tacopok895]

Honestly I just really hope that any further installments in the series can fill in the gaps between NH and the rest of the series somehow. I just adored how much random weird things the old games had, and I don’t think that’s impossible for the new games, either.

[@random_d00d]

I agree, part of what made Animal Crossing so special was the quirkiness of a lot of the features and the game itself. I hope Nintendo carries on adding to the weirdness that gives Animal Crossing its charm.

[@nano_verse7815]

I think what I miss most about the older games is the atmosphere. The GameCube version especially had such a nice atmosphere that I loved.

[@WilliamH157]

The only reason I can think of for them to pull all development after just 1.5 years is they're making the next game as a launch title for Switch 2

[@yeethittter1285]

New Horizons is great if you're good at designing, and not for many others. It was fun for a good while until I filled out most of the museum, did all the minimal designing I wanted, and realised it had no backbone beyond that. The villagers aren't fun to talk to, the events aren't very fun, and it's not even relaxing to me. Compared to New Leaf - that game had such a cosy, slightly rough around the edges charm to it's art style and colours and music that made it extremely relaxing, like a rainy day or a forest. New Horizons to me is more like a Satifying Videos compilation. So smooth and bright. Just,, trying too hard. I still play it but only Happy Home Paradise bc it's the only part that's consistently different and relaxing (even then it has flaws)

[@floewe2000]

I sometimes endet Wild World without saving on purpose, so I could hear Resettis Music. I really dig it :D

[@bluetoad6848]

When I've first played NH, I thought it was insufferable, and shelved it, going back to NL. After 2 years, I've came back, deleted my island, and tried playing again to see if my stance has changed, only to find it even more insufferable than before. My relationship with NH is like a freshwater fish relationship with the Dead Sea.

[@swepli]

I miss the New Leaf days, everything seemed so much simpler then.

[@Mom-cf2je]

I just wanted to say your script for this video was really good! Keep up the good work you earned a subscriber

[@dunsparcetv9036]

I wasn’t new to Animal Crossing, because I played New Leaf before and I love New Leaf, but it had issues. The games the lack of deciding about where your villagers should live and the big grind for your house annoyed me the most. While New horizon was amazing, but there was something missing. The villagers feel less alive and the game didn’t have anything other than completing everything as a end goal after getting 5 stars. I remember early 2020 where I got the game for Easter and it was fun. Doing my homework on the morning and playing Animal crossing for the rest of the day until I went for a walk. I have over 400 hours spend in this game and I still am not done. I just am too lazy to grind for some stuff, but I love it. My friends even who didn’t buy New leaf bought the game and we loved it, but I played the most in total and I got Discord just for this game and my experience was good mostly, but I was scammed ones, but I want to forget her and I wish the scammer has a horrible time. But I definitely noticed it’s huge increase in popularity. In the past new leaf videos or guides weren’t so famous and there were only a few. One thing I noticed was how huge the villagers influenced people. My favorite is Zucker, because he looked cool and I try to chose villagers by their looks how I like them not how the internet thinks. I didn’t pass on rare ones like Marshal, because people would hate me for letting him go, but Raymond and others had a cult or something which I didn’t understand and I wanted to make a comic once where Raymond goes insane, because of the Villager and he eventually gets the villager to Jail, because they broke into his house and I think I will do that one day.

[@TheRBCrosser]

So happy to see another Animal Crossing video from Voyan!

[@nocctea]

i got into animal crossing with wild world and i’m so so happy that it’s gotten popular now! but i agree with this video, i’m kinda waiting with baited breath for the next one cause it’ll tell us which direction nintendo is gonna be taking this series. and i really hope they take the feedback and go back to life sim/social priorities rather than customization priorities

[@Lunamine]

The simple way to make NH the best AC game: -give personality to the villagers -bring back characters who have been replaced by objects or bad gimmicks -bring back minigames and interactions (working at the coffeeshop, tortimer island …) (And better music)

[@joylox]

I still find I get music of NL and WW stuck in my head more often than the NH music. I liked that they still stuck with the idea of the main theme having a few musical themes in it that will show up during the hourly music, but they just didn't seem as strong. I also miss the pelicans and the whole main street vibe of New Leaf's shopping area. It just brings a good way to have two separate areas. It would be lovely to have the outdoor furniture and customization with those.

[@Solaceon]

- bringing back shop upgrades

[@okoshawott]

wonderful video señor voy was fun getting a sneak peek of this earlier 👍👍

[@Sincald]

My only piece of Animal Crossing merch is a fan design on a pink tshirt, of the pink default villager's face peering through an axe hole in an implied wooden door. A _The Shining_ reference inspired by the Villager's moveset from Smash 4. It's falling to pieces at this point but I love it

[@Yallnotready4MADDOG]

HEY!!!! I just wanted to let you know that your videos are so rewatchable, i always put on your animal crossing ranked videos when ever i am sad. It’s been a tradition since the videos came out. It’s so amazing to see you grow and make more videos, I seriously can’t explain how much you have helped me. Don’t stop and keep up the great work. The quality of your video editing and content speaks so much!!!

[@tuffdude7795]

New Horizons is a good game, but still has obvious flaws that are such simple fixes. It could also have been what it is and still kept some of that stuff from past games. I don't think they necessarily had to sacrifice some simulation things for the customization. Villagers could have personality and still let you move their house, but grumpier ones could be upset about it. We could have more progression to the stores. I love this game and past games. I hope the next game takes the best parts of New Horizons and combines it with the best parts of the older games. Happy 3 Years New Horizons.

[@Eelanos]

My problem with New Horizons is that I don't like terraforming. I find it tedious. I liked having cool clothes, yeah, but I liked even more visiting my neighbours. Some were really sweet, some were THIS close to calling me the N word unprovoked. I fought with some, I made friends with others, and with Kabuki I even went on a whole enemies-to-friends kinda trip to the point that I considered him my best friend in game. Drinking coffee just because until eventually I unlocked the gyroid bank was an amazing surprise, and I loved founding cool stuff like the fountain goddess. But then New Horizons is "Smack ugly villagers in the head until they go away because they kill the vibe 🌈✨" and that's *literally* the polar opposite of what I liked from the game.

[@Skyzeri]

Thank you for always advocating for AC:GC and keeping it alive! It's my favorite game ever. Plus your editing and humor is top notch :)

[@mirasdiary]

1.5k hours of new horizons?? BABE TOUCH GRASS HELP

[@rustyshackleford234]

I played it almost constantly during the pandemic and only got 300 hours…

[@squidgirl3327]

I was waiting so long for New Horizons, I was so exited to play it. However, something about it compared to the other games felt... empty. I love New Horizons, but it just made me feel so much more burnt out and felt almost like a chore. I LIKED not having all the power to decorate the whole island because it made good islands that much more impressive.

[@lillipupzilla]

The merch thing is so real. It's crazy now because I remember being 12 at my first comic convention and being STOKED to find a gacha machine with Japanese Wild World phone charms lmao. It was the first merch of the series I had ever found after loving AC for six freaking years.

[@jpVari]

I only played the original one. This is kinda fascinating.

[@andyblargextra]

I think New Leaf was peak Animal Crossing, but Gamecube Animal Crossing will always be the best in my heart.

[@SkyBlueFox1]

This is a pretty interesting perspective overall, but I also will still never, ever understand what people see in New Leaf compared to New Horizons. NH certainly has some flaws, but I think a lot of people - particularly the hardcore fans - kinda forgot how New Leaf's launch days actually went, which is why it has such a rosy (and frankly, not entirely deserved) reputation now. I could write a whole essay on that particular can of worms, but suffice to say, a lot of the things that people liked about New Leaf's social elements are things that NH 2.0 added - and the stuff that's still exclusive to NL is stuff I really, *really* couldn't stand. If I had to thrown my two cents into the ring, calling this "mainstreamification" isn't really accurate - a better way to put it is "changing of the tides". Like, in the span of time between New Leaf and New Horizons, the industry went through so many shifts that just thinking about it can make your head spin... and most of those shifts worked against Animal Crossing's original goals. The series was initially a quirky little game you played to relax and pass the time, and that was literally it. But that isn't unique anymore; there are tons of mobile games you can waste your time on nowadays, and all you need to play those games is your phone. The series was also, as you described, a 'social simulator', where you could just live in a village and talk to your neighbors and just kinda see what was going on. But that also isn't unique anymore; there's plenty of games about living in small towns, and most of them (like, say, Stardew Valley) give you more things to do on top of being a life-sim. To use an example, consider Starfox. Back in the day, it was a beloved space-shooter series, even if later games were noticeably flawed. But... well, if you hadn't noticed, space-shooters as a genre have been dead for more than a decade now. The last time I remember seeing a triple-A arcade-y space-shooter was Starfox Zero, and we all know how that turned out. Starfox ultimately had two options: either stay an old-fashioned space-shooter and be relegated to budget titles for the rest of its days, or change course and become more than just a space-shooter in order to offer something fresh. Unfortunately, neither of those things happened, and so the series went out with a whimper. Animal Crossing was in the same position; in a time when "timepass" games are a dime-a-dozen, it needed a way to differentiate itself from the pack. I know some older fans or longtime players won't agree with me, and that's fine, but while I did enjoy GCN, Wild World, and New Leaf... everything about New Horizons makes it one of my favorite games in recent memory.

[@br3akstuff]

I suppose if I actually enjoyed such a high level of customisation I’d enjoy it but I don’t so I don’t. The terraforming is the main aspect but it’s so so boring and tedious and expensive. I’m glad you had fun though. I suppose anything that has to somehow merge business and art will have to bend to the will of the average consumer lol

[@marsoulini]

As a person whose first AC game was New Horizons, I can say that I think New Leaf is way better for me - Gameplay wise, music wise, etc. It feels far more complete and alive. You don't have full control over what happens. Especially to the villagers. You have to actually sit and put effort in getting to know them. You have to work hard to put buildings in your town. There's a wider variety of things to do, in my opinion. Now, on New Horizons, I've spent countless hours on it, until I stopped. The game got very overwhelming, despite it having other activities like fishing, digging for fossils, it feels like the main focus is to customise. There's so much variety it hurts. Terraforming, and the amount of islands you see online that are so well decorated. Personally, seeing all of that stuff and most importantly, not being able to obtain it or make it, really made me lose pretty much any kind of motivation to play the game. It's like you're addicted to perfection and completely ignore the other parts of the game, if there even are any anymore. The villagers feel soulless, which was a very huge part of the game. They just like you the moment they step in your island, you dont have to try for them to like you. You don't really have to try for anything, except get that one damn furniture in order to match the island you found on pinterest, or something. The soundtrack is also super repetitive and I hated it since day one. So, in my opinion, New Horizons was quite the downgrade - no shame to whoever loves it, by the way. Everyone has their own tastes and opinions. If someone likes to focus more on customising then that's completely fine.

[@Nightshade0574]

I've played all animal crossing games and while new horizons added some nice stuff, it just feels hollow to me , and while I love customisation, I think the terraforming aspect feels too much for animal crossing. Playing it feels more like a chore and a decorative SIM instead of an animal crossing game. I also wasn't a fan of crafting becoming a thing instead of just being able to buy everything + tools becoming breakable for some reason

[@marcusclark1339]

in short series lost itself for broad appeal, people in comments saying "i still enjoy it/didn't bother me as much/step in right direction and step back" it isn't about how you subjectively feel on the changes, it is a lost in the series roots and you can't get it back as long as they keep going in that direction, it won't "just do both" cause that's now how that works is a shame, the losses because nothing does AC as it used to

[@danidkg4071]

i still don't understand why they didn't give players the option to have multiple islands. maybe it had to do with storage space on the switch or something, but in a game that's all about customisation and truly making your island your own, wouldn't it make sense to let people have multiple islands? if i was playing with my friend and customising my island, then i wouldn't want to let them change my entire plan. they need their own island to fulfil their plan. sharing a town made sense in the older games (even new leaf), because you were still just living in a normal town, but now you literally make the town/island.

[@princeapoopoo5787]

For the longest time I've struggled to explain why the GCN/N64 one is my favourite, and well, besides nostagia, i thknk you really nailed it. I just miss the simulation of being in a new and unfamiliar town. I do feel like i may be affected by the wearisome fandom a bit, because it isnt like i necessarily hate the customisation either

[@discussingwhattodo5381]

New horizons just doesn’t cater to the type of player I am anymore. New horizons ONLY is about customization now, nothing else I’m not that type of player, I like the grind, with a little customization. It’s just not fun for me anymore

[@iamrococoo]

im sorry but how is NH only about customization? To even customize you literally have to grind. There's still debt to pay, more fish and bugs than past games to catch, museum to fill, DIYs to collect... New Horizons missed the mark, but to say it's only about customization is a bit off. I feel like most people complain about the grindiness that was introduced with crafting (i sorta share that opinion)

[@perfectcyan1153]

New Horizons seems a bit similar to the Sims 4 to me. For both good and bad reasons. I can at least play New Horizons and still have fun with it. After all, I don’t have to worry about patches that don’t fix hardly any bugs in it.

[@lynntaylor9681]

New Leaf was my first Animal Crossing game back in 2015 and because of it I bought a used copy of Wild World a year later. New Horizons was fun for me for a month or two, but after that I started to get really bored in May 2020. I'm just not into customization. The main fun I had in New Leaf was collecting bugs and fish to pay for the projects and there's less of that in New Horizons. I miss the shop upgrades, the old characters actually having a purpose, and especially Tortimer's Island. I love those mini games. It's why I started playing Animal Crossing New Leaf again every so often since 2021 even though I played that game on a regular basis from Feb 2015 until sometime in 2018. Although the New Leaf update helped a lot. Wish New Horizons would get a last minute update with Tortimer's Island and shop upgrades. I know it's not going to happen though.

[@JammerAma]

Wild World was definitely what made Animal Crossing "main stream" every kid I knew had a copy of Wild World growing up.

[@thegreatscribbles960]

My pure hatred for new horizon being mainstream derives from me asking for new leaf as kid multiple times and never getting it

[@AS-cs9gi]

same. we pretty much missed out on the peak of the series

[@hashuran]

I WANT villagers to YELL at me when I make a mistake or if they have a rude personnality. I WANT them to move out the village IF THEY WANT TO. I WANT Resetti to yell at me if I forgot to save. I WANT the village to change, live and have dramas WITHOUT my intervention. I WANT villagers to have dramas between them and unique dialogues everytime they talk to me. All of this from the previous opus but with the ACNH personnalisation, and it would be the best game ever. I felt so sad when I realized ACNH had all the personnalisation we dreamed for but no soul anymore.

[@darkman2807]

Out of all the titles New Horizons is the one I played the least. Aside from it losing its soul in exchange for customization, I found the island designing feature has made it competition and discourages you (or me at least) from playing if you don't have the time to achieve these design feats.

[@nickk3077]

Side note: I think the name New Horizons is overly pretentious. It's like THIS is Animal Crossing game that will take the series to NEW HORIZONS... and I mean it did in sales, but not in soul... if that makes sense. What are they going to call the next game? You can't really compete with the name New Horizons.

[@TheRedarm75]

I will never forget when in the gamecube animal crossing wolfgang actually acknowledged they are animals when talking about a heated fight between bones and puddles "for all we try to act sophisticated we are still just animals"

[@chloeplaysacnh]

As someone who’s only ever played New Leaf and New horizons, I love the customisation aspect of the new game. However I’d also love them to give the villagers more personality and bring back some of the old features that got lost. A mix of the old/new would be so good! 💕

[@SMCwasTaken]

I'm sorry but too much diologue is bad

[@SmashSSL]

@@SMCwasTaken no one is asking for "too much dialogue"

[@SMCwasTaken]

@@SmashSSL Edgelord, let me share my opinion

[@br3akstuff]

@@SMCwasTaken ??? Go to hell

[@homesteadhero]

You covered this with complete fairness and I feel many of us (myself very much included) can and will resonate with what you said. Don't get me wrong: I've been plenty delighted with New Horizons, and I'm a huuuge fan of Happy Home Paradise...but some of the omissions from the past have me undoubtedly concerned. Here's hoping Nintendo will expand on the universal appeal whilst not forgoing any further culling of the charming - but emotionally-cutting - content, characters, and humor.

[@bilis2866]

animal crossing fans deserved it, hope every new sequel its just like new horizons

[@lorettabes4553]

it's wild to me that AC NH doesn't get updated more. I think once splatoon 3 is done updating, and the dlc is out, maybbeeee they'll start doing stuff for NH again

[@mrcteddy20]

While New Horizons has its flaws, I will still enjoy it for what it's done for me. It helped me get through quarantine and my wife, who hardly plays video games, got own her own copy and Switch to play with me so I'll always appreciate what the game did for me.

[@q-miiproductions878]

2:13 It was originally on the N64. I wonder what would’ve happened if that build was released outside of Japan. You even namedrop it at 7:46!

[@SuperDuperJamer]

Good video. No Happy Home Designer mention? At 6:01, the Simulation vs Customisation aspect reminds me of a Survival vs Creative mode

[@BerserksEclipse]

I screamed when I heard the Cadaver’s Hollow theme from SMT V 💀 wasn’t expecting to hear that over some animal crossing gameplay lmao

[@BerserksEclipse]

Oh my gosh his Demi Fiend character!! 🖤

[@cgk1276]

There’s a balance to be struck with the customization. The argument for gatekeeping is introducing a larger amount of people will bring in those who want it changed away from what those who already played it liked about it. We saw this happen to Fire Emblem already, and now we’ve seen the town just become a glorified dollhouse and I hate it. The town doesn’t feel dynamic or interesting, it feels shallow and soulless once you’ve got it set up the way you want it. The gameplay has gone about as far as it can in the customization direction, the next game needs a massive overhaul to make it more life sim etc. The original game is shallow and kinda empty, but there’s SOMETHING about it that repeatedly draws interest to this very day. They need to find a new direction for this series that takes it back to its root ideas while also still being fun.

[@starclaw34]

i need that path design at 9:45 tbh also good video. i do wish they'd patch more things into the game. there's plenty more to do

[@meowzkiii]

new horizons was so popular during 2020, everytime i tried to buy a switch it was sold out or over $800 (i eventually did get it). but i miss the charm and personality of the older games :,) hope somehow they improve on the next game and bring back what made the earlier entries so endearing while keeping the customization of nh

[@co2_os]

I'm so ready for the next release, aah I know it won't come soon enough.

[@moldy_fettuccine]

As someone who plays since wild world it was crazy to see new horizons ascend to mainstream I never thought such a niche type of gameplay could appeal to the masses

[@Deac0n_Blues]

Man, I remember asking my mom to buy me a GameCube just for Animal Crossing. Good times, it has definitely changed a lot though out the years.

[@VorpalVixen]

I miss the older music more than anything else ;_; OG Animal Crossing was my favorite, but New Leaf was also fantastic. I also prefer having less agency for terraforming my island, but that’s more of a personal preference. I hope the bring the first Animal Crossing to the switch someday.

[@darkisatari]

As someone who only played NH for 2 months and was massively disappointed in the lack of interaction with villagers, this video was really eye-opening!

[@camsheet4649]

Sydney really asked “ok but genuinely what is animal crossing”

[@StraytheSkies]

My fave is the gamecube one even if there's not a lot to do. The villagers were savage lol.

[@MissJJJCG]

The Elebits music ❤️

[@roseythebean]

lmaooo ‘removing grass detoriation..hooHOOO’ Blathers is that you??

[@aba4055]

Both zelda and animal crossing went from being awesome to being as mass appeal, generic as possible…they used to be kinda weird…why did they take away phyllis…why did they take away link’s silly hat…weird things…i LOVE them…

[@Valihir]

There's alot of good in New Horizons but I can't call it better than new leaf Animal crossing there was always a goal homes and stores to be upgraded and seasonal things to look forward to. But everything is locked behind updates and you can't upgrade stores

[@Abcdefg-fh3fb]

i just want BOTH. i want customization AND villagers that are alive/mean. oh you want to move their house? become friends with them first and then they agree! hmpf. like this is so easy but nope theyre just lifeless puppets now. this would also give you more reasons to be nice to them. im playing the gamecube game now and its so sad how much better the animals are. also i never wanted to be the mayor or whatever. just let me change stuff without giving me a dumb role like that. i just wanna live in the village and improve it how i want to and then people notice and are like "wow youre so nice!" stuff like that. also i understand they removed resetti cause he was honestly scary as shit to me as a kid but for the love of god keep villagers alive and let them be mean to me.

[@LeviAuren]

There were still the unacceptable limitations for me: -I couldn’t hand over the island representative status to my sibling after I burned out on the game. -Multiplayer still isn’t fully functional. I can’t couch co-op with my family, I can’t collaboratively create with my friends online. Slight thing but I don’t like terraforming. I’m the person who finds a cool location to build in in Minecraft rather than flatten/build up an optimal location

[@putincatboy]

Thank god someone is talking about the sanitisation of ac. I grew up with city folk and wild world. And I loved the weird events and sassy characters, (Phyllis my love). I bought a switch for acnh and it was very underwhelming, the way they released it unfinished.

[@Nichslvl]

Although New Horizons seems to be the "middle child" of the series, it's so odd how things kinda fell into place with this game. This game allowed people to escape from the traumatic real world events that were happening (so much so that I remember getting super lucky buying a switch and acnh for my gf before they were all sold out) This is of course a very interesting topic to see how quickly and crazy people became over this series, but still not really showing any love for the original games. New Horizons is kinda how I got my start with content creation, and I think it truly is just because how wide the audience was for this game.

[@NickMario1]

Same

[@TheGoblinsWithin]

Well said Nich

[@CrobatmanIamthenight]

My only issue with new horizons is, making furniture series into the crafting mechanic, just leave them out give me back all the normal furniture series and bring back nookingtons, i love horizons for everything other than the souless husks the villagers are now and the bloody terraforming, i hate teraforming, i want my island to feel natural now a weird squere caus of game mechanics.

[@shibememes]

the way i see it, life simulation and decorator aspects just undermine each other. an engaging life simulation needs unpredictably, depth, and things that are inconvenient or limit your power. but a fun decorator game needs a ton of control with little in your way. unfortunately with new horizons, that meant dumbing down the animals and making you “like a god” like you said. and then removing shops and other things someone might not want messing with their aesthetic. that totally kills the life sim aspect. yet, there are still enough life sim parts left in new horizons to drag down the designer experience. i’m glad you can’t just auto fill areas in terraforming mode because that would be SUPER immersion breaking but it’s still a pain editing each tile. the game (sort of) tries to strike a medium between both types of games but in my eyes it just fails at both. not just because it was underdeveloped in both areas, but because they work against each other by nature. decorating is and has always been an important component of animal crossing for sure, but i think it was a mistake making it the core of the game the way they did with new horizons. but i imagine that was way easier to sell to the masses (and especially the decorator-streamer community) than a “traditional” AC game.

[@spartaninvirginia]

The villagers make or break an animal crossing game. I wish they were better in New Horizons. The original will always be my favorite, I've probably got the most time in Wild World though. The lack of upgrades to the stores is unacceptable, still.

[@LuwiigiMaster]

The implication that AC's popularity will spur a (second) movie is somewhat amusing. If anything I'm curious if they will make a movie, following in Mario Movie's success. The mean villagers, and Resetti, could potentially come back in some sort of spinoff, one where adversity is a key component. They can settle their neighborhood drama by playing cards, why not.

[@elena3941]

I miss the limits of the earlier games, Wild World was my introduction to animal crossing. I have City Folk, New Leaf, Happy Home Designer and New Horizons. I gotta say I miss Tortimer, Resetti, the hairstylist (I don’t remember her english name), GRACIE and the old furniture series. Also gold items actually mattering and the limits of New Leafs customization of the town …

[@Lionwoman]

Still, making the game all about you came with some flaws and the most important it's the already mentioned lost of villagers personality. Now they're just moving furniture and that's sad, villagers where one of the charms of the game.

[@Irreve-rsible]

The game is just a building simulator now. I agree with you fully.

[@malibupromqueen]

i don’t like how in new horizons all of the villagers suck up to you 😭 i miss when barbara would call me a fat bloated idiot if i called her outfit ugly