I’m not trying to brag, but now that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is finally going to be a finished game as of the November 5th update, it appears that Nintendo took some of my suggestions that I put in an Animal Crossing article years ago. Restaurants, cooking, having your own yard, and the ability to make it easier to customize your town with landmarks are all now included in New Horizons. It seems that someone at Nintendo has been reading my blog. I doubt that’s true, but kidding aside, it’s great to see some things I wanted for Animal Crossing included in New Horizons. Now that the game ..read more

Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser commented on Animal Crossing: New Horizons delay into March 2020. “For us, one of our key tenets is that we bring smiles to people’s faces, and we talk about that all the time,” he said. “For us, that applies to our own employees. We need to make sure that our employees have good work-life balance. “One of those examples is, we will not bring a game to market before it’s ready. We just talked about one example [in Animal Crossing’s delay]. It’s really important that we have that balance in our world. It’s actually something we’re proud of.” ‘Animal C ..read more

Animal Crossing for Switch will not see release in 2019. With the Switch’s jam-packed release schedule until the end of the year, this is not entirely surprising. Before E3, Nintendo announced that Animal Crossing for Switch would not be playable at E3. That’s a good indicator the game needed more time in the oven. However, Nintendo still showed off the game. We found out that the new title is called Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Fitting, as this game takes place on a tropical island, as opposed to a pre-built town you move into. There seems to be a big emphasis on crafting this time around ..read more

Tom Nook is the universal constant of the Animal Crossing series. From the beginning of the first game, it’s Tom Nook who has defined the series and almost become its mascot. He owns and runs the stores where you buy all of your house furnishings and house upgrades. He gives you your first loan so you can put your roots down, have a house, and start interacting with other members of your town. Yet over time, since the series debuted in North America in 2002, an undercurrent of suspicion and animosity towards the enterprising raccoon has slowly crept into the Animal Crossing fan base. Is it des ..read more

In 2002, Animal Crossing was the ultimate casual gaming experience before anyone was using the casual label for games, or knew what it meant. In Animal Crossing, there are no enemies to kill, there are no goals to accomplish, other than those you set for yourself. There is no “ending” to the game. You exist in a little forest town that you name yourself. You have animal neighbors in this town you can do tasks for or chit-chat with. As you invest more time into it, the game peels back like an onion and you become engrossed in its depth and possibilities. Your town becom ..read more

If there was one thing last week’s Nintendo Direct communicated, it’s that the 3DS is shaping up to be a system for the ages. Nintendo’s handheld isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s remarkable looking at the life of the system and how it began, and then seeing it now. Five and a half years after the worst launch of a Nintendo handheld ever, with a paltry launch lineup and a price point $50 too high, the 3DS has steadily and quietly gotten better and better, with no end in sight. This past Nintendo Direct was Nintendo telling 3DS owners that they still have long-term plans for the system that g ..read more