Animal Crossing on Switch: Rebuild the Community
Awhile ago, I promised to write about the things that made Animal Crossing a great series and why it should come on to the Switch.
To be perfectly honest, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has continued to improve and made me waver a bit. Do fans really need Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch as well?
To answer this question, I dusted off my 2DS and rebooted Animal Crossing: New Leaf to rediscover if the series does need an iteration on the Switch.
Missing Abilities from New Leaf
There are still a few things New Leaf does better than Pocket Camp. First off, animal villagers walk around and can suddenly decide to interrupt me. In Pocket Camp, anyone in camp or on the map are just available to the player at all times.
This is ideal for a mobile setup, but this necessary feature has a problem.
It makes the villagers feel less “real” and diminishes the impression that these animal characters are actual citizens or friends. Add in the fact that I cannot mail letters to my fellow villagers in Pocket Camp, and it really diminishes the feeling of “friendship” I am capable of having with these computer characters. In addition, the shops in New Leaf hold business hours in real time. This definitely adds to the sense of immersion.
Animals can decide to walk right up to your character and ask for things in New Leaf.
I do not see how Pocket Camp can fix these issues, so my immediate response was to once again dream of Animal Crossing getting a home on the Switch.
*As a note, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp did a great job with the last update. They added in the ability to allow the player to participate with animal friends in their quests to help one another (through picking furniture). This definitely was a large step forward in bringing New Leaf functionality to the mobile game. But after playing it for awhile, I still miss the traditional Animal Crossing non-mobile games.
How to Rebuild the Sense of Community
After careful contemplation, I definitely believe Animal Crossing should come onto the Switch. But then I had to ask, what does the Switch version need to capture to keep its appeal?
First, it has to be a main series iteration, or in other words, not a spin-off (such as Amiibo Festival or Happy Home Designer). Because for the most part, we have our nice little spin-off in the form of Pocket Camp.
Then the main Animal Crossing on Switch game needs to bring back the feeling of a living, breathing community.
The Town
First off, the Animal Crossing on Switch game will have to have stores with business hours. This was a great feature in New Leaf and I see no reason for this to disappear.
To be honest, Happy Home Designer’s approach to the buildings in the town was spot on. Though the town in this game had limited to no functionality (besides how it appeared) the fact that the player got to design the buildings down to the simple details was great.
I would like a Switch version of Animal Crossing to have a little of this functionality in place. It would be great if the Supermarket, Museum, Post Office, or other standard buildings players expect are there in the beginning of the game. But from there? It would be fantastic to have the player decide what additions are invited from there, and perhaps give players the option to design these additional buildings.
I personally would not mind being able to modify and design the houses of animal characters in the Switch version as well. But for now, I definitely think the public buildings should be able to be designed by the player.
Play long enough? Maybe the players could then go back and re-design the default buildings present as well.
Not every player would want to have to design a building from the ground up though. It is why it is important the baseline town is just ready to go. That way, players wouldn’t have to go into nitty-gritty design mode if they didn’t want to.
The Village
Now, who knows if there should even be a “village.” No matter the setting or structure, there needs to be an area of the game where the player and other animal friends live.
I personally lean more towards the “village” or “neighborhood” setup, since if there was any ability to integrate some features from Pocket Camp it would make more sense. (Think of having your camper from Pocket Camp parked next to your house in New Leaf; sounds great right? Or perhaps even visiting friends (players) would appear with their Pocket Camp camper.)
In addition, there needs to be a longer list of things that can be built in the village. In New Leaf, animal characters had to suggest special Public Work Projects to get more than the defaults. I remember playing for over a year and only getting about three more suggested projects. This is too few. Nintendo will have to be careful to add in more projects/amenities to the Switch version, and to make sure the animals request new additions on a more consistent basis. (Or just have everything unlocked from the start, or make clear cut goals a player can actually DO in order to get Amenities/Public Works Projects).
To be honest, Pocket Camp handles Amenities splendidly. I would like similar functionality for the Switch version.
The Animal Characters
Animal Crossing is all about the animal NPCs. I think a lot of New Leaf’s functionality will still stand, but it would be great if there were more chat options.
I state this as someone who went back to New Leaf in 2018. I remember being able to chat with the villagers easily when I played in 2012 or so, but going back I find the chatting to be more lackluster than I remember.
Some additional chat abilities to add might be:
Have the animals ask the player for advice on letter-writing to other animals.
Have the animals comment on an item they know is in your camp in the Pocket Camp mobile game, if it is linked. (I am aware this is extremely ambitious, but it would be great to have.)
Right now, in New Leaf if the player asks to chat with an animal character the animal character is at liberty to come up with anything. It would be better if there was an additional chat item besides letting the animal take charge. An example would be: Comment on Clothing. If the player chooses that option, then other options can appear such as the standard Cute, Elegant, Rustic, etc. Selecting that option would then mean you (the player) comments on the animal’s clothing. In general, some options where the player can drive the conversation a bit would make the conversation seem a lot more natural.
Some non-chat related suggestions are:
Add in a larger animal character limit, or invite another player (a friend) to have a “house” in your village as well. Having eight animal characters (more or less) to interact with seems very limited. If they cannot increase this number, it will be advantageous to make sure someone always appears in the Campsite (New Leaf).
Keep the ability to customize what animal characters are in the game if there is a limit to how many animals are around. The ability to customize who is in your village from Welcome Amiibo was greatly appreciated for New Leaf. Even Pocket Camp has the ability to invite specific, favorite animals to the campsite. So I feel this ability is critical to the Switch version.
Interactions with Other Players
This is not to be underestimated. A great deal of the sense of “community” this game has comes from the players. Not only can players share QR codes for designs in New Leaf, but now in Pocket Camp we can share some of the fish, bugs, etc. we capture. In addition, the ability to make our avatars strike poses at a moments notice and share the screenshot on social media or with friends is an undeniable driving force for players.
Even being able to take very simple screenshots like this with friends is great. Hi Sukie!
The Switch version will have to make it easy for players to interact. In New Leaf, players can visit or view one another's village. A similar functionality will need to be in place. (Kudos to Nintendo for making a touchscreen keyboard for the Switch. If they allow players to chat this will be a fantastic boon.)
Also, make sure we have the “emotion” ability earlier. I restarted my New Leaf game not too long ago, and Dr. Shrunk has not appeared yet. My character is forced to have a deadpanned face, which is not great for screenshots. It would be great if we got five or so basic emotions, then got more from there. (I feel Happy Home Designer did a better job with this than New Leaf.)
Luckily, the Switch already has a dedicated screen capture/screenshot button so it will be easy to take those great pictures and share.
Final Thoughts
I believe it is critical for Nintendo to create an Animal Crossing game for the Switch. Fans did not get to dive into a new Animal Crossing world on the Wii U, and New Leaf is showing its age. Not only does New Leaf have lackluster chat features for 2018, the graphics are very dull. Frankly, Pocket Camp on a smartphone looks more crisp.
That is what I have to say for now, but if there is anything else I can think of that I would like added to the Switch version of Animal Crossing I will make sure to create a new post. Thanks for reading!
Nintendo owns Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Animal Crossing New Leaf. Since Nintendo owns all of these properties and I am just a fan, they are free to use any ideas presented here (presuming I said anything novel). Please just listen to fans and release Animal Crossing for Switch in 2019 or earlier Nintendo. Thank you!
