Nintendo posted a new Nintendo Direct video this morning, and it had some new tidbits of Animal Crossing information. For one thing, Nintendo will be releasing 50 new Amiibo cards…all of which are villagers who were not previously in New Leaf! The examples shown are Hopkins the bunny, Ellie the elephant, and Boyd the gorilla. Scan their cards and you can enter their mobile homes!
The mobile homes will be decorated with furniture that you can order, including some new items. In Hopkins’ mobile home, you can find some Nintendo store items (including a Game Boy TV) that we saw as DLC in Happy Home Designer. And of course, you’ll be able to ask these villagers to move into your town. The cards will be released on December 2nd.
Even though the update is free, Nintendo is also publishing a new version of the game that has the update pre-installed. It will be called Animal Crossing: New Leaf: Welcome Amiibo, and it will come with one free card from the new series. It will be released this holiday season.
There’s more to the update, but Nintendo isn’t spilling all of the beans just yet. They have a mini-Nintendo Direct video coming later this fall to discuss the update (and likely the Animal Crossing app) in more detail. The Japanese version of the Nintendo Direct is reportedly coming on November 2nd. It’s likely that America’s Direct will be around the same time.
My Thoughts
I’m really curious to see who the 50 new/returning villagers will be. I would really love to see Hank and Emerald return. They are two of my favorite villagers from the GameCube game that haven’t returned since. But there are other old villagers I’d like to see too, such as Chico (I used to dance to K.K. Faire in his house on GameCube) and Hornsby, who had the memorable catchphrase of schnozzle. So I can’t wait to see the full list.
The fact that they’re adding dozens of new characters, and other features we don’t even know about yet, indicates that it is going to be a significant update. And I have mixed feelings about that. Yes, I am looking forward to trying out what’s new. And it will likely re-ignite interest in the 3+ year old game.
But if they’re putting all this effort into an update, it’s looking even less likely that a new Animal Crossing is coming anytime soon. As cool as the update will be, I’d rather see them working on a new game for NX. Of course it’s possible they could be working on that too, but that might not be realistic.
Back in Forest
Yesterday, Bob asked me for a new catchphrase. I told him to say “on my paws.” He hasn’t made any particularly funny statements using it just yet, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.
Julian was talking about the flower clock and how it smells like real flowers. Even more interesting, he said that the short hand tells the minutes, and the long hand tells the hours…of his love! I’m afraid to ask what that means.
Daisy asked me for a river fish when I was standing right by the river, so it was no trouble to catch something for her. That something turned out to be an eel. It was a bit amusing seeing her holding it as it wriggled around. She enjoyed it, and she rewarded me with an office desk.
I visited Julian again tonight, and he was telling me about customized furniture. He suggested that I get a silver throne just for him to sit in when he visits.
Bob told me he was going to move out of town on September 6th, but of course, I changed his mind for him.
How do you all feel about the update? Excited for the new villagers and mobile homes? Who are you hoping to see make a return?