Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Genre: Management Simulation

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local Wireless / Online), StreetPass Supported

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Review:

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a family-friendly Management Simulation released on Nintendo 3DS in 2013, with a free update releasing in 2016 tacking on “Welcome Amiibo” that adds additional Amiibo support. As with other mainline games in the Animal Crossing series, New Leaf has players joining a town of anthropomorphic animal residents, and performing small tasks to earn money to pay back a debt, all with a relaxed, low-pressure environment in a world that uses a real-time clock to have the events in the game progress in time with the events of the real-world – when it’s 8:24 AM on Wednesday, November 2 in real life, it’s 8:24 AM on Wednesday, November 2 in the game, when the seasons change in our world, it does so for your town’s residents, and when you’re counting down the final seconds on New Year’s Eve, so too will your village.

The presentation in this game is delightful, with simple yet detailed cartoony 3D characters in a detailed idyllic setting. As with earlier titles, Animal Crossing: New Leaf features a “rolling” world that gives the game a unique look, and the characters’ cutesy gobbledygook speak makes a return as well. This is all backed by a lovely soundtrack that does a superb job setting a relaxing tone for the rest of the game.

New Leaf’s unique approach to the series is that players take on the role of mayor, enabling players to set ordinances (adapting the time that characters start milling about, changing the shops’ schedules, and so on) and start public works projects. Other new additions in this entry to the series include the ability to place items on the interior walls of your home, swimming, and the ability to take snapshots. These features would go on to be used in Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Nintendo 3DS, but it’s still noteworthy that this game introduced them.

What’s more, there are other features in Animal Crossing: New Leaf that haven’t been added into New Horizons – Tortimer Island, daily fortune cookies containing Nintendo items, the ability to rent and decorate your own museum rooms, the megaphone item, main street and many of its shops, the expanded Nook shop, numerous types of fruit, and numerous NPCs are all missing from the Nintendo Switch entry in the franchise, and with the confirmation that New Horizons will no longer be updated, these features never will be included in that game.

Does all of this mean that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is inferior to New Leaf?

Wellllll… no. Sorry, I know there are many die-hard New Leaf fans out there who absolutely insist that New Horizons was a step backwards, but I just cannot agree with that. The ability to place objects anywhere on your island, landscaping, custom path creation, crafting, stackable items, the Nook Miles system… these and a bunch of other new features more than make up for what went missing in New Horizons, especially with post-release updates bringing many of these features back (such as swimming, gyroids, and The Roost).

As such, I don’t see much point in going back to Animal Crossing: New Leaf if you already have New Horizons on Nintendo Switch, and if you’re trying to decide between the two I would absolutely recommend the Nintendo Switch game over the Nintendo 3DS entry in the franchise. However, while New Leaf may have been eclipsed by its successor, I still think Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a phenomenal, fun, laid-back experience, and one that still manages to offer a good amount of unique content not seen in its sequel. If you have a Nintendo 3DS, this is definitely a game worth owning.

tl;dr – Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a family-friendly Management Simulation where players take on the role of mayor in a small town. As per usual in Animal Crossing, this is a relaxed, calming experience with a lot of stuff to do, including many features and activities that never made it into the Nintendo Switch sequel. And while I would still argue that New Horizons on Switch has largely eclipsed this game, New Leaf is still a delightful game well worth playing if you own a Nintendo 3DS.

Grade: A

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