Today, I’m adding one more game to the list of games that have seen improvements when played on Nintendo Switch 2. Let’s have a look!

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

Genre: Management Sim

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local), 2-12 (Local Wireless, Online), Online Content Sharing

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Review:

As Nintendo makes its way through its Nintendo Switch library, upgrading classic games on Nintendo Switch 2, it’s become a guessing game of how extensive these updates are, how much they cost, and whether the product of those two things is a good value.

Confusing matters further, the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Animal Crossing: New Horizons launched day-and-date with a massive 3.0 update that applies both to the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 versions of the game. Without going into detail, I can say that this is an incredible new update that has tons of content and great quality-of-life improvements… and none of that will be mentioned here because it’s not a part of this specific paid upgrade – all of the 3.0 update content is completely free. The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, on the other hand, will cost $5 for those who own the original version of the game, making it the cheapest Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade for a Nintendo-published game that isn’t outright free.

So, what do you get for those $5?

The most obvious bump here will be to graphics and performance, with the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition bumping the graphics up from the Nintendo Switch’s 1080p docked and 720p handheld resolution to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition’s 4K resolution in docked mode, and 1080p on handheld. This is an excellent change, and takes the game’s already-excellent visuals and makes them look even better. Unfortunately, there’s no upgrade to the framerate, which sadly remains stuck at 30FPS. This doesn’t affect the gameplay, but it’s a shame this wasn’t bumped up as well.

However, perhaps even more impressive than this is the dramatic change in loading times. On the original Nintendo Switch, it took me a minute and four seconds to load up the game to title screen, 36 more seconds to get to actual gameplay, and an additional 9-10 seconds every time you walk into a doorway. On Nintendo Switch 2, those times are massively slashed to 18 seconds, 17 seconds, and 5 seconds. I feel the need to highlight this – the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game takes roughly one-third the time loading into the game compared to the Nintendo Switch version. Honestly, that on its own is enough to make this upgrade worth it for me.

In addition to the performance and graphics boosts, there are a few other additional features. You can now host up to 12 people visiting your island instead of 8, provided that all of your guests are playing the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game. You still have to wait through the absurd “visitor landing” loading screen for each and every one though (and this one is not noticeably shorter), which really makes me question whether this addition is worthwhile.

When you do have folks visiting, they can opt to use CameraPlay with a Nintendo Switch 2 camera to display players’ faces over their character, if that’s the sort of thing that interests you. And at some point during the game you’ll get access to a new megaphone tool that can let players shout out a name to the Nintendo Switch 2’s microphone to locate a specific character more easily.

In the realm of slightly less niche, the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game allows for adaptive mouse mode… but only in very specific scenarios – when you’re arranging furniture inside a building, or when you’re designing custom art using the designer tool. The mouse mode works quite well in these situations, but the inability to use mouse mode for placement outdoors or just play using one Joy-Con 2 controller as a mouse at all times really limits the utility of this upgrade.

All of this is to say that most of the new features added to Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, while nice and certainly welcome, are all relatively niche and not likely to see much use with most players. Additionally, the lack of a framerate boost to match the improved resolution is disappointing. However, despite these missed opportunities to do a more extensive upgrade, I would still argue that the boost to resolution and especially the improved loading times make this $5 upgrade absolutely worth it, at least if you haven’t already exhausted your time with the game and have no interest returning to enjoy the new 3.0 update.

tl;dr – Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a light-hearted, family-friendly, casual Management Sim where the time and date in the game is the same as in real life, and where players perform small tasks and customize their home and their village. This entry is a huge step forward for the series, adding many new mechanics and gameplay systems that greatly improve the game’s customization elements while giving added quality of life enhancements as well. There constantly seems like something new and fun to do, with new surprises seemingly every day, and the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition adds improved resolution and greatly-improved loading times along with a few other more minor updates. Unless you have a problem with more relaxed, slower-paced games, you should consider this game a must-have.

Grade: A+

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I hope you enjoyed this latest Nintendo Switch 2 Difference Mini-Review, and found it to be helpful! Want to see all Nintendo Switch 2 Difference comparisons? Check out this page for links to every article where I’ve included these comparisons!

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