Animal Crossing Switch is by far the Switch game I am most excited for. Not only was I not able to play New Leaf (I do not own a 3DS/2DS), but it’s just time to start placing paths and catching fish.

Because of this, I thought it appropriate for my first official blog post to talk about some features and mechanics I think would increase how I enjoy the game. As well, I would like to include the poll right below, which I conducted. It’s not necessarily important to the blog, but I still think it’s interesting to look at.

The Reddit Poll can be found here: Animal Crossing Switch Poll

The Wishlist

The rundown for how I’ll present these ideas is pretty simple. At first, I was planning to only allow four or five of these wishes, but as I began to list, I found out that I have much, much, more. As a result, I’ll quickly fly through each one, and if you want more information on a single point, just request it and I’ll deliver it. Also, these are in no particular order of importance.

More Sectionalism Between Time Periods. By far, one of the most amazing experiences and attributes about Animal Crossing is the real-time day and night cycle. Waking up at 2:00 AM, or perhaps you can’t wait for Fall, because a game you own will change is a unique, interesting concept that I believe Animal Crossing implements well. However, some more differences between seasons (such as ponds freezing up, or different soundtracks) and times (make bugs and fishes even more varied depending on the time of day) would not hurt the game at all, especially when Animal Crossing Switch would be a handheld and docked experience.

By far, one of the most amazing experiences and attributes about Animal Crossing is the real-time day and night cycle. Waking up at 2:00 AM, or perhaps you can’t wait for Fall, because a game you own will change is a unique, interesting concept that I believe Animal Crossing implements well. However, some more differences between seasons (such as ponds freezing up, or different soundtracks) and times (make bugs and fishes even more varied depending on the time of day) would not hurt the game at all, especially when Animal Crossing Switch would be a handheld and docked experience. More, Cooler Upgrades for Houses. One thing I remember fondly of Animal Crossing was my child response to finding out my house finally was going to upgrade! Since I didn’t know what the next upgrade was like, I woke up at around 1:00 AM the next morning (with my siblings), and tried out the new house. Even better, New Leaf has themes for the final house upgrade. A cool addition to ACS would include more branching paths so that you would have paths that would lead to other paths every upgrade. In the end, there could be 16 different style houses you could have!

One thing I remember fondly of Animal Crossing was my child response to finding out my house finally was going to upgrade! Since I didn’t know what the next upgrade was like, I woke up at around 1:00 AM the next morning (with my siblings), and tried out the new house. Even better, New Leaf has themes for the final house upgrade. A cool addition to ACS would include more branching paths so that you would have paths that would lead to other paths every upgrade. In the end, there could be 16 different style houses you could have! Not A Lot of Character Customization, but A Lot of Map Customization. I know that a lot of the community wants more choices for how their character will look, but let me differ. For me, a character selection screen at the beginning of the game would take me out of the experience, and I think that the current Q&A method of creating a character is imperfect but still unique and amazing. However, I would like to see some more map customization. Maybe there could be a question asked at the beginning like “This [insert town name here] of yours, where is it at?”. Some answers would be “a valley” or a “beach”. And of course, depending on what answer you choose, the town could either be more layered or surrounded by water, respectively. Some other questions could be the density of villagers or even size, letting everyone be happy with their own town and ready to create more just to see what the others are like.

I know that a lot of the community wants more choices for how their character will look, but let me differ. For me, a character selection screen at the beginning of the game would take me out of the experience, and I think that the current Q&A method of creating a character is imperfect but still unique and amazing. However, I would like to see some more map customization. Maybe there could be a question asked at the beginning like “This [insert town name here] of yours, where is it at?”. Some answers would be “a valley” or a “beach”. And of course, depending on what answer you choose, the town could either be more layered or surrounded by water, respectively. Some other questions could be the density of villagers or even size, letting everyone be happy with their own town and ready to create more just to see what the others are like. A Core Game with Minimum Pocket Camp Connectvity. The amount of connectivity I, and many others (case in point), want in this new game is at least in attometers. There’s simply nothing fun about someone having a head start, or having some special item/furniture set because they played a stupid mobile game. The most I would allow (since Nintendo has confirmed connectivity is going to be available) is simply Pocket Camp players get a shirt or something that is also available (albeit harder) for players who have not played the game. As for coreness goes (I’m not as worried in this regard), I just don’t want to see a rushed game, a large amount of DLCS, and an incomplete game or any microtransactions. Again, since Nintendo has had about seven years to work on this game, I don’t think a rushed or incomplete game is going to happen, and in-game microtransactions are never seen by Nintendo. Still, it should be mentioned that this is a big no-no for me.

The amount of connectivity I, and many others (case in point), want in this new game is at least in attometers. There’s simply nothing fun about someone having a head start, or having some special item/furniture set because they played a stupid mobile game. The most I would allow (since Nintendo has confirmed connectivity is going to be available) is simply Pocket Camp players get a shirt or something that is also available (albeit harder) for players who have not played the game. As for coreness goes (I’m not as worried in this regard), I just don’t want to see a rushed game, a large amount of DLCS, and an incomplete game or any microtransactions. Again, since Nintendo has had about seven years to work on this game, I don’t think a rushed or incomplete game is going to happen, and in-game microtransactions are never seen by Nintendo. Still, it should be mentioned that this is a big no-no for me. Hurtful and Sick VIllagers. I don’t know about you, but every time in Wild World when my neighbor would throw some back-handed compliment, or perhaps insult me, a large deal of happiness spread across my body. There’s something so interesting and real about villager personalities, and it’s something that was sorely missed by most from New Leaf. As well, playing doctor for villagers back in City Folk was always a joy in my day and changed up how I went about my day.

I don’t know about you, but every time in Wild World when my neighbor would throw some back-handed compliment, or perhaps insult me, a large deal of happiness spread across my body. There’s something so interesting and real about villager personalities, and it’s something that was sorely missed by most from New Leaf. As well, playing doctor for villagers back in City Folk was always a joy in my day and changed up how I went about my day. Morning Aerobics (and other things from older games). One thing I like about Animal Crossing is how it simply adds on to past installations. Of course, there’s a negative side of this, in which older games seem bland and uninteresting to players who have little nostalgia to appreciate them (that’s a topic for a different post). However, I still think that there are remaining small aspects in older games that should be reconsidered for reuse in this new game. Morning Aerobics are at the top of the list, followed by the metropolitan area from City Folk and the question from Wild World that changed where your house was located on the map was cool too. Just some thought into games before New Leaf by the developers would mean a lot to me and others.

One thing I like about Animal Crossing is how it simply adds on to past installations. Of course, there’s a negative side of this, in which older games seem bland and uninteresting to players who have little nostalgia to appreciate them (that’s a topic for a different post). However, I still think that there are remaining small aspects in older games that should be reconsidered for reuse in this new game. Morning Aerobics are at the top of the list, followed by the metropolitan area from City Folk and the question from Wild World that changed where your house was located on the map was cool too. Just some thought into games before New Leaf by the developers would mean a lot to me and others. Better Path Making and SOME More Cultivation Options. Path making had sort of been a pain in past installments so just some small changes to floor patterns and their functionalities would go a long way. As well, more options to change how your town looks and possibly more flowers would be cool too. But, I would like Nintendo to keep this limited. After all, Animal Crossing isn’t a game about cultivating the land, it’s a game about relaxation and leisure. Besides, towns with a bunch of paths and flowers and crap look pretty tacky in my opinion. I mean, we already have Stardew Valley on Switch.

Path making had sort of been a pain in past installments so just some small changes to floor patterns and their functionalities would go a long way. As well, more options to change how your town looks and possibly more flowers would be cool too. But, I would like Nintendo to keep this limited. After all, Animal Crossing isn’t a game about cultivating the land, it’s a game about relaxation and leisure. Besides, towns with a bunch of paths and flowers and crap look pretty tacky in my opinion. I mean, we already have Stardew Valley on Switch. No Mayer or Much Improved Mayor. I haven’t played New Leaf for myself, but from what I’ve seen other players talk about, the mayor position could have been a lot better in that game. Also, I feel that if they took out Mayer for the rest of the installments, New Leaf would have something unique about it, leaving players to go back and play it even though it isn’t the newest in the series. If it is included (which it probably will), then just some more public work projects (especially functional ones) could help my previous point. Overall, I’m skeptical but open to the idea for sure.

I haven’t played New Leaf for myself, but from what I’ve seen other players talk about, the mayor position could have been a lot better in that game. Also, I feel that if they took out Mayer for the rest of the installments, New Leaf would have something unique about it, leaving players to go back and play it even though it isn’t the newest in the series. If it is included (which it probably will), then just some more public work projects (especially functional ones) could help my previous point. Overall, I’m skeptical but open to the idea for sure. An In-Game Friend System. This probably isn’t too likely, but I would just die over a friend system that’s built in-game. It would be easier, I would think, to connect with a friend and even trade with them. Along with it, we would probably have a better online UI as well and maybe even trading with other people who aren’t online. Also, it would take care of the stupid twelve digit code and give an easier option to make friends. Perhaps an online lobby where you can visit random people’s towns as a visitor? (You wouldn’t be able to edit their stuff, obviously)

This probably isn’t too likely, but I would just die over a friend system that’s built in-game. It would be easier, I would think, to connect with a friend and even trade with them. Along with it, we would probably have a better online UI as well and maybe even trading with other people who aren’t online. Also, it would take care of the stupid twelve digit code and give an easier option to make friends. Perhaps an online lobby where you can visit random people’s towns as a visitor? (You wouldn’t be able to edit their stuff, obviously) A Huge Amount of Fish and Bugs. I loved to catch and discover new species of creatures in my early days of City Folk, and every time I saw the outline of fish I had never seen before, it was the most exciting experience of my gameplay. Because of this, I would like to see a ton more fish and bugs to donate to the museum. More specifically, seeing some rarer creatures would be interesting too, and as I said in my first point, fishes and bugs would change more heavily per time of day. I would even be open to Nintendo changing how to fish and catch, though I would rather it be the same.

Overall, I personally can’t wait for any news about this game. I seem to have bad timing at making wishlists. Three times before I did this with other games, and usually a day or two after the release of my list, the game’s mechanics are fully explored in depth. Hopefully, this happens again and before I know it, this whole thing is considered null.

This has been Ol’ Nerd Jenkins, and I thank you for checking out this little blog. It’s my first one, so I encourage you to consider following me closely from now on. In following posts, I’ll try to include more pictures and graphs and such.

Reddit: u/someguy050