Nintendo hosted a special Nintendo Direct presentation today, dedicated entirely to Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Sure, this is a Nintendo 3DS game that originally released in 2013, but for those who still enjoy their custom village life on Nintendo’s current handheld, they’re about to be able to enjoy a lengthy list of new features, particularly if they’re Amiibo collectors!
First and foremost, a free update that goes live on the 3DS eShop for Animal Crossing: New Leaf today, dubbed ‘Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome Amiibo‘, is adding Amiibo functionality to the game. Anyone who scans an Animal Crossing Amiibo card or figure can summon a character called Wisp that can take the form of a certain personality, plus an all-new area called Harvey’s Campground will allow you to meet characters in custom R.V.’s through Amiibo, and eventually invite the ones you really like back to your town.
The Animal Crossing Amiibo cards and figures aren’t the only supported Amiibo either, as players can scan Splatoon set Amiibo figures and any Amiibo figures from the Legend of Zelda series, which includes Legend of Zelda figures from the Super Smash Bros. set and the dedicated Legend of Zelda set that is releasing early this December. Scanning Amiibo figures from either of these franchises spawns more otherwise inaccessible new villagers, in-game items and costumes for your villager, themed around Splatoon and The Legend of Zelda. Finally, a fourth all-new set of 50 additional Animal Crossing Amiibo cards is releasing on December 2nd, alongside the new Legend of Zelda Amiibo set.
Aside from the addition of Amiibo functionality, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is also adding in a secondary form of currency called MEOW Coupons (“MEOW” stands for, “Mutual Exchange of Wealth”), which can be earned by accomplishing daily and weekly challenges called ‘Incentives’, then allowing you to spend the coupons on exclusive goodies at Harvey’s Campground. Along with this, an all-new dedicated storage area for your items is being added as an ‘invisible closet’ of sorts within your house. Should players also wish to start fresh with a brand new town, rather than just deleting their town and completely starting over, they can also now ‘sell’ their town to Tom Nook for a massive deposit of Bells, which can then be put towards purchases and faster development for a player’s new town.
Finally, there are some additions to the game that reference other developments in the Animal Crossing series. Now, if there is game data from Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer detected on your 3DS or 2DS handheld, you will get the option to purchase giant versions of certain items for your home. Like Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, you will also now be able to quickly and easily arrange items with the stylus within your storage space, though only after completing a quick study course first!
Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival for Wii U is also getting a reference of sorts, as special in-game Wii U and Nintendo 3DS items can unlock new minigames to play in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The Wii U item allows players to play Desert Island Escape, an ensemble survival game that was formerly featured in Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, while the Nintendo 3DS XL or New Nintendo 3DS items let you play Animal Crossing Puzzle League, a twist on Nintendo’s familiar Puzzle League gameplay, where players have to clear a rising column of blocks by quickly swapping and matching them, in order to gain enough approval with the citizens.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf is available exclusively for Nintendo 3DS and 2DS handhelds, and Amiibo figures and cards are sold separately. Amiibo functionality also requires the separate NFC Amiibo Reader accessory on classic 3DS, 3DS XL and 2DS handhelds, though this peripheral is not necessary with New 3DS and New 3DS XL devices, as Amiibo functionality is built directly into these upgraded handhelds.
Keep visiting Eggplante for all major news and updates on Animal Crossing.