Animal Crossing: New Leaf has been available for Nintendo 3DS and 2DS owners since 2013 here in the West, and since 2012 in Japan, but even so, the game remains one of the most frequently played and beloved Nintendo 3DS titles, probably second only to the various Pokemon entries on the handheld. Because of the continued fan support, Nintendo is responding by making a big addition to the game; Amiibo functionality.
The news comes by way of Nintendo’s Japanese Animal Crossing website, which quite clearly shows Amiibo being used with the game. Translations also seem to indicate that the Animal Crossing Amiibo cards that were originally made for spin-off, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer will be made compatible with Animal Crossing: New Leaf somehow, though there doesn’t seem to be any real details as to how they make work. What is shown however is using Amiibo from other sets beyond the Animal Crossing cards and figures to provide special cosmetic additions like clothing and items, as demonstrated with the use of the recent Callie and Marie Amiibo figures from the Splatoon Set, which both deck out two villagers in the appearances of Callie and Marie, and provide Callie and Marie-esque decorations for a home.
Currently, the new Amiibo support for Animal Crossing: New Leaf is only confirmed for Japan, though it’s inevitable that it will be announced for other territories soon. In related Animal Crossing news, Nintendo is at work on an Animal Crossing game for mobile devices, which is scheduled to release later this year, likely around the same time as a Fire Emblem game that Nintendo is also preparing for mobile platforms this year. The series’ previous entries were two spin-offs, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer for Nintendo 3DS and Animal Crossing: Amiibo Party for Wii U, both of which released late last year, to middling reviews. Animal Crossing: New Leaf remains the series’ latest mainline game, with a mainline Animal Crossing entry still having yet to be announced or released for the Wii U console. At this point however, it’s likely that such a game would skip Wii U in the end, and instead likely come to Nintendo’s mysterious upcoming next-gen platform, code-named ‘NX’.
Keep settling at Eggplante for all major news and updates on Animal Crossing.