10 Things We Want From Animal Crossing on Switch

A Bigger Town

The towns are always the heart of any Animal Crossing games. They’re peaceful, quaint, and everyone gets along. But we feel like it’s time for an expansion – and not just the type of expansion that Tom Nook will offer for your house. Some were disappointed that the teaser for Pokémon: Sword and Shield didn’t feature a sprawling environment to explore; Nintendo should learn from this for Animal Crossing Switch.

Obviously a huge city to live in would not work. Part of the charm of Animal Crossing is the compact life, but that doesn’t mean the new village can’t be bigger than the one in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Let’s have a few more villagers, some more homes to visit, and more of a variety to the things to do within the town. The Switch has the capability to enable this; it’s down to Nintendo to ensure this happens.

More NPC visitors

If there’s not going to be more townspeople/animals in Animal Crossing Switch, then there should be a wide variety of guests. It can’t be expected that every town will be visited by online players (if that is an option), so NPCs are key. Let’s please have one or two new guests each day.

These guests could be themed around special occasions, or historical moments. Take the Google search homepage, for example, which has a design catered to a notable event for the day. We could have little Shakespeare visitors to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday, or any event notable on that day. Animal Crossing can sadly get old fast, especially when interacting with the same guests each day. New visitors would add a constant incentive to return to the quaint little town stored in your Switch.

Better Multiplayer

Animal Crossing games have a patchy history with multiplayer, but the Switch offers a chance to perfect the addition. There could be an online city for all to visit, a bit like a shopping centre, or even just somewhere to hang out. Certain multiplayer tasks to complete together would be fantastic too – but simple enough to complete that it’s not a chore; that’s not what Animal Crossing is about.

Visiting other players’ towns is always going to be a key component to online multiplayer in an Animal Crossing game, but changing this formula would be a breath of fresh air for the franchise. Offer incentives to explore, be it new exclusive goods to buy, new fruits to discover, new bugs to catch. Imagine an online marketplace too – move over eBay!

More trips

Visiting the tropical island of The Island (just how did they came up with that name?) is always a nice break of routine in Animal Crossing. Travelling with Kapp’n (Oh my Kapp’n, my Kapp’n) is a real joy in Animal Crossing, and it has to be built on for Animal Crossing Switch.

The Switch version could offer a wider variety of places to visit. The Island itself could also be much larger, and have more variety. If Animal Crossing Switch offers a wider range of items to collect then these could be available on the different islands. With the possibility of more NPCs added to these islands too, more excursion opportunities would make for a great change of pace.

Bigger Events

Animal Crossing’s calendar being synced to real life offers great incentives to revisit your town during holiday events. These events could be much larger on the Switch, though. With the easy online connectivity that the Switch offers, players could easily connect to others, and attend bigger/better celebrations.

This could also be a great chance to broaden the celebrations. Animal Crossing Switch could include new types of celebrations or holidays, and even offer new ways to celebrate these. There could even be weekly events that ensure players are hooked: fishing tournaments are great, but mixing up this formula could produce something even more exciting or fresh.

Earn Money in New Ways

Animal Crossing’s peaceful life doesn’t come for free; coins have to be earned to pay off that hefty mortgage. Typically that comes from growing fruit, selling fossils or fish, and sometimes even finding a money rock. But, for Animal Crossing Switch, wouldn’t it be great to have new method to earn those all important dollars?

Animal Crossing: New Leaf offered the opportunity to work at the Roost Cafe, and even though this was just a mini game, it was brilliant. Careers could add so much to Animal Crossing Switch. Obviously it’s not going to be The Sims, but the ability to upgrade the town with new stores that could also be worked in would be a real change. Selling has always been a big part of Animal Crossing, but maybe this time Tom Nook works for you in your store?

Customisable Town

Typically, Animal Crossing offers very little ability for the player to adapt the town. There’s usually a few set templates to choose from, and the possibility to add a few features here and there. But Animal Crossing Switch could bring so much more to the table than just this. It could include a town that’s fully customisable, from the rivers to the buildings.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf allowed the player to be the mayor and make slight changes to the town, but this can be built on. Each building could be upgradable, and new features added. The player could have full control over how their city looks, making Animal Crossing Switch the ultimate home for each player.

Pets

Remember Nintendogs? Being able to have your own lovable pet within your portable console was a huge appeal to so many. It’s about time Animal Crossing builds on this by allowing us to have our own pets. Just imagine taking your dog for a walk around the peaceful town…

This could mean that a pet store is added, and a range of animals patiently wait to be given a new home. Decorating your house is brilliant – but the true fun of Animal Crossing takes place outside of the house. However, the inclusion of pets could make your house a home; a place to sit in and play with your pets. Feeding and grooming the pets would also be another incentive to return to Animal Crossing each day.

Phone Integration

No matter how popular the Nintendo Switch is there’s always going to be people who want to play Animal Crossing, but don’t have the console. In fact, Animal Crossing is one of those rare franchises that can appeal to non-traditional gamers. Thanks to mobile gaming it’s never been easier for anyone to be a gamer – Nintendo should utilise this for Animal Crossing Switch.

Of course, the full game won’t be on mobile. But there should be a heavily stripped down version of the game available – maybe one where players may only visit certain towns but not actually own their own. This would allow Animal Crossing Switch owners to allow non-traditional players to engage with their friends’ towns: adding much more of a multiplayer experience for all.

Larger inventory

Perhaps the most annoying part of every Animal Crossing game is running out of inventory space. In a game based around living a peaceful life, it’s a really annoying limit. Of course, there can’t be limitless space – but multiple trips to the store to sell fruit, to only go back and collect more, and repeat, becomes a chore.

Animal Crossing Switch could even include a buddy – someone who goes around with you and can hold items. Much like the partner idea in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, you can then ask them to carry things for you. This would make the game experience much more fluid and enjoyable. More time to catch fish, less time spent freeing up inventory space.