I adore Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I do know, I do know, such a scorching take places me in a distinct segment of… about 98% of people who learn this web site, however what I imply to say is that when the announcement of Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Swap 2 Version and the three.0 replace had been introduced yesterday, I used to be about as excited as Blathers once you ship him a fourth Fossil in at some point. That is very excited.
I spent the night grinning concerning the return of Sonny Resetti, the Mineru Villager (!!), the entire design potential that comes with the Lodge Resort, and bulk crafting! I used to be even fairly happy with the Swap 2-specific options like Mouse Mode and GameChat, maybe not fairly as large because the additions that the three.0 replace will present, however a pleasant little bonus for 4 quid.
However then, as I settled into mattress after a night of counting the times till fifteenth January (77 as we speak, for these ), I used to be met with slightly pang of fear. “If the New Horizons Swap 2 Version is arriving with this a lot pomp,” I assumed to myself, “it’ll be years till we get a brand new Animal Crossing!”
This is not to say I am significantly eager to maneuver on from New Horizons — if these lockdown months taught me something, it was that I might play this sport ceaselessly (given the time) — however I realised that loads of my Swap 2 pleasure was constructed on seeing what comes subsequent. I’ve already performed New Horizons, and no quantity of residence storage growth goes to really feel as recent as a brand new entry.
I am beginning to see the Nintendo Swap 2 Editions as an enormous ol’ placeholder in Nintendo’s launch schedule. It is a kind of ‘we’re not fairly prepared to point out you what is subsequent, so here is one thing acquainted to maintain you busy within the meantime’ moments that we’re turning into more and more effectively acquainted with. Certainly a model new sport can be a significantly better prospect for console gross sales?
It was an analogous story on Swap. Reasonably than give us a brand new Mario Kart, we received Mario Kart 8 Deluxe; as a substitute of a brand new 3D Mario, we received Tremendous Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury. They’re nice video games, little question, however they’re additionally a telltale signal of ‘you are years away from a brand new entry, mate’.
And I do not need that for Animal Crossing. New Horizons launched over 5 years in the past *gulp*, and whereas that is hardly a lengthy wait between sequence entries, the arrival of the Swap 2 Version makes me suppose that Nintendo might simply make us wait one other 5.Throw in some sudden content material updates just a few years down the road to sweeten the deal, Ã la MK8D’s Booster Course Cross, and we’d find yourself ready even longer, ceaselessly satisfied that the 2020 sport is delivering one thing new.
I don’t know the place we go subsequent after New Horizons, however I assumed the identical factor after New Leaf, and look the place that left us! All of the Nintendo Swap 2 Version does is delay the subsequent entry. I am going to bounce again into ACNH and have a beautiful time doing so, however it will not seize the magic of terraforming your island the primary time, will it?
Extra pressingly, placing my trade cap on for a second, Animal Crossing is a system vendor. Until Nintendo has one other international pandemic up its sleeve, I can not think about {that a} new sequence entry would hit the 48 million gross sales that New Horizons mustered, however individuals would flock to it, all the identical. In a launch yr that is been criticised for its re-releases, would not ‘Animal Crossing: Newer Horizons’ be the massive push to exit and nab a Swap 2?
All of it appears like lots of the similar considerations that I’ve had with the console typically these previous few months. I feel the year-one lineup is implausible, however I am lucky as a result of I like a lot of the video games which can be getting re-released. No quantity of graphical upgrades or Mouse Mode inclusions can overshadow the truth that these are video games that I, and plenty of different individuals, have performed earlier than, a few of them just some years in the past.
After all, that is how console launches work nowadays, and in comparison with the Xbox Collection or the PS5, the Swap 2 is already off to a flying begin so far as its software program is worried.
I additionally have to remind myself that the previous 4 months have not been wall-to-wall NS2 Editions. By way of exclusives, we have had Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza and Drag x Drive. Kirby Air Riders and Hyrule Warriors are proper across the nook, then we have new Swap 2 entries for Mario Tennis, Yoshi, Splatoon, Pokémon and Hearth Emblem already lined up for 2026. You evaluate that to the PS5’s exclusives checklist for its first couple of years, and it is a agency reminder that we’re consuming good!
However I feel we’re nonetheless lacking the actual large hitter. The Swap 2 Editions of BOTW and TOTK appeared like a good stand-in for a brand new entry in that sequence (we’ve got had two newbies up to now two years, to be truthful), Donkey Kong Bananza appears like the apparent substitute for a 3D Mario, and Mario Marvel + Meetup in Bellabel Park could have us coated on the 2D entrance quickly sufficient, too.
I hoped that Animal Crossing can be the biggie to make everybody go, “Sure, now I want a Swap 2″, however I worry that January’s re-release is an indication that we nonetheless have a protracted wait forward of us earlier than we will see what Newer Horizons will appear like.
