We are just a few hours away from Nintendo’s next Nintendo Direct. And it is stating that this will purely be about the upcoming Animal Crossing game for mobile devices. There are a lot of things that this mobile-only game could do right and wrong, so I’ve decided to share my list of 6 things that I do and don’t from the game.
Before I get into my list, Animal Crossing, with the exception of AC: Amiibo Festival, has always been about customization and life simulation. Going back to its first release on the Gamecube, we were given the ability to collect all sorts of decorations and other bobbles to customize our character and their home. Right off the bat, I’m going to predict that this is not going to be a full town and simulation game. (As much as we all want it to be.) My thoughts are that this will be some sort of a precursor to the inevitable release of Animal Crossing on the Switch.
Things I Want To See
1. Collecting and Customization
First and foremost, Animal Crossing is about collecting and customization. I need to be able to create my own villager and then dress her up in all the latest Animal Crossing fashions. This seems like a no-brainer and I feel would be a major oversight if it’s not included in the game on its release.
2. Social
Next make sure the game is more social than the previous releases: Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem. While Fire Emblem did have battles against ghosts of other player’s teams and daily bonuses doled out for sending greetings to those on your friends list, I feel like it could still be more active in the social world. And that’s where Animal Crossing can succeed. Since the game’s launch, it was always meant to be social. It became extremely evident that Nintendo wanted to pursue that style of gameplay with its multiple handheld releases. Like I said earlier, this most likely won’t be a full Animal Crossing experience, but we still should have some element of visiting friends or sharing with one another.
3. Anime Crossing Tie-ins
Finally, the biggest and most important thing I want out of this Animal Crossing mobile title is for it to tie into the next major Animal Crossing release, so I can transfer my bells, items, and other collectibles to it. While some might feel that this may take away from the next main game’s longevity, I don’t feel this could be further from the truth. Animal Crossing is one of those games that gives you something to do every day, and that’s most likely not going to change. Giving us the ability to transfer data from our phones into the main game would help alleviate that overwhelming feeling of figuring out where to start as well as speeding up the now tedious event of paying off our first tiny house for the 5th time.
Things I Don’t Want To See
1. Happy Home Designer
I will say I was not the biggest fan of Happy Home Designer, so if we could avoid a carbon copy of that with more features, I, along with many others, will probably be very happy. AC: HHD did some things well but Animal Crossing has always been about your story, and the inability to have one of my own left me wanting more. Now, on the other hand, if Nintendo lets us design our town and transfer it over later, that could turn out to be a positive. Especially if I get to choose a few of my town’s residents.
2. Paywalls
Locking things behind paywalls seems like an obvious one and may even be unavoidable, as Nintendo is a business and they need to make money to keep the lights on. If there are microtransactions included, I would like them to be handled similarly to Fire Emblem: Heroes where spending money only increases your rate of progression. If items do end up being transferable, and some of them are purchasable only by actual money, this may be quite a big turnoff for fans of the series who are used to being able to collect everything without spending their actual bells.
3. Earning Limitations
Finally, the one thing Nintendo should avoid at all costs is limiting what the player can earn in the game. Now I’m not saying making every item available because that would just be impossible. My thought is that if they announce I can transfer my bells and items, then let me gather as many as physically possible until the next flagship release. Now the context is key here. If Nintendo states that you will be able to transfer items, then they need to be specific during tonight’s direct, I would hate to accumulate my first 100k bells only to find out on launch I can only transfer 10% of that. Animal Crossing for handheld devices is amazing for spending many hours while on the go. And it’s one of my go-to titles when I take trips.
These are just a few things that I feel would benefit the game on a mobile platform. And while some of them may seem far-fetched, the one thing I know about Nintendo is that it is a company about innovation and experimentation. The good news is that we don’t have much time left before the awaited reveal, and hopefully, all of our questions will be answered by then.
You can check out the 15-minute mobile direct at 8 pm PST/11 pm ET on Nintendo’s site here.
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