The Nintendo Switch 2 is mere days away, but one beloved Nintendo franchise isn't making the generational leap just yet. While a new Mario Kart will be there on day one, a new Donkey Kong is right around the corner, and the likes of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are getting dedicated Nintendo Switch 2 Editions, Animal Crossing isn't getting any form of Switch 2 upgrade just yet.
But Animal Crossing is too big to be left behind for too long. It's likely there's already some new Animal Crossing content in the works for the Nintendo Switch 2, and when it's eventually announced, expectations will be higher than ever. Fans will be expecting a bigger and better experience. But when it comes to town size, bigger might not necessarily mean better.
With The Next Animal Crossing, Nintendo Could Make a Community Pastime an Official Feature
Animal Crossing has grown a strong community, and one favorite pastime of players should finally become part of the next game.
The Argument For Bigger Towns in the Next Animal Crossing
A Bigger Town Means More Villagers
With more real estate available, a more diverse and plentiful set of villagers could inhabit the player's world in the next Animal Crossing. This would hopefully eliminate the need for players to bully their unwanted villagers in the hopes they'll leave and be replaced with a more likable resident. This should also introduce players to a much wider range of characters, and expand their opportunities to complete tasks and earn gifts, adding even more longevity to the daily grind.
A Bigger Town Could Mean More Customization
A major selling point of Animal Crossing: New Horizons was its island customization, with players being able to manually carve parts of the landscape. This went hand-in-hand with the franchise's already extensive customization features, such as the ability to create custom paths and furniture. If the next Animal Crossing brought bigger towns, it would pave the way for even more customization opportunities as players would be given a larger space to work with.
A Bigger Town Could Set The Next Animal Crossing Apart
While it wouldn't be a revolutionary new feature, having larger towns in the next Animal Crossing would be a surefire way to make the game immediately appear bigger than its predecessors. This larger scale would also help to make the next Animal Crossing feel like it's fully utilizing the Nintendo Switch 2's improved hardware.
The Argument Against Bigger Towns in the Next Animal Crossing
Traversing a Bigger Town Could Be Tiresome
Larger town sizes in the next Animal Crossing could create some potential traversal issues. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players can only fast travel to NPC or other player-owned islands, and the only method of traversal on an island is walking, running, or pole-vaulting over small bodies of water.
If the next Animal Crossing introduced much larger towns, then it would also need to introduce new traversal mechanics to the franchise, as running around the entire circumference of a New Horizons island can already become tiresome quite quickly.
A Bigger Town Might Require a Better Map
The contained nature of Animal Crossing's previous maps has allowed players to memorize their town's layout quite quickly, which makes traversing it fairly manageable from the get-go. This has also allowed Animal Crossing's in-game maps to remain quite light in terms of detail, as players will likely remember the key locations and the routes to get to them. A larger town size in the next Animal Crossing might require a more detailed and potentially less accessible map.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- March 20, 2020
- ESRB
- Everyone / Comic Mischief, Mild Fantasy Violence, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo EPD
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Engine
- Havok
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer
- Expansions
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons — Happy Home Paradise
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Simulation
