# I'm torn on if I want to reset my island or not. Have you reset yours?



## sherlotta (Sep 11, 2021)

I haven't really played since a month or two after game launch, but I sunk quite a bit of time into that first month or so. I achieved a lot and got all of my dream villagers.... well, sort of. I cheated them in by connecting my phone to my switch. Which kind of soured the fun of it for me, I think. But aside from that I got quite a bit on my island done, a bit that I'm happy with a bit that I'm not. I want to redo it all though. 

Buuut... I don't want to lose my island cus I made it on launch. Also because of the cute little bulletins my friends and ppl I played with at the start of the game that I have... what to do, what to do.....

Have you reset your island? Was it from the games release? Did you regret it?


----------



## kiwikenobi (Sep 11, 2021)

It sounds like you don't really want to reset, so I think you shouldn't, since you can't get back any of the irreplacable things that you mentioned. Redoing the terraforming/decorating on your island is very doable and part of the fun of the game. If the villagers you have don't make you happy because of the way you obtained them, you can let them move out, or move them out yourself with legitimate amiibo cards.


----------



## princess.looking.for.frog (Sep 11, 2021)

I agree with kiwikenobi, I am currently changing my entire state of my island, it is already partically decorated and terraformed but I want to redecorate completely. It takes a lot of time and effort but it will worth it in the end because I don’t want to reset either.


----------



## Snek (Sep 11, 2021)

It's really your decision. Like you, I've played the game since launch. I put a lot of hours into the game and haven't reset. Resetting means you have to do everything _again_ and so there's a chance you might being burnt out from playing _again_. You don't have to reset your island if you don't want to. If you're hesitant on resetting try changing your island by terraforming, re-decorate your island, maybe move out old villagers or move their houses.


----------



## CanuckChick (Sep 11, 2021)

Never. 

I get stupidly attached to my villagers & my towns.  I reset my town in Wild World and regretted it.  I know of friends who reset several times in NL and NH & were very happy about it, no regrets.  So there's no right or wrong decision, just what you prefer.

My NH island is filled w/ villagers given as gifts from friends I met in NL, like June who was a surprise birthday gift from @Chungus who knew how much I'd love her as one of my dreamies or Dom who was magically conjured up by a hacker friend who took pity on me & thought I was nuts as I kept on going on hundreds & hundreds of villager hunts in my quest to get him from the mystery island.  

Some ppl can view their islands as those beautiful sand mandala art, created only to be destroyed since nothing is permanent...I am def not one of those people lol.  

If my island is destroyed you bet I'd still be moping about it way in the future, lamenting the loss.  So only you know best what works for you


----------



## Croconaw (Sep 11, 2021)

I’ve never reset my island. I did, however, have a strange obsession with resetting my City Folk town. The fresh start was always nice. Although, I’m too attached to certain parts of my island and all of my villagers to do that on New Horizons. I also love my airport color and my native fruit. I think that to get that combination again would be tedious. The only thing that bothers me is my two south river mouths, but it’s not _that_ big of a deal and definitely not worth restarting my whole island.


----------



## Midoriya (Sep 11, 2021)

I've never reset any of my AC games dating back to the GameCube version.  I thought about resetting my NH island recently, but decided against it, especially because I have all my dream villagers and some of them were gifts from friends.

As others have already said, it sounds like you don't want to reset, so I wouldn't if I were you.  The decision, of course, is up to you.  Think carefully before you go through with it, because once you do there's no getting that file back.

( I'm also the type of person who resets their Pokemon games frequently though  )


----------



## VanitasFan26 (Sep 11, 2021)

As someone who has restarted several times I can understand why you would feel that way. I sometimes feel like my island gets so stale and boring that I would do it over, but I know doing that so much can easily burn you out. I will tell you that if you restart there are things you need to be wary of so that way you will have to ask yourself if its worth the restart.

When you Restart you will lose all of your catalog items, all the villagers you invited to your island, all the diys you learned, all the bells you saved, and everything that was in your home and the home itself will be gone. There is a way you can still save your stuff but it will require with the assistance of a trusted friend. You can ask them to hold onto stuff you need when you start on your new island. Stuff like Bells, Nook Mile Tickets, Tools, Materials, and anything you worked hard for getting in your catalog you can have your friend take them on their island to hold on to while you do your restart.

I would suggest this if you really don't care about losing all of your DIYS and all the villagers you worked hard for. I only do it on my 2nd island since I have a 2nd switch and whenever I am done with my island and whenever I need to restart I make sure to transfer all the important items to my main island before I even restart. But if you do really care about your DIYS and your villagers that much then restarting is not the best option. The other option would be flattening, meaning that you terraform your island by moving all of the buildings to the beach, demolishing all the bridges and inclines and lastly using the terraform to flatten rivers and tear down cliffs. That is time consuming so thats something to keep in mind.

At the end of the day its up to you to decide what works best for you.


----------



## AlyssaAC (Sep 11, 2021)

I’ve reset one too many times since release date. I kinda wished I had looked for something good when the game came out so that I could still have my game up and ready. As others have mentioned, if you don’t want to lose things that aren’t replaceable, I wouldn’t restart. Especially if those things mean a lot to you. There’s plenty of stuff to do to keep the game going. Like others have mentioned, terraforming and redoing your island might be fun. Or if you’re like me and are a big collector, try finishing your catalog. Grant it, the catalog takes some time to do, but there are plenty of shops on here and people to help.


----------



## KittenNoir (Sep 11, 2021)

I had really been thinking about completely restarting my island cause I wasn't liking it anymore. But then I remembered I had collected and purchased so many of the items that I didn't want to have the trouble of trying to get again. I know I can ask a friend to hold my items while I restart but that just seems to stressful having to fly back and forward to drop off the items. In the end I went around collecting the items from the areas I didn't like and started completely new. I found redecorating each area 1 at a time instead of restarting the whole thing was much easier.


----------



## moo_nieu (Sep 11, 2021)

i always regretted resetting my first new leaf town so i promised myself not to reset my new horizons island (although i was tempted to once)

you said that you want to redo your island but not lose it so i think you should do just that. you can let your villagers move out and island hop/trade online for new ones, reterraform your island, replace your flowers, change your fruit trees, sell/store all of your decorations, change your paths/qr codes, empty your house, and change your appearance without losing your original save and all of your achievements, catalog items, and diys. i think it is worth doing before resetting at least since you dont want to lose your save


----------



## maria110 (Sep 11, 2021)

I've reset a lot. Like maybe 14 times or 15.  I enjoy resetting.  I really like the training music and the fun of seeing who your starters will be and all that.


----------



## peachmilke (Sep 11, 2021)

I reset my island multiple times because I really disliked where it was at, I love my current island though and would not reset to the start again. HOWEVER, I somewhat regret resetting my first island because of all the memories I had on it and it's hard to say which island I would choose if I could go back in time.


----------



## xlisapisa (Sep 12, 2021)

i've never reset my island, i like the randomness of what I was given the first go around instead of repeatedly starting over and making sure i got every single detail perfect. i think i would have a lot of regret if i ever reset my island too since all that time i put in would all go down the drain, but to each their own. if you're currently not happy with where your island is at, starting fresh and resetting might not be a bad idea as long as you're absolutely sure you're okay with starting back at square one.


----------



## CyJ (Sep 12, 2021)

I recently reset from my original launch island and I couldn't be happier. There was so much I didn't know then so once I had that island set up, I was afraid to change a thing. So it got boring pretty fast. I was worried about losing Sherb but I island hopped and got him back pretty quickly. For me, the magic of the game came back when I started over. And it has been fun finding all the bugs and fossils again, experiencing the excitement when you get a good DIY, and realizing that whatever you had.. you'll get back again. I will almost certainly make resetting an annual thing.


----------



## -Lumi- (Sep 12, 2021)

I haven't personally reset and I don't think I'd ever actually go through with resetting, to be honest. I can definitely see the appeal - it would give me some of the more monotonous tasks to work through again (filling the museum, finding DIY's, finding new clothes, etc) but at the same time I don't necessarily _want _to lose all my progress I've made with those areas! I do really wish we could have two islands on the Switch because with my 3DS I got a lot of enjoyment from having my main town and then a secondary town that I wasn't as attached to and felt okay with resetting. 

I think that in some ways New Horizons can be a little easier in regards to resetting because you can sort of "soft reset" your island, to a certain extent. You can't undo the fossils/bugs/fish you've donated to the museum or the DIY's you've found but for the most part everything else is changeable. You could sell all your clothes and furniture if you really want to find them all again (or for the holidays/seasonal times you could sell off the furniture you made so that next Christmas you're making them from scratch again instead of decorating with the ones from last year, for example), but the main thing is that aside from the museum and DIYs you've found nothing is really locked in, in New Horizons.

In New Leaf I reset my town once and I did so only because I didn't love my house placement or the face I got stuck with. Those were the only reasons I reset and those are two reasons that New Horizons has fixed. I can change how my character looks whenever I want and I can move basically any building, flatten my island to give it a mostly new shape, and I can let villagers move out to start fresh with new ones if I want.

I think the only other benefit I can really see to resetting is if there is something fundamental about your island that's really bugging you. Like your town plaza placement or your river mouths aren't working with your dream island anymore. I think if I had known on day one that I would be stuck with certain Nook Mile variants I may have put a little more weight into those when resetting (I would've tried for a cuter lighthouse, lol. I was able to trade for one though!), but since we can trade those it's not a huge deal.

I also wouldn't reset unless I had online access! I always forget how much of the game is locked behind online but it's _so much worse_ when you're first starting out. You can't get all the fruit types (I'm not sure if you can get all the flowers either), you're stuck with the nook mile variants your island has, and you can't access online patterns, either. So if you don't have online right now and won't for a while that's also something to keep in mind.


----------



## MissDiana (Sep 19, 2021)

maria110 said:


> I've reset a lot. Like maybe 14 times or 15.  I enjoy resetting.  I really like the training music and the fun of seeing who your starters will be and all that.




I LOVE the music when you restart!


----------



## Bilaz (Sep 19, 2021)

I have never reset my primary island and I wouldn't recommend it, it sounds like you just want a fresh start in decorating but not necessarily a resetted island. I recommend picking everything up and putting it in storage, perhaps flattening and and moving buildings to the beach if you want an even fresher canvas. I found that cleaning up my island made me excited to rebuild it


----------



## TheDuke55 (Sep 19, 2021)

How do you 'cheat' with your phone to get villagers in?

Anyway I've never reset any of my towns/island in any of the games. They've taken me too long to get to the point where I am at and I really couldn't see myself putting the same amount of effort in if I did reset or lose the data somehow.

If you feel like you soured the fun out of the game by 'cheating' like you said, still not really clear on that, then how about going back to your island and just taking it slow and not rushing it to perfection. See where that takes you and if you still feel strongly about it afterwards then maybe think about it. It's really up to you though.

Not a whole lot has been added since you left from last year. So if you're resetting to hope the extra content will keep you hooked if you did reset, I'd probably hit the brakes there and reconsider.


----------



## Bilaz (Sep 20, 2021)

TheDuke55 said:


> How do you 'cheat' with your phone to get villagers in?


I think they mean turning an android phone into a certain merch item people also sell on etsy


----------



## StarlitGlitch (Sep 20, 2021)

If you're torn I wouldn't. Or at least would wait a long time.

Back in WW I was thinking about resetting as a kid so I could do a new theme. I even got the help of a couple people from AnimalCrossingCommunity.com to come over and take my stuff so that I could pick it up after I reset. But then last second I chickened out and changed my mind. It's been almost 15 years so I don't remember clearly but I remember talking myself out of it while with them, and then since all my stuff was in one of their towns' he'd message me a couple of times about picking up my things but I never did lol

But I'm so, so glad that I didn't! On ACC too on ACNL threads sometimes people beat up their younger selves for deleting their towns. You can always delete later if you feel really certain about it!


----------



## peachycrossing9 (Sep 20, 2021)

I mean, you can get all these opinions, but at the end of the day it's your choice and your island. So do whatever you're comfortable with. 

Me personally, I felt similar to how you're feeling currently a couple of months ago when I really wanted to restart my island, because I was so bored with it. The map layout, the native fruit and flowers. Just everything about it had gone stale. But I was pretty attached the island because it had being with me since launch. I was really unmotivated to actually do anything with the island no matter how many times I flattened, or tried a different theme. I wouldn't touch the game for days at a time. 

But at the start of July, I bit the bullet and I did end up restarting. I had one of my close friends hold a whole bunch of stuff for me so that I would have something going into it. That is something I would suggest doing if you are going to restart. For me, once I had reset, I didn't regret it at all. It was so nice and refreshing to have a brand new map and a native fruit that I actually wanted (peaches xD). I was really inspired all over again. It does take a while to build up your catalog and DIY's and the museum, but I would say it's worth it. 

But as I said, it's really up to you


----------



## cassiecrossing (Sep 20, 2021)

I’m not sure if resetting is right for you or not, but I will tell you why it is right for me! Personally, I get so attached to my towns that I could never flatten them and re-do everything and never see *that* town again, so I prefer to make a dream address of my town and restart my game so that my perfect little winter village, etc. is preserved to visit again when I want to see it. (Bulletin boards are saved in dream addresses! You wouldn’t lose them and could still view them whenever you want!) To save my catalog when restarting I put everything in my 2nd player’s storage (and bells in his bank account) and I move him to my sister’s town while I restart and then move him back to my town.  Takes a 2nd switch, but is much less tedious than the flying back and forth with all your bells and stuff. I have also been giving him all my extra DIY’s, so besides the seasonal DIY’s, he’s somewhat complete as my original character on those.  I have already completed my critterpedia and gotten all of the golden tools, so I wanted to restart to have a reason to get on every month to collect everything again, and I like villager hunting and meeting new villagers, but I would probably never ever have kicked villagers off of my original island because I was attached to all of them. Now I get to find new ones to be attached to! The only thing that annoys me about the whole thing is getting DIY’s for my main character again.  I should also mention that I have never reset my WW and that will always feel like my “first island,” so I guess I’m just not really nostalgic about NH and I get that nostalgia from my original WW town. (Edited for a typo.)


----------



## JellyBeans (Sep 20, 2021)

at the end of the day this is definitely a more personal decision that you've gotta decide for yourself, but to put in my two cents - I reset my island earlier this year, after having had the same island since the release date. i think it's definitely given me a fresh perspective on designing an island, since i have a year's worth of experience with the game now as opposed to last year when we were all kind of figuring out terraforming as we went. the only problem i would say i've encountered with resetting is the fact that i've got a lot less free time now to play, so my island is still looking pretty bare in its early stages of development. although i also partially blame that on obviously having a much more reduced catalogue and DIY list


----------



## Lullaboid (Sep 20, 2021)

I've never reset mine and I doubt I will. The way I see it, I have enough ability to change most aspects of it that resetting wouldn't be necessary. But that's just me.


----------



## Pig-Pen (Sep 20, 2021)

If we could keep all of the storage stuff and DIYS, i'd reset.


----------



## Orius (Sep 21, 2021)

I paid real money just to get a workaround solution to my layout problem rather than resetting. That's how hard I'm trying to resist the temptation of resetting and wipe out all my previous hard work to collect museum donations and complete Nook Mile challenges.


----------



## Jaco (Sep 21, 2021)

I don't think I'd ever reset. I still have my starter villagers from April 2020, and I really love how everything on the island has turned out. I also have some beautiful natural scenery that I never terra-formed.

Besides from that, resetting would make me lose my entire catalogue. I've worked hard to try to expand it beyond what I normally get at Nook's.


----------

