3DS not Amiibo Compatible

[nightglow]

So, I decided to pick up ACNL because I am super curious about how different it is to New Horizons and from what I hear, I think I may like it better. I just want to check it out. However it turns out my 3DS model on my shelf I have isn't amiibo compatible and I would l think it may be kinda unpleasant to play new leaf without amiibos. Is there a way I can put amiibos in my 3DS/ have my 3DS read amiibos? And is there more than one way to do it? (off brand devices vs. Nintendo brand devices) I am not looking into buying a console at all. Thanks.

 

[Zerous]

My 3ds is too old to scan amiibos as well, so I bought the Nintendo reader, which was like $20 back when I got it, but now I've seen them go anywhere between $10-50 (aud). As for off-brand products, I'm not too sure sorry.
Honestly though, other than allowing you to directly get villagers you want, camper vans that introduce a couple new items (both of which you could potentially trade for online), and a couple minigames, there isn't much of a need for amiibos in nl: the game is basically fully functional and enjoyable on its own, which makes sense considering it was released before amiibos were introduced.
So I'd recommend starting the game, giving it a go, and then seeing whether you feel its worth going out and buying a reader after playing for a bit

 

[nightglow]

My 3ds is too old to scan amiibos as well, so I bought the Nintendo reader, which was like $20 back when I got it, but now I've seen them go anywhere between $10-50 (aud). As for off-brand products, I'm not too sure sorry.
Honestly though, other than allowing you to directly get villagers you want, camper vans that introduce a couple new items (both of which you could potentially trade for online), and a couple minigames, there isn't much of a need for amiibos in nl: the game is basically fully functional and enjoyable on its own, which makes sense considering it was released before amiibos were introduced.
So I'd recommend starting the game, giving it a go, and then seeing whether you feel its worth going out and buying a reader after playing for a bit

Hey thanks for taking the time to reply I think you are right. I did start my copy this afternoon and I am enjoying it so much and I am only just a few hours in. I think I will play it at least a little while without trying to figure out how to use amiibos. I can tackle that issue later I suppose. The villagers already seem more lively so far. And Isabelle is pretty involved. I am just enjoying myself over here lol.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

yeah if you have a non-"new" 3ds you'll need to buy a separate NFC reader to scan amiibos. I personally own two older 3DSXLs and no NFC reader but I get by just fine without it, especially since people here usually give items/villagers away for free in NL now.

 

[kiwikenobi]

I bought one of these in order to scan amiibo into New Leaf on my 3DSXL:

New ones are expensive now, but you could probably pick up a used one for not-too-much money. But, as others have said, you can also have a very full experience of the game without using amiibo at all. But if you already have the figures/cards, there are options to be able to scan them using the older models of 3DS without the built-in scanner.

 

[nightglow]

Thanks.

Well I am not going to do any online trading stuff with this game. Plus I am not sure how much longer it would be supported anyway.
Infact I probably won't deal with trading at all in another animal crossing game again after NH unless they do like an internal system. Like an online market place or something. Didn't have a bad experience with anyone. Most people on this site are super nice people. It's just I find the process tedious and stressful. I did enjoy visiting other islands in NH but I don't want to start that in NL and then it disappear on me. So Just staying away from all of that. I will hop on youtube if I want to see what others have done in their NL experience.

Truth be told I have been thinking about what they may or may not do for the next animal crossing game though. Are they just going to do another NH? a bigger NH? are they going to reflect back on older games? or go a completely new direction all together? I hope they use the same amiibos in the future.

 

[Etown20]

Those devices are the way to go as others have mentioned, but just to offer an alternative perspective - I have a bunch of amiibos, but have yet to use any since starting NL 6 months ago. I didn't intend to play this way when I started, but with having so much control in picking villagers in NH, it's been kind of refreshing to just leave it up to chance in NL.

There have definitely been some villagers I didn't care for, but there are also others I have grown to like that I wouldn't have selected on my own.

 

[nightglow]

Those devices are the way to go as others have mentioned, but just to offer an alternative perspective - I have a bunch of amiibos, but have yet to use any since starting NL 6 months ago. I didn't intend to play this way when I started, but with having so much control in picking villagers in NH, it's been kind of refreshing to just leave it up to chance in NL.

There have definitely been some villagers I didn't care for, but there are also others I have grown to like that I wouldn't have selected on my own.

well I started without amiibos so far, and I am enjoying noticing the differences of their houses between NL and NH. So I kinda want to continue but at the same time, I want to have some of my favoriates lol.
Is it easier to cycle through villagers in NL? Or easier to villager hunt? How often do they rotate on their own?

 

[Etown20]

well I started without amiibos so far, and I am enjoying noticing the differences of their houses between NL and NH. So I kinda want to continue but at the same time, I want to have some of my favoriates lol.
Is it easier to cycle through villagers in NL? Or easier to villager hunt? How often do they rotate on their own?

I did get lucky and have 2 of my favorites in my starting 5, so I definitely understand!

I've noticed there is a lot of stuff that is different with villagers in NL. Some good, some bad. I've only been playing for 6 months and have gotten most of this information secondhand by reading the forums, so I'm not sure if everything is totally accurate, but here's what I have gathered. (sorry for the length but its a lot of changes!)

I haven't tried it so I could be wrong, but I think it is easier to cycle because you can invite them on the first time rather than having to invite them 3 times like NH.

I have read if you invite them via amiibo, they are less likely to ask to leave (which can be good or bad). For example, if you have 9 villagers and 1 is amiibo, the other 8 will ask to leave before the amiibo villager does *supposedly*. I haven't actually tested this.

There isn't a way to villager hunt in NL. It's either amiibo, going online to adopt from someone's town, using the campsite, regular autofill, or autofill from StreetPass.

The campsite also works differently. You can't invite the campsite villager if you have a full town (unless they are amiibo).

Moving out is a lot different in NL. I may be off on the exact days, but it's something like this: depending on if you have 9 or 10 villagers, someone asks to move out approximately 3-5 days after reaching 9 or 10, but then they don't move for for another 10-14 more days after they ask (no one else asks to move during this 10-14 day period). During that time, you can also try to convince them to stay. Or sometimes they change their own mind or do the opposite of what you ask. For example, I encouraged one villager to leave and he decided to stay.

The 10th villager can only be acquired via the amiibo, campsite, or an autofill from StreetPass. Because I haven't used amiibo and campsite visits are somewhat infrequent, I often only have 9 villagers.

 

[LadyDestani]

Everything @Etown20 said sounds true. I'm also not sure of the exact timing of move outs, but those are some pretty good averages to go by.

There are some tricks people use in New Leaf to 'villager hunt.' I've never done them myself, so I can't give you all the details, but I'm sure if you do a search of the forum the techniques have been posted many times. They are a bit tedious, though.

1. Campsite Trick - I think this involves time travelling and starting a new save file each time, but if there's someone in your campsite you can somehow reset it so the camper changes until you find a villager you want to invite.

2. Plot Resetting - Similar to the campsite trick above, this technique can change the random villager moving in (this DOES NOT work if it's a villager you invited or picked up online) and also change their house placement. It involves starting with a new save file rather than an existing character and checking the plot. Then if you like the villager/house placement, go through the process of setting up a tent for your new character and save. You can delete the character immediately afterwards. If you don't like them, reset without saving and try again.