I got my mother to preorder it for me, but as a Christmas present of course. I just got my Wii U at the end of the summer, and as much as I'd prefer a traditional Animal Crossing game, I'm willing to give it a chance! I think it looks adorable! If I'm going to have a board game type of game for the Wii U, I'd rather it be Animal Crossing than Mario themed. More original and more cute, if you ask me. I do wish online was available, since I don't have any friends who can just come over to my house and play sadly. I did have one but we're not friends anymore, it's sad how I want to be friends with her again just to have someone to play Wii U games with, haha.
Anyways, I'll probably play it every so often, especially as soon as I get it for Christmas. I've never had amiibos before (excited to have Isabelle! I don't have any merch of her yet, or any AC merch in general), and I really want Tom Nook and Blathers also (not sure when I should get them as I heard they're hard to get? I don't want to ask my mom for too much right now though.) Not to mention Reese, Cyrus, Celeste, and Kicks are super cute as well! Aaahh I probably won't end up getting that many of course, but I'd at least really like Tom Nook and Blathers eventually.
Anyways I think the game looks super cute and I like how some modes work with the amiibo cards! I don't have any of those besides the Resetti that came with my game right now, but I'll probably end up getting some so I think that's really neat that you can use them for both AF and HHD.
I had really low expectations, but personally as a huge Animal Crossing fan, I think from what we've seen since the initial announcement I'll enjoy the game, so long as I don't wear it out. Maybe I can get my mom to play with me or something.
I wish the Wii U could get a traditional AC though.. ugh. I guess we'll just see what happens, but I'd hate to have to wait too long in order to get a new console just for Animal Crossing when I finally got a Wii U this summer. I'm glad I did though, because I love it and I'm gonna love having an Animal Crossing game sitting with the others regardless.
I didn't have high hopes for Happy Home Designer either, but I enjoy that game a lot. Not for a super long sitting of course, but I feel like that will be the same effect AF has. Besides, HHD has a lot of cute quirks to call its own for right now! Maybe AF will too.