Alolan_Apples
“Assorted” Collector
We are 5 months closer to the release of ACNH since my blogging series began, and 4 months away from the release of ACNH in stores. It’s also been 7 years since New Leaf was released, 3 years since the Welcome amiibo update was released, and 2 years since Pocket Camp came out.
Just recently, another big game for the Switch came out: Pokémon Sword and Shield. Right now, I am hunting dynamaxed Pokémon to gather more resources. I may have beaten the game, but I still have to complete the Pokédex. And throughout the whole playthrough, I haven’t caught a single Eevee. How unfortunate! I also found battling the 5-star dynamax Pokémon frustrating since they are hard to beat and it’s easy to get kicked out of the battle.
It’s actually a good thing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is coming out next spring than this fall. Back when New Leaf first came out, it was the hottest 3DS game of the time, but in the same year ACNL came out, Pokémon X&Y came out. Since Pokémon is a bigger franchise than Animal Crossing, many Pokémon fans have stopped playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf in favor of the new Pokémon game at the time. This has lead to the shrinking of the active AC community. It was even the first Pokémon game for the 3DS, and it started a new generation. Adding insult to injury, Gen VI made a lot of changes to Pokémon, as it introduced Mega Pokémon, character customization, 3D graphics, and even a new Pokémon type (a serious one too). 2014 made the shrinking AC community even worse by releasing both a new Smash game and a new Pokémon game on the 3DS. And just like every other game, ACNL lost popularity as is aged. Nintendo revived ACNL in 2016 by introducing the Welcome amiibo update, which saved ACNL for a while, but the timing of the update wasn’t good. It was released in the same month another new Pokémon game was released, and just like in 2013, it was a new generation. Not to mention, but 2016 was a big year for Pokémon, as it was when the 20th anniversary of Pokémon happened, a new generation was released, and even a mobile game called Pokémon GO (that is still big today) came out. Even I, who usually remains faithful to Animal Crossing regardless of when new games come out, stopped playing ACNL in favor of the new Pokémon game. I’ve gone full on Pokémon since, as I changed to Pokémon-related avatars and signatures, collected Pokémon-related stuff, and even changed my username to Alolan_Apples. I eventually came back to Animal Crossing in May of 2017, then back to Pokémon in November of 2017.
But since Pokémon Sword and Shield came out just recently, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons has yet to come out, I would have time to enjoy ACNH without abandoning it for Pokémon Sword and Shield. Usually, when I play a Pokémon game, I stay on it for two to four months, which is approximately how much time we have left for Animal Crossing: New Horizons to come out. I also don’t see any new Mario games coming out at the same time ACNH is coming out. Usually, when a stronger game comes out, people would abandon the weaker game for the stronger game, but when a weaker game comes out, people remain loyal to the stronger game.
Just recently, another big game for the Switch came out: Pokémon Sword and Shield. Right now, I am hunting dynamaxed Pokémon to gather more resources. I may have beaten the game, but I still have to complete the Pokédex. And throughout the whole playthrough, I haven’t caught a single Eevee. How unfortunate! I also found battling the 5-star dynamax Pokémon frustrating since they are hard to beat and it’s easy to get kicked out of the battle.
It’s actually a good thing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is coming out next spring than this fall. Back when New Leaf first came out, it was the hottest 3DS game of the time, but in the same year ACNL came out, Pokémon X&Y came out. Since Pokémon is a bigger franchise than Animal Crossing, many Pokémon fans have stopped playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf in favor of the new Pokémon game at the time. This has lead to the shrinking of the active AC community. It was even the first Pokémon game for the 3DS, and it started a new generation. Adding insult to injury, Gen VI made a lot of changes to Pokémon, as it introduced Mega Pokémon, character customization, 3D graphics, and even a new Pokémon type (a serious one too). 2014 made the shrinking AC community even worse by releasing both a new Smash game and a new Pokémon game on the 3DS. And just like every other game, ACNL lost popularity as is aged. Nintendo revived ACNL in 2016 by introducing the Welcome amiibo update, which saved ACNL for a while, but the timing of the update wasn’t good. It was released in the same month another new Pokémon game was released, and just like in 2013, it was a new generation. Not to mention, but 2016 was a big year for Pokémon, as it was when the 20th anniversary of Pokémon happened, a new generation was released, and even a mobile game called Pokémon GO (that is still big today) came out. Even I, who usually remains faithful to Animal Crossing regardless of when new games come out, stopped playing ACNL in favor of the new Pokémon game. I’ve gone full on Pokémon since, as I changed to Pokémon-related avatars and signatures, collected Pokémon-related stuff, and even changed my username to Alolan_Apples. I eventually came back to Animal Crossing in May of 2017, then back to Pokémon in November of 2017.
But since Pokémon Sword and Shield came out just recently, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons has yet to come out, I would have time to enjoy ACNH without abandoning it for Pokémon Sword and Shield. Usually, when I play a Pokémon game, I stay on it for two to four months, which is approximately how much time we have left for Animal Crossing: New Horizons to come out. I also don’t see any new Mario games coming out at the same time ACNH is coming out. Usually, when a stronger game comes out, people would abandon the weaker game for the stronger game, but when a weaker game comes out, people remain loyal to the stronger game.
