I really wish we could have a second island

[Tiffany]

I really don't understand why we can't have more than 1 island(aside from the obvious cash grab of forcing us to buy another switch/game). It sucks. Of course I want it to have more villagers but I have another reason too. Terraforming.
I have done next to nothing with terraforming cause I'm too worried I'm gonna mess up what I already have and won't be able to fix it. If I had another island it would give me the freedom to experiment with it and not care whether it looks bad or not. Yes I know that I can buy another switch/game and do just that but it's not worth spending that much money(and I think it's really crappy of nintendo to force us to do that).
I am considering experimenting on just one section of my island so I don't mess up everything at least. Are there any guides for terraforming out there or tips that could help? Thanks

 

[Meadows]

I want a new island only so my mother and I can have our own islands.

 

[sicHighbeams]

I understand the desire to have another island, and believe me I would love one too! But I can’t see it ever happening. It goes against the game design of building up YOUR island, rather than being an island resort design simulator, each with their own villagers and guest-NPCs who give rare items, etc.

Nintendo is slow to give us QoL updates when needed. But giving us a second game to play within the first??? Unlikely, as cool as it would be.

 

[Bethboj]

I understand the desire to have another island, and believe me I would love one too! But I can’t see it ever happening. It goes against the game design of building up YOUR island, rather than being an island resort design simulator, each with their own villagers and guest-NPCs who give rare items, etc.

Nintendo is slow to give us QoL updates when needed. But giving us a second game to play within the first??? Unlikely, as cool as it would be.

I agree it’s never going to happen, a little upset that you can’t just buy a new game if you want another island, you have to buy an entire new switch. I hate that Nintendo know people will actually do this too. I would if I could to be honest.

 

[sicHighbeams]

I agree it’s never going to happen, a little upset that you can’t just buy a new game if you want another island, you have to buy an entire new switch. I hate that Nintendo know people will actually do this too. I would if I could to be honest.

That I can get behind. You used to just be able to buy a new cartridge, or use a new memory card.

 

[amemome]

I really dislike the fact that you have to buy an ENTIRELY SEPARATE CONSOLE just to play a different copy of the same game. I agree with the comments saying this is a blatant cash grab, because it really is and I can't really imagine why else they would make it so you can only play one copy of the game per device, as if all of their consumers have the option of having their own, unshared devices at home. I'm wondering if making it "one game per console" is going to be a trend.

 

[sicHighbeams]

Honestly, I think Nintendo does this to create what they believe is “integrity” in their games — like no doubt it’s a cash grab, but I imagine that the conversation started as “how do we force the player to have the experience WE want them to have without breaking it?”

 

[Etown20]

While I don't think it's likely to change, I would mark this one as "never say never."

I wouldn't debate the financial benefit for Nintendo, but I think it's more influenced by Nintendo's vision of the game and how the Switch hardware works. They want families to play the game together (which is why separate profiles don't work), and the Switch stores its save data on internal storage instead of on the cart or memory card (which is why buying a separate copy of the game or memory card wouldn't work).

I'm pretty sure the game could be updated to include 3 save slots though, just like any other Nintendo game.

People may ask why they would change it. To that I would say user-generated social media posts are one of the game's biggest marketing tools (probably beyond what Nintendo anticipated). Giving people 1 or 2 more islands to design and share would serve as another round of publicity which would lead to new players and more people buying the game or buying a Switch for the first time.

Again, I'm not saying it's likely, but I don't think it's impossible.

 

[sicHighbeams]

They want families to play the game together (which is why separate profiles don't work), and the Switch stores its save data from internal storage instead of from a cart or memory card (which is why buying a separate copy of the game or memory card wouldn't work).

Yeah, you said it better than me. It definitely generates cash for them, but I think they are approaching the issue from a desire to have the game played a certain way.

 

[BigBadButterfree]

I never really cared or wanted a second island, but recently I started playing on the family tv in the living room and my mom thinks it's cute, I think she'd really enjoy the decorating and gardening aspect of it. However, I don't think it'd be fair to add her to my existing island, but I'm not willing to start over. So for that reason I'd think a second island would be great, like a chance to bond with my mom and let her play a video game for once (she has a medical condition so her hands can't hold a controller normally, but AC is more relax and laid-back).

What they SHOULD have done was make like one big, kinda "hub" island that is shared between profiles, and then give each profile a slightly smaller island of its own, and group them all together as like an archipelago for the whole switch unit. That would've been my compromise.

 

[moo_nieu]

While I don't think it's likely to change, I would mark this one as "never say never."

I wouldn't debate the financial benefit for Nintendo, but I think it's more influenced by Nintendo's vision of the game and how the Switch hardware works. They want families to play the game together (which is why separate profiles don't work), and the Switch stores its save data on internal storage instead of on the cart or memory card (which is why buying a separate copy of the game or memory card wouldn't work).

I'm pretty sure the game could be updated to include 3 save slots though, just like any other Nintendo game.

People may ask why they would change it. To that I would say user-generated social media posts are one of the game's biggest marketing tools (probably beyond what Nintendo anticipated). Giving people 1 or 2 more islands to design and share would serve as another round of publicity which would lead to new players and more people buying the game or buying a Switch for the first time.

Again, I'm not saying it's likely, but I don't think it's impossible.

were able to have different saves between profiles on other games so i lean towards thinking they are intentionally preventing it. i agree that they want players to play the game their way, but i also wonder if they were hoping to sell more consoles this way. idk why they wouldnt want to just let people buy additional game copies for more islands though. seems like a good idea to me

 

[Etown20]

were able to have different saves between profiles on other games so i lean towards thinking they are intentionally preventing it. i agree that they want players to play the game their way, but i also wonder if they were hoping to sell more consoles this way. idk why they wouldnt want to just let people buy additional game copies for more islands though. seems like a good idea to me

Oh yeah - the the profiles being tied to one island is definitely intentional. I just think their primary motivation was to get people to play together (a core idea of the series from the beginning) rather than to trying to get people to buy another Switch. If their primary motivation was to sell more consoles, I think this limitation would be more prevalent among other Nintendo games. As far as I know, Animal Crossing is the only Nintendo game to have only one save slot (someone can correct me if I'm wrong).

The part about additional copies of the game not working is a technical issue because of where the save data is stored. On 3DS, save data was usually on the cartridge, which is why multiple cartridges worked, whereas on Switch, the save data is part of the consoles internal storage.

 

[sicHighbeams]

As far as I know, Animal Crossing is the only Nintendo game to have only one save slot (someone can correct me if I'm wrong).

Pokémon, however I haven’t played the Switch main games yet, but you used to be able to buy a new cartridge if you wanted a new save.

 

[BigBadButterfree]

Oh yeah - the the profiles being tied to one island is definitely intentional. I just think their primary motivation was to get people to play together (a core idea of the series from the beginning) rather than to trying to get people to buy another Switch. If their primary motivation was to sell more consoles, I think this limitation would be more prevalent among other Nintendo games. As far as I know, Animal Crossing is the only Nintendo game to have only one save slot (someone can correct me if I'm wrong).

The part about additional copies of the game not working is a technical issue because of where the save data is stored. On 3DS, save data was usually on the cartridge, which is why multiple cartridges worked, whereas on Switch, the save data is part of the consoles internal storage.

I played this game my friend brought over once, called Go Vacation, and I'm pretty sure that game actually uses a shared save like Animal Crossing does. It's the only other game I've seen like that.

 

[Xara]

i’m afraid that i don’t have any terraforming tips for you as i haven’t done much of that myself, but there’s lots of guides, videos and advice on here, youtube, etc that could help. you just gotta search for them.

i’d definitely love to be able to have a second island as well — i have so many themes that i’d love to try, so many villagers that i’d love to have but don’t have room for on my main island, but i honestly can’t really justify spending another $400-500 for those reasons alone.

though, knowing me and my spending habits, i’ll probably wind up buying a new console and game at some point, anyways lol.

 

[PugLovex]

its quite disappointing to have to buy a new switch for a whole new island, that's at least $200+. i too wish i could have another island because i'd like to have islands with new themes, but i would not like to restart my whole islander the sake of it, because i'd like to hold on to my island for as long as i can, LOL

 

[KittenNoir]

I am starting to feel this way now I would like another island like if we could fly over from our airport to the other island. I have so many big changes that I want to fix/add to my island but I am worried that if I make these changes to my current island I will hate it and I will not be able to get my island to look how it did before I changed it

 

[Venn]

I always thought it would be cool if we could move islands like villagers do in the game, but there would be some inside time limit that would allow this or maybe a criteria, like getting 5 Stars or something. You would get to keep everything in your inventory/closet, but lose everything on the island. It would be a nicer restart than resetting completely and you get to build up again. However, I know this most likely won't happen. (I'm talking about the Island Rep villagers)

 

[peachycrossing9]

Just another area of this game where Nintendo has let us down I guess. Not that I ever have wanted to have 2 islands. I can barely finish just one... But it would be nice if it was like New Leaf, where you could play multiple copies on the same console.