Memories from March 2020

[TheRevienne]

The game was a massive help during the first lockdown in the UK, as I imagine it was for a lot of people. I'd been encouraged to take some of my holiday days off in March, so I did it for the week of the game's launch, and then while I was off that week it was announced we were going into lockdown, and myself and a lot of other people were furloughed. I'm a night owl anyway, but for at least the first month of having the game, I'd stay up till 3am playing, trying to cram as much in as I could. Fishing, hunting for bugs, trading, gathering materials, and just enjoying the game. I'd not played New Leaf in a long time cause I spoilt that for myself with TTing and other ways, and the fun just wasn't there anymore. I played Pocket Camp up till release to get my fix while I waited. Looking back a year on, I wish I'd taken things slower, allowed myself to enjoy it more, rather than rushing to unlock terraforming. I got a bit burnt out June/July cause I'd already done most of my island, and apart from the wedding event there wasn't much to do. I love my little island though, it's not as fancy as some others, but it works for me, which is the whole point I guess :'D

 

[-Blue-]

I remember just dumping fish tanks and bug cages everywhere because it took some time for Blathers to show up. And also the tutorial music.

I ended up just fishing for a majority of the first day (after covid-related work hours) and thinking how cool it was that I fished out trash and got a diy from 'getting an idea' Kind of wish they implemented some more of those in the game opposed to the balloon diy.

 

[NatsumiSummer]

Most of my memories are of me playing the game solo. I do go online (and did quite a bit when the game first came out, but I never really did much online tbh).

I remember starting my island, and playing the game till 12 PM on the 20th (I have the digital version of the game, and so I started my island around 12:10 AM EST on March 20th, and so I started AS soon as I could start the game.) I was SO excited to actually land on my island. I also remember being jealous of my girlfriend for about 5-6 hours, because she lives in Switzerland, so she was able to start the game WAY before I was able to do so. 12:00 AM her time is like 6:00 PM my time.

I remember naming my island, "Tierinsel" because I wanted to learn German (and I still do), and Tierinsel is German for Animal Island. I remember finding my first toilet in the game via a tree on a random NMT island. I was so happy that day (wasn't day one, but still within the first three weeks of the game coming out).

I also remember starting out with Mira and Billy, and catching a crapload of bugs/fish and having to store them outside.

 

[maria110]

I didn't start the game until May. :-( But I remember, before I learned to time travel and do online trading, that it was very hard to get enough bells for infrastructure. What a grind it was. I was always trying to catch "money fish"--fish worth a thousand bells or more. And I remember having an art museum with only one piece of art in it.

 

[kemdi]

I remember canceling my order from Amazon because they were swamped with orders of everything else, and going for digital download instead. I remember staying up past midnight just so I could play. I remember how my island originally looked before terraforming.

 

[Rosch]

I pre-ordered the game digitally. Then I've been trying to open the game even though I am fully aware that it won't since it's not March 20 yet.

 

[Toska]

I got the game on March 19th, around 9pm. 2 of my AC friends and I went and bought the game together, it was one of the last trips I took in person with a friend. I remember staying up pretty late with one of my friends and picking up/selling every single weed because we didn't know we could use them for crafting.

In terms of in game things, I most remember the ironwood diys hype, and how I was completely late to that party. And of course, the great Raymond. I still have a screenshot on my phone of somebody selling him for $120.

 

[MayorofMapleton]

Placing the radio in my tent, first night there and it plays KK Dirge. I fall asleep and the ghost of KK comes to give me a premonition of what my island can become.

 

[DaisyFan]

I remembered getting the game on March 19th because the store I went to had it.

Also, I remembered listening to the portable radio, seeing weeds everywhere, looking at my native flowers on the second tier of the cliff (didn't have a ladder), etc. I displayed several bugs and fish I caught and waited for Blathers to open the museum.

 

[LuchaSloth]

Remember thinking there was actually a third Nook shop, and wondering what the requirements were? Good times.

 

[DrewAC]

I remember that week very well, because it was not only the week of Animal Crossing: New Horizon's release, but also the week lockdown and the perception of the virus was starting to really kick in. I recall debating cancelling my pickup preorder from GameStop because I was worried they were going to shut down, so I placed another order online.

Then at Twitter, very late at night on the 19th, people were Tweeting like crazy that GameStop was doing an early release. I literally sped there in like 5 minutes, got an extra copy for a friend, and began playing right away. Or, rather, resetting for hours to find the perfect town with everything I wanted, lol. Finally got one with a blue airport, apples, and Bam. Couldn't beat that!

I definitely feel this game has the best starting progression of any Animal Crossing game. I'm already so nostalgic -- starting off in a measly tent by a pond with a folding chair and a campfire. Listening to the slow, calm guitar prologue themes. Slowly discovering new parts of my island and learning the ins and outs of the game. You really only experience that truly new feeling with this game once, and it's just so well crafted that it surely makes you miss it. This game definitely came at the exact moment in time that it was needed, and I'm glad to still be happily playing every day since release.

 

[Xara]

god. i can’t believe that it’s almost been a year already; still feels like it was just yesterday when i was anxiously waiting for my copy to arrive in my mail :’o. i don’t believe that i was super active on here during my first few days of gameplay as i was well,, busy aha but i definitely remember quite a bit of my early experiences.

i remember thinking that i was going to keep all of the weeds around permanently (i didn’t but i still think about it sometimes ;p). i remember laughing when i accidentally left kid cat’s tent without saying anything to him and he was left standing there like “?”. i remember that i spent most of my first day catching fish, lowkey scaring myself when i thought i was about to catch a sea bass but instead, an oarfish came flying out at me . i remember gulliver was my very first npc and within a few minutes of meeting me, he was already insulting my huge head lmao. i honestly have a lot of memories from march but the ones that get to me the most are the photos that i took; it’s crazy to look back on my original lineup of villagers, what my island rep used to look like, etc and just how new everything felt. i look back at my first few photos fairly often and they always leave me with a sense of nostalgia and i’m honestly proud of how far everything has come since. :’)

Spoiler: memory lane <3

 

[Mairmalade]

A few things!

- I remember my pure excitement of picking up the game and launching it for the first time after work, buckling myself in for an hour of map resetting.

- Experiencing getting new DIYs and collecting items for the first time. I hadn’t looked online for any furniture or clothing lists so I always had fun to finding new things.

- Spending an embarrassing amount of time making a crescent moon pond on my original island when I unlocked terraforming.

- Having friends visit for the first time and taking a bunch of pictures with them.

- Comparing turnip prices each day with friends and the joy I felt when mine peaked 486. I never brought my Switch to work prior to New Horizons, but it was the only way to check both the morning and afternoon prices and update mine for everyone else.

- The peacefulness of no hourly music and finally being able to explore ‘more’ of the island with the vaulting pole.

 

[Wickel]

I mostly remember the crazy entry fees people were asking if they had a villager crafting a rare DIY, or when they had big turnip prices. I'm glad that's pretty much over, I didn't like that at all. Almost felt like it wasn't the same community anymore.

 

[LeenaM]

i remember:
- TTing to june and showing off my summer clothes to my sister
- everyone getting excited about visiting the south-hemi islands
- when i got dom as a starter and didn't realise he was new so i kicked him out
- when the mush lamp was the most wanted diy
- raymond.
- hybrid islands (i miss them so much)
- collecting 30,000 bells a day and showing off how rich i was lol

Oh my god same, I got Dom as a starter, I didn't know he was new, I loved him but I realized I didn't like my map so I reset and I've been looking for him ever since . I remember spending a good 10 minutes the first day just watching him play the tambourine at the welcome party, he was so cute!
Oh and I remember the game came out just 3 days after quarantine was announced in my country, back when I and everyone else thought it'd only last 2 weeks. I was so excited because since school was suspended it meant I had time to play the game, and I was pleasantly suprised when it arrived in the morning on launch day!

 

[Jam86]

Oh my god same, I got Dom as a starter, I didn't know he was new, I loved him but I realized I didn't like my map so I reset and I've been looking for him ever since . I remember spending a good 10 minutes the first day just watching him play the tambourine at the welcome party, he was so cute!

not gonna lie, i don't really like his face

but i'm constantly finding him while island hopping so i can look for him for u if ya like (i love island hopping so i don't mind lol)

 

[LeenaM]

not gonna lie, i don't really like his face

but i'm constantly finding him while island hopping so i can look for him for u if ya like (i love island hopping so i don't mind lol)

Omg that'd be amazing! If you do find him while island hoping let me know, I'll keep a few tbt on the side for you (if you want, or it can be nmt/other thing). I love his face, his and Zucker's teary eyes crack me up, they're so cute !

 

[Jam86]

Omg that'd be amazing! If you do find him while island hoping let me know, I'll keep a few tbt on the side for you (if you want, or it can be nmt/other thing). I love his face, his and Zucker's teary eyes crack me up, they're so cute !

if i do find him, i don't need anything in return
just happy to help, i love when others have all their dream villagers

 

[lexy_]

I remember staying up until midnight for the game to actually be released because I got the digital download at the last minute, I could not wait for the physical copy to arrive lol (it was delayed unfortunately), I was so happy like a kid at christmas time. I have played for hours before sleeping then when I woke up later, I played the game again while watching youtube videos (people was so happy back then, we forgot about the pandemic during that day and the following days). Magical time ^^.