Rambling about the possibility of Animal Crossing at E3

[Pandaholic]

So I may or may not have developed an unhealthy obsession with Animal Crossing Switch being announced at E3 this year, which will probably result in me having some kind of heart attack next Tuesday. So to sort out literally all my thoughts I thought I'd just ramble here.

I'm sorry this got so incredibly long, my mind got pretty stuffed with this topic over the past few weeks.


Why it might be announced

• Animal Crossing Pocket Camp. I guess by now we all know that one of its developers said ACPC will connect with "Animal Crossing for dedicated gaming systems". I personally think despite New Leaf having the camping aspect aswell, they're not going to connect it with Pocket Camp. It's just kind of dead by now. Sure, many people still play New Leaf, but in my opinion it's more the "hardcore" fans now that still stick with it. All together, after 6 years, New Leaf is just too dead to invest time and money into connecting it with Pocket Camp. So "dedicated gaming system" most definitely doesn't mean the 3DS but rather the Switch console.

• The announcement of other games. This might sound weird at first but let me explain. As far as I know, Nintendo "needs" to have some surprise they reveal at the E3. Something new they didn't mention once before. And as far as I am concerned there isn't much beside Animal Crossing that could be big enough for such a surprise. What I find most suspicious is how they didn't wait with announcing big games like Smash Bros, Pokemon and so on. Sure, Smash Bros was probably because of the Invitational they're planing to hold at E3 but then there's still Pokemon. Instead of waiting until E3 they busted that bubble literally two weeks earlier by announcing Pokemon Let's Go! Pikachu and Eevee. Then there's Bayonetta 3, Yoshi and Metroid Prime 4. All bigger titles they've already talked about beforehand and that are out of the way now. Animal Crossing being the surprise, especially when considering all the other hints, is a big possibility.

• Animal Crossing was always at E3. As far as I know, Animal Crossing has always been revealed at an E3 so far. Wild World, City Folk and New Leaf all got revealed there so I really don't see why they would stop with that now.

• The time. Now I know that's a pretty shallow hint, but it's just been so long. New Leaf was released in 2012/2013 and it's just time for something new by now. Looking at the sales, a new Animal Crossing came out approximately every three to four years.
  - Animal Crossing 2001
  - Wild World 2005
  - City Folk 2008
  - New Leaf 2012
  We're on year six now and it's more than just about time for a new game. Like I already said, New Leaf is basically dead and the hype for Pocket Camp is also mostly gone. I personally think it's gotten to a point where Nintendo has to be careful that the hype and excitement for a new Animal Crossing doesn't tip over into anger because we're not getting anything.

• New trademarks. Nintendo filed new trademarks for Animal Crossing in January 2018. The trademark application mentioned "software for a home video game machine, portable electronic game machine and smartphone devices". Now I'm really no expert with this but "software for a home video game machine and portable electronic game machine" has to be for something new. The trademarks for console software such as amiibo festivale and portable console software such as New Leaf, HHD and so on obviously are already registered. Also "home video game machine and portable electronic game machine" really just is the definition of the Switch.

• Changes on the website. Anyone remember when the official Animal Crossing website suddenly got a news and video section with tons of placeholders that was then was removed shortly afterwards? I am, again, no expert with this but I really don't think you accidentally can edit a website, add two new sections, name them, put latinplaceholders in there and put the whole thing online. That's a few too many clicks for an accident. They're most definitely working on some upcoming announcement. And I don't think it's for Pocket Camp, since that won't suddenly get such an improvement/update that they need two entire sections for that, so it has to be for something new. And for something bigger. That they are working on these sections now is also a good hint towards 2018. Don't think they'd spend time on a section they don't plan to release until 2019 or later.

Why it might not be announced

• They're already packed. With Smash Bros, Pokemon, Metroid Prime 4, Bayonetta 3, Yoshi, Fire Emblem and so on presumably on their schedule they're already pretty busy. There also are rumors about Mario Party 11, Luigis Mansion 3 and Pikmin 4. Limited space to announce something like Animal Crossing and lots of games that might steal that spot.

• It's about 2018. Nintendo themselves stated clearly that the presentation would be about games coming in 2018. I was hoping for Animal Crossing to be a holidays sale title but since Pokemon stole that spot I don't have much hope for it to still come out in 2018. Then again, for E3 2017 they stated "video presentation, featuring a closer look at the Super Mario Odyssey game and new details for Nintendo Switch games launching this year" and then proceeded to also give details for games launching the following year or even later. So there really is a possibility they won't be only focusing on 2018.

• The spotlight. With huge games such as Smash Bros and Pokemon being talked about, it's possible that Nintendo doesn't want those to steal the spotlight from Animal Crossing. Instead, they could make a Nintendo Direct focusing only on Animal Crossing to make sure it get's the attention it deserves.

Conclusion

With all those hints towards an announcement (especially the trademark and the website changes) I'm really getting my hopes up here. My biggest concern is that I'm pretty sure Animal Crossing Switch would (or will) be a 2019 title, so Nintendo focusing on 2018 is pretty bad news.

To be honest, I personally already am close to that tipping point I was talking about earlier. I don't enjoy New Leaf as much as I used to anymore, I'm so bored with HHD that I haven't touched it in like a year and not gonna lie, Pocket Camp is kind of making me straight up angry. Animal Crossing used to be this beautiful game with so many possibilities and lots of character where you could spend hours and hours without getting bored and still finding something new to enjoy every day. With amiibo Festival, HHD and Pocket Camp I feel like they kind of ruined that. With those spin offs that only contain a fraction of what Animal Crossing actually is, to me it kinda seems like they ripped that wonderful game appart just for some more sales.

My biggest hope is that Animal Crossing Switch will look at least somewhat similar to the track in Mario Kart 8. And I know these
http://0.media.dorkly.cvcdn.com/93/93/166bce7da345c7a9acd3f07088789d29.jpg
https://i1.wp.com/powerup-gaming.co...imal-crossing-switch.jpg?resize=640,360&ssl=1
are fake leaks, but if the game would look like this I'd absolutely lose my ****. Real talk, it's about time for reasonably sized houses. At this point I'd even be happy with like a two second clip of the logo or something. Just any indication that it's actually in work.

If you read that entire thing: thank you so much and I love you! I hope it wasn't too boring and that you don't completely disagree with me. I just had to write down what's keeping me hoping at the moment. Animal Crossing has been my favorite game series for 10 years now and has been a literal life saver for me, so I'm just really passionate about it.

 

[Tinkalila]

wow, these are a lot of really great points! you brought up everything i've ever seen anyone say for or against it, and more. i am cautiously hoping for an e3 announcement, but i feel like with nintendo, you just never know. i'd also be happy with just some sort of indication that it will happen eventually, like the metroid announcement. hoping for the best!

 

[Shutter]

I'm hoping for it. If AC Switch doesn't get announced then my underdog hope is F-Zero. I made a post on Tumblr about my hopes for what a potential new game has, and I'll go ahead and paste that here:

▶ More in-depth relationship and conversation
It’d be cool to see interactions work similarly to The Sims. Maybe not that complex and specific, but something closer would be nice.

▶ Lawn, backyard, and/or outside decoration

▶ Longer town name and player name sizes

▶ Larger villager cap, maybe?

▶ Higher amount of customization on furniture, more patterns allowed

▶ The ability to track where other players are when they are visiting your town
I’m tired of losing track of visitors and hoping they aren’t digging up gardens or running through the grass.

▶ Skin color choice and more intuitive system for picking face and hair
Would probably be best to just straight-up put a standard character creator in the next Animal Crossing so skin colors could be chosen.

▶ Easier placement of town objects and houses, on a grid system
Assuming we still have control over those kinds of things… which we might not!

▶ More furniture interactivity
It’d be nice if kitchen appliances weren’t basically just textured bricks that sit there. There are items in ACNL that seem like they should be able to be interacted with or at least have an animation, but don’t.

▶ More weather effects, like fog
I literally can’t think of any more weather effects that ACNL doesn’t already have but there’s probably something.

▶ Please let us use our amiibo cards in this one, too, Nintendo
The technology is already there.

▶ This is the big one for me: A revamped personality system.
I know that the current personality system has been a staple of the game since it began, and it’s unlikely to change, but I think it’s time for an update. Currently, villagers are really just reskins of the same eight personalities. I think the personalities could stay as “main” traits, but it’d be nice if there were also subtraits with uniquely chosen combinations for each villager in the game. For example, both Chief and Apollo are Cranky villagers, but maybe Apollo has “likes rain” as a trait while Chief has “dislikes rain.” Maybe they both also have the trait for “loves apples.” I think a system like this would make the villagers seem less like clones of each other, giving each of them a unique personality while maintaining the personality system some people are attached to and recognize.

And one I forgot with the Tumblr post: more species. Bats would be great.

 

[Pandaholic]

Many of your wishes are the same as mine! I think we will get a larger villager cap, since it's most likely that we'll also have a bigger town. The Switch has much more power than the 3DS so it'd be a waste if we didn't get a bigger town and therefore more villagers.
Skin color is also basically 100 % safe. They already implemented it in Pocket Camp and also HHD (if I remember right). So with that and especially nowadays (where no one is afraid anymore to call out possible racism) they really wouldn't dare to remove it again. They realised it's important.
More weather effects is one of my biggest wishes tbh. Fog, leafs flying around during autumn, trees moving when it's windy, puddles during rain and maybe the grass and dirt getting a darker color because it's wet. Maybe mornings where you have that water splashing effect when you walk because the ground is wet with morning dew. I could go on and on about that. I just really hope the weather is a bit more... present, you know?
I really like your idea for a personality system. I think the villagers really are a bit too soft now. I understand that especially the cranky villagers might've been a bit too rude for little children but I feel like they overdid it. Everyone is basically the same now. I didn't think about it the way you did though, but reading your idea I really hope they'll do something like this. More diversity would be amazing!
And heck yes, more species! I once saw fanart of a moth villager and I've been wanting it ever since! Also bats, maybe something like slugs or snakes. Sounds weird as first but tumblr has some really cute fanart for those!

 

[DJStarstryker]

I hope so. New Leaf is great, but it does feel overdue for a new AC game. I don't own a Switch yet, but Animal Crossing would probably make me buy one. I just hope the whole game would be available on the Switch cart. Pocket Camp's microtransactions and the Welcome Amiibo-added pay for (through needing to buy amiibo) DLC in New Leaf (I know for the latter you can acquire a lot of it for free through trading with others) makes me a bit concerned though.

 

[satine]

Once again, E3 disappoints. No new AC game announced this E3. Honestly I could not care less about Fortnite or Smash so it was an extremely boring E3 this year. I didn't really expect it to happen but I am still saddened.

 

[Pandaholic]

Once again, E3 disappoints. No new AC game announced this E3. Honestly I could not care less about Fortnite or Smash so it was an extremely boring E3 this year. I didn't really expect it to happen but I am still saddened.

Honestly I can't even put in words how disappointed I am. Even when taking the lack of Animal Crossing aside this was absolute crap. What did they show? Like, three new games? Literally. That weird Demon x Machina thing, Fire Emblem and Mario Party. That's it. Half of them isn't even coming out this year? They have literally nothing until Smash in December? What the hell Nintendo.

 

[satine]

Honestly I can't even put in words how disappointed I am. Even when taking the lack of Animal Crossing aside this was absolute crap. What did they show? Like, three new games? Literally. That weird Demon x Machina thing, Fire Emblem and Mario Party. That's it. Half of them isn't even coming out this year? They have literally nothing until Smash in December? What the hell Nintendo.

Dude I know. They made it 'clear' that they were ONLY going to talk about 'games releasing this year' and it seems they barely even did that. Half of me wants to find out ASAP when the next Direct is so I can watch it with high hopes then but the other half of me is too upset to get disappointed once more. As cool as Smash might be, they basically spent the entire E3 talking about it and it was sooo overkill.

 

[simfan96]

At this point I feel like a new AC in the future is about as much as a possibility as the release of an official translation of MOTHER 3.

 

[Pandaholic]

Dude I know. They made it 'clear' that they were ONLY going to talk about 'games releasing this year' and it seems they barely even did that. Half of me wants to find out ASAP when the next Direct is so I can watch it with high hopes then but the other half of me is too upset to get disappointed once more. As cool as Smash might be, they basically spent the entire E3 talking about it and it was sooo overkill.

"Games releasing this year" and then Fire Emblem and Mario Party, which both release next year... And yes, Smash way way too overkilled. Someone on reddit said "it got to the point where I was expecting them to talk about how the clouds are different in this game." and this basically describes it exactly. Maybe 5-10 % of the fanbase play Smash so intensively that they care about all these minor changes they talked about. Sorry but almost no one cares that Marth can now hit faster?

What about Yoshi? Metroid Prime 4? Starfox? Pikmin 4? Even taking Animal Crossing aside there was so much stuff that was missing.

- - - Post Merge - - -

At this point I feel like a new AC in the future is about as much as a possibility as the release of an official translation of MOTHER 3.

I mean, my points still stand. With the changes on the website, the trademarks and the information that Pocket Camp will connect with a main game they HAVE to work on something. But I don't understand why they didn't mention anything? There's literally no reason to at least say something like "it's in work expect it soon".

 

[TiredStudent]

So disappointed

 

[Jake]

"Games releasing this year" and then Fire Emblem and Mario Party, which both release next year... And yes, Smash way way too overkilled. Someone on reddit said "it got to the point where I was expecting them to talk about how the clouds are different in this game." and this basically describes it exactly. Maybe 5-10 % of the fanbase play Smash so intensively that they care about all these minor changes they talked about. Sorry but almost no one cares that Marth can now hit faster?

What about Yoshi? Metroid Prime 4? Starfox? Pikmin 4? Even taking Animal Crossing aside there was so much stuff that was missing.

- - - Post Merge - - -



I mean, my points still stand. With the changes on the website, the trademarks and the information that Pocket Camp will connect with a main game they HAVE to work on something. But I don't understand why they didn't mention anything? There's literally no reason to at least say something like "it's in work expect it soon".

The game is 100% in development, it's just a matter of when they're going to announce it. It'll be released by the end of 2019.

 

[Pandaholic]

The game is 100% in development, it's just a matter of when they're going to announce it. It'll be released by the end of 2019.

Yeah, that's for sure. But I just don't know when they want to announce it? E3 2019 is too late if they want to release it at the end of 2019. But they ALWAYS announced Animal Crossing at E3 so I really don't know what to think of them, announcing it at a Nintendo Direct. But considering that they need to say something soon a Direct seems like the only possibility... Do you know when the next Direct is?

 

[Underneath The Stars]

It better be a flawless game with this time they’re taking to even just announce they’re working on it.

 

[Pandaholic]

It better be a flawless game with this time they’re taking to even just announce they’re working on it.

Honestly it better look exactly like that Mario Kart track. With reasonable sized houses and trees. And I'm gonna throw a tantrum if it doesn't have at least multiple things the community is currently asking for. Like more weather effects, new villagers and so on.
I'm super salty rn but Nintendo really has to make up for the crap they just served us.

 

[pawpatrolbab]

Worst E3 announcement. Don't even like Smash :/ Only thing that's appealing to come out of it was Crash (for me) and that was already announced

 

[Pandaholic]

Worst E3 announcement. Don't even like Smash :/ Only thing that's appealing to come out of it was Crash (for me) and that was already announced

True. It was literally just straight up ridiculous. Who at Nintendo thought "let's talk about minor crap like Marth's new voice and Ike speaking English for 30 minutes and ignore literally everything else, our fans will love this!"?
The only "good" thing was Mario Party, because that's somewhere on the list of games I want. But it's not even in my top three, soo...

 

[pawpatrolbab]

True. It was literally just straight up ridiculous. Who at Nintendo thought "let's talk about minor crap like Marth's new voice and Ike speaking English for 30 minutes and ignore literally everything else, our fans will love this!"?
The only "good" thing was Mario Party, because that's somewhere on the list of games I want. But it's not even in my top three, soo...

Yeah I'm actually more interested in learning more information about Mario Party. I honestly wouldn't be so upset if they hadn't hammered Smash so hard in. I get that it's popular but not everyone likes it and it shouldn't be the only thing you actually go into detail about at an event like E3. They should have saved all the minor info on it for a Direct

 

[Anine]

I don't even own a Switch and I feel so disappointed with that presentation. Half dreaded them announcing it for Switch as I can afford one yet, but no mention of anything is weird. Hopefully they will have a Animal Crossing Direct at some point and both announce it and give good info about what it will be like. The last "main" game came out in 2012(unless you wanna count Pocket Camp as a main game), it really feels a bit overdue at this point. Especially if you consider how it was present on all their systems prior to the WiiU, which only got a spin off game.

 

[Lady Timpani]

I'm disappointed, but I have been wondering whether they'd just hold off for now and then make the announcement just a couple of months before release.

I'm sure it's coming, though; I really think the Switch is the perfect console for AC.