I've only played New Horizons, what did the past games have compare to NH? Im debating on picking up the older titles it see how I might enjoy them to NH
I'm not the person you're replying to but honestly, I think picking up New Leaf is worth it! If you already have a 3DS (or 2DS) a copy of New Leaf isn't terribly expensive. You may be able to find a used physical copy even cheaper but on the eShop I believe it's a Nintendo Selects title so it's not as expensive.
I personally find New Leaf to be a more "complete" experience as opposed to New Horizons. I feel like with New Leaf they made it and already had all the aspects and things they wanted for the game in mind and they included everything from the start (and then later on in the games life they added the Welcome Amiibo update which provided a lot of bonus content) whereas with New Horizons it can definitely feel like they're relying on the, "we're planning to update for years to come!" aspect of the game as a means to just... not have everything included from the start.
With New Leaf you will have some step downs, though. The graphics for one, but you also lose character customization (there are
no other skin tones in New Leaf and the eyes/mouth you get are determined by questions asked at the start of the game that cannot be altered), you change your hair via a salon and are limited to using it once per day, you can't place furniture outside (there are Public Works Projects and some are more furniture like - hammocks, a little jungle gym, street lamps, etc but it's nowhere near the same as placing furniture in New Horizons), there's no terraforming so your rivers, ponds, rocks, etc are all permanent, flowers will wilt and disappear, villagers will randomly move in and out wherever they please, there's no crafting, etc.
That being said I do prefer New Leaf. I find the music to be better, your tools never break and you can upgrade them slowly and you feel the difference in the upgrades, the longer you play the more you'll see your town develop and grow and it actually
feels like it's growing with you as opposed to New Horizons, you don't need an online membership to have access to peoples designs (although your design spaces are much more limited), there's Tortimer's Island which is fun and handy for making bells, there's a lot more furniture sets (New Leaf has more of an interior design focus vs exterior design like New Horizons and unlike New Horizons furniture isn't colour blocked), the dialogue is different from New Horizons which is nice because playing both games won't feel repetitive in that nature, you're not penalized for time travelling (i mean your turnips still spoil and you risk having villagers move out/in but! you can time travel and experience holidays whenever you want, you don't need to wait for them to be included via an update), the holidays in New Leaf are also a little different so they won't feel like repeats of New Horizons which is nice.
There's likely more things too but I don't want to spoil some of the charming aspects because it is a lot of fun to get to play the game yourself and experience things on your own! I feel like New Leaf is probably the best Animal Crossing game for a solo player, tbh. With Wild World I think you needed multiplayer to unlock a shop upgrade and I feel like that might've been the same in a Wii game? I'm not sure on that though but with New Leaf the only things you can't get on your own is special holiday items that Nintendo gave out depending on region - core gameplay isn't hidden behind needing multiplayer, though.
