What was the experience you felt when you guys bought ACNL or ACNH
- Thread starter PowerPlus
- Start date
I remember when I got New Leaf I got the physical version, and it was a very memorable and magical day (I was a lot younger at the time). I had already played all the Animal Crossing games beforehand, and was really excited to play the best possible one yet. The idea of being a mayor of a town thrilled me, and I joined these forums just months later.
New Horizons was kind of meh for me as well. I already knew what to expect going into it, and I got the digital version. Not as exciting, but still fun to play and build my island (which is now complete).
New Horizons was kind of meh for me as well. I already knew what to expect going into it, and I got the digital version. Not as exciting, but still fun to play and build my island (which is now complete).
I was excited because it was going to be my first animal crossing game I got at launch. I’ve only played New Leaf before this one and I had a lot of fun with it, so I was pretty excited to finally play one and have it when the rest of the world did rather than around a year late when everyone had already played.
I played ACNH for around 3 months and lost interest lol. I came back pretty much exactly two years later to replay again and see everything I missed and I’m doing a lot better this time.
I played ACNH for around 3 months and lost interest lol. I came back pretty much exactly two years later to replay again and see everything I missed and I’m doing a lot better this time.
Mr_Keroppi
綠蛙朋友 ੈ✩‧₊˚
I remember both sorta.... I remember my mother handing me a New Leaf box with the cartridge because I told her I wanted it when I was little and I saw it on YouTube! It was really fun and I am still playing it.... Little did I know the fun game I wanted will become a lifelong obsession!!!
I remember my mother coming home from Gamestop on release date to give me my pre order with the poster for ACNH!! I was so excited and played it for an hour! I then I took a break and played the rest of the day lol. I loved playing NH because its truly amazing and wonderful but its not as good as ACNL to me but I love it so much still!!!
I remember my mother coming home from Gamestop on release date to give me my pre order with the poster for ACNH!! I was so excited and played it for an hour! I then I took a break and played the rest of the day lol. I loved playing NH because its truly amazing and wonderful but its not as good as ACNL to me but I love it so much still!!!
I got New Leaf for Christmas and played it and a few other games I got that year. It was nice just chilling in my room, playing games as it snowed hard, and not having any commitments that needed my immediate attention.
When NH came out, it was during the start of the pandemic. I barely got a chance to sit down and enjoy the game when everyone else was on stay at home orders. So they got to bond over that and I understand how that makes it memorable. It was a hectic and upsetting blur for me because of being overworked.
When NH came out, it was during the start of the pandemic. I barely got a chance to sit down and enjoy the game when everyone else was on stay at home orders. So they got to bond over that and I understand how that makes it memorable. It was a hectic and upsetting blur for me because of being overworked.
I was beyond excited for New Leaf, and I ended up going to GameStop a full hour before it opened so I could get my copy as soon as possible (I wanted a physical version). The manager that was opening that day knew me well and actually let me into the store almost 45 minutes early so I could buy the game and I spent way too much of my time afterward playing it (I ended up logging over 135 hours in the first 10 days). It was everything I had hoped for and then some and I have a lot of great memories from this game.
I was quite excited for New Horizons as well, and as soon as my tax return hit my account I went out to buy a Switch and the game. They only had Switch Lites at the time though so I ended up with one of those. I felt the same kind of excitement I had felt for New Leaf when I started up New Horizons for the first time. However, it didn't hold me nearly as strongly as New Leaf did, and my 10 day total was only a still respectable 36 hours. Unfortunately I found myself growing bored of the game in less than 2 months, and while some updates were able to bring me back for a short time I ultimately ended up shelving the game shortly after the 2.0 update and 260 hours played. But with New Horizons they have a great foundation for the next title, so I am hopeful for what Animal Crossing might provide in the future.
I was quite excited for New Horizons as well, and as soon as my tax return hit my account I went out to buy a Switch and the game. They only had Switch Lites at the time though so I ended up with one of those. I felt the same kind of excitement I had felt for New Leaf when I started up New Horizons for the first time. However, it didn't hold me nearly as strongly as New Leaf did, and my 10 day total was only a still respectable 36 hours. Unfortunately I found myself growing bored of the game in less than 2 months, and while some updates were able to bring me back for a short time I ultimately ended up shelving the game shortly after the 2.0 update and 260 hours played. But with New Horizons they have a great foundation for the next title, so I am hopeful for what Animal Crossing might provide in the future.
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I was very excited for New Leaf on my 13th birthday since I had rented the game before and loved it. Starting with a fresh town allowed me to take the mistakes I made on the rental copy and not repeat them. I’m very proud of my house and town to this day.
New Horizons is one of those games I loved at first, but slowly turned sour over time. At launch I was filled with anticipation. New Leaf is one of my favorite games and I wanted to see how they adapted it to HD. Customizing my town, saving up bells, and upgrading my house was a blast for the first 150 hours. Once I had more bells than I’ll ever need and maxed out my town’s rating I lost interest. There just wasn’t as much replay value as the 3DS game. Now I only return when I’m playing with someone else.
New Horizons is one of those games I loved at first, but slowly turned sour over time. At launch I was filled with anticipation. New Leaf is one of my favorite games and I wanted to see how they adapted it to HD. Customizing my town, saving up bells, and upgrading my house was a blast for the first 150 hours. Once I had more bells than I’ll ever need and maxed out my town’s rating I lost interest. There just wasn’t as much replay value as the 3DS game. Now I only return when I’m playing with someone else.
Millysaurusrexjr
you gotta have heart
In my senior year of high school I remember hearing about the hype of the upcoming AC:NL game.. When my then-boyfriend (now husband) came to visit me the first time, we went to the mall and pre-ordered AC:NL for him (despite the fact that neither of us had played an animal crossing game before).
Fast forward a year (maybe a tiny bit over a year), I've moved across the country and for Christmas I decided I'd give AC:NL a go. I didn't know anything about the game other than that there were animals in it, and I really wanted to play as the pink alpaca. I started playing over the Christmas break and it was awesome, I didn't know about time travel so I really looked forward to waking up each morning and seeing what new thing happened in my town. I didn't know how many villagers there were, what species, how many would show up, etc. so I wasn't even mad when Cesar and Violet moved in. My town fruit was pears, too. Winter isn't the most fun time in Animal Crossing but I didn't know that, and I had so much fun! Everything was such a pleasant surprise, from upgrading the shops to listening to all the different KK songs to walking in to the Roost for the first time.
New Leaf was awesome, so nostalgic for me, and I'm so glad to have played it during its prime! One of my favorite things was carrying my 3DS around my IRL town with me, and seeing all the other people I passed, seeing their NL homes. I tried to get the highest possible HH score for my house, I think I made it to 3 million on the Trendy theme.
NH I was also excited for but I knew more what to expect; I was most intrigued by the hyacinth flowers and the multiple layers. I really enjoy NH but it's not quite as magical as New Leaf was at the beginning for me. But I suppose that's because I was only just discovering Animal Crossing in general.
Never did pick up that pre-order of ACNL for my husband though, lolol
Fast forward a year (maybe a tiny bit over a year), I've moved across the country and for Christmas I decided I'd give AC:NL a go. I didn't know anything about the game other than that there were animals in it, and I really wanted to play as the pink alpaca. I started playing over the Christmas break and it was awesome, I didn't know about time travel so I really looked forward to waking up each morning and seeing what new thing happened in my town. I didn't know how many villagers there were, what species, how many would show up, etc. so I wasn't even mad when Cesar and Violet moved in. My town fruit was pears, too. Winter isn't the most fun time in Animal Crossing but I didn't know that, and I had so much fun! Everything was such a pleasant surprise, from upgrading the shops to listening to all the different KK songs to walking in to the Roost for the first time.
New Leaf was awesome, so nostalgic for me, and I'm so glad to have played it during its prime! One of my favorite things was carrying my 3DS around my IRL town with me, and seeing all the other people I passed, seeing their NL homes. I tried to get the highest possible HH score for my house, I think I made it to 3 million on the Trendy theme.
NH I was also excited for but I knew more what to expect; I was most intrigued by the hyacinth flowers and the multiple layers. I really enjoy NH but it's not quite as magical as New Leaf was at the beginning for me. But I suppose that's because I was only just discovering Animal Crossing in general.
Never did pick up that pre-order of ACNL for my husband though, lolol
Chrysopal
under-rated □
Before New Leaf was released in NA on June 9th 2013, I did as much research as I could from sneak peaks in Japan which released the game on November 8th 2012. I specifically joined a Nintendo forum to talk about the game. Obviously that was before finding TBT!
I even made this YouTube video on the 'facts' I could find during that time.
A lot of this info was obviously incorrect and I forget/have no idea where I got my facts from..
Life got busy for me so I never did buy New Leaf until 2016, which is also when I joined TBT.
As for New Horizons, I was not entirely sold on the whole new system and game. It took me 2 years after the game's release to buy the system and the game.
Even after purchasing I found myself barely getting into the designing, fishing, regular AC things as I had so much in the past. Lately I've been on the forums more often and playing NH and loving almost every second of it.
These games are nostalgic for me and I will always buy new Animal Crossing games- even if the system sky-rockets in price. I think. Depends.. After a year or two when it's less expensive...
I even made this YouTube video on the 'facts' I could find during that time.
A lot of this info was obviously incorrect and I forget/have no idea where I got my facts from..
Life got busy for me so I never did buy New Leaf until 2016, which is also when I joined TBT.
As for New Horizons, I was not entirely sold on the whole new system and game. It took me 2 years after the game's release to buy the system and the game.
Even after purchasing I found myself barely getting into the designing, fishing, regular AC things as I had so much in the past. Lately I've been on the forums more often and playing NH and loving almost every second of it.
These games are nostalgic for me and I will always buy new Animal Crossing games- even if the system sky-rockets in price. I think. Depends.. After a year or two when it's less expensive...
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I bought a Switch specifically so I could play ACNH, but by the time ACNH was released I was really into playing Pokémon Sword on Switch already, so I didn’t actually play it much at first!
When I did actually start committing real time to ACNH, I was completely invested and couldn’t believe that I had put it off! The slow start in ACNH (trying to find enough gold/iron/wood/whatever) didn’t help!
NH was my first ”real” AC game, so I didn’t know what to expect going in, but after getting through the first couple of days of collecting resources, I was in love with it. 
When I did actually start committing real time to ACNH, I was completely invested and couldn’t believe that I had put it off! The slow start in ACNH (trying to find enough gold/iron/wood/whatever) didn’t help!
NH was my first ”real” AC game, so I didn’t know what to expect going in, but after getting through the first couple of days of collecting resources, I was in love with it. 
New Leaf was my first animal crossing game.
I didnt have high expectations for it, but a youtuber I watched played it, and I got my 3ds in a deal where I had to chose 3 games. So I picked it up on a whim.
I played it on the train home, and then non stop for about 3 months.
After paying off the house and putting down soke pwp I found the game had little to offer any more, so I reset my town a lot.
Think I put around 300 to 400 hours into the game over all.
But it left enough of an impact for me to be excited enough for new horizons to preorder the animal crossing switch as a second switch (now primary switch).
When new horizons came out I played for around 12 hours that day, and non stop for about 4 months.
I've taken breaks here and there and I've reset once (not because I was bored, I just wanted a different airport colour), but I've been playing it for over 2 years now and I don't see it stopping.
They just did everything right this time around.
I'm at around 2000 hours played.
Amazing game.
I didnt have high expectations for it, but a youtuber I watched played it, and I got my 3ds in a deal where I had to chose 3 games. So I picked it up on a whim.
I played it on the train home, and then non stop for about 3 months.
After paying off the house and putting down soke pwp I found the game had little to offer any more, so I reset my town a lot.
Think I put around 300 to 400 hours into the game over all.
But it left enough of an impact for me to be excited enough for new horizons to preorder the animal crossing switch as a second switch (now primary switch).
When new horizons came out I played for around 12 hours that day, and non stop for about 4 months.
I've taken breaks here and there and I've reset once (not because I was bored, I just wanted a different airport colour), but I've been playing it for over 2 years now and I don't see it stopping.
They just did everything right this time around.
I'm at around 2000 hours played.
Amazing game.
Bluebellie
Senior Member
I feel like both experiences were very anticipated from me. I got my leaf game when the game had already been out for a while. My original game was wild world. When new leaf came out I didn’t have a 3DS. At the time I had just started working and I didn’t get it until I felt ok to buy a 3DS to just play animal crossing. I loved it right from the start. It was like a whole new experience for me even though it wasn’t my first game. I LOVED it. Once I knew a new horizons was coming out I also decided to purchase the switch to just play animal crossing. I knew it was an expensive purchase, but I had a whole year to save a little bit here and there so that it looked like I wasn’t spending so much all at once. It also came out three days after my birthday, so it was my small birthday present to me. I asked for the day off at work and just stayed home playing.
I remember getting New Leaf when I was going through a pretty rough time. That time was awful, so New Leaf was like a spark of light back then, and for a while it was the only thing that made me happy, like the friend I didn't know I needed.
With New Horizons I had nothing but pure excitement when I got it. I played that game everyday for year, but I did avoid the overall community because of all the annoying craziness surrounding the game back then.
With New Horizons I had nothing but pure excitement when I got it. I played that game everyday for year, but I did avoid the overall community because of all the annoying craziness surrounding the game back then.
New Leaf seemed like it had a lot of stuff I hoped for since I was a kid playing Wild World, stuff you could build outside, more to do in the game in general, minigames, more detailed art style and cool new graphics, etc. I think a lot of people who waited for New Leaf after playing the old games can relate, there was a lot of excitement in watching that trailer for the first time and wondering about the game’s secrets, which carried through to release day. Something as simple as being able to swim seemed so incredible and really made you wonder at the time.
The best way to describe how I felt playing it for the first time was that everything seemed so refined compared to the old games and so much of the game was new and exciting. For months after playing it, I still wondered about the secrets of the game. I didn’t just go online to spoil myself about them; while I might for NH, I’ll admit the town progression in NL had a different appeal, so I wanted to solve it myself. I don’t know how much of that is because I was younger, but in NH, sometimes I just felt more inconvenienced since I wanted to go nuts and decorate. I think both hold their appeal with town progression since you get attached to what you built in NH but in NL it was like reading a story I didn’t want to put down or something.
Of course the PWP system in NL ended up being flawed and disappointing but at the time (and to this day for a lot of people) New Leaf was the ultimate Animal Crossing game. No matter what people say I even enjoy the dialogue in that game to this day, it’s definitely less snarky than GC/WW (I actually think CF is where the dialogue problems started) and the fun abstract/weird stuff is more limited, but it still has branching options and more reactions than NH. Plus the conversations aren’t too short or long.
There is a bit of magic to NL and the experience of buying it I didn’t feel with NH. It was amazing playing it for the first time and I did take my time and enjoy the slow pace, but I still can’t help but notice how much more limited it felt at the start. Not even in the sense of what you could do but knowing how much was locked away. NL had stuff locked away, but they felt more like secrets and felt more organic, they weren’t advertised like terraforming. Again, maybe it’s because I was younger when I first played NL, but it felt like I could do anything in that game when it came out. NH tided me over and I was really immersed in the atmosphere and details, still am, but when I got that game there was definitely a sense of waiting to get my hands on the new tools even after that.
I did replay NL briefly last year, new cart and new save and that wait was more brief on NL for the most part and I felt the same way about the secrets of the game. And these days NH definitely isn’t the ultimate entry in all respects (I do actually think it’s the best but there’s a lot I miss about the old games this time, you’ve heard that a million times, but even when the game came out I felt that and had to accept it as its own thing). While NH still inspired me and made me wonder about its possibilities, it just wasn’t in the same way as New Leaf.
Being able to place stuff outside was incredible though, auto-stacking fruits, pocket space, moving fish out your inventory without having to just release them. It was great seeing the series take those steps, adding Nook Miles, it was all just real nice.
If anything I appreciate New Horizons way more than I did at launch because 2.0 improved it that massively…
The best way to describe how I felt playing it for the first time was that everything seemed so refined compared to the old games and so much of the game was new and exciting. For months after playing it, I still wondered about the secrets of the game. I didn’t just go online to spoil myself about them; while I might for NH, I’ll admit the town progression in NL had a different appeal, so I wanted to solve it myself. I don’t know how much of that is because I was younger, but in NH, sometimes I just felt more inconvenienced since I wanted to go nuts and decorate. I think both hold their appeal with town progression since you get attached to what you built in NH but in NL it was like reading a story I didn’t want to put down or something.
Of course the PWP system in NL ended up being flawed and disappointing but at the time (and to this day for a lot of people) New Leaf was the ultimate Animal Crossing game. No matter what people say I even enjoy the dialogue in that game to this day, it’s definitely less snarky than GC/WW (I actually think CF is where the dialogue problems started) and the fun abstract/weird stuff is more limited, but it still has branching options and more reactions than NH. Plus the conversations aren’t too short or long.
There is a bit of magic to NL and the experience of buying it I didn’t feel with NH. It was amazing playing it for the first time and I did take my time and enjoy the slow pace, but I still can’t help but notice how much more limited it felt at the start. Not even in the sense of what you could do but knowing how much was locked away. NL had stuff locked away, but they felt more like secrets and felt more organic, they weren’t advertised like terraforming. Again, maybe it’s because I was younger when I first played NL, but it felt like I could do anything in that game when it came out. NH tided me over and I was really immersed in the atmosphere and details, still am, but when I got that game there was definitely a sense of waiting to get my hands on the new tools even after that.
I did replay NL briefly last year, new cart and new save and that wait was more brief on NL for the most part and I felt the same way about the secrets of the game. And these days NH definitely isn’t the ultimate entry in all respects (I do actually think it’s the best but there’s a lot I miss about the old games this time, you’ve heard that a million times, but even when the game came out I felt that and had to accept it as its own thing). While NH still inspired me and made me wonder about its possibilities, it just wasn’t in the same way as New Leaf.
Being able to place stuff outside was incredible though, auto-stacking fruits, pocket space, moving fish out your inventory without having to just release them. It was great seeing the series take those steps, adding Nook Miles, it was all just real nice.
If anything I appreciate New Horizons way more than I did at launch because 2.0 improved it that massively…
i remember i was really excited about ACNL because my 3ds and the game was the first thing i'd ever bought for myself with my own money lol (i think when it came out i was in uni and doing my undergrad thesis, so it was a welcome distraction). it was also a pretty big thing for me too cause my mom refused to buy me any consoles as a kid lol.
acnh i got as a working adult and i went into it with a little apprehension because i had so thoroughly enjoyed ACNL that i wasn't sure if ACNH could live up to it. there are some things i wish they'd brought back into the game, and overall i think i prefer ACNL - it could just be the nostalgia though!
acnh i got as a working adult and i went into it with a little apprehension because i had so thoroughly enjoyed ACNL that i wasn't sure if ACNH could live up to it. there are some things i wish they'd brought back into the game, and overall i think i prefer ACNL - it could just be the nostalgia though!
Aria Nook Violet
Senior Member
For me NL was so hard to get and it felt like a real life quest. I didn't have any games to play at the time and there had been a few months since the release of NL and at the time in my country the copies were sold out not because it was a huge success but because no one cared for New Leaf and the few copies that were sold were gone pretty fast. They didn't care to restock because there was no demand for it. I decided to use an emulator and try WW to see if I would like this type of game and I did. I decided to stick to WW until I could get my hands in NL.
It was very late during summer time that I went on vacation to Spain with my family and had the good idea to go to a store there and check in they had New leaf in stock. I was happy to find they did and bought a spanish copy. It was one of my the best purchases of a game as I played it for 2 years straight.
For NW the experience wasn't as "epic" I really wanted to play a new animal crossing and see my favorite villagers in more improved graphics plus the trailers got me excited about this new game. I also liked Tom Nook was getting a more important role this time around as I always prefer him over Isabella. The game released a month before my birthday and games don't usually get released around March to April so I was excited about that. I pre ordered the game and got it delivered to my house on the day of release. I was excited when I started to play it but that was short lived as the reason I liked these games were the villagers interactions and they felt very boring this time around. A few months after playing I dropped it and I still come back to this game from time to time but to only drop it off again. It's not a bad game but NL kept me hooked in playing it for 2 straight years and this one didn't so it felt like a downgrade for me.
This bad impression I had of NW made me not want to pre order animal crossing games ever again and if the game is going to keep on NW tracks I won't buy the rest as I feel with this new experience I am not playing an animal crossing life simulator game but a designer simulator instead. I'm sorry if this ended in a bit of a depressing note but that was my personal experience and if you had a better experience with NW amazing as I wished I did to but sadly is not my type of game like the previous ones were.
It was very late during summer time that I went on vacation to Spain with my family and had the good idea to go to a store there and check in they had New leaf in stock. I was happy to find they did and bought a spanish copy. It was one of my the best purchases of a game as I played it for 2 years straight.
For NW the experience wasn't as "epic" I really wanted to play a new animal crossing and see my favorite villagers in more improved graphics plus the trailers got me excited about this new game. I also liked Tom Nook was getting a more important role this time around as I always prefer him over Isabella. The game released a month before my birthday and games don't usually get released around March to April so I was excited about that. I pre ordered the game and got it delivered to my house on the day of release. I was excited when I started to play it but that was short lived as the reason I liked these games were the villagers interactions and they felt very boring this time around. A few months after playing I dropped it and I still come back to this game from time to time but to only drop it off again. It's not a bad game but NL kept me hooked in playing it for 2 straight years and this one didn't so it felt like a downgrade for me.
This bad impression I had of NW made me not want to pre order animal crossing games ever again and if the game is going to keep on NW tracks I won't buy the rest as I feel with this new experience I am not playing an animal crossing life simulator game but a designer simulator instead. I'm sorry if this ended in a bit of a depressing note but that was my personal experience and if you had a better experience with NW amazing as I wished I did to but sadly is not my type of game like the previous ones were.
with new leaf it was a magical experience because i had just discovered a video game. i found out about it on the eshop from reggie’s house tour video, a week later i begged my mom to give me $20 (retail price at the time was $30 and i already had $10). playing new leaf for the first time was impactful for me because i had never played a life simulator before, and based on what i saw off of trailers it seemed like you could customize almost anything in the game and that’s everything i wanted at the time.
with new horizons, i was significantly older. i preordered the game myself, with my own money. i was originally going to go to gamestop in person to pick it up but that became unavailable because corona virus just started so it would be mailed to my house. luckily i received my copy on release date, it came when i was doing online school so around lunch time i started to play for a little while. i was excited but that magical feeling was gone, maybe because i was no longer new to the series and because i knew what i was getting.
with new horizons, i was significantly older. i preordered the game myself, with my own money. i was originally going to go to gamestop in person to pick it up but that became unavailable because corona virus just started so it would be mailed to my house. luckily i received my copy on release date, it came when i was doing online school so around lunch time i started to play for a little while. i was excited but that magical feeling was gone, maybe because i was no longer new to the series and because i knew what i was getting.
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