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Where were you during the pandemic? Hopefully, you were at home socially distancing while you locked in to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the latest title from 2020 in the adorable series.
Catching exotic fish and bugs, appraising art and plucking weeds to make your island your own, that era of gameplay was cozy, nostalgic, despite all that was going on in the world, offering a brief respite from the doom and gloom. Cut to Jan. 2026, and we’ve got a brand new 3.0 update that transforms your gaming experience, bringing something new to the New Horizon’s format to draw new players in while pleasing the die-hard Animal Crossing fans.
This marks a significant update for the game since the release of version 2.0 over four years prior in Nov. 2021. That 2021 update was beefy, including cooking, farming (vegetables), returning NPCs like Brewster (The Roost Cafe) and Kapp’n, Gyroids, and significant quality-of-life improvements like storage expansion, new fencing and Pro Camera app features. The 3.0 update is available on the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch 2 Edition retailing for $64.98 at Walmart, already populated with the updates.
The update can also be loaded up on your OG copy for the Switch if you’d rather. While the OG Switch version is great, the Switch 2 version is graphically more advanced. The Switch 2 also boasts a larger screen than its predecessor, making the game’s picture larger. You’ve also got stable magnetic Joy-Cons for better grip, a built-in mic for voice chat with friends in-game, more internal storage and 4K/60fps output when docked.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons for Nintendo Switch 2
Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the Nintendo Switch 2 that includes the brand new 3.0 update.
The update opens up a new world of possibilities with the addition of the island’s hotel to a newly extended pier, operated by the beloved boat captain Kappa Kapp’n along with his family, Leilani, Leila and Grams. The player is tasked with decorating each hotel room to coordinate with a specific theme, a concept reminiscent of Happy Room Academy.
Villagers will come and stay in the designed rooms, visiting from other islands. These guests can also be seen roaming around your island from time to time. As the player completes each room, they will be given Hotel Tickets, which can be redeemed for special items at the souvenir shop run by Grams. You can also get Hotel Tickets by fulfilling requests for DIY goods that Kapp’n can deliver to other far-off islands.
Beyond the cozy design-heavy hotel, the 3.0 update also includes a new dream world called Slumber Island that might be familiar to older AC players. After falling asleep in game, each player can dream up to three Slumber Islands, choosing from a selection of random layouts and one of three different sizes. The player can terraform their dream island and decorate it using items from their catalog. The player can also invite their villagers to their Slumber Island or invite friends via multiplayer for endless fun in their dreamworld.
In New Leaf, an Animal Crossing game exclusive for the Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL (and 2DS), the player was able to enter what was called a Dream Suite, where players (as the Mayor) could visit other towns in a non-permanent, dream-like state by providing Luna a “Dream Address,” allowing them to borrowing tools and leave a copy of their town for others to visit. This feature was unfortunately discontinued, cut short with the shutdown of Nintendo Network services. Slumber Island is, as we assume, a way to return to the old Dream Suite idea in a more polished manner.
Nintendo Switch 2
A Nintendo Switch 2 system that you can play Animal Crossing on. The Switch 2 features updated graphics, magnetic Joy-Cons and more.
Another super-exciting feature for fans who’ve been playing a long time, back into the Game Cube days, will be thrilled to see playable consoles brought back into the game. By working at the hotel and increasing the establishment’s notoriety, Grams will start stocking rare furniture items, including classic Nintendo consoles and retro toys. If the player has an active subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, they will be able to play select games from six classic Nintendo consoles by interacting with furniture items they acquire, similar to how they utilize the NES games in the OG 2002 Animal Crossing.
This is certainly a nostalgic update that offers old fans of the game franchise a taste at some of the older features revamped, while introducing new concepts to new fans who might have only just picked up Animal Crossing in 2020. It makes the game exciting and fresh again, breathing new life into the beloved title once more.
As for the music in the game, well, it’s pretty iconic. The mastermind behind the world-building tracks is Kazumi Totaka, who has composed for the series since 2001. He also appears in the game through his alter ego, the icon that is K.K. Slider.
Totaka spoke to Billboard back in 2020 when the game first launched, debriefing on the game’s music, “What we wanted for the music was for there to be no sound that was unnecessary, to create music that allowed the listener’s own emotions and imagination to fill in the space between the sounds. It was a challenge that was very much worth pursuing.”