Thoughts on the Animal Crossing 3.0 and the Switch 2 Updates

The last time we got a major update to Animal Crossing New Horizons was the 2.0 release in November 2021. At the time, they said it would be the last update for Animal Crossing, but just last week they release version 3.0. Even better, it was free!

I assume that they’re hard at work on a new Animal Crossing for the Switch 2, so this release was presumably to buy a little time.

One thing that Nintendo has been very confusing about is exactly what you get with the 3.0 update, and what you get with the Nintendo Switch 2 Upgrade Pack.

Animal Crossing 3.0 Update (free)

A new hotel off the docks of where Kapp’n’s boat tours departed from. They expanded the dock to be a brand new waterfront property.

The gameplay is a lot like the Happy Home Paradise DLC, where you’re asked to help with interior design using many old favorite furniture items, and a few new ones.

There are a few key changes:

New Hotel

1) You’re decorating hotel rooms and not entire houses. As someone who loves staying at hotels and resorts, I actually find this more fun and less stressful than the Happy Home DLC.

As with the Happy Home DLC, each room is themed, and you’ll get appropriately themed furniture and wallpaper to choose from.

2) Kapp’n’s whole family is running the hotel.

• If you played New Leaf on the DS or 3DS, you’ll remember Kapp’n’s family on Tortimer Island (and if you played City Folk, you’ll be glad that Kapp’n finally found the love of his life and started a beautiful family with her).
  
• You’ll get a kick out of seeing Leilani (Kapp’n’s wife), Leila (his daughter, who from what I can tell is just slightly older than her toddler days in New Leaf, but still has her delightful speech issues), and Grams (his mother, who now runs the souvenir shop).

3) There are new items. New furniture items like Arts & Crafts furniture, marble furniture, and the return of “Kiddie” furniture (much of which has a distinctly Little Tikes feel about them—I’ll cover that on this site, of course), along with hotel souvenir items all make this a delightful update. And I have a feeling that just as I become obsessed with finding a Tom Nook Aloha shirt and a DAL Airline Shirt, I’ll be looking for IRL version of the hotel tchochkes.

4. There’s a new currency system. Just like the Happy Home DLC introduced “Poki”, you can earn “tickets” to trade in to Grams in exchange for the new stuff.

5. “Tourists” will now roam your island. If you have old friends from previous, you might encounter them walking around with the new hotel in town. If you have their Amiibo or Amiibo card, you can invite them personally!

QOL Improvements

1. More storage space. You’ll be able to upgrade your storage two more times for a maximum of 9,000.

2. Craft using raw materials in your storage space, not your pockets. This was one of the biggest QOL improvements for me.

3. Get Resetti to help you clean up areas of your island. Old time players of Animal Crossing will remember when Resetti would berate you mercilessly if you shut your game down without saving. He always meant well, of course—many of us lost hours of work by not heeding his instructions. But we’re in a modern era with things like auto-save, so Resetti’s days of making young Japanese girls cry are over, and now he’s running a handy clean-up crew. Ironically, his job is now to wipe out certain areas of your island so you can start fresh—exactly the thing he warned us about years ago.

Slumber Islands

4. Slumber Islands. If you have a Nintendo Switch Online Membership, you can enjoy another cool perk; creating entirely new islands. To use them, just go to bed, select It’s Slumber TIme, and you’ll see Luna in your dreams, who’ll tell you how to create a brand new island, either a small one (like the Mystery Islands on Kapp’n’s Tours), a large one (like your home Island) or something in between. You’ll start with a brand new layout and a brand new house where you can use any furniture item you own in the awake world (just press the rightmost button on the left controller to pull up your inventory).

One thing I did in my at my “real” home was to re-create my living room / home office exactly as it is in real life. With Slumber Islands, I can re-create my entire home or even play with interior design ideas.

You also have a full set of tools to catch bugs, go fishing, etc. but as with any dream you won’t be able to keep what you catch, nor will they count towards your Nook Miles+ book.

Playing with friends—really!

Similar to the old “Dream Island” concept on New Leaf, you can invite friends with their own copies of the game to your island or others by sharing a “Doze Code”. But unlike that and even unlike regular “multiplayer” in the original game, you and your friends can all be active together, decorating, doing landscaping, and placing items together on the Dream Island.

On the original Switch version, you can invite 8 of your friends as long as they all have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, a copy of the game updated to 3.0, and their own Switch. If everyone is playing on the Switch 2 Edition, you can host up to 10-12 players because of that system’s increased processor speed.

Collabs

Here’s one of the improvements I’m most excited about. Nintendo is bringing items inspired by real-world collaborations into Animal Crossing.

The first are this series of furniture items and apparel by LEGO. If you have the right Amiibos, you can also unlock items that are Splatoon or Zelda-themed as well.

Handheld Resolution Upgrades

Nintendo was pretty confusing about this, but it turns out with the 3.0 upgrade you DO get an upgrade for the handheld screen if you’re playing on a Switch 2. The original Switch supports 720p in handheld mode, while the 3.0 upgrade bumps the resolution to 1080p if you’re starting on a Switch 2.

For the BIG upgrade (a 4K upgrade on the big screen) you’ll need to buy the Switch 2 Edition upgrade.

Nintendo Switch 2 Upgrade Pack ($4.99)

There is an upgrade pack for the Switch 2 to upgrade the game to New Horizons – Switch 2 Edition. When you consider that the Switch 2 game costs $64.99 and most of us probably paid

I got mine at Amazon, but you can get it from Nintendo as well.

While a lot of people are complaining about the $5 charge, I think it’s perfectly reasonable given what you get.

Resolution Upgrades when Docked

In addition to the 1080p you can enjoy on the Switch 2’s handheld mode, you can get up to 4K when docked. I’ll be honest, because the game has simple, cartoony graphics, the difference won’t be as mind-blowing as, say, watching an HD movie in 4K. That said, the graphics are definitely crisp, clear, and impressive.

Super Fast Loading Times

Loading screens take much, much less time on the Switch 2 Edition, not altogether surprising given the technology is 8 years more advanced.

“Mouse Mode”

On the Switch 2 you can use your Joy Con 2 controller as a mouse; literally get a flat surface and move it around like you would any other mouse. A huge QOL improvement if you’re looking to get just the right designs done.

CameraPlay

You can turn on camera and voice so that as you’re playing together on a Slumber Island you can talk to your friends and family. I’ll be honest, I think this feature actually kind of detracts from the fun, as it’s introducing a little too much of “the real world” into the Animal Crossing world. That said, if there are families or friends separated by long distances and this is the best way to keep connected, it’s certainly a nice feature.

The Megaphone

This was another feature in New Leaf that didn’t carry over to the Switch because the Switch console didn’t have a microphone. The Switch 2 does, so with your megaphone you’ll be able to call over an Island resident.

Installation of the Upgrade

Installation is pretty simple. Just enter the code on Nintendo’s code entry page.

The DLC will download to your Switch 2. As you start up the game you’ll see this message:

I owned the physical copy of the game, but buying and applying the DLC essentially turned my physical copy of Animal Crossing New Horizons into a virtual game card for Animal Crossing New Horizons Switch 2 Edition.

I was welcomed by Timmy and Tommy, just as they welcomed me so many years ago (in glorious 4K, no less).

They gave me the option of starting a new world or “moving” my current world. I ended up deciding NOT to convert my old world to the Switch 2. As strange as it sounds, I actually prefer to play that world as it’s always been, 8 year old graphics and all.

I figured I’d just start a new world from scratch on the Switch 2, and invite my “old friends” from City Folk and New Leaf to come on over. If I ever get my hands on a second copy of Animal Crossing New Horizons, I’ll probably use that on the Switch and use this new copy on the Switch 2 so we can visit each other and use Dodo Airlines to fly between islands.

When I loaded the game back on my original Switch, it gave this dire warning, but I realized that it’s just saying that I won’t be able to use any of the enhanced features.

Once I got the new world on the Switch 2 running, I was kind of glad I made my choice. The new graphics are beautiful, but I definitely prefer the familiar “old school” graphics for my original world. But it’ll be fun building the new world and maybe being a little more adventurous with the terraforming than the last one.

Conclusion

I’ve given up reading the game press because quite frankly, sometimes the negativity is annoying. I glanced at a few headlines of the 3.0 release (which mind you was FREE) and people are finding reasons to complain about it.

For me, I loved it. The hotel was a brilliant addition that kept with the “island paradise” theme. It brought back some fond memories of how Tortimer Island in New Leaf really did feel like I was on vacation (one of the reasons New Leaf is still my favorite in the series). The new furniture and housewares, the new design challenges, the ability to interact with more Animal Crossing characters, the improved graphics and performance, and the QOL improvements reminded me of how much I enjoyed spending my time on my island, and gives me an excuse to spend more.

I suppose they’re working on a brand new Switch 2 version of Animal Crossing, but version 3.0 will keep me happy for a while. If you don’t have it yet, it’s not too late. You can pick up the Switch 2 Edition, or the Switch 1 Edition and the upgrade pack.