Animal Crossing New Horizons allows players to play together on one, single island for shared play. This guide will help multiple players come together and play Animal Crossing New Horizons. Animal Crossing has always been a highly addictive franchise. When outsiders look in, the appeal of the franchise doesn't exactly shine through based on its first impressions. What could possibly be so fun about catching bugs and fishing? It is not until someone picks up the game and tries it out for themselves to see where it all clicks. This newest entry kicks that addictive level to 100 and hours will fly by before the player's eyes. Animal Crossing New Horizons introduces plenty of quality-of-life additions to the series that overall improves the entire franchise immensely, including allowing the player to customize the entire tropical island they arrive at for their adventure. In previous titles, players were limited in how they were able to customize their towns. In this game, the player can leave furniture, flowers, and more wherever they desire. It adds an entirely new level of player experience, making each player's individual island experience their own. This game also allows players to share one island on the Nintendo Switch, working together to build their perfect paradise. This guide will help players set up a shared island in Animal Crossing New Horizons.
Nintendo has a strange habit in introducing limitations to their consoles without any real explanation. For the majority of the Nintendo Switch titles, players are allowed to create their own individual profiles. When they start up a name game, for example, Luigi's Mansion 3, each profile will have their own individual save of Luigi's Mansion 3. In the case with Animal Crossing New Horizons, Nintendo decided to limit islands not only to one profile but to one entire Nintendo Switch console. Meaning this island must be shared between s of the Nintendo Switch. This is unfortunate for families who share one console and it is not exactly clear why this is like this, but Nintendo has a long history of making confusing plays regarding their software and hardware. Also, the game cannot currently be saved in the cloud or have the save transferred to another Nintendo Switch. Another one of those things players struggle to wrap their heads around. Considering there is only one island per Switch, Nintendo has allowed for up to 4 players to play on one island. Here, they will work together in sharing resources, building a town, and customizing their perfect island getaway. This guide will help players connect with each other on one Nintendo Switch for a shared island.
How To Share an Island in Animal Crossing New Horizons
For starters, at least one will already have to have created their island. This means creating their characters, customizing them, and naming their new island home. Once this is created, the player will be given the Nook Phone from Tom Nook. Here, the player can keep track of several things regarding the island, and also set up a local gameplay session. On the phone, there will be an app called "Call Resident". The icon of the app shows a small yellow flag. If the "Call Resident" application is not appearing on the Nook Phone, close the game, and begin it with a different profile. The game will begin similarly to before. The player will begin at the airport being introduced by Timmy and Tommy regarding a tropical getaway. Only this time, the island has already been created by the other player. The second profile will land and be given a Nook Phone from Tom Nook. Now, the app should be present on the phone, allowing for the first profile to the session.
While playing together, leadership can be transferred over between players by shaking the controller and pressing the button prompted on the screen. The leader is the one the camera will follow. While both players can have their own homes and inventory, it can be limiting for what players can do together. Although, these limitations can lead to innovation regarding playing together. This is perfect for families who share a switch and can teach cooperation to younger players, or potentially cause them to despise each other. Both players will begin the game with a tent and must select the location where they would like to build it. From here, the game will grow with new story missions to complete and players can work together to accomplish them. Also at any point, a player can drop out of the session, shifting leadership to one player only, allowing them to continue what they were doing on their own. It isn't the most ideal situation for multiplayer for a game like this, but it is appreciated that any of it exists, to begin with.
It is unknown why Nintendo decided to go with this route regarding their local multiplayer since it seems they fully understand a better or alternative way of making it work with its local and online multiplayer. There, players can open their gates and have friends come by to visit and explore their island. This allows for multiple islands to be on one console and prevent players who want to preserve their lands to maintain it and keep it safe. It should have been an option to allow multiple islands per Switch and allowing players locally to share visiting each other. The online and local wireless multiplayer allows for 8 players to visit an island at once. Players then can relax, fish, and hunt bugs with their friends. It is also a perfect game for unwinding and just experiencing what the game has to offer. Animal Crossing New Horizons is not only a well-polished title but possibly one of the most important games to release this year. In a year of fast-paced action, and new games releasing so often, Animal Crossing New Horizons reminds us to take a seat, relax, and observe what its world has to offer. This is definitely the most zen title of 2020.
Animal Crossing New Horizons is available now on the Nintendo Switch.