Animal Crossing: New Leaf

by Nintendo

• Create your own happy place - As the mayor, you get to make the big decisions that shape your town. Add new features, decide which facilities get built, change shop hours and more to let you experience Animal Crossing however you like.
• New discoveries await every day - Time passes in Animal Crossing just like it does in the real world, 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. No two days are the same, with things happening at all hours and events happening throughout the year.
• Freedom to live life at your own speed - Is your passion fishing? Fashion? Fossil digging? Gardening? YOU can decide where you spend your time, whether it?s on your own or interacting with the animal townsfolk.
• Decorate your house inside and out - Choose from furniture new and old, carpets, wallpaper, and enhanced design tools to customize your house inside. Choose from new house layouts and remodel your home's exterior as well. Change the outside wall, the fence, your mailbox, and more to change the look of your house completely. Living in a castle is not just a dream in Animal Crossing.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0053BCML6
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: June 9, 2013
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #1 in Video Games > Nintendo 3DS > Games > Action

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Spend your time fishing
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Hunt your town for rare fossils
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Decorate your house inside and out
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Welcome to Animal Crossing where, as mayor of your own town, you make the decisions that shape your town and your life. Experience a living, breathing world where new friends and new discoveries await every day, morning, noon, and night. Express yourself by customizing your character, your house, and your town as you create your own ideal world.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is loaded with characters, items, and activities to enjoy all year long. Customize outfits in countless ways. Furnish your house with an extensive variety of furniture, carpet, and wall decorations to reflect your personality. Visit the Main Street Shopping area and Happy Home showcase. Swim in the ocean to find rare shell fish. Collect insects and fossils all year long. As mayor, make the big decisions about what build, business hours for shops, and other new ways to customize your town to your liking. Then connect with friends to show off what makes your character, your house, and your town unique.

Key Features

• Create your own happy place – As the mayor, you get to make the big decisions that shape your town. Add new features, decide which facilities get built, change shop hours, and more to let you experience Animal Crossing however you like.
• New discoveries await every day – Time passes in Animal Crossing just like it does in the real world, 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. No two days are the same, with things happening at all hours and events happening throughout the year.
• Decorate your house inside and out – Choose from furniture new and old, carpets, wallpaper, and enhanced design tools to customize your house inside. Choose from new house layouts and remodel your home’s exterior as well. Change the outside wall, the fence, your mailbox, and more to change the look of your house completely. Living in a castle is not just a dream in Animal Crossing.
• Freedom to live life at your own speed – Is your passion fishing? Fashion? Fossil digging? Gardening? YOU can decide where you spend your time, whether it’s on your own or interacting with the animal townsfolk.
• A tropical island full of fun – Take a break from it all on the tropical island where alone or with friends you can join tours filled with fun activities. You can play alone, or connect with up to three other players to play them together locally or over the Internet.
• Connect with others any time, anywhere – Up to four players can connect locally or via Internet. Visit each other’s town, or travel to the Tropical Island to swim together.
• Share your creativity by showing off your home – Exchange custom home data when you tag with other players via StreetPass. See houses of players you’ve passed in the Happy Home Showcase. Get inspiration for your own creativity or place orders for furniture you want for your own house.

As Mayor, you make all the big decisions
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Explore your town anytime, day or night
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Days, Months, and Seasons change
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Product Description

Welcome to Animal Crossing, where as mayor of your own town you make the decisions that shape your town and your life. Experience a living, breathing world where new friends and new discoveries await every day, morning, noon and night. Express yourself by customizing your character, your house and your town as you create your own ideal world.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 86 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars New Leaf, Old Tree June 9, 2013

By Elias L. Blondeau

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Let it be known that between RPG grind-fests, oddball art games and the latest AAA titles, I enjoy an unhealthy amount of "Animal Crossing." The last portable incarnation, "Wild World", easily received hundreds of hours of my attention, and despite its myriad of problems, it remains one of the most memorable gaming experiences I've ever had. But in 2013, many of the clunky interface issues and limited span of things to do simply will not fly in a modern game. That's why I'm greatly overjoyed that Nintendo has definitely improved the AC mechanics in as many ways possible without changing the core experience here. Make no mistake, "Animal Crossing: New Leaf" is more of the same, but delivered in the best possible way.

There's not much by way of "story" here, as expected. Your custom character arrives at your custom town (the layout of which you can select at the beginning of the game) to discover that he/she is now the mayor of the town. After a brief rundown of basic game mechanics with your perky (read: adorable) secretary Isabelle, you're set loose in a town filled with talking, anthropomorphic animals. Over the course of real-world years, you're expected to expand local businesses, improve local agriculture, and turn your home into a sprawling mansion filled with rare items.

If you've played an AC game, you know the drill. The conniving Tom Nook screws you over (he does it worse than ever here, but I won't spoil) at the beginning of the game, you pay off your debt to him, your house gets upgraded, rinse, repeat. All the while, you make friends, fish, water plants, hunt bugs and dig up fossils that can sold or donated to the museum. This time around, though, there's a flea market where you can set prices for items, and buy stuff from other townsfolk.... The addition of the store adds an interesting element to the game, as you find yourself going back and forth between stores, seeing where you'll get the better deals. It's a nifty little mechanic that adds a new level of depth to the game.

While this does seem like an old hat of a game on paper, it's all about the execution, which is where "New Leaf" truly excels. The controls are tighter than they've ever been, thanks to a completely retooled interface. Gone are the days of having to go into menus to dig out equipment; switching between nets, shovels, watering cans, etc, is now allocated to the D-Pad, making it much more convenient to do what you want, when you want to do it. Also welcome are little graphical changes, such as shimmering flowers to indicate you've watered them for the day, and birds that perch atop bulletin boards to indicate a new message. Little things like this help make the game more streamlined.

Another great thing about the game are the enhanced internet capabilities. Visiting your friends' towns is back, of course, but the biggest draw here is the ability to mingle with players from around the world on a tropical island. You can see what their towns look like, among other things, which is a first for the franchise. Then there's the "Dream Suite", which lets you upload a "dream" of your town to the internet for other players to explore, and the Happy Home Showcase, which lets you see the homes of other players you've met via StreetPass. This is the most online entry in the franchise yet, and it's nice to see in Nintendo embracing internet play finally; it definitely bodes well for the upcoming "Smash Bros", after "Brawl" had such an abysmal online mode.

This is also the best-looking AC yet, with beautiful textures that easily trump "City Folk". Water glistens and fluidly moves, characters have elaborate and varied animations, and every detail of the landscape is rendered with beautiful clarity. 3D helps to add an extra level of depth to the game, but other than that, it's actually one of the most unremarkable usages of the feature I've seen in a first-party 3DS title. On the audio front, we have an incredibly safe soundtrack. It's pretty and relaxing, and one of the best in the series, but it's definitely very similar to other entries, and it doesn't rock the boat in too many ways. In my opinion, it didn't need to, but a little more variety would have been nice.

Nintendo has easily made the best "Animal Crossing" game yet here. There's more to do in this than in any previous entry, the controls are pitch-perfect, and the entire experience is absolutely beautiful, especially considering that it's a handheld title. That being said, not much has changed in the core gameplay and sound department, and while that won't bother the fanbase (myself included), it makes me start to wonder how long the venerable developer can keep doing the same thing repeatedly until it starts to get old. Until then, though, "New Leaf" is a really fun little game, and one that I expect to hold me over for not months, but years to come.

Plot: 8
Gameplay: 8.75
Graphics: 9.5
Sound: 8.75
Overall: 8.75

Update (6/11/13): Because of the nature of this game, I'll throw up a new update every now and again if something of note pops up. Today, my game introduced the feature of public works projects and ordinances. The former allows you take requests to alter your town, then gather donations in order to complete them, and the latter lets you change the times of local stores to suit your playing time better. Also more fleshed-out is the island, at which you can eventually unlock a wetsuit that allows you to swim around (a series first.) I stand by my original score, but this is a most impressive development, and without a doubt makes it the best and most varied "Animal Crossing" yet. Read more ›

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing! June 9, 2013

By Donnerbee

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

This game is an excellent addition to the animal crossing series! There are lots of brand new items, including pants, and skirts. I'm really glad that I can wear pants or shorts, as I couldn't in the past games when I was playing as a girl. I really love that the animals are to scale with the human player, and that you can take screenshots and upload them to the internet from you 3ds. I'm very excited to begin building my town renovation projects, especially the café and dream suite.

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How can you not buy it?! June 9, 2013

By lollipop

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

This game is pretty freaking awesome. If you're a previous fan, then you will definitely love it. New fans might like it but that depends on if you can get over it being a little slow paced. Also, I did purchase the digital download of this game via Nintendo so I did not have to worry about waiting forever for shipping and such. If you prefer digital copies, then I would suggest doing so.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolute Must-Have For Any Animal Crossing Fan June 9, 2013

By mandaleah

Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

I was a huge Animal Crossing fan on the GameCube back in high school. So much so that I would wake up two to three hours early some days so I could play some before I had to catch the bus. I don't know what it was exactly that sold me so hard, but when I think of my most fond gaming memories from back then, Animal Crossing is top of the list. My siblings and I used to FIGHT over who's turn it was to play.

There have been several times were I went back, picked up my old copy, and tried to play again. Only to end up doing the turnip cheat, or time shifting like crazy and just pretty much picking weeds for the majority of my play time. I often found myself saying "what was it I loved so much after all?" and it was never quite the same. I tried Wild World, and never really could get into it, never tried the original DS version.

I was so excited for New Leaf this time LAST June that I pre-ordered it right away. I got absurdly lucky and got my copy 4 days early this year.. And I wanted to write a review on it 5 hours into playing, I loved it that much. In case there was someone out there going "oh, I loved the original but is it worth it?" YES. YES and YES.

I love this game. I cannot find one thing I do not like. It is absolutely charming. The graphics are adorable. They play true to the Animal Crossing feeling, and in my opinion look far better than Wild World did on my flat screen on the screen of my Pikachu 3DS XL. The level of customization is FAR superior than that to original Animal Crossing. I especially like being able to change the color of furniture. I love the wigs, the endless outfit options, changing your hair.. I feel like Nintendo really paid attention to all the little things that were wrong with the older games and fixed it....

This game is wonderful. I would buy every Animal Crossing fan out there a copy if I could afford it. I have so many happy memories and smiles playing this game it's actually kind of silly. I love the cheesey little lines when you catch a bug or a fish. The diving system is neat. There's even a great way to make a lot of bells without having to time shift like crazy and spend hours picking weeds.

Pros: Incredibly customizable, adorable, plesant background music, a nice change of pace getting to be The Mayor for once!, you get to pick your town layout, all the shops are together on Main Street (aside from Re-Tail, which is also fantastic Flea Market feature), AND SO MUCH MORE.
Cons: Pockets too small. But they always are. I want bottomless pockets, who doesn't? :P Read more ›

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the wait June 9, 2013

By Haeliegh

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

This game literally blew me away. I've been watching videos, reading reviews and attaining as much info as i could over the past 7 months about animal crossing: new leaf. Let me tell you that those words did not excite me until the minute i played. Its amazing, so many new customizations at the palm of your hand. By the end of the first twenty minutes i had rallied up 23,000 bells and was able to pay off the home loan. And plus you dont have to do that boring old job for nook which was a big improvement in my mind. The town is so well put together and it excited me that there is a store for every thing. I've spent alot of time waiting for this day to come and i cant wait for many more days to come.