Pokopia’s Okay, But Animal Crossing Will Always Have My Heart
When Animal Crossing New Horizons was released during the pandemic, I went hard on it and played with lots of people, but unlike most, my neurodivergence latched onto it like crazy and I racked up 1940 hours of playtime! I still play!
After playing New Horizons for so many hours, I needed a break, so like a lot of people have, I started playing Pokopia when it came out this winter. I found it just “okay” and rolled credits on it pretty quickly. I’ve also found that I sort of hate building in Pokopia (so far), it’s just not really connecting with me (yet), so I needed to play something else.
While putting some things away in my storage room, I spied my 3DS and games sitting in a clear bin on a shelf. Curious, I decided to get it down and found that I own a hard copy of Animal Crossing New Leaf Welcome Amiibo!
Despite being released in 2012 and not being updated past 2016, I didn’t buy New Leaf until 2017, at the recommendation of my spawn and best friend at the time. Neither of them mentioned that they didn’t play anymore, just that I’d like it.
I’d never played an Animal Crossing game before and had no idea what I was supposed to do. Without anyone to play with or to help me, I didn’t really “get” New Leaf at the time, and after only a few months of mostly picking fruit and being stung by wasps every day, I abandoned it.
Sooooo, I started a new town in New Leaf!
For those whose special interest isn’t video games: I’m currently playing a new-to-me Animal Crossing game in 2026, that came out in 2012 and hasn’t been updated in a decade…and it’s been awesome!
Now that I have 6 years and 1940 hours of New Horizons under my belt, New Leaf feels pretty easy! Plus, there’s almost 15 years worth of resources on the internet on how to play! Score!
So far I’ve found that the villagers in New Leaf are a bit more blunt/mean (?) than their New Horizons counterparts, but I’m falling in love with it as hard as I did with New Horizons!
Online play was discontinued for New Leaf in 2024, so I missed the boat on that, but I think local play still works, so theoretically I could play with either of my kids if they were physically with me.
According to my limited research, QR codes for custom designs should still work, but I won’t know for sure until I unlock the QR code kiosk at Ables Sisters sometime next week. I hope they still work! I’m tired of villagers dropping houses on my hybrid gardens and I suck at making my own! (Although it’s a lot easier with the 3DS’s stylus that the Switch, for sure!)
So what about Pocket Camp Complete?
Oh no worries there! I started playing Pocket Camp this week too! (That’s the mobile Animal Crossing game, for those whose special interest is, again, not video games.) I honestly didn’t realize it even existed! I thought Nintendo got rid of it! What was up with that? 🤔
Whatever the case, I was pleased to see it’s back!
Unfortunately, I didn’t know I could have backed up my game before they took Pocket Camp down last year, I guess temporarily, so I had to start fresh with no campers, clothing, or items! OR FRIENDS TO PLAY WITH! If you play Pocket Camp, please add me!
