Animal Crossing: New Leaf facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Animal Crossing: New Leaf |
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Packaging artwork for all territories
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| Developer(s) | Nintendo EAD |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Isao Moro Aya Kyogoku |
| Producer(s) | Katsuya Eguchi |
| Designer(s) | Koji Takahashi Ryuji Kobayashi Akito Osanai |
| Programmer(s) | Gentaro Takaki |
| Artist(s) | Ryuji Kobayashi |
| Writer(s) | Makoto Wada |
| Composer(s) | Manaka Kataoka Atsuko Asahi Kazumi Totaka |
| Series | Animal Crossing |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo 3DS |
| Release date(s) | New Leaf
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| Genre(s) | Social simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a fun social simulation game made by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It came out in Japan in 2012 and in other countries in 2013. In this game, you play as a human character who moves to a town full of talking animals. But here's the cool part: you're not just a regular resident, you become the mayor!
As mayor, you get to do lots of things to make your town awesome. You can catch bugs, go fishing, and become friends with all the animal villagers. With help from your secretary, Isabelle, it's your job to make your town the best place to live. The game was loved by many players because it added so many new and exciting features to the Animal Crossing series. An updated version called Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome amiibo was released later, adding even more cool stuff.
Contents
Gameplay
In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you start by moving into a new town. Right away, you are mistaken for the new mayor! This means you get special powers to shape your town. Just like in other Animal Crossing games, you can explore your town, chat with animal residents, and do fun activities. These activities include fishing, catching bugs, and digging up fossils.
When you do these things or sell items, you earn "Bells." Bells are the money in the game. You can use Bells to buy furniture, clothes, or pay off loans for your house. The game uses the real time of your Nintendo 3DS. This means shops open and close at certain times. Also, different bugs and fish appear depending on the time of day and the season.
New Features for Mayors
Animal Crossing: New Leaf brought many new things to the series.
- You start in a tent, but soon you get a house. You can make your house bigger and decorate it inside and out.
- You can customize your character's look even more. You can change your pants, shirt, shoes, hat, and accessories.
- You can even hang furniture on your walls!
- A cool new feature is being able to swim in the ocean around your town if you have a swimsuit.
Being the mayor gives you two special powers:
- Public Works Projects: You can build new things in your town. This includes bridges, fountains, and streetlights. You can also add new buildings like campsites or cafes. You collect money from townsfolk and visitors to fund these projects.
- Ordinances: You can pass laws to change how your town works. For example, you can make your town richer, encourage villagers to plant more flowers, or make shops open earlier or later. This helps you play the game in a way that fits your schedule.
Connecting with Friends
The game uses the Nintendo 3DS's features to let you connect with others.
- You can visit your friends' towns using local play or online. Up to four players can visit a town at once.
- There's a "Dream Suite" where you can visit "dream" versions of other players' towns. You can explore them freely without changing anything in their real town.
- The "Happy Home Showcase" lets you see homes of other players you meet. You can even order some of the furniture they have in their houses.
- At the Able Sisters' shop, you can create special designs. You can turn these designs into QR codes that other players can scan with their 3DS camera. This lets you share cool clothes or patterns.
Characters
Animal Crossing: New Leaf introduces some new animal types for villagers, like hamsters and deer. It also adds new personality types for villagers.
Many new special characters help you in your mayoral duties:
- Isabelle: She's a dog and your helpful personal assistant. She guides you through your mayoral tasks.
- Digby: Isabelle's twin brother. He runs the Happy Home Showcase.
- Leif: A sloth who runs the gardening center.
- Reese and Cyrus: A pair of alpacas who run "Re-Tail." This is a shop where you can sell unwanted items or customize your furniture.
- Tom Nook: He's back, but now he's a real-estate agent, helping you with your house. His nephews, Timmy and Tommy, run the shop.
- Kicks and Labelle: A skunk and a hedgehog who sell shoes and accessories.
- K.K. Slider: The famous dog musician, now a DJ at a nightclub called "Club LOL."
- Dr. Shrunk: An axolotl who runs Club LOL and tells jokes.
- Tortimer: The old mayor of the town. He now runs a tropical island you can visit for fun minigames.
Development
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Animal Crossing: New Leaf was first announced in 2010. It was the first Animal Crossing game made for the Nintendo 3DS. The game's directors, Isao Moro and Aya Kyogoku, had worked on previous Animal Crossing games.
The idea for the player to become mayor came about a year into the game's creation. The developers wanted to give players more freedom to design and change their town. They added ordinances so players could adjust shop hours. This made the game fit better with different players' real-life schedules.
Because the game was for the 3D Nintendo 3DS, the team had to be careful with how things looked. They paid close attention to lighting and shadows so everything looked good in 3D. It was also tricky to come up with new animal species for villagers, as they wanted to use animals people knew. Alpacas were chosen because they were popular in Japan at the time.
To make the game special for players around the world, the team researched different customs and holidays. For example, how people celebrate New Year's Eve changes depending on the game's region. In Japan, characters might eat New Year noodles. In North America, they might drink sparkling cider.
Promotion and Release
Nintendo promoted Animal Crossing: New Leaf in many ways. They created official Twitter accounts for the character Isabelle, sharing updates about the game. They also made videos explaining how the game was made.
In Japan, Nintendo teamed up with 7-Eleven stores. Players could get special in-game items by connecting to Wi-Fi at these stores. There were also Animal Crossing-themed items available in another Nintendo 3DS game called Style Savvy: Trendsetters.
A special edition Nintendo 3DS XL console was released with the game. It had Animal Crossing designs on it. This bundle was available in Japan, North America, and Europe. You could also buy the game digitally from the Nintendo eShop.
In 2016, a big update called Welcome amiibo was released. This update added support for amiibo figures and cards. You could use them to summon villagers and special characters to a new campsite area in your town. This update also made it easier to decorate your house using the touchscreen.
Legacy
Characters from Animal Crossing: New Leaf have appeared in other popular Nintendo games.
- In the fighting game Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Isabelle appears as an "Assist Trophy." This means she can be called to help you in a fight. Tortimer Island also appears as a fighting stage.
- Isabelle became a full playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2018.
In 2019, the website Polygon listed Animal Crossing: New Leaf as one of the best games of the decade.
See also
In Spanish: Animal Crossing: New Leaf para niños
