5 Things I Would Love to See Added to Animal Crossing
From Someone Who Has Restarted Her Island More Times Than She Can Count
Let me introduce you to Tom Nook. Adorable little raccoon, runs the island, gives you a house. Sounds lovely. What they do not tell you is that this man will have you in debt from the moment you arrive and will not stop until you have paid off every last bell. I have owed Tom Nook so many times he started feeling less like a friendly shopkeeper and more like a bailiff. Or a repo man if you are reading this from the States.
My island is called Peachy. I love peaches and it felt right. It is also probably island number two thousand eight hundred and thirty seven because I restart more times than I would like to admit. Nintendo, if you are reading this, and I truly hope you are, please take notes.
1. Let Me Teleport Without the Warp Pipes
Warp Pipes exist in Animal Crossing and theoretically they are a great idea. Place them around your island and travel between them instantly. Wonderful. Except when you have more than one set up they send you to random locations and suddenly your helpful teleportation system is just chaos in a pipe. What I actually want is simple. Let me open my map, tap where I want to go, and just be there. Like magic. Like it is a video game and anything is possible because it is and it should be.
2. A Villager Search Function on the Map
Disney Dreamlight Valley lets you search for characters directly on the map and find exactly where they are without wandering around like a lost tourist. Animal Crossing does not do this and I need everyone to understand how much time I have lost walking in circles looking for Marina. She is pink, she is an octopus, she is my favourite villager and she is apparently also a master of hide and seek. A simple search function on the map. That is all I am asking. Find my villagers for me. I have a job.
3. Let Me Decorate From Day One
When you start a new island in Animal Crossing you cannot terraform or fully decorate until you reach a three star island rating. I understand the logic. I do not accept it. When I start a new island I have a vision. I have plans. I have ideas I want to execute immediately and instead I am out here planting flowers and waiting for my rating to go up like I am on some kind of decoratingprobation. Let me decorate from the start. Trust me with my own island. I have restarted enough times to know what I am doing. Sort of.
4. More Than Four Starting Options
When you begin a new island you are given four layout options to choose from. Four. For an entire island that you are going to live on and build and restart approximately two thousand times. I would like more options please. More variety, more starting layouts, more ways to begin in a way that actually feels like a choice rather than picking the least bad option from a very short list.
5. Pick Your Outfit From the Start
You arrive on your island in a default outfit and have to earn and unlock clothing as you go. I would like to pick what I am wearing from day one. I want to arrive on my island already dressed like myself rather than spending the first portion of the game looking like I got dressed in the dark. First impressions matter. Even on a fictional island. Even to a digital raccoon bailiff.
Bonus Grievance:
THE SCORPIONS
I do not play Animal Crossing at night. I change the time on my Switch rather than deal with what lurks after dark. Because the scorpions in this game are not just an inconvenience. They are a trauma. My first ever scorpion sting happened and I have still not recovered. I do not want to talk about it. What I will say is that any game that has me adjusting the laws of time itself to avoid an insect has gone too far and Nintendo should be ashamed of themselves.
