With New Horizons Being Excellent, Let's Look Back At The Weird and Terrible Animal Crossing Spin Offs

[Video Games Are Dumb]

Hello Era,

I don't know about you but I was rather floored when I realized New Horizons is the first Animal Crossing game in eight years! Well, seven in North America but you know what I mean...It's actually rather surprising given how many games were released between it's debut in 2001 and New Leaf in 2012.

But sadly, there were more Animal Crossing games. No no, not real Animal Crossing games where you and your pals slowly build up a town in friendship and seasonal tradition. That would have been TOO obvious. Instead Nintendo allowed the franchise to branch out in new and, let's be frank, not nearly as good ways.

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer

Boy howdy, I am not sure what the idea behind this one was. You know how you can build your homes in Animal Crossing? You know, the thing you do at the end of the day after all the events are over? Well what if...that's all you did. Yup! You just design houses. That's it, that's the game. It's actually rather sad considering how much content there was in design choices, which would have been great in an actual Animal Crossing game. Instead you just build a home for other people who either love or hate it. It's just...ugh.

Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival

What. The. Fuck. If there was a single game that turned the remaining good will the Wii U had, this is it. It's board game. Just a board game. You wanna play by yourself? Great. You're playing a board game alone. You want to play with friends? Well, they better have the appropriate Animal Crossing Amiibos. Sure you'll get two in the box but anyone else better have the right plastic figurines! Even as a board game, it sucks! It's like Monopoly with less consequences. The seasons change from summer to spring during each round...that's...nice. Once again, just a board game. A bad, bad board game. Thanks for buying the Wii U, Animal Crossing fans! Feh.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

I'll be honest, I've barely played Pocket Camp. Maybe a few days before a deleted it. But from what I remember it was pretty good! However as many people have pointed out, the game became much much much more reliant on microtransactions for special outfits and rather sparse amount of things to do beyond the traditional resource gather and crafting. From what I gather, the game just lack character but maybe someone can set that straight. I guess this game made over 50 million bucks, so it must have done something right?

Let us all be grateful the dark age of Animal Crossing has passed. May it never return.

 

[Robin64]

Also, while not a game as such, the Wii U had a very odd app.

Animal Crossing Plaza

Animal Crossing Plaza is a discontinued social application for the Wii U that was available for free from the Nintendo eShop as a companion application to Animal...

nookipedia.com

 

[Video Games Are Dumb]

Also, while not a game as such, the Wii U had a very odd app.

Animal Crossing Plaza

Animal Crossing Plaza is a discontinued social application for the Wii U that was available for free from the Nintendo eShop as a companion application to Animal...

nookipedia.com

Click to shrink...

As a Wii U owner, I have no idea how I never heard of this before! Great find!

 

[Secretofmateria]

I like pocket camp, still play it every dah

 

[Stopdoor]

Honestly I find Pocket Camp more offensive than even Amiibo Festival, I hate the mobile game design model. Amiibo Festival could've easily been good though if was more like Mario Party, more minigames and less aimlessness.

 

[Poltergust]

Happy Home Designer paved the way for the extremely handy furniture placing interface (along with the half-tile system), and for that it gets a pass from me.

The other two should just fade from everyone's minds forever.

 

[DrArchon]

Anyone who says that Amiibo Festival isn't the worst AC spinoff if lying.

As a board game, it's dreadful. The only actual choices the player makes are a) which directions to take when there's a fork in the road, b) whether or not to use cards that the game randomly gives you, and c) the stalk market (with prices being random, of course). Barring those, it's a board game that has the same depth as Candyland. You roll the die, you land on a space, and something good or bad randomly happens. That's it. It makes Mario Party look like D&D.

As a product, it's even worse. Every decision made about this game seemed to have been the wrong one. If you play with an amiibo, you have to tap the amiibo to the controller every turn to roll the dice, an action that adds nothing to the game except an attempt to make you feel like you're actually getting value out of your plastic figures. When your turn is up, you have to pass the controller to someone else so they can tap their amiibo to it. If someone doesn't have an amiibo, they can still play, but it's almost impossible win because amiibo players get free points every turn. You unlock gestures for your character (tied to your amiibo, of course), but you can only do them during your turn (because that's when you have the controller and can see your character) and the turns are so short that why bother?

There's no redeeming value to this game.

 

[Deleted member 26156]

I'm convinced anyone who voted for anything other than HHD has not played HHD because it is by far the best of the three and arguably the best AC game ever made.

Well its my favorite anyway.

 

[ClickyCal']

HHD was clearly just a cheap easy spinoff from the new leaf engine. No issues there, it was okay for what it was. Amiibo festival is probably the most puzzling game ever made from nintendo.

 

[--R]

People voting for anything that's not HHD are just wrong.

 

[Gengahrrr]

Wasn't it revealed that the only reason Ambiio Festival was made was so that the Animal Crossing devs could get AC Amiibos made?

 

[Video Games Are Dumb]

Anyone who says that Amiibo Festival isn't the worst AC spinoff if lying.

As a board game, it's dreadful. The only actual choices the player makes are a) which directions to take when there's a fork in the road, b) whether or not to use cards that the game randomly gives you, and c) the stalk market (with prices being random, of course). Barring those, it's a board game that has the same depth as Candyland. You roll the die, you land on a space, and something good or bad randomly happens. That's it. It makes Mario Party look like D&D.

As a product, it's even worse. Every decision made about this game seemed to have been the wrong one. If you play with an amiibo, you have to tap the amiibo to the controller every turn to roll the dice, an action that adds nothing to the game except an attempt to make you feel like you're actually getting value out of your plastic figures. When your turn is up, you have to pass the controller to someone else so they can tap their amiibo to it. If someone doesn't have an amiibo, they can still play, but it's almost impossible win because amiibo players get free points every turn. You unlock gestures for your character (tied to your amiibo, of course), but you can only do them during your turn (because that's when you have the controller and can see your character) and the turns are so short that why bother?

There's no redeeming value to this game.

Click to shrink...

I actually had to look up some things to refresh my memory because the promotions kept talking about minigames. There are no minigames! It's all completely random! And after the first session, you've pretty much seen everything the game has to offer. Amiibo Festival is an easy contender for the worst game Nintendo ever made.

 

[Xita]

People voting for anything that's not HHD are just wrong.

Click to shrink...

What's wrong with HHD?

 

[--R]

What's wrong with HHD?

Click to shrink...

Nothing, that's why I voted for it. It's "the least bad" according to the poll.

 

[Everywhere]

They are all bad. The loop in HHD is terrible, but it brought some amazing and much needed additions to the series, such as outdoor deco, which are now present in the main game.

 

[Xita]

Nothing, that's why I voted for it. It's "the least bad" according to the poll.

Click to shrink...

Ohhh, my mistake, misread.

 

[fiendcode]

Don't forget the DSiWare clock and calculator.

 

[danielvdell]

Happy Home Designer is a great game. While its gameplay isn't at all close to mainline Animal Crossing games (all you do is decorate houses and public buildings), it's relaxing and feels rewarding in its own way. Pocket Camp is also pretty good for a mobile spin-off; microtransactions don't get in the way of the gameplay, but the events are extremely repetitive and stale at this point.

Amiibo Festival is horrible. I don't know what they were thinking. At least we got amiibo figures out of it, though.

EDIT: Animal Crossing: Sweet Day in Nintendo Land is also really fun, although I wouldn't count it as a "spin-off," haha.

 

[Dreamboum]

At least HHD made you fulfill a specific need that was present in the games.

 

[GamerJM]

Is it worth going back and playing Happy Home Designer at this point? When it came out I just didn't really think about picking it up, but in the back of my mind it seemed like a decent idea for a spin-off.

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

Happy Home Designer is actually a good game. So, weird for it to be up there but I guess ya gotta fill out a poll.

 

[KillstealWolf]

I actually had to look up some things to refresh my memory because the promotions kept talking about minigames. There are no minigames! It's all completely random! And after the first session, you've pretty much seen everything the game has to offer. Amiibo Festival is an easy contender for the worst game Nintendo ever made.

Click to shrink...

The only minor redeeming mode it has (The Survival Island game) got ported to New Leaf anyway so there's basically zero reason to own the game.

Well, at least it also stopped the full Amiibo Greed happening, they scaled back on Amiibo significantly after this one bombed. That's good as well.

 

[BestTestie]

HHD is fine as a typical spinoff game. Amiibo Festival made absolutely no sense at the time of release and remains one of the worst First Party Nintendo games in recent memory.

 

[DrArchon]

Actually I was wrong. There's 1 redeeming point to Amiibo Festival and that's the Giant Bomb QL we got out of it.

Quick Look: Amiibo Festival Festival

Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy turnips which can then be traded on the stalk market to make you happy. Sooooo....

www.giantbomb.com

 

[Deleted member 46429]

The least bad is Happy Home Designer by a significant margin imo. Even if the gameplay loop feels repetitive, the actual mechanics it introduced are a staple of the series, and like, it can be fun designing homes with all the freedom in the world. Pretty much my only issue with the game is that it felt like there was no meaningful long-term progression, and what little of it could be cheesed so unless you like designing homes for the sake of it, it's not for you.

Pocket Camp is... a thing. The game has a good enough foundation, but the original gameplay loop was never satisfying and unfortunately very little has been done to make the gameplay loop better since PC updates are basically an exercise in how they can increasingly monetize the game. Could easily see myself picking it up again for a little while because of New Horizons, but I doubt it'll stick; it feels too grindy and unrewarding as f2p.

Amiibo Festival could have been a decent spin-off, but its main mode felt like Mario Party without minigames which is like... why? Iirc, the other modes were interesting, but the best part of it became part of the "Welcome Amiibo" update for New Leaf iirc. The controls were awful requiring the constant scanning of AC amiibo, and all around just felt bad.

 

[Berordn]

Is it worth going back and playing Happy Home Designer at this point? When it came out I just didn't really think about picking it up, but in the back of my mind it seemed like a decent idea for a spin-off.

Click to shrink...

It's completely self contained so there's no harm in giving it a shot.

I actually enjoyed HHD for what it was, which is basically Animal Crossing Creative Mode. You take on designer jobs for villagers and then basically have the full catalog of furniture from New Leaf (with some extra) to plop around as you like. Afterwards, you can visit and take a bunch of pictures. There were additional themed challenges where you built up main street and could put the villagers into little cosplay roles working at an office or school or whatever.

It doesn't hold a candle to Animal Crossing proper, but it's a cute little distraction.

 

[kdawg954]

I did not like Happy Home Designer but I know some people that enjoyed it. Not my cup of tea to focus on interior decorating but it did change the way design was implemented into the series.

I have logged in and played Pocket Camp every day for more than 2 years. Some of the New Horizons charm came from Pocket Camp. As long as you don't fall into the Fortune cookie gacha trap its a chill experience when you only have a cell phone on you.

I actually had several gaming nights featuring Amiibo Festival and we had a blast. The board game brought a lot of fun, especially the battle of buying turnips and figuring out how much to buy and if they would spoil with an unlucky roll of the dice. I loved the 12 month calendar setup as well featuring events from the main game. Ultimately what hurt this game was how repetitive the dialogue on the squares got, the inflated price due to the included amiibo and the relatively weak mini game options outside of the board game.

Nothing beats the main game experience though.

 

[Hogger]

These were all basically R&D that they were able to monetize. They paved the way for New Horizons so they're all 10/10 imo.

 

[Qwark]

I found Pocket Camp really useful and fun-ish way for learning languages. It uses a lot of simple words so you can learn as you play. I did not like playing it in my native language, however.

 

[Apollo]

Happy Home Designer is cute and good.

 

[Josh5890]

I still think Amiibo Festival was a case of Nintendo had started to work on a regular game for Wii-U, but realized the system was beyond saving after holiday 2014. So they took the assets and made a Mario Party with Animal Crossing skins.

 

[DrArchon]

Watching the Giant Bomb video again and I am now reminded that a) they made Animal Crossing Amiibo cards, and b) those didn't work with Amiibo Festival, only the actual plastic figure amiibos did.

Man, fuck that game.

 

[kdawg954]

Watching the Giant Bomb video again and I am now reminded that a) they made Animal Crossing Amiibo cards, and b) those didn't work with Amiibo Festival, only the actual plastic figure amiibos did.

Man, fuck that game.

Click to shrink...

The cards worked with the game, just in a limited capacity in comparison to the figures.

 

[Deleted member 51789]

Happy Home Designer is a perfectly good game. Not mainline series level but a decent concept that took one of the main elements of the series (house design) and tried to make a spin off from it, which was fine.

Pocket Camp is just a bit dull and grindy, ruined by greedy F2P Skinner box mechanics.

Amiibo Festival is a travesty. The only good part of that game (The survival game) was ported to New Leaf so there's zero need for anyone to mention Amiibo Festival ever again.

 

[Rotobit]

Happy Home Designer was cute but very empty, I got bored of it after like 3 days

I'd absolutely adore a Happy Home Designer DLC pack for New Horizons though. Let us make things like schools and customize the interiors ourselves.

 

[ShyMel]

HHD brought in a new and more effective way to move furniture around, Pocket Camp has a lot of new accessories in it, and Amiibo Festival allows every villager to have at least one piece of official merch for it via amiibo cards. I also enjoyed the Wii U app thing for what it was.

 

[anaa]

i spent money on amiibo festival when it released and regretted it instantly. one of the few nintendo games i have ever resold. i went in expecting like.. animal crossing mario party, you know with mini-games, party type fun? it was not that, it was boring, and felt cheap. its not like all mario party games are particularly feature/content rich, but even the worst mario party has way more fun-in-box comparatively.

for one of nintendo's BIG flagship brands you'd expect a 'party game' spin off to be a home run. im still baffled to this day how/why this game was made.

i liked HHD fwiw, but i did understand peoples issues with it.

 

[LostSkullKid]

I liked building all the different buildings that weren't houses in Happy Home Designer like the school and the office.