History VideoGame / AnimalCrossingNewHorizons

''Animal Crossing: New Horizons'' (''Atsumare Dōbutsu no Mori'') is the fifth installment of Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s ''Franchise/AnimalCrossing'' series, released on March 20, 2020. After skipping over the UsefulNotes/WiiU[[note]]owing to a combination of the system's commercial failure and the fact that the dev team had been busy working on ''VideoGame/Splatoon1''; the series's presence on the system was relegated to the short-lived ''Animal Crossing Plaza'' app and the party game spin-off ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingAmiiboFestival amiibo Festival]]''[[/note]], this installment for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch returns the mainline ''Animal Crossing'' games to home consoles.

The "Happy Home Paradise" add-on was released on November 5, 2021, introducing gameplay from ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingHappyHomeDesigner Happy Home Designer]]''. This set of paid DLC sees your character assisting the Paradise Planning resort in building and customizing the dream houses of their clients. It also introduces several new features such as the ability to add pillars to housing interiors, new types of counter-tops, creating buildings such as schools and restaurants, and inviting the villagers present on your island to the resort archipelago. It's also considered a key part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack and its increased price point there, as this DLC is worth $24.99 on its own, but is considered "free" with the yearly expansion pack online subscription worth an extra $30 for one user to upgrade to it (with the extra $5 tacked on being used for playing UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis and UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 games on the Switch as well).

** The ancestral trail in the fossil exhibit has theropods being close to ornithischians rather than sauropods, alluding to the revived dinosaur clade [[https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2017/march/dinosaur-family-tree-rearranged.html Ornithoscelida]]. It also has ''Dimetrodon'' close to mammals, and birds close to ''Archaeopteryx'' and ''Deinonychus''.

** In his description for ''Deinonychus'', Blathers points out the major difference between it and ''Velociraptor'' is that ''Velociraptor'' is only two feet high in real life (the large raptors from ''Film/JurassicPark'' are actually based on ''Deinonychus'', which at the time was wrongfully considered a species of ''Velociraptor'' by the paleontologist Gregory Paul, and both the filmmakers and the original author followed suit). He also states that both are believed to have had feathers.

While containing all the rural life sim elements of its predecessors, this game shifts focus from the "moving into a new town" concept, and instead brings players to a newly-settled deserted island. As players explore and gather resources to build tools and furniture, they slowly develop the island into the small town setting the series is known for, eventually even gaining the ability to shape the land as they see fit. This is also the first ''Animal Crossing'' game to receive continuous free content updates that add new features and events (The ''Welcome amiibo'' expansion was the only update ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf New Leaf]]'' ever had in the west), akin to the post-launch support past Nintendo titles such as the ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' series featured.

* NPCBoomVillage: This is a central mechanic of the game.

''Animal Crossing: New Horizons'' (''Atsumare Dōbutsu no Mori'') is the fifth installment of Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' series, released on March 20, 2020. After skipping over the UsefulNotes/WiiU[[note]]owing to a combination of the system's commercial failure and the fact that the dev team had been busy working on ''VideoGame/Splatoon1''; the series's presence on the system was relegated to the short-lived ''Animal Crossing Plaza'' app and the party game spin-off ''amiibo Festival''[[/note]], this installment for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch returns the mainline ''Animal Crossing'' games to home consoles.

** Subversion: the game may assign you Nook Miles+ missions that are impossible to complete--for example, asking you to sell items or have fossils assessed when the relevant facilities are closed for renovations. However, you can fulfill these goals by visiting another player's island, if you're able.

** The July 2020 update features a very major bug in regards to getting the Mermaid [=DIYs=]. Usually whenever you get a scallop, Pascal will offer to obtain your scallop in exchange for either a piece of Mermaid clothing, a Mermaid DIY, or a pearl. However, should one have any Mermaid furniture catalogued[[labelnote:*]]That is having the items available on the Nook Shopping app after grabbing it[[/labelnote]], Pascal will not give that particular furniture its respective recipe, making it impossible to complete the Mermaid set (unless you make another account to get the DIY recipes from) if by chance you already catalogued the entire set alone.

** Non-native fruit that are not coconuts sell for 500 bells, 5x the price of native fruit and twice the price of coconuts. If you sell your native fruit on an island with a different native fruit, you can get the full 500 bells for them. Even better, having a friend gift you a good amount of non-native fruit is a great way to start an orchard and generate a steady stream of Bells. More importantly, two out of the six types of fruits are ''impossible'' to obtain solo[[note]]Your island has one native fruit, "Mom" sends you a second type in a letter, Mystery Islands have coconut trees; one possible Mystery Island has trees bearing a fourth type of fruit, commonly known as the "sister fruit", which is also the only fruit that villagers will ever gift to you[[/note]], so you need someone to send them to you if you want them.

* AdaptationDecay: In-universe, one conversation between a Normal and Lazy villager has the latter ask which of two books was made into a better film. Both endings to the conversation have the Normal villager say as such, with one having it that film changed the ending, and the beginning, and the middle, implying an InNameOnly adaptation, while the the other version has them say the film version is a “popcorn movie”, and that while they do find it to be a terrible adaptation, they admit that eating popcorn while watching it is fun.

** It's probably not a coincidence that the clownfish and the surgeonfish (also known as a blue tang) are [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo right next to each other in the Critterpedia]].

*** After agreeing to recover his communicator he may compare you to Captain Syrup, the pirate leader from the ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' games.

* GameGourmet: From the Version 2 update onwards, you can cook a variety of food, using crops introduced in the update, fruit, fish, and more. Food can be consumed to gain stamina, or displayed like other furniture. You can also get snacks from Redd's raffle and to-go coffee from Brewster's.

* SurpriseCreepy:
** The lazy villagers can have a line of dialogue like this.
--->''Lazy Villager:'' The best tasting island is [insert player's island name]! Everything tastes good! [suddenly making a scary face] ''Everything.''
** The [[SpookyPainting haunted forged art]] can also be this if the player isn't expecting it.
** Sometimes, when a campsite visitor moves in, they'll talk to a random villager who the visitor will relay a message for:
--->''They said that were already considering moving out, on account of all the [[MonsterClown night clowns]].''

* GenderNeutralWriting: When not being referred to by name, player characters are always referred to in gender-neutral terms, including but not limited to the pronouns "they" and "them". The CharacterCustomization option that looks kinda like choosing a gender is a "style" or "aspect" outside of Japan, and can be changed at will just like the rest -- though in some languages that require it, it does imply ''grammatical'' gender. Villagers will also do this after you get a new neighbor to move in, likely because they've never met.

* ParasolOfPrettiness: The "shiny-bows parasol", complete with lace, bows, and ruffles. Comes in four color variations: [[TrueBlueFemininity blue]], [[PinkIsFeminine pink]], [[WomanInWhite white]], and [[GracefulLadiesLikePurple purple]].

** As was previously the case in ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf'', bananas are depicted growing on palm trees, coming in small bunches (though this may be to make gaming easier), and growing in sand while withering in brown soil.

** Bananas are depicted growing on palm trees, coming in small bunches (though this may be to make gaming easier), and growing in sand while withering in brown soil, just as in the previous game.

** Bananas are depicted growing on palm trees, coming in small bunches (though this may be to make gaming easier), and able to grow in sand, just as in the previous game.

** Bananas are depicted growing on palm trees and come in small bunches, just as in the previous game.

** In his description for ''Deinonychus'', Blathers points out the major difference between it and ''Velociraptor'' is that ''Velociraptor'' is only two feet high in real life (the large raptors from ''Film/JurassicPark'' are actually based on ''Deinonychus'', which was wrongfully considered a species of ''Velociraptor'' by the paleontologist Gregory Paul, which both the filmmakers and the original author followed suit). He also states that both are believed to have had feathers.