History YMMV / AnimalCrossingNewLeaf

** Other than dialogue not matching certain personality templates, such as Snooty and Cranky villagers (them being "too nice"), ''New Leaf'' doesn't suffer as much criticism as the other post-UsefulNotes/GameCube games.

** In previous games, balloons would contain a random item. Initially in ''New Leaf'', they only contained Balloon furniture, so they only existed to shoot down, and after someone completed the set, they were largely pointless to shoot down afterwards, besides getting [[AchievementSystem badges from Phineas, better slingshots or selling them for some bells. The ''Welcome amiibo'' update reverted this change so random items would drop again, albeit balloon furniture is still the most common outcome.

* AccidentalNightmareFuel: Villagers will sometimes unexpectedly knock on your door and visit, calling from the outside. Not so bad if you're in the living room, but it can definitely make a player jump if they're in another room and then suddenly, '''BAM''' they hear the doors knocking and a villager's theme play. It's even worse if you're trying to eliminate pesky cockroaches, because they'll immediately be grossed out and insult you before leaving.

** This game makes you pay to dispose of trash and counterfeit art pieces. It's painful enough that you get an inventory-clogging thing (which you may have paid a significant amount of bells for); now, you have to let go of some money to be rid of it. This becomes less of an issue if you get your hands on a trash can, allowing you to get rid of it for free, but it's a Public Works Project... that's has to be requested by a Normal villager... and it's considered a negative towards your town's environment.

* LGBTFanbase: The game is popular amongst trans people for allowing you to crossdress. The game also largely follows GenderNeutralWriting, and no villager comments on your attire ''specifically because'' it's of the opposite gender. The closest you get is Mabel commenting on the item your male character wants to buy that's designed for females in mind ("Oh, are you shopping for a present?"), but she doesn't hold it against you if you try something on ("Well, I guess it's okay to be a bit more adventurous sometimes.").

** Occasionally, a villager with the "Uchi" personality who's moving out will mention that she is going to participate in turf wars. Two years later, some of the ''Animal Crossing'' team would go and [[[[Franchise/{{Splatoon}} make a game all about them.]]

* {{Misblamed}}: There are fans who feel ''New Leaf'' is a step down from the [=GameCube=] original in terms of writing and characterization. Rover's dialogue at the start of both games are often compared for those arguments. Another comparison is how Cranky and Snooty villagers address you in both games. The [=GameCube=] game has them outwardly being rude and don't hesitate to insult for the most mundane reasons, while the ones in ''New Leaf'' are nowhere close to reaching this level of antagonism towards you, even if you get them mad; this is par for the course as to why many people believe the series' dialogue has dip in quality since at least ''City Folk's'' release. The [=GameCube=] localization is just less of a direct translation compared to ''New Leaf'''s. The latter's Rover dialogue is truer to the Japanese text. Some irony can be found here in the fact that the [[AmericanKirbyIsHardcore spiced up localization]] of the [=GameCube=] ''Animal Crossing'' is regarded as superior to the more faithful translation of ''New Leaf'' during an era where liberal translations and localizations are increasingly scrutinized.

** A common complaint about ''New Leaf'' is that everyone is too nice: while the series' characters gradually TookALevelInKindness from ''Wild World''-onwards (allegedly due to complaints from parents about the {{Jerkass}} characterization [[AmericanKirbyIsHardcore of the first game's English localization]] being emotionally distressing to the series' target audience of children), [=NPCs=], especially the traditionally acerbic cranky and snooty villagers, are considerably less rude or grumpy here than in previous games. This criticism would only be amplified when the trend continued in ''New Horizons''.

** ''Wild World'' removed real-life-based holidays in favor of fictional events, and its not defunct online capabilities.

* HilariousInHindsight: Occasionally, a villager with the "Uchi" personality who's moving out will mention that she is going to participate in turf wars. [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Two years later, from many of the same developers, we get a game all about them.]] With the "Welcome amiibo" update bringing Callie and Marie-cosplaying villagers as well as another villager based on Inklings in general, the hindsight has come full circle.

* Other than dialogue not matching certain personality templates, such as Snooty and Cranky villagers (them being "too nice"), ''New Leaf'' doesn't suffer as much criticism as the other post-UsefulNotes/GameCube games.

* GoodBadBugs: ''New Leaf'' has the option to save and continue at any time. This is helpful if you're being chased by bees, since they will disappear after the game is reloaded. It's an easy way to get rid of them without having to catch them or enter a building.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Isabelle's {{Workaholic}} nature compared to her peppy attitude caused a lot of interpretations that she's overworked and [[StepfordSmiler really good at hiding the stress]] of working a SoulCrushingDeskJob. How much she's hiding ranges from taking the burden on herself to being just as outwardly bitter and cynical as Phyllis.

%%* BrokenBase: Villager trading. ''New Leaf'' has a mechanic where, the day before a villager moves out, a friend can visit your town and convince the villager to move into their town. Some people online take advantage of this by charging Bells or trading rare items or even other villagers to let people claim their villager. Proponents of the practice consider it essentially the same as trading items online--a way to add depth to a simple game. While relatively few players engage in villager trading, many of those who ''do'' are extremely devoted to it; some people have multiple copies of the game or even ''multiple 3DS systems'' just in order to have "cycle towns" to trade more often (and hence earn more money). Some people think that villager trading defeats the purpose of the game; others are creeped out by the idea of buying and selling villagers, especially for the exorbitantly high prices--up into ''tens of millions'' of Bells--for the most popular villagers (particularly vehement opponents call it [[SeriousBusiness "villager trafficking"]]). This isn't helped by the fact that many villager traders use time traveling (another controversial mechanic) in order to make deals and transactions more quickly and easily. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/AdoptMyVillager/ There's a even a Subreddit dedicated to this practice on]] ''Website/{{Reddit}}''

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Despite addressing the '''many''', '''many''' issues people have had with the series prior to ''New Leaf'', the game had a few issues when it first came out. The ''Welcome amiibo'' update manages to fix a number of them:
** The new Toys/{{amiibo}} functionality allows you to summon whichever villager or character you have a card or figure of and they can even move into your town. This will override the 16-villager cycle so a recently lost villager can come back immediately. Already have 10 villagers? The amiibo villager can even kick out a less desirable villager and replace them. It's the ''Ultimate'' Villager Insurance.
** Villagers now take ten days to move out as opposed to the previous five, giving players more time to convince a beloved villager to not move -- this also makes it harder to miss the warning.
** A number of items that are either extremely hard to obtain or flat out impossible (due to either being exclusive to one region or a [[DownloadableContent DLC]] item) are now easily available from RV campers. There's even a slew of brand new items from ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingHappyHomeDesigner Happy Home Designer]]''too.
** The Secret Storeroom is an upgrade you can order from Nook's Homes, where you're given massive closet space to store items. Up to ''360'' additional items in fact, so it's great for people who have hoarded rare items. The upgrade also comes with an additional feature: Once you've received it, Lottie will appear and teach you how to move furniture with ease using ''Happy Home Designer'''s touch screen function.
** Timmy and Tommy no longer ask to explain how to use the wrapping paper, which many people were relieved to see.
** Once you have acquired all of the Balloon furniture at least once, balloon presents work like they did in older games, instead of just containing Balloon furniture.
** You can put televisions and other similar furniture on tables now, and you can interact with furniture in your general vicinity while sitting down.
** You can also sit on rocks now. Not very important, or really all that useful, but it's kind of neat that rocks that cannot be broken actually have a use.
** You can shake trees while holding certain tools. This is not only convenient, but it turns bees from a feared random encounter to simple bell fodder, since not having to waste time pulling out the net means you can catch them before they start moving.
** Even if you don't have any amiibo, the campgrounds serve an important purpose: Every day, a new NPC visits in a trailer, with all the items they have in it being purchasable with MEOW Coupons. Holiday-exclusive [=NPCs=] have trailers decorated with items from their special set, meaning that normally obnoxious sets like Festivale can be gotten easily by shelling out coupons, and you don't have to wait months or time travel to get them.
** Villagers do not build their houses on top of custom floor designs unless they absolutely have to, allowing players to lay down designs to more easily control where villagers will build their houses.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** The [[http://youtu.be/rmtKHo7GB64 7 PM music]] is a beautiful track with melancholy piano undertones. But it also falls under NightmareFuel.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX2NxSN49Tg 1 AM music]] is incredibly calm and soothing, inviting the player to relax after a day of hard work.

** The later-released ''New Horizons'' entry suffers from being a live service with missing events, mainstay [=NPC's=], items, clothing, and other such content that has to be gradually added, which has irked players to no end, as well as changing aspects of the game to fit the deserted island motif, such as the breakable golden tools.
And now that the final major update for ''New Horizons'' has been released and is still missing some stuff, this will probably only be exacerbated.

** In later installments, she is seen [[https://youtu.be/Uhcnl622t4c dancing rather dizzily]] after drinking "Vacation Juice" in ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingPocketCamp Pocket Camp]]'', implying it's some sort of alcoholic cocktail, and in ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons New Horizons]]'', she has what looks a lot like a [[https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimalCrossing/comments/ftss51/has_isabelle_always_had_an_alcohol_problem/ glass of whiskey on her desk]], which is further supported by the apparent fact that [[https://twitter.com/Kaittycat/status/1230613619123068928 a Japanese advertisement]] had her explaining the difference between "whisky" and "whiskey" in which she talks about how much she loves whiskey. This all led people to think that she is TheAlcoholic [[INeedAFreakingDrink who drinks to cope with her condition]].

** In later installments, she is seen dancing like a HardDrinkingPartyGirl after drinking "Vacation Juice" in ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingPocketCamp Pocket Camp]]'', and in ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons New Horizons]]'', she appears to have a glass of whiskey on her desk, leading many people to theorize that she is TheAlcoholic [[INeedAFreakingDrink who drinks to cope with her condition]].