Animal Crossing New Leaftook the 3DS gaming space by storm when it arrived in 2012, but it’s fair to say nothing can quite compare with the mania that has surroundedNew Horizons. The newest installmenteclipsed the lifetime salesof its predecessor, withNew Horizonsemerging as one of theSwitch’s best-selling games.
RELATED:Animal Crossing: 10 Good Reasons To Give Gifts To Your Villagers
Of course, sales figures don’t mean everything. While it’s clear fans adoreNew Horizons, some have been disappointed at how much content from previousAnimal Crossinggames has been left out.No game is perfect, but comparing the features of these adorable life sims can help bring into focus which is truly the better game.
10Better: More Pocket Space
It’s difficult to understand just how significant extra pocket space is without having played olderAnimal Crossinggames.New Leafallows players to hold up to 16 items in their inventory, which is already a step up from the 15 spaces of games likeCity Folk.
New Horizonssees players starting with 20 pocket spaces, and gives you the ability to upgrade your inventory to hold up to 40 items. Even with this huge capacity, it’s easy to run out of space thanks to the range of DIY materials available. It’s almost scary to imagine how frustratingNew Horizonswould have been withNew Leafsized pockets.
9Worse: No Post Office
Sending and receiving letters with your animal neighbors has always been a fun little mechanic within the series, and it still features inNew Horizons. However, without a dedicated post office, the letters seem to have been shoved to the side and hidden in a corner.
Without a post office,New Horizonsis alsomissing NPCslike Pelly the pelican, and her older sister Phyllis who runs the night shift. Phyllis may have been a little coarse at times, but the Pelican sisters were an adorable part of the series that have so far seen their last appearance inNew Leaf.
8Better: Terraforming
InNew Leaf, the town layout you start with is the one you’re stuck with. Whether the river winds awkwardly through where you want your housing district, or there’s a pond exactly where your custom path is meant to go, there isn’t really anything you can do about it.
RELATED:The 10 Most Expensive Furniture In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
New Horizonsturns all this frustration around. From waterfalls and rivers to tiered neighborhoods, terraforming makes nearly any layout possible. Deserted islands can be remodeled in almost any way a player could imagine, meaning you can truly, and finally, make your ideal animal paradise.
7Worse: Soundtrack
While there area few catchy tunesintroduced inNew Horizons, and the remasters of old K.K. Slider hits are always welcome, the soundtrack as a whole is rather lackluster. The hourly songs are overly simple and repetitive at times, with the 2pm theme in particular becoming almost grating after a while.
This is in stark contrast with theNew Leafmusic, which stands out as one of the best soundtracks in the series. The late night and early morning music isn’t afraid to get a little melancholic at times, and the overall flow of the hourly themes seems much smoother and more emotive.
6Better: Moving Buildings
Like with terraforming, the ability to choose where most buildings go gives players so much more control over their island layout. Villagers can have beachfront homes, organized shopping areas, or whatever one’s heart desires.
Perhaps most importantly, players can decide where a villager will live before they even move into town. InNew Leaf, new houses would simply spawn in a random location, potentially ruining paths and garden beds. It doesn’t matterhow cute a villager is, if their home messed with your town layout, they would instantly become your most hated character.
5Worse: Autosave
Autosave might seem like a beneficial feature, and theAnimal Crossingseries has always discouraged dishonest saving practices liketime-travel. However, a number of problems can arise when players don’t have control over what data stays and goes.
RELATED:Animal Crossing: 5 Reasons Isabelle Is The Best Mascot (& 5 Why It’s Tom Nook)
If a particularly cruel player visits someone’s island and plucks all their flowers or steals all their fruit, the victim is unable to reset the damage by just turning off their game. Some players have evendiscovered a glitch that creates permanent cliffs, and autosave means accidents like this can’t be undone.
4Better: DIY
New Leaffeatured the ability to customize the color palette of some furniture series, and of course designing textiles has long been possible thanks to the Able Sisters. These mechanics don’t even come close to the customizationNew Horizonsoffers.
With a diverse range of crafting materials, players can make anything from umbrellas to giant robot statues. Some ofthe best furniture in the gamecomes from DIY sets, and it’s fair to say most players will expect this crafting system to return in any futureAnimal Crossinginstallments.
3Worse: You’re Not The Mayor
This isn’t so much a gameplay problem as an emotional one. InNew Leaf, the title of mayor is bestowed upon players as soon as they arrive in their new town, and all improvements made to the town are accordingly credited to the player.
InNew Horizons, the player is still the one doing all the work, and indeed contributing most of the Bells to new features like bridges and ramps. Only now, you’re just the Resident Representative and everyone acts like they’ve worked together to make any changes. It may be petty, but if the player puts in the effort, surely they deserve the credit.
2Better: Online Community
Players have been able to visit each other’s towns since the very firstAnimal Crossing, andNew Leafsaw more advanced interactivity with StreetPass features like the Happy Home Showcase. This ability to be involved with other players promoted the growth of a creative online community, and this has been taken to new heights withNew Horizons.
Whether it’s trading items on Nookazon or chasing stalk prices on Turnip Exchange, the impact of the internet on how people playNew Horizonshas been massive. While there’ll always be some conflict and drama, for the most part the online community surroundingNew Horizonshas been a force for good.
1Worse: No Town Ordinances
Perhaps the most significantfeature that didn’t surviveoutside ofNew Leafis the presence of town ordinances. As the mayor inNew Leaf, players can choose from a number of improvements that impact how the town functions. These include the Night Owl and Early Bird ordinances, which allow shops to open later and earlier respectively, and the Bell Boom ordinance which makes items sell for 1.2x the regular amount.
The most missed one is probably the Beautiful Town ordinance, as this prevents weeds from growing at their usual rapid rate. While weeds are now a useful DIY tool, their growth can quickly get out of control. The option for ordinances has such an interesting and positive impact onNew Leaf’s gameplay, and it’s sad to see it go.
NEXT:Animal Crossing New Horizons: 10 Things To Plan In Advance That Make Island Building Way Easier
