Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Tips for Animal Crossing New Horizons

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Being stuck inside, an island getaway sounds fantastic. With the recently released Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it’s easy to get sucked into a life many of us crave so much right now.

For those that have never played an Animal Crossing title before, here’s some tips that may be helpful.

Expand those pockets

Save up those Nook Miles and trade them in using the Automatic Bells Dispenser (ABD) in the Resident Services Tent. Redeem 5,000 Nook Miles for the Pocket Organization Guide to increase the capacity to 30 spaces. After that, exchange 8,000 Nook Miles for the Ultimate Pocket Stuffing to receive 40 spaces to hold all that extra fruit, fish and bugs.

Pop those balloons for bells, furniture and outfits

Wondering how to get those presents floating high above from a balloon? Grabbing these floating gifts requires a slingshot. Talk to Timmy in the Resident Services Tent an ask “What’s for sale?”. Press the R button when the items available appears and a slingshot should show up. Purchase this and and head outside.

Balloons appear from the west (left side) of the island during the day and from the east (right side) in the evening. Don’t stand directly underneath, but in front of the balloon’s shadow — press and hold the A button to ready a shot; release it to pop the balloon.

Keep in mind the surroundings — the falling present may bounce off weeds or other objects and if it lands in the water, that gift is gone!

Breakable tools

Starting off on an isolated island, there’s not much to work with in the way of reliable tools. As the names suggest, the flimsy axe, shovel, and fishing rod only have a short life span before they break. Harvesting items like wood and iron nuggets helps improve their strength, but they too will shatter after extended use.

For axes, the following materials are required:

  • Flimsy axe: 5 tree branches – breaks after 40 uses.
  • Stone axe: 1 flimsy axe, 3 wood – breaks after 100 uses.
  • Axe: 1 flimsy axe, 3 wood, 1 iron nugget – breaks after 100 uses.

For fishing rods, the following materials are required:

  • Flimsy fishing rod: 5 tree branches – breaks after 10 fish caught.
  • Fishing rod: 1 flimsy fishing rod, 1 iron nugget – breaks after 30 fish caught.

For nets, the following materials are required:

  • Flimsy net: 5 tree branches – breaks after 10 bugs caught.
  • Net: 1 flimsy net, 1 iron nugget – breaks after 30 bugs caught.

For shovels, the following materials are required:

  • Flimsy shovel: 5 hardwood – breaks after 30 uses.
  • Shovel: 1 flimsy shovel, 1 iron nugget – breaks after 100 uses.

Custom designs

Wanting a new look? There’s QR codes for just about every article of clothing, including those from popular anime shows (including Minato Namikaze’s hokage cloak seen above). In order to start wearing these outfits, there’s a little trick to getting them into Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Fortunately, designs made for Animal Crossing: New Leaf are compatible, so there’s thousands of unique ensembles floating around the internet.

This, however, requires a Nintendo Switch Online membership, which is purchased separately.

  1. On a supported mobile device, launch the Nintendo Switch app and select the Animal Crossing: New Horizons icon. Then choose Custom Designs to scan the QR codes.
  2. Scan the design and save them using NookLink. Remember to scan the codes in sequence: one, two, three, and four.
  3. Open the Nook Phone in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ZL button) and launch the Custom Designs app. Press the + icon to download the design scanned from the mobile device. Choose a slot to save it to, or overwrite an existing design.
  4. Now the design is ready for wearing, displaying or whatever else the mind desires.

Fancy Roy’s armor from his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee? Check out kakerucrossing on tumblr. Why not an Akatsuki robe from Naruto? Grab it on Reddit.

 

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