RollingAntony
Senior Member
Hello everyone! One of the most common topics about New Horizons revolve around its furniture and how it compares to previous entries of the franchise. Curious by nature, I decided to try to make a comprehensive analysis of the amount, implementation and overall focus of the furniture on the latest AC game. To do this, I’m making some comparisons with New Leaf, the direct predecessor and if I’m not mistaken, the game with the biggest amount of furniture on the series.
I’m dividing the analysis on different sections in order to get the best overall picture and please note that I’m not taking the upcoming (1.9) update in account. Edit: I have updated the numbers with the 1.9 update.
Intro
There's also the definition of “furniture” which is anything on the games that is not considered a tool, usable or any other category like art, bushes, fences, clothes, etc. This is important to note because NH made it possible to decorate every single inch of the environment (and with great graphics) which makes some items usable for decorating, like pieces of artwork. However, I’m focusing on the common furniture people are used to… use.
NL had PWP, some of which were retooled into furniture- but since the PWP have stricter limitations, they are not considered for NL totals, but the corresponding NH items are. We’re also not comparing the customisations options of both games, which are vastly on NH’s favor. Wallpaper and flooring (and rugs for NH) are also out, as they would heavily favor NH with 288 more items than NL. So without further ado:
Numbers - The hottest topic
It’s common to see statements such as “NH has a low amount of furniture”, “There are barely any options” or similar. Let’s see the total numbers of both games, with corresponding milestones.
I used both MoriDB and Nook Plaza as references for the numbers.
Right off the bat, we can see that NL has an advantage at launch of 246 extra furniture items, which is kind of a considerable amount. However, NH still had more than one thousand furniture items to choose from, which is a very good amount. We’ll go into a bit of detail about the missing items later.
The next thing to note is that NH is slowly adding furniture, and within the first year of the game has already added 164 new pieces. On the other hand, NL had a massive update with almost 500 extra items but it came until its fourth year. It’s kind of unfair to compare base NH with amiibo’d NL, at least until four years have passed for the former. We don’t know for sure the plans for the newest game, especially considering that the sales expectations have already been blasted to oblivion, and although we have reached the point where no major events are left to be added, Nintendo has said that to keep watching for news. What that means is anyone guess.
Edit: As we enter the second year of the game, NH has 82 furniture items less than NL at the same time.
Overall, yeah. The number don’t lie and NL has many more items than NH, but the relevant comparisons show that the difference may not be as big as some of the opinions floating around seem to paint. However, there is another thing that may contribute to the feeling of “NH has no items” and is the following table:
Due to the crafting mechanic introduced, the number of furniture found within Nook’s Cranny (which fits the criteria of “orderable”) is drastically reduced- by 500! So while people could find many different items for a long time on the shop, they now have to do it themselves. The crafting offers many advantages, because you can make it anytime, anywhere but it paints another light on why people may find the furniture number of NH appalling.
Edit: For informative purposes, I’ve added the following table comparing PWP (NL) and the equivalent PWP things (NH) not counted already:
Like previously said, PWP have tons of limitations, while NH equivalents have only 2, the amount of bridges and inclines. This gap will only close if new bridges, inclines or fences are released; because if old PWP get repurposed, they will be added to the first count.
And now we go into another topic that is key:
Focus - Exterior decorating > Interior design sets
Although it’s not explicitly told by the developers, the focus of many furniture items has been shifted to decorating outdoors. While NL offered tons of options for decorating your house, NH has to offer options to decorate your whole island. That means that the furniture on the game must be able to function both inside and outside of your house, even if some items (like a kitchen scale) is better suited for your home and some items are fit to be placed outside (like a lighthouse). We know their philosophy is that users feel comfortable using furniture wherever they like, so they took the time to ensure that any item is able to fit on your home.
Previous Animal Crossing games had tons of furniture items allocated within “sets” which commonly featured common household items- a chair, table, lamp, bed, TV, dresser, clock, etc. However, it’s clear that most of these items won’t be suited for outdoor decorating and that’s the focus of NH. So what happens? Well, a great example is this:
The Spooky Series is present on both games, but they are night and day. NL had the standard items with a color scheme and motif related to the event. There is nothing really out there; it’s the standard “set” furniture with a purple/orange coat of paint and Jack’s face slapped on. On the other side, NH has a jack o’lantern, a weird lamp, an arch, a scarecrow, a carriage, etc.
Edit: With Turkey Day over, another pic comparison is fun:
Another complete makeover! Featuring table settings, fireplace and wheat decorations, the NH sets itself apart from the Harvest series. This one took a more homely approach without forgetting the outdoors with the multifunctional garden stand and it also got rid of the obligatory sofa, dresser, clock. It also notably features a customisable variant for the Southern Hemisphere.
Even the Bunny Day series, which is very similar to its predecessor, goes on a whole different direction. Both games have an “egg themed” bed, but while New Leaf has the same <very similar to others> bed, NH has a giant basket of eggs as the rest spot. It’s clear the focus on giving everyone options to making their island unique let them be more creative and explore even more choices to do something else; with much more imagination behind.
Edit: NH will feature for the first time, new items for a recurring event, this time Bunny Day. And instead of relying on the past and bringing back the old furniture series, the devs have brought to life 5 completely new items for the event. Wether that trend continues for future major events is still on the air, it seems the old furniture sets are more dead than ever. However, anything can happen.
This difference is also seen with the aformentioned Spooky series, which features wildy different chairs- one is a standard chair while the other is a pumpkin cut in half. Which one would be better suited to fulfill the focus on being able to be used both inside and outside? It seems that the developers may have left behind many of the standard sets in order to focus their time on developing items that fit the big feature of the newest game. Maybe they still plan to add some of the sets, as we have seen with the Mermaid series being brought back almost identically or maybe they're reinventing them before adding them back.
Edit: The Toy Day series on NH is a weird one when compared to the Jingle series on previous games. It seems to be a mix between the sleigh, pile of gifts, the Festive series and the toys. It's once again a drastic departure, the only "similar" thing is the fact that you can use the sleigh as a chair, but that's the only thing in common.
Edit: The Festivale series on NH is one of the best examples of the new exterior approach. All the items included feature some kind of lighting and wind mechanic going on (except for the Drum): everything moves with the wind and illuminates at night. While of course you can replicate both of these things inside your house, it's more natural to see it happening outside.
After all this, it’s fine if people don’t find this focus appealing and liked the way things were before; tons of people miss the “sets” and seem to don’t care about the new items. In my humble opinion, it’s ok to want the old “sets” back, but it’s not ok to outright dismiss the creativity present. It’s fine if you personally want 5 slightly different sofas and 5 slightly different dressers but it’s also fine to understand that some people may prefer a sofa, a dresser, a giant moth model, a pumpkin arch, a monster statue, a bamboo slide, a shark model, a tall mushroom parasol, a garden stand and an acorn toy instead.
This brings us to a small topic:
Replacement - It’s not the same, but it’s equivalent
Some items may have been deemed irrelevant with others items having a similar function and got removed as a result. An example may be the apparent dismissal of the Creepy Series. I say “apparent” because almost all the series is indeed on NH, but with a different face.
For example, you won’t find the “Creepy stone” or the “Creepy bat stone” on NH but you will find the “Western style stone” and the “Zen style stone”. These four items are functionally the same- they depict gravestone/tombs and will help you in order to create a cemetery. They are also visually similar, so NH team probably found no use for the older items.
vs
Similarly, the “Creepy skeleton” is replaced by either the Australopithecus fossil or the generic fossil sprite and the “Creepy Statue” can be substituted by any haunted artwork.
vs
/
Even the “Creepy cauldron” and “Creepy crystal” have some kind of equivalent item with the “Kettle bathtub” and “Fortune-telling set” (even if they have bigger differences). With all those replaced, the leftover items were cut.
Speaking of cut, there are some important categories of “cut” furniture…
Cut! - They’re not here
There is indeed some items that have been cut and don’t have replacements and haven’t been reinvented. These can be grouped into two big categories, both of which are sorely missed: food items and crossover furniture. Although there are some food items already (with more coming within the latest update), it seems weird how they seem to lack any equivalency and it’s weirder (or maybe that’s the reason) when you consider that a cooking feature is/was on development.
Edit: The 1.6 update added 5 food items, so I guess it's a start.
Crossover furniture also represents a big chunk of the difference between the totals of NH vs NL, and it seems it was planned that way with the confirmation of Mario items coming to celebrate Mario’s 35th birthday. Maybe the developers intend to add this furniture little by little when major milestones for other Nintendo franchises come to make them more special, but they indeed add up. Furniture from franchises like Sanrio or 7-11 are another whole can of worms as they can’t simply be added to a new game without some copyright, contracts and negotiations nightmare. I don't have the exact number, but just from this group, there are about 50+ items cut. The decision for Nintendo items to wait may have been a marketing one or developers may have run into legal issues as well.
Edit: On an unpexcted twist, at least for me, the Sanrio stuff is indeed coming to NH. As pointed above, it seems at least 34 furniture items are coming back. With The Legend of Zelda currently on its 35th year (which for marketing purposes seems to have not started yet?) and Splatoon 3 on its way, more crossovers items could appear soon.
These two categories, alongside others like “houseplants” greatly reduce the number of items present on NH but they can be easily grouped. These little things begin to represent a considerable amount of the missing items…
One by one, the count goes on
Finally, it’s worth noting that there are things that little by little give NL lots of more furniture over NH. For example, NL has three different cones counted as separate furniture and four Lucky cats that do the same, whereas NH has only one cone which comes on 8 different variations which include the two that were “cut” and one Lucky Cat that comes on 3 different variations including two of the “cut” items. Please note that many items of NL were also exclusive to some countries and you needed to trade with specific people to get them, while NH has them available worldwide.
These kind of things make the 246 number difference at the beginning appear bigger than it really is.
Final words
New Leaf has an amazing amount of furniture and undoubtedly, set a high bar. New Horizons so far has less furniture and the change of focus may have not been well received by some fans. I agree that NH would greatly benefit from many more furniture options and I’m almost sure we’re going to see more options on the future. I personally think the divide between both is a little overrated and the games are unfairly compared and some people do say vastly incorrect things or greatly diminish NH just because.
I hope this thread can open up some discussions or help people notice the differences between both games and maybe see a different perspective on this recurring topic. Thanks for any feedback and hope everyone keeps enjoying Animal Crossing.
*all images were taken from Nookipedia, IGN guide and google-fu and NH screenshots of the Spooky/Turkey Day series are my own, previous images were taken from Gamespot for the NH Spooky Series and Jeff's NH blog for the NH Turkey Day Series. Special thanks to LoyalDragonfly and Bilaz for pointing me on the right direction.
I’m dividing the analysis on different sections in order to get the best overall picture and please note that I’m not taking the upcoming (1.9) update in account. Edit: I have updated the numbers with the 1.9 update.
Intro
There's also the definition of “furniture” which is anything on the games that is not considered a tool, usable or any other category like art, bushes, fences, clothes, etc. This is important to note because NH made it possible to decorate every single inch of the environment (and with great graphics) which makes some items usable for decorating, like pieces of artwork. However, I’m focusing on the common furniture people are used to… use.
NL had PWP, some of which were retooled into furniture- but since the PWP have stricter limitations, they are not considered for NL totals, but the corresponding NH items are. We’re also not comparing the customisations options of both games, which are vastly on NH’s favor. Wallpaper and flooring (and rugs for NH) are also out, as they would heavily favor NH with 288 more items than NL. So without further ado:
Numbers - The hottest topic
It’s common to see statements such as “NH has a low amount of furniture”, “There are barely any options” or similar. Let’s see the total numbers of both games, with corresponding milestones.
I used both MoriDB and Nook Plaza as references for the numbers.
Furniture | New Horizons | New Leaf | Difference |
Launch | 1025 | 1271 | -246 |
Updates | 164 | 493 | -329 |
Total | 1189 | 1764 | -575 |
Right off the bat, we can see that NL has an advantage at launch of 246 extra furniture items, which is kind of a considerable amount. However, NH still had more than one thousand furniture items to choose from, which is a very good amount. We’ll go into a bit of detail about the missing items later.
The next thing to note is that NH is slowly adding furniture, and within the first year of the game has already added 164 new pieces. On the other hand, NL had a massive update with almost 500 extra items but it came until its fourth year. It’s kind of unfair to compare base NH with amiibo’d NL, at least until four years have passed for the former. We don’t know for sure the plans for the newest game, especially considering that the sales expectations have already been blasted to oblivion, and although we have reached the point where no major events are left to be added, Nintendo has said that to keep watching for news. What that means is anyone guess.
Edit: As we enter the second year of the game, NH has 82 furniture items less than NL at the same time.
Overall, yeah. The number don’t lie and NL has many more items than NH, but the relevant comparisons show that the difference may not be as big as some of the opinions floating around seem to paint. However, there is another thing that may contribute to the feeling of “NH has no items” and is the following table:
Furniture | New Horizons | New Leaf | Difference |
Orderable | 445 | 922 | -47 |
Craftable | 393 | 0 | 393 |
Due to the crafting mechanic introduced, the number of furniture found within Nook’s Cranny (which fits the criteria of “orderable”) is drastically reduced- by 500! So while people could find many different items for a long time on the shop, they now have to do it themselves. The crafting offers many advantages, because you can make it anytime, anywhere but it paints another light on why people may find the furniture number of NH appalling.
Edit: For informative purposes, I’ve added the following table comparing PWP (NL) and the equivalent PWP things (NH) not counted already:
“PWP” New Horizons | PWP New Leaf | Difference |
38 | 87 | -49 |
Like previously said, PWP have tons of limitations, while NH equivalents have only 2, the amount of bridges and inclines. This gap will only close if new bridges, inclines or fences are released; because if old PWP get repurposed, they will be added to the first count.
And now we go into another topic that is key:
Focus - Exterior decorating > Interior design sets
Although it’s not explicitly told by the developers, the focus of many furniture items has been shifted to decorating outdoors. While NL offered tons of options for decorating your house, NH has to offer options to decorate your whole island. That means that the furniture on the game must be able to function both inside and outside of your house, even if some items (like a kitchen scale) is better suited for your home and some items are fit to be placed outside (like a lighthouse). We know their philosophy is that users feel comfortable using furniture wherever they like, so they took the time to ensure that any item is able to fit on your home.
Previous Animal Crossing games had tons of furniture items allocated within “sets” which commonly featured common household items- a chair, table, lamp, bed, TV, dresser, clock, etc. However, it’s clear that most of these items won’t be suited for outdoor decorating and that’s the focus of NH. So what happens? Well, a great example is this:
The Spooky Series is present on both games, but they are night and day. NL had the standard items with a color scheme and motif related to the event. There is nothing really out there; it’s the standard “set” furniture with a purple/orange coat of paint and Jack’s face slapped on. On the other side, NH has a jack o’lantern, a weird lamp, an arch, a scarecrow, a carriage, etc.
Edit: With Turkey Day over, another pic comparison is fun:
Another complete makeover! Featuring table settings, fireplace and wheat decorations, the NH sets itself apart from the Harvest series. This one took a more homely approach without forgetting the outdoors with the multifunctional garden stand and it also got rid of the obligatory sofa, dresser, clock. It also notably features a customisable variant for the Southern Hemisphere.
Even the Bunny Day series, which is very similar to its predecessor, goes on a whole different direction. Both games have an “egg themed” bed, but while New Leaf has the same <very similar to others> bed, NH has a giant basket of eggs as the rest spot. It’s clear the focus on giving everyone options to making their island unique let them be more creative and explore even more choices to do something else; with much more imagination behind.
Edit: NH will feature for the first time, new items for a recurring event, this time Bunny Day. And instead of relying on the past and bringing back the old furniture series, the devs have brought to life 5 completely new items for the event. Wether that trend continues for future major events is still on the air, it seems the old furniture sets are more dead than ever. However, anything can happen.
This difference is also seen with the aformentioned Spooky series, which features wildy different chairs- one is a standard chair while the other is a pumpkin cut in half. Which one would be better suited to fulfill the focus on being able to be used both inside and outside? It seems that the developers may have left behind many of the standard sets in order to focus their time on developing items that fit the big feature of the newest game. Maybe they still plan to add some of the sets, as we have seen with the Mermaid series being brought back almost identically or maybe they're reinventing them before adding them back.
Edit: The Toy Day series on NH is a weird one when compared to the Jingle series on previous games. It seems to be a mix between the sleigh, pile of gifts, the Festive series and the toys. It's once again a drastic departure, the only "similar" thing is the fact that you can use the sleigh as a chair, but that's the only thing in common.
Edit: The Festivale series on NH is one of the best examples of the new exterior approach. All the items included feature some kind of lighting and wind mechanic going on (except for the Drum): everything moves with the wind and illuminates at night. While of course you can replicate both of these things inside your house, it's more natural to see it happening outside.
After all this, it’s fine if people don’t find this focus appealing and liked the way things were before; tons of people miss the “sets” and seem to don’t care about the new items. In my humble opinion, it’s ok to want the old “sets” back, but it’s not ok to outright dismiss the creativity present. It’s fine if you personally want 5 slightly different sofas and 5 slightly different dressers but it’s also fine to understand that some people may prefer a sofa, a dresser, a giant moth model, a pumpkin arch, a monster statue, a bamboo slide, a shark model, a tall mushroom parasol, a garden stand and an acorn toy instead.
This brings us to a small topic:
Replacement - It’s not the same, but it’s equivalent
Some items may have been deemed irrelevant with others items having a similar function and got removed as a result. An example may be the apparent dismissal of the Creepy Series. I say “apparent” because almost all the series is indeed on NH, but with a different face.
For example, you won’t find the “Creepy stone” or the “Creepy bat stone” on NH but you will find the “Western style stone” and the “Zen style stone”. These four items are functionally the same- they depict gravestone/tombs and will help you in order to create a cemetery. They are also visually similar, so NH team probably found no use for the older items.
Similarly, the “Creepy skeleton” is replaced by either the Australopithecus fossil or the generic fossil sprite and the “Creepy Statue” can be substituted by any haunted artwork.
Even the “Creepy cauldron” and “Creepy crystal” have some kind of equivalent item with the “Kettle bathtub” and “Fortune-telling set” (even if they have bigger differences). With all those replaced, the leftover items were cut.
Speaking of cut, there are some important categories of “cut” furniture…
Cut! - They’re not here
There is indeed some items that have been cut and don’t have replacements and haven’t been reinvented. These can be grouped into two big categories, both of which are sorely missed: food items and crossover furniture. Although there are some food items already (with more coming within the latest update), it seems weird how they seem to lack any equivalency and it’s weirder (or maybe that’s the reason) when you consider that a cooking feature is/was on development.
Edit: The 1.6 update added 5 food items, so I guess it's a start.
Crossover furniture also represents a big chunk of the difference between the totals of NH vs NL, and it seems it was planned that way with the confirmation of Mario items coming to celebrate Mario’s 35th birthday. Maybe the developers intend to add this furniture little by little when major milestones for other Nintendo franchises come to make them more special, but they indeed add up. Furniture from franchises like Sanrio or 7-11 are another whole can of worms as they can’t simply be added to a new game without some copyright, contracts and negotiations nightmare. I don't have the exact number, but just from this group, there are about 50+ items cut. The decision for Nintendo items to wait may have been a marketing one or developers may have run into legal issues as well.
Edit: On an unpexcted twist, at least for me, the Sanrio stuff is indeed coming to NH. As pointed above, it seems at least 34 furniture items are coming back. With The Legend of Zelda currently on its 35th year (which for marketing purposes seems to have not started yet?) and Splatoon 3 on its way, more crossovers items could appear soon.
These two categories, alongside others like “houseplants” greatly reduce the number of items present on NH but they can be easily grouped. These little things begin to represent a considerable amount of the missing items…
One by one, the count goes on
Finally, it’s worth noting that there are things that little by little give NL lots of more furniture over NH. For example, NL has three different cones counted as separate furniture and four Lucky cats that do the same, whereas NH has only one cone which comes on 8 different variations which include the two that were “cut” and one Lucky Cat that comes on 3 different variations including two of the “cut” items. Please note that many items of NL were also exclusive to some countries and you needed to trade with specific people to get them, while NH has them available worldwide.
These kind of things make the 246 number difference at the beginning appear bigger than it really is.
Final words
New Leaf has an amazing amount of furniture and undoubtedly, set a high bar. New Horizons so far has less furniture and the change of focus may have not been well received by some fans. I agree that NH would greatly benefit from many more furniture options and I’m almost sure we’re going to see more options on the future. I personally think the divide between both is a little overrated and the games are unfairly compared and some people do say vastly incorrect things or greatly diminish NH just because.
I hope this thread can open up some discussions or help people notice the differences between both games and maybe see a different perspective on this recurring topic. Thanks for any feedback and hope everyone keeps enjoying Animal Crossing.
*all images were taken from Nookipedia, IGN guide and google-fu and NH screenshots of the Spooky/Turkey Day series are my own, previous images were taken from Gamespot for the NH Spooky Series and Jeff's NH blog for the NH Turkey Day Series. Special thanks to LoyalDragonfly and Bilaz for pointing me on the right direction.
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