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[Guide] A Completionist's Memo to 100%'ing the Museum

Jables

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How to 100% the Museum


Hi everyone, Jables here again. This time, I'm making a post on the easiest ways to fill the Museum in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. This guide is directed towards beginners, but maybe you AC masters will learn something new! Not much more to say, so let's get into it!.
(Note: I DO TT myself, if you don't TT, please do not bully me for my decision. If you do not want to "exploit" the game to go farther, I recommend not reading on.)



The Museum in Animal Crossing: New Leaf is one of the biggest in the series. There are tons of paintings, fish, bugs, and fossils to add to the Museum's collection. Expanding it out unlocks the Museum Shop, where tons of helpful tools such as the silver axe can be found and purchased, as well as opening up the Cafe. To get to each of these, however, you'll need tons of museum attractions. Here's a guide on how to get as large of a Museum as possible.


Fossils

Fossils are the easiest of the four main museum options. Most players will see little star icons appear above the ground, and either receive a fossil, pitfall seed, or a lloyd. What may be not as well known is that there are four fossils that spawn every day, and will always spawn at the beginning of a new day, or 6:00 AM.

Fossils Strategy

To maximize your fossil game, you should TT to a day 2-4 days in advance that has NOT BEEN LOADED. The day cannot be loaded (or already went to) because the events that happen in that day, AKA what fossils you get, were already chosen. Look around for a couple minutes and you will find about 8-10 fossils, or more than the usual amount. Get them examined ASAP. Any duplicates, you are free to sell!
This process will take about 20 minutes each day, and reap about 10-15 fossils per TT. It's a very effective strategy!

Bugs

Bugs are the next stage on the ladder for the Museum. It's rather hard to collect all of the many bugs to 100% the Museum, but it is possible. We will be exploiting the island for our own gain to collect enough bugs to 100% this part of the museum.

Bugs Strategy

You can visit the island 24/7 and collect anything you want, fruit, tokens, bugs, or fish. ABUSE THIS. Head to the island after 7PM, and talk to Lloyd to obtain a net, shovel, and axe. If you haven't already, cut down all of the trees on the main greenery part of the island, and dig out the stumps + all of the bushes. These trees spawn trash bugs, or bugs that are not useful to have because of their low selling price. This trash bugs can usually be found in your town in the summer, so it's better to either TT to June or July or just wait until that time! Back to the main strategy, however...
You want to catch as many bugs as possible on the trees, until all four slots in the island container have been filled and you cannot take anymore home. You can release or sell duplicate bugs. Including Scorpions, there are 72 types of bugs in the entire game.
Here's a list of every bug in the game:
https://nookipedia.com/wiki/Bugs/Animal_Crossing:_New_Leaf
Here's a fantastic guide on how to catch the Tarantula and Scorpion, the only aggressive bugs in the entire game, by SimplyPressStart:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D0DMBt7Qyc

Fish

Moving on in the guide, fish are the next priority. Fish are probably the least mentally exhausting to catch, despite their- well, let's just say, common nature to not bite the bait. If it is possible, pick up the Silver or even Gold net (although if you're at the point in the game where you have a gold net, I don't know why you're here) because it's going to make the next section much easier. For those of you who don't know, here's how to get all silver and gold tools in Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgP0yMwtvvY
A silver fishing net is highly recommended.

Fish Strategy

The fish strategy is very similar to how the bug strategy works, but slightly different. There are once again, 72 types of fish in the entire game. However, fish tend to sell a lot better than bugs do, so duplicates will make more money for you. I would also suggest:
-Coming to the island after 7PM
-Looking at the silhouettes of fish (more about that later)
-Patience. A lot of it.

Some of the rarer fish, such as coelacanths and all shark breeds, are extremely difficult to catch, ranging from difficult to hair-tearing. If you see a fish in the sea, if it's in your town or on the island, and the silhouette is decently sized, catch it. If it's a dup (which will be confirmed by Blathers when trying to donate), sell it. As you may already know, fish have certain sized silhouettes underwater, and the larger the silhouette, the larger the fish; on average, anyway. Shark breeds can be told by a fin sticking out from the water.
Again, SimplyPressStart explains how to get the coelacanth in much greater detail here: https://youtu.be/4ZVG5AGxZLE

Art

Whoo, we're almost done! Art is the most mind-numbing process of the Museum, mostly because of the strict conditions to get it.
To receive art, you have to either:
-Get free art from a villager
-Trade for art on the Bell Tree Forums
-Try your luck at Redd

However, there is a slightly possible way to get art when Redd is in town. You could use this guide to show you which of his paintings are real, and which is fake. I'm still unsure what kinds of villagers give you art, and it's not 100% real.


(Note: It is impossible to invite global players to your town or visit global player's towns if you have the COPPA Parental Guide feature on your 3DS. If you are under the age of 13, please visit a close family member or guardian for their information so you can play online. If you are over the age of 13, you can disable all parental settings.)

Art Strategy

Trade and buy on Bell Tree Forums. That's the only reasonable answer I can give, unfortunately. If you know any way to get a villager that gives out free artwork, post it in the comments and I will remake this Art section. Luckily, there are a lot of nice people on TBT, so you shouldn't have much of a problem, as long as you can pay up!

Epilogue & Rewards

If you've 100% completed the Museum, congratulations! You just wasted 30 hours of your life you can never get back! Hooray!
No, but seriously. After donating at least one of every item, and 25 items overall, you can unlock the Museum Shop and add it to your list of public works projects. When you reach 50 items, talk to Blathers again, where he will again be in his thinking pose. You can then unlock the Cafe! However, you get no final reward for 100% on the Museum, as far as I know; but it does look really cool, and you can brag about it to your friends! Think about this at a dinner conversation: (Oh, wow, Melinda, you went rock climbing this weekend? Did I ever tell you about the time I spent 55 HOURS IN A DIGITAL WORLD COMPLETING A MUSEUM?)

And that's it! That's everything you need to know to 100% the Museum! It may be hard at first, but toughen up and get through it, because in no time at all, you'll have completed the Museum! Thank you for reading this far (Unless you skipped to the comments section and accidentally read this) and I hope I help as many newcomers as possible with this guide! Leave your feedback in the comments, if you'd like to, and I hope I see you all soon!

Ily~
 
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For the art guide, cranky villagers I believe are the only (or one of the only) types of villagers that will sell art to you. This is sometimes real, sometimes fake, it's kinda random. For Redd I believe he almost always stocks one real artwork or more, and I would recommend looking up a redd real vs fake guide, like this one for whenever he's in town.
 
For the art guide, cranky villagers I believe are the only (or one of the only) types of villagers that will sell art to you. This is sometimes real, sometimes fake, it's kinda random. For Redd I believe he almost always stocks one real artwork or more, and I would recommend looking up a redd real vs fake guide, like this one for whenever he's in town.

I've definitely had Smug and Uchi villagers sell me art before, but they've hardly ever been real.
 
For the art guide, cranky villagers I believe are the only (or one of the only) types of villagers that will sell art to you. This is sometimes real, sometimes fake, it's kinda random. For Redd I believe he almost always stocks one real artwork or more, and I would recommend looking up a redd real vs fake guide, like this one for whenever he's in town.

Edited to compensate!
:D
 
One tip I could suggest adding to the Art section:

When Redd shows up in town, he has 4 pieces of art - most of the time only one piece of artwork is real.

But sometimes there are two, three or very rarely all four pieces of art are real!

If you?re looking to complete your art collection I highly suggest having at least one alternate playable character.

Getting more than one artwork adds to the museum fast!
 
One tip I could suggest adding to the Art section:

When Redd shows up in town, he has 4 pieces of art - most of the time only one piece of artwork is real.

But sometimes there are two, three or very rarely all four pieces of art are real!

If you’re looking to complete your art collection I highly suggest having at least one alternate playable character.

Getting more than one artwork adds to the museum fast!

I've yet to see three real art pieces. I got lucky once with two, so I made a second character and bought it lmao.
 
I've yet to see three real art pieces. I got lucky once with two, so I made a second character and bought it lmao.

The first time I visited someone?s town on TBT I went to someone?s town.

She had Crazy Redd - and I decided to go inside.

He had 4 real paintings!!!

I told her that all 4 were real and she should get them!

?Meh?, she said. ?I?m not into art.?

4 real paintings. In one day. I can tell you..it can happen!
 
I think this (guide) is common knowledge. ^_^
Good work though, for those unfamiliar with it.
 
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I think this (guide?) is common knowledge. ^_^

Pocket Camp is bringing in a lot of new New Leaf players...

And I have seen several people comment that now that they?ve done everything else in New Leaf they want something to do - and one of those things to do is complete the museum.
 
The first thing I do is start filling the museum. ^_^

I've buried 4 fossils since completing it, so I don't wear my grass out by searching for them. ^_^
 
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For fossils, here's a trick that can change a fossil you have already to one you don't.

-Collect fossils and put them in your pocket
-Save and continue
-Go to the museum and assess
-If there's a lot of fossils you already have or you got all of them, reset (home menu)
-Boot up the game and go back to the museum to assess
-The results for the fossils will be different! If you're lucky, you'll get some fossils you don't have yet in the museum.

learned this from some old tumblr post

- - - Post Merge - - -

also when you 100% complete the museum, a museum model is put up for sale in the museum shop.
 
That's not a trick! LOL

Basically, all you just said, is if they aren't the fossil you want - reset until it is.

This is not a trick, it's a given. ^_^
 
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By the way, there is a prize for 100% the museum. Once you've finished it, Celeste can sell you a Museum model. It appears at random every day once you've finished it.
 
By the way, there is a prize for 100% the museum. Once you've finished it, Celeste can sell you a Museum model. It appears at random every day once you've finished it.

It WAS a prize in WW
Now it's just something you unlock to buy.

You shouldn't have to purchase something that has been a prize in other AC games.

So in fact, we actually don't get a single thing for all that work.
 
It WAS a prize in WW
Now it's just something you unlock to buy.

You shouldn't have to purchase something that has been a prize in other AC games.

So in fact, we actually don't get a single thing for all that work.

You get to buy it multiple times when it appears in the completed museum.

Then every player in that town can have one!
 
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