To those who haven’t played New Leaf in a while…

[Alolan_Apples]

We may have been used to ACNH after being out for 3.5 years, but when you go back to playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf or at least see your ACNL screenshots, what do you think of it? Does it look worse or feel harder when you go back to it?

Just recently, I decided to take a look at my old screenshots from the town of MoonGlow, my last town I made in ACNL. As someone who hasn’t played ACNL in almost 6 years and was used to ACNH’s graphics and mechanics, these photos look too odd for me. Granted, I did transfer them by SD card instead of submit through Miiverse, so the quality looked crappy. But even if they were in high definition, the game looks too jarring to go back to. I can’t even play ACNL anymore because I sold both my copies to Game Exchange earlier this year, but even if I never did that, I wouldn’t want to do so anyway.

I did have some benefits by looking at the photos. As bad the graphics and town design features are, it still had a lot that ACNH should’ve had, like furniture series and themes, Café and Police Station as separate buildings to place on your island, perfect fruits and tropical fruits (I’m not going to stop talking about that), the season changes that looked better, and the mini-games that were added to the Welcome amiibo update. That, and I still liked what I did when decorating the town of MoonGlow. 6 years later, and I still don’t have any regrets.

Spoiler: Screenshot Examples

While most of the town is covered in flowers and disco path tiles, the camping forest is the most natural area.

The Café Plaza, with an illuminated arch at the front of the plaza. If only you could place benches sideways.

The main room of the California-themed house, one of the houses in MoonGlow.

Back when I made this town, these photos show how well I done in designing the town. Now, it looks like something to compare to New Horizons to see how it’s better or worse. Additionally, Andrea (the mayor) doesn’t look as good as she once did back in 2017, thanks to changes in character design.

 

[Xara]

i haven’t played new leaf in almost 6 years, and i’ve since sold my copies of it. i hardly ever even turn my 3ds on anymore, but i actually looked at some of my old new leaf screenshots earlier this year. i wouldn’t say that the new leaf graphics are bad per-say, but i’m definitely not used to the graininess of them anymore after having new horizons for over 3 years.

i don’t think the graphics or changes in design would deter me from playing new leaf again, though. in fact, i’ve actually been considering trying to buy a copy of it somewhere so that i can play again. new horizons is fun and the graphics and some of its features are superior, but i miss a lot of new leaf’s features and the cozy, community-oriented vibes it had, if that makes sense. the graphics and some of the features (ex. villagers being able to move out randomly, plot resetting etc) would take some time to get used to again, but i think it’d still be fun!

 

[Alolan_Apples]

I remember back in the New Leaf era, ACNL’s gameplay made Wild World and other older games feel unplayable because of the new features. Whatever ACWW had that ACNL hasn’t was hard to imagine as an ACNL player. Now the same is true for ACNL as an ACNH player. And as you said, it’s not the graphics or item/character design that affects the quality.

The truth about Animal Crossing is that each new entry invalidates the previous game, but the only reasons to play the previous games are for the little niches they had that newer games lack. New Leaf had a lot of these now due to how much New Horizons cut back on the popular features, but the GameCube version had NES games, Wild World had the furniture point system, and City Folk had a feature where you can choose your shop upgrades. But these niches aren’t enough to get you comfortable with the actual gameplay styles that have been improved over time.

 

[LoyalDragonfly]

Somebody might criticize me for speaking through a lens of nostalgia, as New Leaf was my first Animal Crossing game, but I have never stopped loving 3DS graphics. I was not particularly a fan of how New Horizons looked (I ended up returning that game after a couple of weeks, for a variety of reasons). Without exaggeration, I simply adore the way New Leaf looks. Whenever I see screenshots, I instantly get the urge to play again. It's just cutely appealing to me, even if it's not of the highest quality.

Please also understand that my boyfriend is currently working on resetting his starting town on AC Gamecube, as he feels the same way about that game as I do about New Leaf. And even I have to admit the highly polgyonal look of that game is, in its own way, cutely appealing.

 

[Rainbowhorn]

I haven't opened NL is a bit over a year, I'm kinda afraid some of my faves moved out so I'm afraid to find out too... If Fang is no longer there I'm gonna be so sad

 

[VolauVenx]

This is a really sweet post, I recently started playing new leaf again myself and I find there’s so much to do. I’ve played new horizons a bit but not enough to ever get comfortable with it. I get so much inspiration to continue and make more out of the game I have from posts like these, I’m also 100% taking the idea of making rooms for my villagers gifts, I felt so bad for not having room to store them! Thanks for this!

 

[Seastar]

I remember going back and not really feeling that different about the game. It doesn't look worse to me because I'm still used to it. It was my first Animal Crossing game. The only real issue though was having to re-teach myself to not run over my flowers.

On the other hand, I eventually got Wild World and... the frame rate...

 

[pawpatrolbab]

When New Horizons was coming out I found playing New Leaf really difficult, once I saw how the updated graphics looked I just couldn't go back. However since New Horizons has been out for awhile, and I am also playing New Leaf alongside it - I feel completely the opposite. Maybe it is nostalgia speaking but I feel the "rough" graphics have so much charm that simply just got lost in translation with the Switch. I say it still holds up very strongly

 

[kilusion2011]

I still think New Horizons is a lovely game and I appreciate the customization options and the new things they've added, but I always felt myself asking "Why couldn't they have done x when New Leaf did it?" with certain stuff. I might have some bias since New Leaf was my first Animal Crossing game, but there was a lot I could do in that game and I looked forward to playing it every day! Sure, it's not as impressive with New Horizons, but I could go to Tortimer's Island and visit Main Street and work on unlocking new things! Every day, I would log on to see if anything new was unlocked!

Recently, I started to play New Leaf again and it's still as fun as ever!

 

[Hypno KK]

I still play New Leaf and I love it. There's a depth to the game that NH doesn't always have and the only thing I wish would be different is just the ability to place furniture outside. The graphics don't bother me that much.

 

[bestiepango]

I recently started getting back into the swing of things w NL since I was just so burnt out I guess by the grind of NH (I don't think even since release, I've managed to keep an island very long after 3 stars bc of resetting so often), but playing NL has been a really nice change of pace for me. def miss all the custom design slots tho lol

 

[Giddy]

I havent technically gone back to play, but have gone back recently because I left my town flooded with items on the floor and my urge to organise brings me back.

At first, the graphics did feel quite strange but I have gone back to getting use to it.

I mainly want to go back to the older games to feel the fun of games like hide n seek, or the way they talk to you again.

Wait, theres another way to get the images uploaded? I did it the same and recently uploaded them into a USB. But quite small, i could zoom it in and hope i can make it look less blurry

 

[tumut]

I went back to NL after playing ACNH. I feel like New Leaf has significantly more content and honestly is vastly superior to ACNH in its writing, furniture selection, special npcs and events, objectives, and overall just feels like a more complete game to me.

The graphics aren't that grainy that its an issue for me. I think they aged well for the most part but you can def tell they were stylized for the 3D function of the 3DS.

I think ACNH caters more to those looking for a sandbox experience where they can customize their island, and ACNL provides a more classic AC experience while also having some of the customization features NH offers.

Post automatically merged: Dec 11, 2023

Also Gyroids in ACNL > ACNH

MAKE THEM WEIRD AND UGLY AGAIN!

 

[azurill]

It’s been a long time since I actively played NL. The graphics of games have never been a problem for me. I still love how it looks when I go back for a day once in awhile. The thing that keeps me going back to NH is the QOL upgrades NH has. Mostly being able to carry so many more items then in NL. Also not losing my favorite villagers if I take some time off.
I still like the NL and sometimes think of restarting one of my towns but know I would not have the time to play it.

 

[nocctea]

It could be because I still look at New Leaf content (videos or screen shots) but I never felt a big disconnect between the graphics of NL and NH. Like yeah NL doesn't have as realistic graphics as NH but I still think they hold up very well! Though sometimes I see screenshots from WW, which I don't look at content from as much, and think "wow it's a lot more pixelated than I remember", but even then I think the Animal Crossing style holds up very well for the older games. But I'm also not a big stickler for graphics haha I just care about "the vibesss~" lmao

 

[eeveelovee]

I remember first playing New Leaf... and seeing the graphics.. and thinking WOW this is so much better than any previous AC games!! It was beautiful...

Now, looking back at old screenshots.... they look like they were taken in 1995 with a broken toaster. I don't get it. How did New Leaf age so quickly??? It was such a fresh, new game and now it seems like it's Super Mario Bros from 1985.

I guess that's just what happens when time goes on...

 

[Mars Adept]

I don’t have a working 3DS anymore so I couldn’t go back even if I wanted to, but I must say, despite how much I complained back in the day, New Leaf has aged exceptionally well. I remember hearing somewhere that the developers wanted to fix their mistakes they made with City Folk (which was infamously a copy-and-paste of Wild World), and they certainly did so with all the new content. There’s still some things that I don’t like, such as the taller more realistically proportioned characters, or Isabelle, but overall, after the disaster that was New Horizons, I have almost nothing but good memories with New Leaf. I might just buy another 3DS so I can play one last time before the Wi-Fi services shut off. I spent way too much time on Club Tortimer years back.

On a side note, I’m used to old, blocky 3D graphics, so NL’s doesn’t bother me.

 

[olliebugge]

i think the only thing that prevents me from being able to go back to playing NL over NH is the inventory issue. we’ve been spoiled with the massive inventory in NH, and even then i sometimes feel like it’s too small. going back to NL, it’s like “dang, we lived like this?” haha. still a very nostalgic game. maybe i’ll boot it up some time.

 

[Squidward]

The graphics weren't ideal, but the 3DS screenshot option ruined the image quality further. Here is an example of a screenshot taken in Miiverse which didn't reduce the quality.

Spoiler: example

 

[SpaceTiger222]

I just restarted my town after being away for years. I still like NL a lot, but I do of course enjoy the graphics of NH more, and there are some areas where actions seem too slow (shaking trees and swinging a net) or too hard to aim. But nothing major. My only real complaint is having to run to Re-Tail every few minutes because my inventory fills up lol.