i prefer NL to NH by a lot. there are things that r a lot better in NH (like idk terraforming although im way too lazy to even do it) but i feel like its gone backwards too. its an unfinished game. i know it gets updates but i think even then ill prefer NL cuz its always been comforting and fun to me while i played NH for a few days and just got really bored. i dont really like the switch either. i wouldnt even have played NH if it wasnt for my sister because shes the one that buys consoles and stuff. i havent played new leaf in so long though. might get back into it soon
Just me, or do i rather New Leaf to New Horizons?
- Thread starter acnh.eclipse
- Start date
I'm not a fan of living on a deserted island, so that is one aspect that makes New Leaf a little better to me. Being apart of a town with a functional shopping district that is accessible by train feels a lot better than the idea that the only way to and from the town is by plane. It kind of gives the feeling of isolation/separation. Also, because of the way New Leaf worked, you could sometimes meet up with past villagers in the shopping district.
I think if New Horizons had a feature where we could take a ferry to a distant shore where there was some kind of small shipping district, that would be really cool, and definitely help with the feeling of isolation.
Edit: this probably belongs in a New Horizons thread, but a shopping district would serve as a way to introduce things like Club LOL, Happy Home Academy, the Roost, Maybe some obsolete characters like Harriet, Phyliss, Pelly. None other than Kappn could be the one to ferry us back and forth, and like New Leaf, we could meet past villagers there.
I think if New Horizons had a feature where we could take a ferry to a distant shore where there was some kind of small shipping district, that would be really cool, and definitely help with the feeling of isolation.
Edit: this probably belongs in a New Horizons thread, but a shopping district would serve as a way to introduce things like Club LOL, Happy Home Academy, the Roost, Maybe some obsolete characters like Harriet, Phyliss, Pelly. None other than Kappn could be the one to ferry us back and forth, and like New Leaf, we could meet past villagers there.
Last edited:
Ach such a complicated predicament ! I mean I have tons of hours in NH and i am loving it however of course there are many things i find its missing, little things i dont like that much and things i feel could have been better. However, I have to agree with you at least till certain degree i played a bit of NL the other day and i felt there was so much depth and detailed put to it that i was amazed.
I dont have the time ( although i do but i would be a salve to gaming lol ) to play both games BUT i wished from now on for all the updates i wished that nintendo would also work a tiny bit more on giving more depth, personalization to characters and overall more detail to the game, what i try to say is that i would like to see more flesh from the game if it makes sense.
But i truly appreciate NH !
I dont have the time ( although i do but i would be a salve to gaming lol ) to play both games BUT i wished from now on for all the updates i wished that nintendo would also work a tiny bit more on giving more depth, personalization to characters and overall more detail to the game, what i try to say is that i would like to see more flesh from the game if it makes sense.
But i truly appreciate NH !
Not just you. There are so many features in NL that aren’t in NH and while I get that it’s not that simple to just copy and paste everything from one game to the next, I still don’t feel like they gave us enough at launch. They are still updating the game, but at the current pace they are going, it would take many years for the game to reach all of the levels of content NL had.
cherrysmilesonice
got me spinnin’ like a ballerina 🩰
Don’t get me wrong, I love NH to death but they left out so many NPC’s, the mini games, most of the furniture I adored and GYROIDS! Plus I really miss kappn and Brewster and my guy Porter. 
The thing that I miss the absolute most is having your villagers set up hangouts to invite you over or randomly visiting your house ; ; hide and seek too.
Again though, I love NH but New Leaf will always be special and I miss these features so so so much. I hope they may add them back but we can’t be sure. ; ;
The thing that I miss the absolute most is having your villagers set up hangouts to invite you over or randomly visiting your house ; ; hide and seek too.
Again though, I love NH but New Leaf will always be special and I miss these features so so so much. I hope they may add them back but we can’t be sure. ; ;
Playing New Horizons has gotten me back into playing New Leaf, funnily enough. I guess I’m biased to a certain degree because I hacked my New Leaf town and have all the nice furniture and things I like, and the crafting system in NH just bores me to death, but there’s also little things like the fact I don’t really want to have to pay for Switch Online just so I can put down some custom designs and stuff. New Leaf is a lot more casual and doesn’t stress me out as much.
Plum Pudding
Senior Member
OMG I had completely forgotten about gyroids!! Yeah I miss those, and brewsters. The villagers house placement was too stressful in New Leaf. I never TTed and I was so worried about a villager moving out, and when it did happened it was such a worry where the new villager would plot their house! I spent a lot of time trading villagers because I loved the wolves, and when I lost Freya I slowly lost interest in the game, after playing it daily for yeeeeaaaars! I don't like the crafting feature for now, it's tedious (I'm still fairly new to NH) but I like that I can move buildings and rivers.
*~ Croissant ~*
formerly kazujina
I love playing NH because of the graphics. I use a really tiny Nintendo 3DS to play New Leaf, so the improvement in graphics was a really big dela for me. But that doesn't make Horizons a better game or more enjoyable.
First off, the Horizons music SUCKS compared to New Leaf. New leaf's soundtrack is so relaxing and beautiful, and each track was so good on its own. The Horizons music blends together and is also really annoying because it's so quirky and jazzy.
New Leaf is so relaxing to walk through, and I also like that the grass wears down when you walk. I like it when Villagers plant flowers on the ground. It's so natural and I miss those little bits of realism that made the world seem more...random? Sometimes Horizons seems too design-y and there's not a lot of things we can leave to "chance", which made New Leaf a more magical game.
New Leaf has way more furniture options and that makes the interiors much more interesting visually. Horizons has very few furniture sets, and almost NO food items!! Food items from New Leaf are the best!
First off, the Horizons music SUCKS compared to New Leaf. New leaf's soundtrack is so relaxing and beautiful, and each track was so good on its own. The Horizons music blends together and is also really annoying because it's so quirky and jazzy.
New Leaf is so relaxing to walk through, and I also like that the grass wears down when you walk. I like it when Villagers plant flowers on the ground. It's so natural and I miss those little bits of realism that made the world seem more...random? Sometimes Horizons seems too design-y and there's not a lot of things we can leave to "chance", which made New Leaf a more magical game.
New Leaf has way more furniture options and that makes the interiors much more interesting visually. Horizons has very few furniture sets, and almost NO food items!! Food items from New Leaf are the best!
I think it all comes down to personal preference and if you personally enjoy New Leaf more than New Horizons then there's definitely nothing wrong with playing this game more!
I definitely have certain features & aspects of New Leaf that I prefer to New Horizons but the same can be said for the other way around, too. I'm planning to start a brand new New Leaf town tomorrow and I'm really excited to play through the game again. Well, I never actually finished my main New Leaf town but you know what I mean.
I love the premise of New Leaf a little bit more (always makes me laugh when the villagers are like "yay!! Our new mayor is here!" and our character is clueless about what's happening,) and I love having the town & shops up above the town. I'm excited to collect the furniture sets all over again, fill up the museum again, get all my shops upgraded, experiencing the New Leaf version of the holidays, and I think this time I'm going to try for a fairy-tale themed town (my main town is just like... normal? The train station & town hall haven't been upgraded, plain black street lights, I think I use the rope bridges?). It's also really nice that the New Leaf community is still a little bit active so if I want to play with other players I can, and that the option is free. I'm also happy that even if I don't intend to play with other players I'm still able to obtain all the fruit & furniture variants. There's still regional furniture I won't have access too, but at least it's not as bad as it is in New Horizons.
I definitely have certain features & aspects of New Leaf that I prefer to New Horizons but the same can be said for the other way around, too. I'm planning to start a brand new New Leaf town tomorrow and I'm really excited to play through the game again. Well, I never actually finished my main New Leaf town but you know what I mean.
I love the premise of New Leaf a little bit more (always makes me laugh when the villagers are like "yay!! Our new mayor is here!" and our character is clueless about what's happening,) and I love having the town & shops up above the town. I'm excited to collect the furniture sets all over again, fill up the museum again, get all my shops upgraded, experiencing the New Leaf version of the holidays, and I think this time I'm going to try for a fairy-tale themed town (my main town is just like... normal? The train station & town hall haven't been upgraded, plain black street lights, I think I use the rope bridges?). It's also really nice that the New Leaf community is still a little bit active so if I want to play with other players I can, and that the option is free. I'm also happy that even if I don't intend to play with other players I'm still able to obtain all the fruit & furniture variants. There's still regional furniture I won't have access too, but at least it's not as bad as it is in New Horizons.
I really prefer New Leaf to New Horizons. Pretty much every aspect of New Leaf the I loved was toned down in New Horizons. For example, I loved the mini game island and always wanted the next game to expand on it. Also, stuff like playing hide and seek with villagers was great and I hoped that such activities would appear more often. Oh, and the soundtrack of New Leaf is just phenomenal.
Nevertheless, New Horizons is a great game and the team added enough new features to make it difficult to go back to New Leaf. I started playing New Leaf again and I won't return to New Horizons until they've added at least the features that made New Leaf so great to me.
The updates so far weren't all that interesting to me. I mean, they didn't really expand on the game play or at least not in a significant way. I hope that this will be addressed in future updates. NH still has the potential to become better than New Leaf, but it just needs more content.
Nevertheless, New Horizons is a great game and the team added enough new features to make it difficult to go back to New Leaf. I started playing New Leaf again and I won't return to New Horizons until they've added at least the features that made New Leaf so great to me.
The updates so far weren't all that interesting to me. I mean, they didn't really expand on the game play or at least not in a significant way. I hope that this will be addressed in future updates. NH still has the potential to become better than New Leaf, but it just needs more content.
as a fan of both games, i just can not really compare the two as they are so different. new leaf is definitely one of the best games on the 3ds and one of the best animal crossing games period. however , although missing some things we've gotten so used to and we still wish to come back, new horizons was and still is such a breath of fresh air with its new features and i believe with more and more content coming in the form of updates over the years, it can only get better and better 
I really like New Horizons, it is basically the only reason I have a Switch.
ButI constantly feel like New Leaf was a better game, for me.
I'm not the biggest fan of islands and cities near the sea, and even if you always have it in Animal Crossing, in older games the city feels more like a countryside one. I am from the countryside myself, now I live in a big city because of my parents job, but playing New Leaf was for me the best way to remember the good old days in my little city, so I kinda miss that.
That aside, I loved the simplicity of New Leaf. Yes, the fact you couldn't place some things outside was kind of a bummer (like, Idk, a simple chair), but then they switched to a game where you can basically set everything everywhere, and that much freedom is boring, for me, because at this point I am in full control of every single aspect of the game, and there's nothing left to case or npcs.
New Horizons lack of many contents wich I loved back in New Leaf, such as the Shopping District of Tortimer Island: with Switch potential, they could have made an upgrated version of it, an online lobby where you could find random players and play with them before returning to your island.
The updates are a good way to mantain the game lifespan during the years, but the events they added are basically always the same with a different name and character (take this, craft me something, take your reward, the end), so for me the whole update thing is kinda meh.
I enjoy the new game, I love the graphics and everything else about it, but I also love to play New Leaf, and I still consider it the best Animal Crossing ever.
ButI constantly feel like New Leaf was a better game, for me.
I'm not the biggest fan of islands and cities near the sea, and even if you always have it in Animal Crossing, in older games the city feels more like a countryside one. I am from the countryside myself, now I live in a big city because of my parents job, but playing New Leaf was for me the best way to remember the good old days in my little city, so I kinda miss that.
That aside, I loved the simplicity of New Leaf. Yes, the fact you couldn't place some things outside was kind of a bummer (like, Idk, a simple chair), but then they switched to a game where you can basically set everything everywhere, and that much freedom is boring, for me, because at this point I am in full control of every single aspect of the game, and there's nothing left to case or npcs.
New Horizons lack of many contents wich I loved back in New Leaf, such as the Shopping District of Tortimer Island: with Switch potential, they could have made an upgrated version of it, an online lobby where you could find random players and play with them before returning to your island.
The updates are a good way to mantain the game lifespan during the years, but the events they added are basically always the same with a different name and character (take this, craft me something, take your reward, the end), so for me the whole update thing is kinda meh.
I enjoy the new game, I love the graphics and everything else about it, but I also love to play New Leaf, and I still consider it the best Animal Crossing ever.
as a fan of both games, i just can not really compare the two as they are so different. new leaf is definitely one of the best games on the 3ds and one of the best animal crossing games period. however , although missing some things we've gotten so used to and we still wish to come back, new horizons was and still is such a breath of fresh air with its new features and i believe with more and more content coming in the form of updates over the years, it can only get better and better
I absolutely agree. New Horizons definitely has the potential to get just as much content as New Leaf. I'll still probably prefer the atmosphere of New Leaf, but that's subjective. However, minor annoyances like golden tools breaking and not being able to craft in bulk need to be addressed. Fearing that your tools can break at any minute always puts me under pressure. New Leaf just feels more relaxed, which prefer. If they bring back the minigame island or add some more shop upgrades / shops, I'll definitely play more of NH again, though.
okay i have to agree with you on the atmosphere in new leaf, it's just already so nostalgic to me lmao but i definitely agree on the golden tools part. i never plan on crafting or using golden tools because i feel like that's such a waste of such rare materials, i'll just continue buying new ones from the nook store. it is definitely still annoying though, the amount of times i had to stop working on my island and run back to my house to craft tools that will break again in 2 minutes, just because the store is already closed. also minigames are a must, there's literally nothing to do with friends :/
I totally agree. I really hope they fix the golden tools or introduce some new ones that cannot break and e.g are hard to get, which would be a great motivation to keep playing. I mean, the development team is probably aware of this. And I'm still hopeful we get the minigames, maybe in a Spring or Summer update. It makes me a little bit sad that they weren't in the game from the start. I know a lot of people who quit playing NH because there was so little to do when playing online. I believe they would have played for much longer, had this been there from the start
oranje
Guava Purveyor
I agree with you! I think a large part of the reason why I don't like NH as much as NL is because of how isolated it feels. It doesn't really feel like a true community like it did in previous games. I want to have more shopkeepers and shopping areas. Right now everything feels so small.
I love the terraforming and outdoor decorations but I miss the items/furniture from New Leaf, the villager dialogue, the hourly music (miles better than NH), and it was fun being the mayor. It honestly felt like you had more say and control over your town as mayor even if you couldn't shape the land.Similar threads
