Animal Crossing: New Horizons will support amiibo, allows up to eight players on one island

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‘Additional [amiibo] characters will be supported in the future’

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Today during the lengthy Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Direct, some of the game’s major features were laid out ahead of the March launch. Although the bulk of the Direct mostly dealt with cute animal interactions and small nuances that hardcore fans will notice, there was an “FAQ” section at the end that touched on a few hard-hitting questions.

Nintendo cleared up the multiplayer aspect of the game, explaining just how families will share islands: “With one Switch system and a game, up to eight people can live on one island (which is the max). Each user can register one resident with its own house.” To use tools like shovels and axes (which can ruin layouts and structures), you need to be flagged as a “best friend” (similar to a Real ID in Battle.net or another similar service).

The game will support amiibo figures and cards from the Animal Crossing series. Not a whole lot of detail was provided, but you can see all of the 100% confirmed figures and cards in the gallery below, which were shown off on the stream. Scanning an amiibo and having a character show up was teased, as was the Phototopia photo opp location (which is literally just photo shoots with cute animals). “More support” is coming later.

Free seasonal updates are also confirmed, including “Bunny Day” (Easter), which is arriving on the March 20 launch. That’s in addition to an app called “Nook Link,” that’s coming in “March 2020,” likely a little ahead of launch. You can get a look at teasers for all of those in the gallery below.

Finally, Nintendo reminds everyone that the official Twitter account will be providing the most up-to-date info for future events. I think we’re all set for this thing to finally come out!


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Chris Carter
Managing Editor/Reviews Director
Managing Editor - Chris has been enjoying Destructoid avidly since 2008. He finally decided to take the next step in January of 2009 blogging on the site. Now, he's staff!