Animal Crossing: New Horizonswas released during a time when the world shut down, giving many fans the perfect opportunity to enjoy the game to its fullest. Though Nintendo had promised many ongoing updates to the game as time moved forward, fans have become increasingly frustrated at the lack of updates in more recent times. This is because thoughAnimal Crossing: New Horizonshas still seen updates, many of them are just items added to the game. What fans have been wanting are updates that have a little more substance than just items, more in line with past updates.
In 2020,Animal Crossing: New Horizonsadded new features along with items such as the ability to grow and harvest pumpkins, swimming, the ability to buy bushes, and the return of Redd, just to name a few. WhenAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsinitially came out, it was missing many staple features from past games with some having made a return in a future update. Though the game feels more complete now than it did on launch, there are still many missing features some fans would consider important, and therefore missing from the overall experience. Nintendo has recently come out to state that moreAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsupdates for 2021are indeed on the way, and fans are hoping one or more features of old make a return.
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Gyroids in the Animal Crossing Franchise
Inspired by the Haniwa clay figurines that resemble humanoids, Gyroids was a furniture item that players could find alongside fossils buried underground. Gyroids were introduced in the firstAnimal Crossinggame and were a staple in every game up untilAnimal Crossing: New Horizonswhere they were not included. Gyroids act as a furniture item that occasionally emits a sound based on the family, type, and size of the Gyroid when activated. Only a certain number of Gyroid can be switched on at any given time in a room, and when this number is exceeded another will turn off.
Lloid is the only Gyroid to make an appearance inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsmuch like in past games as the NPC who collects donations for public work projects. This means that Gyroids do exist inNew Horizon’suniverse, though whether they will make a return is still up to Nintendo. Typically Gyroid will spout random noise if they’re activated, though if there is music playing they will try to stick to the beat of whatever music is playing. Though the player can normally have a limited amount of Gyroids activated at any given time, the combination of Gyroid and music would make for a unique ambiance for different parts of a player’s island ifGyroids were to make a return.
Brewster’s Cafe - The Roost
One popular request and one that recent datamining has suggested could be in the works is the return of Brewster and his cafe The Roost. Brewster is an NPC that fans would love to make a return as he features another outlet for social activity. In his cafe, players can find other villagers hanging out having a cup of coffee, allowing the player to interact with them and even buy a cup for themselves. Over time the player will be able to specify the type of coffee they’d like to have. InAnimal Crossing: New Leafthe player can work for Brewster,making the perfect cup of coffee for patrons, ultimately leading to Brewster rewarding the player with his own brand of Gyroid, the Brewstoid.
The combination of more social activities with villagers and the player rewarded with Gyroids would make both Brewster and Gyroids a welcome update if bundled together if added toAnimal Crossing: New Horizons.Though it seems like if Nintendo will add one or the other, they will rework it to fit withNew Horizons, much like other features. Player emotes for example were unlocked when the player visitedThe Marquee inAnimal Crossing: New Leaf,though now the player is rewarded player emotes randomly from villagers making The Marquee somewhat redundant unless it was reworked.
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More Animal Crossing Shops
Animal Crossing: New Horizonsmakes one thing very clear: the player has an astounding amount of freedom to customize their island. The only thing that players are unable to move is the Town Plaza as it is locked in place from the start of the game.Animal Crossinggames of the pastwould include more shops than just Nook’s Cranny, though more shops are cleverly implemented inNew Horizonsby having the salesperson visit on random days in the week. This allows players to not have to reserve precious space on their island allowing for more customization room. As a result, some key shops from the past have not made a return, unfortunately.
One such popular shop from theAnimal Crossingseries is GracieGrace, the very expensive high-end furniture, and clothing store. Gracie, the Giraffe fashionista, would change her inventory every so often, allowing the player to spend hundreds of thousands of Bells in some cases on pieces of furniture, many that are not currently included inNew Horizons. Though Gracienormally had a large shopping building with multiple floors to house all of her wares, how she could be implemented inNew Horizonsis still anyone’s guess. Gracie and her furniture themes would be a welcome addition for players as their bank accounts surely continue to fill.
New Horizon’sNook’s Crannyis one area where fans are a little disappointed in that it has very few upgrades compared toAnimal Crossinggames before it. The shop can only be upgraded once, meaning there are little surprises to be had. Players have wanted the opportunity to upgrade the shop even more so that they could have access to more furniture and perhaps new shops. Another shop that could be reintroduced into the series is the Fortune Shop.
TheAnimal Crossingseries has had a lot of minor featuresthat have come and gone, and with a game likeNew Horizonsthat can receive updates for years to come, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that some of these features could make a return. Fortune Cookies were a limited item that could be bought daily, rewarding the player with Nintendo-related items. ThoughSuper Marioitems have recently been introduced, other Nintendo-related items such asLegend of ZeldaandMetroid items have not. With newer games in these franchises coming out in the near future, tie-in items forNew Horizonsfeel like a no-brainer for Nintendo to reimplement in some way. That, and the soccer ball that players enjoyed kicking around.
