Animal Crossing: New Horizons is one of the most beloved games on the Nintendo Switch. Many fans are eagerly awaiting a brand new entry in the franchise for the Nintendo Switch 2, but in the meantime, we’ll be getting a massive update for New Horizons on January 15th, along with a Nintendo Switch 2 edition of New Horizons on the same day. So, how much will the Switch 2 edition cost? Is it worth the price? Let’s take a look.
The Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch 2 Edition
Nintendo’s official site describes the Switch 2 upgrade in detail, stating that the game will include “enhanced resolution, mouse control support for faster and easier decorating, a megaphone for calling your animal residents that uses the system microphone, and more.” The megaphone and the mouse controls will make the gameplay feel a bit more like Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the 3DS entry in the series.
New Leaf took advantage of the 3DS’s touchscreen, meaning that you could design flags and clothing using the stylus, which felt like actual drawing. The Switch has no touchscreen, meaning that designing must be awkwardly done using the analog stick. The Switch 2’s mouse controls will mean that designing can feel more natural.
In addition, the 3DS had a microphone, so New Leaf players could use the megaphone to call out to neighbors they wanted to find. The Switch lacked a microphone, so the original version of New Horizons lacked the megaphone. However, with the Switch 2’s GameChat feature, the microphone is back, so the megaphone is coming back.
Speaking of GameChat, the Switch 2 upgrade lets you use the GameChat and camera during multiplayer sessions when people visit each other’s islands. You’ll also be able to play with twelve players at once, which should make for some chaotic multiplayer sessions, letting players experience Animal Crossing in a new way.
So, How Much Will All This Cost? Is It Worth the Money?
If you already own the Switch 1 version of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the Switch 2 upgrade will cost $4.99, and you can preorder it now. While Nintendo’s official site does not yet say how much the Switch 2 edition will cost if you don’t already own the Switch 1 version, it can be assumed that it will cost around $65, since the base game costs $60 and the Switch 2 upgrade pack costs $4.99.
However, will a lot of players be willing to shell out the extra five dollars for the Switch 2 upgrade when Nintendo is already sucking people’s wallets dry with the $450 Switch 2 and its $70-$80 games? Perhaps not, especially since there will be a giant update coming for the base game on the same day as the Switch 2 upgrade.
The Animal Crossing: New Horizons free update will feature a new hotel you can decorate, new item sets such as Lego-themed items (yes, really) and retro game systems, and new dream islands that you can deck up however you want without affecting your main island. With an active Nintendo Switch Online account, you can even play select retro games with the new retro game items. Of course, you can already play the same games through the Switch Online retro collections, but it might still be fun to play them inside of New Horizons. With all this new stuff, players might be too busy to bother with the Switch 2 upgrade.
Should This Be Free?
Other games such as Super Mario Odyssey have gotten free Switch 2 upgrades, so why do we have to pay for the Animal Crossing: New Horizons upgrade? It seems that things like mouse controls and enhanced graphics could be implemented without charging the player. Still, when players are getting the big update for free and the Switch 2 upgrade only costs five dollars, it’s hard to complain too much.
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