There are a few Dopers playing Animal Crossing New Leaf on the 3DS already. They can be found in this thread. However, I thought this game deserved its own thread.
Way back in the early 2000s, I held off buying the Nintendo Gamecube until I heard about this weird and creative game called Animal Crossing and could no longer resist. I had a lot of fun with the game unlocking different parts, going to the island on my GBA, and playing the old NES games (which could also be ported to the GBA). While I enjoyed the first game, I didn’t feel the pull to the DS or Wii Animal Crossing games. I felt I had reached my max.
Something about the reviews and people’s experiences with New Leaf spoke to me. I don’t know what exactly compelled me but I bought the new version and immediately bought a second for my son’s 3DS.
Adding multiplayer is a brilliant addition and has made an already excellent version of Animal Crossing into near perfect. My son is almost 6 years old and can play different games, but he struggles and frequently comes to me for help (or to drag him along on co-op). Animal Crossing is a completely different experience. There is no “goal” like reach the end of a level. Instead we go exploring and make our own fun like “tag” or “hide-and-seek”. We can talk IRL to each other while in different parts of the town. The tours on the island can be done as multiplayer which really helps him. I know that buying 2 3DSs and Animal Crossings is not feasible for most people, but if you can, it’s worth it.
Anyone else playing? How’s your town coming along?
Just got the game. My first Animal Crossing game. It’s great, but the tasks to earn bells can be frustrating. When and how do I get the net for catching bugs? I got the shovel and the fishing pole.
Nookling Junction (which will later upgrade to more product) will rotate its selection between shovel, fishing pole, and net. You’ll only need to wait a day or two.
Thanks, I got it. So all I’m doing now is collecting bugs, fish, fruit, ect… to pay off my home loan. Is there anything else I should be doing? Helping the town folk as much as I can.
The only thing that you should be doing is what you want to do. This game is sneaky by slowly doling out content so there are many interesting things that won’t happen until later. The major things in the game are:
-upgrading your house with Tom Nook and furnishing it
-upgrading the Town by talking to Isabelle
-fishing/bug collecting/diving/art collecting/fossil finding for the Museum and then for Bells
-helping the Villagers
But you might not be interested in any of them. Maybe you like designing clothes. Or getting a part-time job serving coffee. Or gardening the many flowers, bushes, and trees. Or something else completely different.
This hint is close to game breaking, but that’s assuming there’s a game to break. It is just one of the fastest ways to get Bells, but it does take some time.
[spoiler]After you upgrade your house the first time, you will be visited by Tortimer, the former mayor. He will invite you to his vacation island.
Once on the island, don’t forget to talk to the gyroid outside the hut to borrow equipment. At night on the island are giant beetles which can be worth 8,000 to 12,000 a piece. Put them in the yellow box to sell back in your town at Re-Sale and an hour’s worth of work can yield between 300,000 to 400,000 Bells.[/spoiler]
You can buy a slingshot eventually that you can use to shoot them down.
Workaround if you don’t have one yet: Use a bug net and wait til the package is about to go over the cliff towards the ocean. It’ll start to descend a bit, and a well timed bop with the net will make it fall onto the beach below.
Thanks Sara. I did that twice. Unfortunately I have to be right to the cliff as a gift appears if the wind is moving West. I only have a cliff on the East side.
Right now my home has three things in it. I’m waiting to pay off my loan again before I think about decorating.
[spoiler]I tried this all last night and only got one giant beetle until I fell asleep trying to catch more. The one I did catch will be donated to my museum.
Damnit, you have to be really slow to catch those tricky bastards! When you did this Wolverine, did you enter and leave the building to get the beetles to re spawn? Or did you just walk around slowly, waiting for them to come back? Any other tips on catching these things? It will take me well over an hour to do it, but I want me some bells! I’m trying again tonight.[/spoiler]
I’m not sure why we’re putting spoiler tags on this (it’s totally up the individual to decide whether it violates the spirit of the game or not), but that said, you don’t need to go in the building. You can just go in one big circle. It helps if you pluck all the flowers and cut down all the trees except for maybe four or five palm trees in the same line of sight to improve the odds that the newly spawned bugs are the valuable ones and you can check them all at a glance. There’s a longer guide here:
Anyone want to visit my town? My gates will be open almost all day. I’m on the hunt for a wetsuit and a slingshot.
This would be the first time I either leave my place or have someone over, so… I want to make sure I’m doing it right. I invighted guests from far away to come visit at the train station, and the gate opened. That’s how you get guests, right?