A Concise Guide To The Different Amiibo Functions In Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Animal Crossing: New Leaf received a big update that added amiibo support and overhauled a few of the games systems. Theres a bunch of different compatible amiibo that all do different things so it can all be a bit confusing, so the aim of this guide is to serve as a sort of primer to this new feature. Well hopefully have some more detailed videos on the way, but with new amiibo releasing this week I thought itd be best to get something out ASAP to clear up a lot of confusion Ive been seeing.
Preview Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Makes For A Cheerful Roll Through Two Gamecube Classics
When I first loaded up Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, the main feeling was familiarity. Setting aside that this one features hundreds of courses from Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe; Banana Mania is borrowing heavily from 2019s Banana Blitz HD. The same black
The Animal Crossing Direct is over and a lot of new information regarding amiibo has been shared. First and foremost, the update is available now. Thats right its ready to be downloaded right now in the 3DS eShop.
Now, lets get into the amiibo details.
How To Get Welcome Amiibo Nintendo Items
You can obtain most new Nintendo Items in one of two ways: from certain villagers at Harvey’s Campground , or from a Fortune Cookie. You can purchase Fortune Cookies from the Nookling General Store for 2 Play Coins. You can earn up to 10 play coins a day by carrying your 3DS with you while you walk around; play coins are earned at a rate of 1 coin per 100 steps.
Each Fortune Cookie has a redeemable fortune in it. Eat the Cookie from within your inventory and the slip of paper will appear in its place. Take the fortune to one of the Nook boys, Timmy or Tommy, in their shop to get a random Nintendo Item. If you are lucky, you have a shot at getting a new Welcome Amiibo Nintendo Item.
You May Like: How To Upgrade Axe Animal Crossing
Amiibo Functionality In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
So far, there are four different functionalities for amiibo cards and figures in Animal Crossing: New Horizons:
- Set up with models by scanning amiibo on Harvey’s Island
- Purchase posters of scanned Animal Crossing amiibo in Nook Shopping at the Nook Stop kiosk
- Invite amiibo characters to visit your campsite on your island
- Invite visiting campers from these amiibo to move to your island
In Animal Crossing/dbutsu No Mori+

Mr. Resetti from Animal Forest and Animal Forest+.
Resettis role in Animal Forest+and Animal Crossing stays the same throughout the whole series, but one of the main differences in this game is when he tells the playerThanks for buying Animal Crossing!, which breaks down the fourth wall, where characters in a game or television program talk directly to the audience, or in this case, the playable character. As aforementioned, he appears when the GameCube resets or is turned off without saving. He will appear outside the players house, giving a lecture of why saving is important. Resetting frequently will lead to him forcing the player to repeat a line of text to remind them of the importance of saving. Some of the sentences that the player may have to repeat are: I repent, Im sorry, or even I like you. Sometimes, he will pretend to reset the game himself, mentioning beforehand that all the progress the player has made will be lost. After the reset takes place, the screen will pop back up, and Mr. Resetti laughs saying: It was all a joke. If you reset enough, Resetti will start to say his doctor told him not to yell so much.
Also Check: What Is The Biggest Fish In Animal Crossing
How To Invite Villagers To The Campsite Using Amiibo
Now that you’ve unlocked the ability to use amiibo cards, it’s time to learn how to scan them in and convince campers to move into your island. You’re going to have to scan a villager’s card multiple days in a row if you want them to become a resident of your island. Here are the steps needed to acquire a new villager using amiibo cards.
Select invite a Camper.
Scan the amiibo card you want to use. If you’re playing your Switch in handheld mode, hover the card over the joystick on the right Joy-Con when New Horizons prompts you to use your amiibo. If you’re using the Pro Controller, scan the cards over the Nintendo logo in the top middle of the controller when the game prompts you to use your amiibo.
After scanning your card, a cutscene will play, showing the invited camper. When you leave Resident Services, the villager you invited will be at your campsite. Run to your campsite and enter the tent.
Agree to their request. They might even give you a new recipe in the processes.
The camper is closer to being persuaded, but they won’t be ready to move in just yet. The following day repeat steps 1 – 9.
Worse: No Post Office
Sending and receiving letters with your animal neighbors has always been a fun little mechanic within the series, and it still features in;New Horizons. However, without a dedicated post office, the letters seem to have been shoved to the side and hidden in a corner.
Without a post office,;New Horizons;is also missing;NPCs like Pelly the pelican, and her older sister Phyllis who runs the night shift. Phyllis may have been a little coarse at times, but the Pelican sisters were an adorable part of the series that have so far seen their last appearance in;New Leaf.
Read Also: How To Change Your Hair In Animal Crossing New Leaf
What Is Acnh Amiibo Cards
With each of the Amiibo in the Animal Crossing series, you unlock something new, ensuring more life on your island, among other things.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons supports three different types of Amiibo: Animal Crossing Amiibo figures, Animal Crossing Amiibo series, and Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival.
Take Photos At Harv’s Island
Early in;New Horizons, players will encounter the dog Harv wandering their island. He tells them about his “artist collective” island, which then becomes a destination in the airport menu after he leaves. Players can visit Harv’s Island and have photoshoots with their fellow residents , their current villagers and any NPC whose Amiibo figure or card they possess. Unlike when inviting campers, this does include non-recruitable characters, which means players can have photoshoots with the Nooks, Isabelle, Kicks, or K.K. Slider, just to name a few.
Players have access to their entire catalog — including color and pattern variants — and wardrobe at Harv’s Island. They can place themselves and their “models” wherever they want, including sat on furniture or laying in beds. Players can also have anyone in the studio use the reactions they have learned so far, which makes for some very cute photo opportunities with;Animal Crossing characters.
Each time a player invites a new “model” to Harv’s Island, they’ll unlock a poster of that character in their Nook Shopping menu. Each poster can be purchased for 1,000 Bells and hung in a player’s home, gifted to friends or dropped for freebie piles and trades. Unfortunately, players who have not unlocked these posters themselves will not be able to re-order from their catalog, much like craftable items are unavailable for purchase.
Don’t Miss: Acnh How To Use Bell Vouchers
What About The Smash Bros Amiibo And The Sanrio Amiibo Cards
The Villager and Isabelle amiibo for Super Smash Bros. will also work with New Horizons. You can get a poster for the Villager amiibo, but he wont appear at Photopia or the Campsite. Isabelles Smash Bros. amiibo will work at Photopia, but she wont camp with you.
Scan the Sanrio collaboration amiibo cards at Photopia to receive a poster of the character, but they wont appear in the game or your Campsite.
Update : Weve added more information involving inviting villagers to live on your island from campsites.
Build your Animal Crossing amiibo collection for New Horizons;on Switch
New Horizons
You May Like: How To Pay Mortgage In Animal Crossing Wild World
Animal Crossing: New Leaf Save Editor
- acres, river, waterfalls and ponds
- name, town hall and train station roof colors
- move buildings, houses, rocks and more at your own
Also Check: Bamboo Table Animal Crossing
Which Amiibo Can I Use With Animal Crossing: New Horizons
There are literally hundreds of amiibo products that are compatible with New Horizons. As of now there are 18 figurines that can be used with New Horizons :
- Villager
- Rover
- Kapp’n
Animal Crossing: New Horizons also supports amiibo cards. There are four series of these collectibles and over 400 cards in total so we aren’t going to list them all out. But rest assured that all of these will work! If you want to see a full list, check out the official Animal Crossing website.
And last, New Horizons supports Animal Crossing: New Leaf Welcome amiibo series cards. These 50 cards were released when amiibo support was added to New Leaf as a way to promote the update.
What Are Amiibo Cards For Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Introduced for Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Amiibo cards are a cheaper alternative to the figurines, allowing both Nintendo produce and players to collect many more of them. How many you ask? Nintendo has produced 400 Animal Crossing Amiibo Cards so far in four series. Each featuring different characters as well as outfits for favorites like Isabelle.
You can view the entire collection on Nintendos animal-crossing website by clicking here. Wed list them all out but honestly, you dont want to scroll for 20 pages. Just know that if you like a specific villager, theyre probably included. The website also lists which games the Amiibo card is compatible for, with most showing Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, and Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival. At the time of writing, the website has not been updated for Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Also Check: How To Get An Axe In Animal Crossing
How To Unlock And Use Amiibo In Animal Crossing New Horizons
As we described above, Amiibo in New Horizons can be used in two ways – to invite characters to your island, or to use them in Photopia. Both are used in different ways, and both unlock at different times. Here’s the nice, simple breakdown:
- To use Amiibo to invite characters to your island:
- Once unlocked, the option to use amiibo to invite characters to your island will be found within the Resident Services building on your island, the same ATM-style machine that you use to spend Nook Miles to unlock more inventory space and use the Nook mail-order delivery shopping service.
- Once the option appears, you simply press it and tap and amiibo to the right Joy-Con as you do in other games.
- If the option hasn’t appeared to you yet, note our wording: the Resident Services building. It needs to be a building rather than just a tent, and you also need to have established the camp site. Basically, it’s tied to the Tom Nook basic progression through building up your island. If the amiibo option isn’t yet there, you need to go to Tom Nook and ask him what you need to do next – keep following his instructions and expanding the island, and this feature will eventually appear. Nook will alert you when it does.
- Amiibo you can use here are of course limited: characters that can’t become residents won’t work, and characters already on the island might trigger a funny scene.
What Amiibo Do In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
We’ll be honest – amiibo in New Horizons aren’t that exciting, but they can be useful if you want to accomplish something specific. As mentioned above, they’re useful for two particular purposes – inviting new villagers to join your deserted island getaway, and a new screenshot-driven mode called Photopia.
You can recruit new animals to come visit, and potentially move to your island full-time, a little way into the game. You’ll need to have set up a camp site, at which point animals can arrive randomly to visit the island as a holiday. If they like it enough, they’ll ask you if they can stick around and get a house on the island – which is how you can make them a permanent fixture.
Animals appear at random at the camp site, often inside its tent, and Isabelle will announce in the morning when there’s a new visitor – but you can speed this up by tapping an amiibo of a favorite villager to invite them to come visit the island. At that point, it’s on you to recruit them to stay.
This also has a knock-on effect on Photopia, a unique island you can visit once you meet Harv, the island’s sole resident. Harvey first appeared in the amiibo update to New Leaf, but he’ll eventually visit your deserted island and then, when spoken to, invite you to visit his island. You can then do this any time free-of-charge from the airport – just tell the Dodos you wanna fly to Harv’s Island.
Also Check: Where To Catch Golden Trout Animal Crossing
The Amiibo Figures Vs The Amiibo Cards
There are over 400 Animal Crossing amiibo that you can use if you count the 18 NFC figures and the hundreds of Animal Crossing amiibo cards. Both the figures and the cards feature NFC chips and get scanned the same way using your Nintendo Switch. However, in New Horizons, the amiibo cards are more useful since they allow you to invite new villagers to your island. The amiibo figures are fun to collect, but they can only be used to invite the unique characters they depict to photoshoot sessions while you’re on Harvey’s Island.
If you have your heart set on inviting a specific villager to your island, you might want to scour eBay for a particular Animal Crossing amiibo card as many sellers will let you buy them individually. But be warned. Some of the more popular villagers’ amiibo cards are incredibly pricey.
A full list of Animal Crossing amiibo cards can be found on Animal Crossing’s official website.
What Amiibo Can I Use
There are numerous amiibo and amiibo cards that can be used with New Horizons, but only those that are associated with Animal Crossing characters. This means that Little Mac will have to be as useless as ever, unfortunately. Instead, the full list of amiibo that you can use are as follows:
- Animal Crossing Amiibo Cards
- Animal Crossing amiibo figures
- Super Smash Bros. Isabelle amiibo figure
- Super Smash Bros. Villager amiibo figure
- Animal Crossing New Leaf Welcome amiibos
- Animal Crossing Sanrio Collaboration Pack amiibo cards
Joel Franey/USgamer, Nintendo
Also Check: How To Get Rich In Animal Crossing New Horizons
What Rewards Do You Get From Amiibo
The way the game is altered depends on the amiibo itself, as some have greater use than others. You can find the full list of compatible amiibos, which numbers into the hundreds, over here at the official site.
The biggest use is that many amiibos can have the corresponding character show up in your Campsite, allowing you then to invite them to live on your island. This doesnt apply to all amiibo though, and special characters such as Isabelle or KK Slider tend to be the exception, sadly. However, you can still invite them to your photoshoots, as mentioned above, and you can also unlock special posters of those characters by scanning them, which will then be available to buy at the Nook Stop shopping section for 1000 bells each.
To make things easier, weve broken down the various series of Animal Crossing Amiibo below to tell you what theyre collectively capable of and how they change the game. Remember to use the above link to see where you can get these amiibo and what they look like.
Amiibos |
---|
Dont Miss: When Is The New Animal Crossing Coming Out
What Can You Do At Harvey’s Island Villager Photopia
If you’ve played Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you might recall a hippy dog named Harvey as one of the particular villagers. After a few days of playing in New Horizons, this dog will randomly appear on your island. Make sure you talk to him, and he’ll invite you to visit his island home. The awesome thing is that the airport allows you to fly to him for free. No Nook Miles Tickets required.
Instead of foraging for materials, bugs, and fish, Harvey’s island only lets you walk into Harvey’s house. Once inside, you’ll be able to set up a scene in one of his rooms and take pictures with your favorite villagers. That is, as long as you have that villager on your island or have a corresponding amiibo to invite them with. You can place different furniture, change the lighting in the room, and position your favorite Animal Crossing villagers in various locations before taking pictures with them. You can have up to 10 animal villagers in one room at a time.
However, it should be noted that not every amiibo works with New Horizons. So far, the game has warned me that Digby and Resetti can’t be invited to Photopia. This had also been the case for Reese, Cyrus, and Rover up until another update arrived. I’m guessing that any amiibo figures that currently don’t work with New Horizons will be usable once future updates are released.
Read Also: How Many Fruits Are There