New Horizons: Failing From Success

Animal Crossing New Horizons. A game that has broken all kinds of sales records. But for the fans, it wasn't all what it was cracked up to be. Why is this? Why did New Horizons fail from it's success?

Timestamps/video chapters below!

■■■CREDITS■■■

Writing, editing, voiceover and video research by myself.
My Channel: @TheIrishDino

FOOTAGE USED:
Animal Crossing Title Screens-
@NintendoUtopia

Animal Crossing: New Leaf & Legend Of Zelda: BOTW Gameplay-
@ZackScottGames

epic sea bass gameplay- @videogamedunkey

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Prologue / General Footage-
@switchplaythroughs

K.K. Slider Concert Gameplay- @jacksepticeye

Bullying Villagers Footage- @NintenUnity

Happy Home Designer Gameplay- @RTGame

Animal Crossing GCN Gameplay- @PBGGameplay

Gracie Grace Dress Footage- @mikokume

Animal Crossing City Folk Footage- @GameGrumps

General Animal Crossing: New Horizons Footage- myself

CHAPTERS / MUSIC USED (in order of appearance)

INTRO: 0:00
Stale Cupcakes (Aircheck)
Forest Life (Aircheck)
K.K. Casbah (Aircheck)
My Place (Aircheck)
7AM - New Horizons
Resetti - New Leaf
5PM - New Horizons
4PM - New Horizons
Chillwave (Aircheck)
6AM - New Horizons

PLOT: 4:10
Prologue 1 - New Horizons
Nook's Cranny - New Horizons
4PM - New Leaf

VILLAGERS: 7:21
6PM - City Folk
K.K. Sonata (Aircheck)
K.K. House (Aircheck)
Gardening Store - New Leaf
10AM - New Leaf
2PM - City Folk
2PM - Animal Crossing GCN

CUSTOMIZATION: 13:45
Title Screen - Happy Home Designer
Firework Festival - New Leaf
6AM - City Folk
5PM - Animal Crossing GCN
11AM - New Leaf
Paradise Planning Office - New Horizons
Go K.K. Rider (Aircheck)
2AM - Animal Crossing GCN
Steep Hill (Aircheck)
Board Game - Amiibo Festival
1PM - New Leaf

DIY RECIPES: 21:05
Shrunk's Performance - New Leaf
4PM - Wild World
K.K. Ska (Aircheck)
Title - Animal Crossing GCN
Working at the Roost - New Leaf
Tour Island (Day) - New Horizons
2AM - New Horizons

SHOPS: 26:02
Able Sisters - New Leaf
Shampoodle - New Leaf
Nook's Cranny (Upgraded) - New Horizons
Gracie Grace - New Leaf
Kicks - New Leaf
Re-Tail - New Leaf
Checker Dance - Deltarune

COMMUNITY: 32:34
K.K. Stroll (Aircheck)
Resident Services (Upgraded) - New Horizons
Dodo Air Lines: Waiting for your Guest - New Horizons
10PM - City Folk
5AM - City Folk
4AM - New Leaf

FAILING FROM SUCCESS: 38:42
8PM - New Leaf
Stale Cupcakes (Improv Cover) - @choochoomthfck4915

OUTRO
7PM - New Leaf

Thank you for watching. You're amazing! :)

[TheIrishDino]

The insane positive response to this video means the world to me lads! I'm so glad everyone enjoyed the video and can share their own experience in the comments.

I do want to address the space buns/afro puffs part of this video. As many have pointed out, the actual problem many black players were unhappy about was the fact that the person themselves had said racist things aside from posting a picture of their AC player with afro puffs. That and many players saw that renaming the hairstyle was appropriating black culture. My research certainly should have been better and I wish I could have clarified this in the video. There is no room for racism and it's very unfortunate that most articles and sites I usef to research this part of the video never looked at this aspect of the situation.

Thank you guys for the kind words nevertheless. I hope despite that flaw, you enjoyed the video - the dinosaur from the video

[verlice]

I worked so hard to get a villager i really wanted and when i finally got her she had the exact same dialogue as another villager. That was extremely disappointing.

[ruelie]

i really like the idea of a villager being more cold and rude towards you but slowly becomes your friend instead of them just immediately being all buddy buddy from the get go

[harliecurcio]

I miss the DRAMA of the old games. I still think about the love triangle involving Pelly, Phyllis, and Pete to this day

[rachelt]

In previous games, we also used to be able to talk _with_ the villagers instead of them talk _at_ us. Remember the slider & multiple choice options we used to get? Now we’re only able to respond once in a blue moon. We were even able to get involved in our villagers’ arguments. One would ask who’s right and we would upset the one we didn’t side with. Man, I miss that. I wish they would give us a big dialogue update.

[lilJess]

Something that’s also worth mentioning is the music. There were songs in previous games that were silly, strange, melancholy, haunting, beautiful. Each hour’s theme was unique in sound and atmosphere. I really miss that.

[evelynsteger]

The most disappointing thing imo is that you get all that island space, yet you only get a museum and 2 shops. You would think with the emphasis on decorating and designing an island you would get more shops to place around everywhere to make it feel more alive but apparently not

[lenandersson]

I like how the concept of Animal Crossing is to feel less lonely in the world. As someone with no friends to play with though I still feel as lonely when playing this game. I feel like Animal Crossing New Horizons is made for the opposite audience, those who do have friends.

[liesebeam]

My least favorite thing about New Horizons is that gold tools break. It just meant i had no incentive to actually get them. I felt like i was wasting gold for nothing so i gave up and just started buying tools. I had too much money so i didnt care about the extra price.

[colleenroberts]

Your little anecdote made me cry. My mom is in her late 50s and has never taken notice of my interest in gaming. One day I caught her looking over my shoulder while i was playing ACNH. She started asking questions about it, so I showed her how to play. She made an account on my Switch. I started a character for her. When my sister's family came to visit, I showed her how to play with her grandchildren.

For her birthday, my dad bought her a Switch.

[catandrobbyflores]

What i really miss is running errands for the villagers. And just randomly a villager giving me new clothing because i had a carp in my pockets.

[aleccino]

The lack of nook shop upgrades is the most unforgiveable sin for me. I absolutely loved upgrading the store in New Leaf and getting more options.

[Edward_Avila]

Also with the advent of social media, we have all these people showing off their beautiful islands and it made me feel like shit about mine LOL and it doesnt help that just moving other peoples houses takes a literal day, it was extremely demotivating for my uncreative ass looool

[AmalieLinden]

You know the dialogue failed when even Pocket Camp has slightly harsher villagers and more varied villager dialogue. Like, sporty villagers actually feeling quite different when you talk to them and getting to develop a preference. Truly remarkable.

[klausing]

It's such a shame though, they said they would support this game for years after the release, but they only really supported it for barley two years after! But the updates it gave us were stuff already present in the series!! I feel bad for not playing anymore but the qualtiy of the game needs so much more updates, like the Nook Shop and crafting in bulk

[_snowylil]

honestly, one of the main things that made me give up on the game was that every single action took such a long time - i loved it when i first started, it was a cute, relaxed vibe, but when i want to terraform an entire island and put effort into building something fun, the lengthy animations for every tool swing, every entry and exit from a door, crafting, picking stuff up and putting it down again, *ladders*, it just started to really wear on me and i figured i'd have a better time expressing creativity in something else

[grannyisnotamused]

The biggest miss for me in NH, was the OST. Even after you get the hourly songs, they all feel so similar to me. In the outro, you used my absolute favorite hourly song from New Leaf, and I recognized it immediately. They were all so unique, and after years of playing, I could tell you which hour was which. In NH, I still can’t do that. There’s just no…. Flavor?

[mimi-ivck]

Amazing video! Honestly the villagers personalities is the biggest issue for me and most players assume. It can feel very lonely when it's supposed to be the opposite of that

[artemis_]

i loved new horizon because like many other people this was my first (real) animal crossing. I loved it until i played some older games (mainly new leaf) and realised... damn there's so much missing.

[xara]

Unpopular opinion: I feel like taking away the furniture item series from the older games further took away from New Horizons. Sure, some of them weren't particularly pretty, but I loved having themed rooms and *collecting* complete sets of furniture. I loved the new furniture too, but they should've added instead of exchanged.