Featured Image Credit: Nintendo
Topics: Animal Crossing, Features
Like many others, I’ve returned after many years to my beloved Animal Crossing: New Horizon’s island thanks to the new 3.0 update. While some players aren’t thrilled with the scale of the update or Kappn’s new hotel, I found myself missing one key feature.
I’ve loved Animal Crossing since I was a kid. One of my core memories is sitting under a lone, twisting oak tree at my local park, sunlight filtering through the leaves, struggling to see my Nintendo DS screen while playing Animal Crossing: Wild World. Most kids were on the swings, but not me. I was lost in Starville, my town.
As part of Animal Crossing: New Horizon’s latest 3.0 update, along with a hotel, quality of life features and 12 player multiplayer, Resetti has been freed from the chains of Island Rescue Service into an Island Reset Service. This handy service lets you tidy up parts of your island, but won’t clear up terraformed sections, which is what I really needed.
For anyone who has played an Animal Crossing game prior to New Horizons, you’ve no doubt heard of Resetti’s rants as the player reset their game. Another memory I have is of me crying in the living room, handing my Nintendo DS over to my mum to button mash her way through Resetti threatening to delete my town for committing the sin of time travelling to get items, and progress faster.
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My arch nemesis.
Resetti haunted my nightmares for a good few years there.
But watching him now, roaming my island Stardives, resetting small sections with limited success, I felt a pang of sadness.
How could this terrifying figure be reduced to such a pitiful state?
But I think I’ve got the perfect role for him in the next game.
The world is too fast. We’re all too obsessed with the immediate gratification of gaming. We need the perfect island. Time travelling to get more items, more things, more stuff, more content, quicker, so we can post pictures of our island to a few likes online.
But what about the journey?
I’m guilty of this myself. Last Sunday, I decorated my home with the new Zelda items from the 3.0 update. Monday loomed, and I felt pressured.
I time-traveled to order all the items from Tom Nook, bypassing the 5 a day limit. And I sat in my now-finished room.
Sure, I was happy it looked good, but other than that, empty. A faint sense of accomplishment, like another obligation to tick off my to-do list. There was no sense of satisfaction.
It’s time Nintendo acted. Scare a few kids again. Resetti needs to return to punish time-travel abusers. How that could work, I'll let the dev team at Nintendo figure that one out.
All I know is Animal Crossing is a life simulation that means a lot to me, not a checklist to be completed.
The next release should remind us all to slow down, enjoy the journey, and take our time building the perfect island.