I'm Afraid Animal Crossing Has Already Peaked

has never been more successful than it is today, but I miss what it used to be, and I'm not just talking about cut features in . Although the franchise has remained consistent in a lot of core regards over the years, it's also undergone some substantial shifts. The gameplay options found in the original entry are all familiar, but they ultimately pale in comparison to everything offered by the time rolled around for the 3DS.

Games are a lot more than just features, however, and certain elements ended up getting left by the wayside over the years. My first exposure to the series was with for the Nintendo DS, and it's easy to position the game as rudimentary compared to more modern entries. Nostalgia certainly plays some part in the fact that is still my favorite game today, but I think there's a little more to it than that, and I wish I felt more confident that a future game could someday claim its throne.

Despite being out for over four years, there are still many things that players may not know within the cozy game Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Playing for the first time is implanted in my brain in a way that very few gaming experiences are. The product of a particularly exciting expedition to Toys «R» Us, it was an unusually decadent treat compared to the average third-party DS games that came in at cheaper prices. I played it for the first time as my family continued onward to my grandfather's lakeside cabin, and all the winding mountain roads in the world couldn't shake my attention from the game.

Going into, I had a misconception that the player took on mayoral capacities in the game, something that later happened to fulfill. Figuring out the truth could have come as a serious blow, but any disappointment that afforded no such power had no chance to set in. What hooked me so fast was the game's atmosphere, which felt rich in a way that most things packed into a couple of three-inch screens usually aren't.

The Nintendo Switch Online library could