Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct Live Reactions!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Did Animal Crossing: New Horizons take advantage of its opportunity to impress?

I believe everyone on KoopaTV's staff has owned and enjoyed an Animal Crossing game at some point in our lifetimes. Yet, there's no great Animal Crossing advocate on our staff.

Regardless, Nintendo put out a Direct, and someone's gotta get content up on KoopaTV.org. As you may have come to expect, I got the short end of the flimsy shovel, but whatever, I'll do this myself. Not at the time it actually aired (some folks have jobs that franchises like Animal Crossing seek to relax the stresses of) but hey, I came into watching the video-on-demand with no spoilers whatsoever:
 

...The question to keep in mind, though, is “Is there anything in this Direct that's worth spoiling?” Or do people simply watch it, nod, and say “Okay.” Well, find out in my live reaction log below. I have at least one good, ALL-CAPS sentence moment with it:

[4:59 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Alright.
[5:00 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Time for Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct, February 20, 2020.
[5:00 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Nearly 28 minutes of E-rated content, whoo.
[5:00 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Starting with "not actual gameplay footage" of Tom Nook.
[5:00 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Tom Nook probably sells reverse mortgages.
[5:01 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: "Deep Dive into Deserted Island Life"
[5:02 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: wtf it takes place on Earth?
[5:02 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Northern Hemisphere vs. Southern Hemisphere.
[5:02 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: (But there's cherry blossoms)
[5:04 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: For some reason, you help other residents pitch their tents, as well as their own.
[5:04 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: You can SELL WEED(s)!
[5:05 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: As opposed to just picking them.
[5:05 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Making a big deal about do-it-yourself crafting and customisation.
[5:06 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: They keep saying "Dee-Eye-Why" out loud.
[5:06 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Haven't yet said "do it yourself."
[5:06 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: There's an airport, but apparently no cars.
[5:06 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Good.
[5:06 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: "At the airport, you can use the Internet."
[5:06 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: I bet the Internet reception here sucks.
[5:06 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Screw that deserted island life.
[5:07 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Wait, how is it a deserted island if there's already an airport?
[5:07 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Something's suspicious about that.
[5:07 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: There's a "NookPhone" Tom Nook gives you, which is basically an ObamaPhone.

(Just like the real ObamaPhone, the NookPhone probably already existed for a long time and has nothing to do with Nook.
But it's likely that the recipients of both are low-income people in areas detached from infrastructure.)

[5:09 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: This whole thing is probably some Tom Nook imperialism scheme.
[5:09 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program > Nook Mileage Program
[5:11 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: There's a warp button on the phone ("rescue service") to your home.
[5:11 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Uh oh
[5:11 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: "Optional Extras"?
[5:12 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Including building a home with no interest or deadlines.
[5:13 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: TYPO
[5:13 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: They spelled "extension" as "extention".

EXTENSION HAS AN S. EXTENTIONS AIN'T A WORD.
Obviously this deserted island doesn't have an educational facility.

[5:14 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Optional Extra 2 is tours to other islands.
Optional Extra 3 is up to 8 people on one island.
[5:14 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: (Not counting animals as people)
[5:15 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Including simultaneous co-op with Joy-Cons.
[5:16 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Optional Extra 4: Nintendo Switch Online App "for real-world smart devices" called NookLink.
[5:16 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: With QR Codes from other Animal Crossing titles to transfer custom designs.
[5:17 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Tom Nook asks if I'm interested in being located to an island yet.
[5:17 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: I'm not.
[5:17 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: "Nook Inc. Planned Island Developments"
[5:18 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: More animals will come move in.
[5:18 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: As well as additional facilities.
[5:18 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: (As opposed to the area starting full)
[5:18 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Facilities including purchasable game-made stuff instead of DIY.
[5:20 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: They're telling us they're planning to hire Isabelle at Nook Inc.
[5:20 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: "Free Updates" with seasonal event characters.
[5:21 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: I thought the whole thing with this Direct is that it's already in the game.
[5:21 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: <.<
[5:21 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: But they're acting like Nook Inc. is canonically expanding. >.>
[5:21 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Guess it's canonically expanding via the game content expanding via Nintendo.
[5:22 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Eventually get a permit to modify the town environment, including roads, rivers, and cliffs.
[5:22 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: aka make the island into the towns in previous games
[5:23 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: "What kind of life do you want to live?"
[5:23 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Keep saying this comes out March 20, 2020.
[5:23 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Alright, we're not 28 minutes in yet.
[5:23 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: So here's a "Part 3" of the presentation.
[5:24 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: For "frequently asked questions."
[5:24 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: (Yes, your Nintendo Switch accounts can be on the same island.)
[5:25 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: (Yes, it supports amiibo and amiibo cards, which can invite people and do photo shoots.)
[5:26 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: (You can visit Switch friends and set them as normal friends or Best Friends. Best Friends can use axes.)
[5:26 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: (Animal Crossing New Horizons doesn't support Nintendo Switch Online's cloud data feature.)
[5:26 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: (There's a pastel blue Nintendo Switch special edition themed after this.)
[5:27 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: ("Yes! We will offer free updates after game launches!" They already said that one earlier. First update is on launch day, featuring Bunny Day.)
[5:27 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: (There's also some kind of compatibility with money-grubbing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.)
[5:27 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Now they're advertising the @AnimalCrossing Twitter account.
[5:28 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Well, guess I'll advertise the @TheREALKoopaTV Twitter.
[5:28 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Annnnnd that's it.
[5:28 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Seems like the same game from the GameCube version and 3DS version with marginally more customisation.
[5:28 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: Meh.
[5:29 PM]  Ludwig Von Koopa: It's probably bad the most exciting part of this was them making a typo.


Ludwig doesn't want to alienate Animal Crossing fans from KoopaTV, which will be the subject of another article on KoopaTV sometime between now and the game's release on March 20. For now, feel free to try to lobby Ludwig's opinion on Animal Crossing: New Horizons to be above “Meh.” in the comments section. You're also free to report any typos in KoopaTV articles, and they'll be featured in the monthly newsletter's Corrections Corner section, as well as earn you points in the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program mentioned during the log.


Here is why Ludwig won't buy Animal Crossing: New Horizons.