Ultimate Guide to Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Tips, Tricks, and Everything You Need to Know

If you’re new to the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons or looking to level up your island-building skills, this ultimate guide is for you. Whether you’re crafting tools, decorating your island, or collecting rare items, this article covers everything you need to know to make the most of your time in the game.

Collect DIY Recipes

One of the most important aspects of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is gathering DIY recipes. These recipes allow you to craft a variety of tools, furniture, and decorations. Some recipes can be found in recipe books sold by Timmy or the Nook Miles Store, while others are situational, like fishing up trash or talking to a villager after getting stung by wasps.

Each day, you’ll find at least one message bottle along the beach containing a random recipe. You can also visit your villagers’ homes once they upgrade to houses, and if you see them crafting at their workshop, talk to them and they’ll give you the recipe for whatever you’re working on.

Mash the A button to speed up the crafting process, and don’t forget to shoot down balloons with your slingshot—these often contain valuable items, including more recipes.

Turn Your Deserted Island into a Bustling Community

Your island may start off looking bare, but with a little effort, it can become a vibrant community. Help Tom Nook with everything you can to upgrade Resident Services from a tent, which will unlock features like hourly music, town tunes, and town flags.

You can move most buildings except for Resident Services and the Airport, but be prepared to pay a price. As your island becomes more attractive, more villagers will express interest in moving there. Start decorating with outdoor furniture to boost your rating.

Be prepared to spend a lot of Bells if you want Timmy and Tommy to upgrade their shop, as the rewards of a bigger inventory and custom tools are well worth it.

Love Thy Villagers

The more you chat with villagers, the better friends you’ll be—and the less likely they’ll be to think about leaving. If you want a specific villager to join your island, look for them on Mystery Islands or at your Campground when you build it, and invite them to stay.

After around 6 days of chatting, you’ll be able to give them gifts, and they can return the favor. Send villagers letters or help them with tasks, and they’ll reward you in kind.

Don’t Waste Resources

Your deserted island is full of trees, rocks, and weeds that can be used as crafting ingredients and sold to Timmy and Tommy. The simple act of crafting an item can double its value over the price of the resources it was made from.

Once you help Timmy and Tommy build Nook’s Cranny, they’ll offer to buy one “hot item” per day at double its normal value, which will always be a random crafted item. This means you can stand to make four times as much money than selling weeds or branches for their base value!

Get the Most Out of Rocks

Rocks are a key resource in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. When you equip a shovel (or even an axe in a pinch), you can strike the rock several times to collect resources. A random rock each day will drop bells instead.

The more you strike it quickly, the more you’ll get out of it, and there’s a trick to making sure you don’t get knocked back too far to continue hitting the rock:

• Make sure there’s nothing on all sides of the rock you plan to mine.
• Stand at one of the corners of the rock, and dig two holes on either side of you so that they stop you from moving away from the rock.
• If you’re having trouble angling your character to strike the rock dead on, move into the spot where the holes converge and your character will jump diagonally over them, and jumping back will face you right at the rock.

Mash the A button to rapidly strike the rock up to 8 times. That’s the most amount of times you can get resources from a rock per day—which can equal up to 16,400 bells if you’ve found the random money rock for the day!

Get Those Miles

Nook Miles are a valuable currency in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Once Tom Nook teaches you about the wonders of Nook Miles, you’ll find they can be used for everything from paying off your first loan to unlocking more inventory space and hairstyles.

Remember to check in at the Resident Services terminal every day, even if you only play for a few minutes. The more days in a row you check in, the more miles you’ll get—up to 300 miles a day after checking in for a week straight.

Find and Talk to Visitors

While you’ll get an announcement each new day you play, starting at 5am, one thing they don’t tell you about are any special visiting characters on the island that day. In fact, you can easily miss out on these characters entirely if you aren’t giving your island a thorough sweep.

Many of them have tasks they need help with, or exclusive items to sell, so always be sure to check in with them to get valuable rewards.

General Tips

There’s a ton more you can and should be doing in ACNH, and a lot of interesting things you may not have noticed. Here are some additional tips to keep in mind:

• Clear out any weeds that surround trees and rocks—items that fall from them need a place to land.
• You can move items around in your inventory by holding “A” and hovering over the item you want to move.
• Running through flowers won’t destroy them anymore, but they will destroy the bulbs, requiring you to wait for them to bloom again.
• Consider keeping a DIY workbench in your inventory if you’re exploring the farther ends of your island.
• Check the recycle bin inside Nook Services—even if you’re playing by yourself!
• Hold B to make dialogue go by faster.
• You can toss items into trash cans you place around the island!
• Don’t sell big ticket items in the drop-off box unless you don’t care about losing Bells! They only sell for 80% of what they’re worth due to fees.
• You can bury holes in the ground with your foot by hitting “Y” when you’re facing one.
• If you have a stack of flowers you want to keep on you but out of your inventory, you can wear all 10 in a stack at once!

Conclusion

Whether you’re a seasoned player or just starting out, Animal Crossing: New Horizons offers endless opportunities for creativity, exploration, and fun. By following these tips and tricks, you can maximize your experience and turn your island into a thriving community.

So grab your shovel, start crafting, and enjoy the journey in the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons!

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Sources:

– Official Animal Crossing: New Horizons website

– Nintendo Support

– IGN Animal Crossing Guide

Internal Links:

– How to Unlock Everything in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

– Ultimate Guide to Crafting in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

– Top 10 Tips for Building Your Dream Island

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