Here are a few cute games that you can play for free (or at least really cheap) with friends on Nintendo Switch.
Sometimes it can be nice to pick up a new game just to try it out because it’s free. It can be even more fun to do so when you have a friend to share it with. And what easier way to share than to pick games that are either free, or cost next to nothing.
Well, Nintendo Switch actually offers a few games that aren’t costly, and are still super adorable and sharable with at least one friend. Here are some that I thought all my friends might enjoy, but there are a few more free multiplayer games for Switch on the Nintendo eShop that didn’t quite suit my tastes (i.e. violent, or simply not cute).
Growtopia is like what Terraria would be if it were actually cute. Build an entire world with your friends, with all kinds of different items. Fight an array of whacky baddies with cartable weapons and armor. Or simply chill back and build an entire city. It is up to you and your friends what you choose to do in this game of infinite possibilities. The game even allows you to play with up to 65 people in a single world. Growtopia is also currently available for free.
Super Kirby Clash is a simple yet cute entrance in the Kirby series. The games features a super basic formula of simply fighting many bosses to level up and get new weapons and items. A bit on the violent side for my taste, but it is hard to resist that adorable little pink puffball. Play with up to four friends and take on tons of tough bosses using many of the classic weapons from the series. The game is currently free to download.
Tetris 99 is the latest iteration in the Tetris series. For those who are unfamiliar, Tetris has you stacking different shaped puzzle pieces to complete horizontal lines of blocks. This time the game goes to a whole new level, pitting the player against 98 others in a battle royale to be the last puzzler in standing (so to speak). Its fast paced puzzle action that you can enjoy with your friends, and what’s better, it’s also currently free to download through the eShop.
Jump Rope Challenge is basically exactly what it sounds like. Sometimes it can be tough to get the exercise we need during these tough times, and this game offers you a great way to do just that. Join up with your friends and loved ones, grab the joy-cons, and get ready to jump. Enjoy watching the cute little on-screen counter as you jump your way to a high score. While this game is currently available to download for free, it will only remain that way unil September 30th, 2020.
Another great way to spend relaxing time with your friends is to share your artistic sides with each other. One might do this by playing an interactive coloring book on the Nintendo Switch. With 89 color options and 9 different tools to use, you and your friends will have a blast with the 62 wonderful drawings to color, as well as the whiteboard to truly unleash your creativity. Luckily, Coloring Book is also currently free to download from the Nintendo eShop.
Funbox Party is pretty basic little party game that has three different puzzle style game for you and your friends to compete in. In Up Up, avoid obstacles as you fly ever upward to reach the final goal first. In Dragon Escape, once again we are avoiding obstacles, but this time the stakes are higher as we are fleeing with the intention of not being eaten. In the final game, take on the role of a germ as you try to infect the intestines before your friends. Ewe. But fun. While Funbox Party is not free, it costs a mere $00.39 through the eShop.
Remember Line Rider? For those that don’t, Chalk Dash Carnival is game where you must draw a path through the world to reach your final destination. Your character will ride on the chalk line that you draw as the game goes on. Do crazy jumps and collect mad coin while trying to reach the end before your friends. It’s a fun, cool and kooky way to spend some chill time with your friends. Chalk Dash Carnival is currently available through the eShop for $00.85.
I hope you enjoy checking out these free games, and I hope you get a chance to play them with your friends! Have Fun!
There are so many wholesome games coming out this year! Let’s take a look at some of them together!
Garden Story
Garden Story is an upcoming social sim adventure RPG. With an emphasis on helping the residents of a broken island, this game is undoubtedly wholesome. The game is being developed by Picogram and published by Rose City Games and VIZ Media.
The planned release window for the game is currently Spring 2020, although no official date has been given. The game will be released for Microsoft Windows, MacOS and Macintosh operating systems. An official price is yet to be announced.
About:
Players assume the role of Concord, who is a recently appointed village guardian. However, you will definitely be kept on your toes. Whether it be neighbours requiring assistance, or the sudden appearance of a strange rot that has seeped into the foundations of the once thriving island, Concord has his work cut out. Fortunately, he is not alone.
If you help friends with their problems, they’ll help you with yours. Care for the environment, explore new regions, solve puzzles, make new friends, and ultimately, help restore the grove to its former glory.
Features:
Whilst restoring arun down island, players are also able to explore and cultivate the islands four regions as ‘Concord the Grape’.
By fulfilling residents’ requests, fostering relationships with others, and making friends with fruity people, you may find that these people will help you out in return.
Take care of garden plots, gather resources, and ensure to upgrade your tools to allow you to take good care of your home.
Whilst solving puzzles and defending yourself against the insidious rot, you may slowly unral the mystery behind the island’s broken past
By depositing and cataloguing resources you can create a library featuring the island’s lore.
At your own pace, you are able to care for garden plots each day, choose to take a walk in the evening, or can concentrate on completing favors. The ball is in your park!
Experience new things and fill your scrapbook with usable perks and traits.
You can visit the game’s website here. Alternatively, you can check out their Twitter account here.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons ( Out now on Nintendo Switch )
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an upcoming social simulation game where you play as a human character living on a deserted island amongst anthropomorphic animals. Players can shop, socialise with the animals, and participate in activites such as fishing, catching bugs, gardening and decorating. Nintendo are both the developers and publishers of the game. Therefore it’s understandable that the game will only be released on Nintendo Switch. The game is set to release on March 20th 2020, and will retail for $59.99
About:
Tom Nook is ‘switching’ things up with a new business venture. This business venture is his exclusive Nook Inc. Deserted Island Getaway Package. Naturally, the Tanuki isn’t offering this for free. When you have landed on the island, you also find yourself landed with debt (yet again) by the tiresome tanuki.
Like in previous games of the franchise, players can participate in activities such as gardening, fishing, decorating, and interacting with a variety of NPCs (both old and new), etc. However, the game will also offer some new features. Examples include, collecting resources, crafting furniture and tools, new ways to interact with trees and flowers, more diversity in skin tones, outdoor stair, more multiplayer options, the handy ability to pole vault rivers etc.
Then of course there’s the tiny details that Animal Crossing fans quickly picked up on. These include, shirts with sleeves for villagers, overally realistic kneecaps for players’ characters, toe beans, and even shoelaces..
Features:
Embrace your fresh start by customising your character and home to your liking. Decorate the island’s landscape (even with furniture, if you so wish), to create your very own perfect paradise.
Utilise a brand new crafting system and collect materials to create a variety of furniture and tools.
Relax and enjoy the activities Animal Crossing is infamous for such as gardening, fishing, decorating and interacting with charming NPCs and more. However, they can now be enjoyed in fun new ways on the deserted island
Up to eight players can reside on one island. Four of these residents residing on the same island are able to play together simultaneously on one console
Up to eight players can play together on one player’s island via either online multiplayer or local wireless. (For more information regarding how multiplayer works, click here).
More information about the game can be found here.
An awesome selection Animal Crossing decals can be seen here.
For a selection of must-have merchandise, click here.
Information about US pre-order bonuses can be found here.
Information about UK pre-order bonuses can be found here.
Mineko’s Night Market
Mineko’s Night Market is an upcoming cat-themed crafting adventure game that celebrates Japanese culture. The game is essentially about friendship, choices, and of course, cats. The indie game is being developed by Meowza Games, and being published by Humble Bundle. The game will be released on a multitude of different platforms including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Macintosh operating systems.The exact release date for the game is yet to be determined. However, the game’s official Steam page says that the game will be release in 2020. Fingers (and paws) crossed! ?
About:
Playing as Mineko, a girl who has moved to a superstitious fishing town inundated with cats, you will uncover secrets whilst assisting Mineko in becoming a successful young entrepreneur. This can be done by completing tasks, undertaking quests and gathering resources in preparation for the weekly night market.
Players can craft a variety of odd items, toys, and trinkets, which can then be sold to townsfolk (who are now your customers) at Mineko’s night market stall. After you’ve finished selling your items, you can explore the Night Market yourself, where you can play mini-games, eat unusual foods, and purchase collectibles.
The game allows you to explore distant lands by unlocking different types of transport (which include buses, bullet trains and cat carts). Each land offers new people to meet and unique things to do, dependent on the time of day and season.
There are 16 uniquely themed markets every year which all feature a stage event that you can partake in. Examples of events include Taiko drumming, karaoke competitions, sumo suit wrestling, and more!
The better you perform at the market, the bigger and better the market will become, which may well attract new townsfolk and even celebrity guests!
Features:
Players can explore the village and surrounding areas in order to discover a variety of rare resources and more importantly, make a bunch of new friends!
You are able to craft a variety of unusual items by utilising the resources you collect whilst exploring
Unleash you inner entrepeneur and barter with customers at the weekly night market to sell your creations
Wander around the night Market to discover a variety of curious culinary dlights and collectibles
Relive your childhood and take part in a variety of different Night Market games like cat racing, pachinko, and whack-a-tako
Solve the mysteries of the mysterious Sun-Cat Abe and Mount Fugu Island
For more information regarding the game, check out this interview with one of the lead creators of the game here. You can also visit the game’s website here.
Ooblets is an upcoming indie game that combines features of popular game franchises such as Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon and Pokemon. Initially, the game was going to be published by Double Fine. Ooblets will now however be developed and self-published by the game’s two main devs, who created a tiny game studio called Glumberland in order to do this.
According to the game’s latest Devlog, Ooblets will release this year, although no definitive date has been specified. It has also been confirmed that the game will release on PC and Xbox One. The price of the game has not yet been revealed.
About:
Ooblets is essentially a game where players have to balance farm life, town life, and the unexpected pressure of having to deal with numerous different Ooblets. On the plus side, you get the experience of helping to grow and train your ooblets, explore strange lands, and have dance-offs!
You might know that Ooblets is a game about farming ??, friendship ?, and collecting creatures ?
Starting a new life with a little rundown farm, you are able to improve, cultivate and customise this farm until it suits your liking
With a variety of hairstyles and clothing to choose from, you have complete freedom to customise your character
Break out your dance moves and take part in dance battles with both ooblets and fellow ooblet trainers alike
Explore the world of Oob and its variety of different locations, each with unique biomes, plants, characters, and ooblets
Plant ooblet seeds to grow your own friends. Eventually, they will bloom into baby ooblets
Join an Ooblet Club to match your personality
Upgrade your house and make it your own, with various decor and furniture to choose from
Unlock some funky new dance moves by levelling up your Ooblets
Acquire a variety of things whilst in Oob, including seeds, items, furniture, machinery, badges, and most importantly, friends.
Lots of awesome Ooblets merchandise can be grabbed here.
For more information about Ooblets, you can visit the Ooblets website here where developers regularly post updates in their devlogs. You can also follow Ooblets on Twitter and Facebook.
Rolling Hills
Rolling Hills is a life sim game where players run their own sushi restaurant in a town filled with anthropomorphic animals. The game is being both developed and published by Catch & Release, LLC. No definitive release date has been given, but developers are pushing for a 2020 release. It willl initially only be released on PC via Steam, but there is the possibility of the game being released on other consoles also.
About:
Rolling Hills is a life sim game where you get given your very own sushi restauraunt in a small village. This restaurant has been offered for free by inhabitants of the village. The only catch is that you help to rebuild their town. Players will have their work cut out. When not occupied with the sushi shop, you also need to rebuild the town as promised and improve the lives of your neighbours. On the plus side, you’ll make friends along the way. If you’re lucky, you’ll also attract some new villagers.
Make your restaurant successful by collecting different recipes and buying ingredients. You can then use your profits to profit the town. Watch your town improve and better the lives of townsfolk, customers and yourself through the actions you make.
Features:
Assume the role of a novice sushi chef and start a brand new life in your very own sushi restaurant (which fortunately happens to be equipped with a fully-automated conveyor belt)
Make new friends and socialise, whether you want to hang out at the cafe, participate in a role-playing game, or show off your knowledge (or not) at trivia night
Improve your restaurant by acquiring furniture and uphold your end of the bargain by building public works projects across town
Train and utilise your very own sushi robot to help keep your restaurant running… Your loyal lackey will even cover for you after switching the game off!
Head down to the river and go fishing for fresh sushi fish. Also, you can be a model citizen and use the magnetic rod to reel in trash.
Grow yourself some fresh vegetables by building garden boxes
You can follow the progress of Rolling hills on Twitter here.
Hokko Life
Hokko Life is an upcoming cute and cozy village life simulation game. The game is being both developed and published by indie game developer Robert Tatnell. Hokko life will be released for PC via Steam at some point this year. The cost of the game is not yet known.
About:
Hokko Life begins with your player stepping off of a train. Having taken over your very own (albeit a little dusty and old) workshop, you are free to craft and create to your heart’s content.
The quiet village which you now call home needs your expertise. Help tocreate an endearing town for those who live there. Armed with paint and tools, design, build and decorate new homes for your new friends.
Players are able to craft materials and combine them however they wish. This allows you to create new and amazing furniture and items for the town. By collecting flowers and mixing paints, you can then use them to design wallpapers, flooring and even clothing.
With plenty of choice, you could design a bright flowery wallpaper set, or instead opt to create an urban-industrial furniture collection. Whatever your taste, with a workshop at hand, you have complete freedom when designing a town for the villagers.
Features:
Chop, mine and dig for resources by venturing out to the forest or the abandoned mine. After bringing those resources back to town, you can craft them into materials that are usable in your designs.
Gather materials, head into your workshop and put your own spin on each item you make. The design table lets you build your own furniture. Here you can combine various shapes and materials using a simple yet powerful editor.
Design a variety of wallpaper, flooring and T-Shirts for you and the villagers to wear. Feel like a famous fashion designer and get everyone in town wearing your bespoke designs.
Enlist the help of the local builder in order to begin expanding the town. You get complete freedom over where buildings are located and then need to ensure they are ready for new villagers to move to town.
Customize both the interiors and exteriors of any home. Release your inner interior designer and pick designs and place furniture to create a home your new friends will adore.
Turn any plot of land into a place where plants and vegetables will grow. When your produce is ready, you’ll be able to sell it.
Enjoy quiet moments at the various fishing spots located in Hokko and expand your fishing collection. The fish have unique habits, and so players will need to vary their approaches. Similarly, each catch provides it’s own challenge when you reel them in.
Hokko is home to a wide variety of different insects. These insects can be caught and added to your collection. Be sure to keep a eye out, as some may be hiding in a bush.
Click here to check out an exclusive interview with the game’s solo developer.
Developed by Peachy Keen Games and published by Whitethorn Digital. Calico is a magical, relaxed and family-friendly simulation game where players are given an opportunity to run their very own cat cafe. The game is expected to be released on Steam at some point during Summer 2020. The game will most likely release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and MacOS shortly afterwards.
About:
Calico came about due to the game developer’s obsession with cats, magical girls and fluffy animals. However, wanting to create a game that would appeal to everyone, she also included creatures such as lizards, birds, deer, raccoons, dogs, turtles, red pandas, foxes, etc.
She then shares about how she wanted to publish a game that would make players feel ‘soft, happy, cuddly and cozy’. If that wasn’t wholesome enough, she has said in an interview that she just wanted to create a game where the only goal is to have the best time possble.
However, simply running the cat cafe is not the only things that players can do. The game also incorporates enjoyable aspects from other popular gaming franchises such as Animal Crossing. Similarities between Calico and Animal Crossing include the simulation aspects of both games, and the ability to place furnitire and decorations in your buildings. A perk about Calico however, is that the animals will not leave, the shop never closes, and crops never die.
Features:
As all animals are interactive, players can explore the village to find cats and other animals, including raccoons, deer, dogs, turtles, red pandas, foxes, lizards, etc. The animals can be befriended, petted and played with
Players can ride on giant cats ( as you do? )
Run your café by filling it with animals, furniture and yummy café eats!
Use magic potions to change your animals and environment
Meet magical girls, witches and other townspeople who you can help and befriend
Little Witch in The Woods
Little Witch in The Woods is an upcoming life simulation RPG. The game is currently in development by Sunny Side Up Games. No official release date has been given, but the developers are aiming for fall of 2020. They plan to release the game on Steam, and are hoping to release the game on Nintendo Switch and PS4.
About:
Little Witch in the Woods is an adorable fantasy RPG. You play as a super cute witch named Ellie. Close to graduating from witch school and becoming true witch, Ellie must experience the life of a witch as an apprentice. This involves moving to a new town and living in a witch’s house in a forest. Upon arriving to the town however, she is inevitably disappointed to find the in a state of disrepair, and a town which is virtually empty.
As the school is grading how well Ellie completes various tasks, she must explore the mysterious and magical region to gather the ingredients necessary for her potions. These potions can be used in other ways in the game too. Many of the ingredients can be acquired from obliging plants and creatures. The more rare ingredients can be obtained in the nearby village, where a curious bunch of NPC’s reside. By helping them out, they will reward you with ingredients, and some useful items as well.
Additionally, lending these characters a hand improves your relationship with them, and allows you to upgrade the small village. The game’s NPC’s, each with their own stories can sometimes move in or out of the village. It is possible to date these NPC’s, but they may not be human..
Features:
Experience life as a witch apprentice in a mysterious fantasy world
Explore the game’s mysterious and magical village and region
Connect with a variety of plants and animals in a unique ecosystem
Gather the the ingredients required for potion-making from obliging plants and animals. Rarer ingredients can be obtained as rewards for helping out NPC’s
Create a variety of different potions such as the: Healing Potion, Clean Potion, Tickling Potion, Twinkle Potion, Sneezing Potion and Hush Potion
Meet the handful of residents in the the small village, each with their own story.
Upgrade the village into a larger one by lending a helping hand to its inhabitants
Woo NPC’s enough, and you may find yourself a lifelong partner (although it may not be a human)
Check out an interview with the game’s developers here. You can follow the developers on Twitter here.
Alchemic Cutie is a wholesome pixel-art-stylised RPG set on a colourful Island named Wimba, where you players can tame wild jellies. The game is in development by Vakio and Viridian Software, and will be published by CIRCLE Entertainment this summer. Alchemic Cutie will be released on itch.io. and Steam. A price has not yet been announced.
About:
Set on Wimba island, players get to tame slime-like creatures called Jellies. There are over 4,000 visual styles for jellies, each with unique traits and statistics. Players will have to meet the needs of their Jellies, which inlcude hunger, energy and happiness. Raise the perfect jelly companions and you may be in with a chance of claiming the top prize in one of the game’s eight competitions. In order to improve your jelly’s abilities, you can use alchemy in order to create special items with various powerful affects or to change items into something more rare and powerful. When you’re all jellied out, you can explore the island and uncover its secrets. In the village you can chat with its inhabitants and choose whether to form friends, or if you’re so inclined, rivals.
Features:
Explore Wimba island and discover various jellies, items and quests
Wander around a village and befriend the quirky, entertaining, and complicated characters that live there
Utilise the Jelly raising and alchemy systems available for players to master
Participate in a total of 8 fun jelly competitions where you can show off your Jelly raising skills and win medals
Utilise the game’s modding feature and add your own villagers, quests, items, maps and more to grow Wimba Island. You can even build an island your own
Release day modding support
Share Jellies with others using special codes
If you would like to receive updates regarding the gaem, or share your modding creations after the game’s release, you can do so by signing up to the game’s ‘Cutie Club’ here.
Peaceful Days
Peaceful Days is a farming RPG simulation game reminiscent of Harvest Moon games. The indie game is being developed by Nhat Nguyen and published by Nhat Nguyen and Huiyin Studio. According to the game’s Steam page, Peaceful days is set to release for Microsoft Windows on August 31st 2020. It is currently priced at £7.19.
About:
Heavily inspired by the Harvest Moon series, Peaceful Days is a farming simulation set in the attractive Aurora Town, which is located by the sea. Living up to its title, the game appears to be peaceful and wholesome. Players have the freedom of character customisation and farm customisation too! Players can build friendships with the town’s inhabitants, become an important addition to the small seaside town, and participate in a variety of interesting festivals. Additionally you are able to build your very own farm from scratch. In your spare time, you are free to discover fish that you have not yet caught, spend time in the mine to discover ores necessary to upgrade your tools, play minigames, solve puzzles plus more.
As of February 3rd, an early access version of Peaceful Days became available on Steam.
Features:
The ability to customise your farm, with 15 different types of buildings to choose from
The ability to customise your character
Players can receive various requests from the town’s inhabitants, including making deliveries, searching for items or part-time jobs etc, with the game’s request system
Minigames
Festivals to participate in
The ability to raise a variety of different animals, waiting for you to unlock
Grow lots of crops every Season
Uncover secrets about the town
The presence of mine puzzles waiting to be discovered over at least 20 mine floors
Created by Marvelous and XSEED, Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town is a remake Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, which was initially released for Game Boy Advance back in 2003. No longer working with Natsume, Marvelous have rebranded their farming games, hence the change from the original game title. The game was recently released on July 10th in countries such as the UK, and is set to release on July 14th in the US. The game is playable on Nintendo Switch and PC.
Story (of Seasons)
Despite there now being a rather saturated farming simulation game market, Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town still manages to earn a place amongst popular games such as Stardew Valley and My Time at Portia. In my personal opinion, it even manages to surpass such games in certain ways due to it’s adorable simplicity. The game features a charming close knit town, harvest sprites with unique personalities, and is unburdened with too many anxiety-provoking features.
Your character has inherited a farm from their grandfather which they used to visit as a child. Entrusted to restoring it to its former glory, you are entasked with raising both crops and animals.
Character Customization
A slight disappointment upon beginning the game was the lack of character customization. With only 3 different skin tones to select from and 2 character options from 2 genders (4 character options in total), the game seemed quite out of touch, and I found myself not relating to my character like I had in Stardew Valley.
For me, the gameplay experience was therefore somewhat comparable to living the lives of the pre-made characters and families in The Sims games. On the upside, a variety of different outfits, some of which are absolutely adorable, can be changed into. To do so, you simply need to interact with the mirror in your home.
Plot & Gameplay
Moving onto the game’s plot; there isn’t one. At least not in the traditional sense. However, players can watch their farm grow, as well as mine, forage, and fish. Players can also explore Mineral Town and its shops, meet the townsfolk there, make friends, and even find a potential marriage candidate if they so desire.
A nice element of continuity is that the child your character spent time with during childhood summers returns part way through the game, and is a marriage candidate.
Additional features include seasonal festivals and events, often occurring with mini-games that players can participate in. Examples include the Cooking Festival, the Frisbee Festival, the Cluck Cluck Festival, plus more.
A very much welcome addition to the game is the introduction of same-sex marriage. In the original game, players could only become best friends with NPC’s of the same sex of their character. Other changes include the introduction of two new marriage candidates, Jennifer and Brandon. Another cool feature is the introduction of a coffee cow, which produces coffee that players can harvest.
When in certain places at certain times/circumstances, players can also watch entertaining little cut scenes unfold. From gossiping, to acts of flirting to family squabbles, these cut scenes give an insight into characters’ personalities, and can also liven up the game when farming becomes a little monotonous.
Graphics
The aforementioned cut scenes utilize 3D graphics, just like the rest of the game. This a move from the 2D sprite art of the original game. The use of 3D graphics in the remake is controversial. Some have argued that the 3D graphics appear simplistic and ‘cheap’. Others, however, have shown approval of the game’s chibi-like art style, great resolution both docked and undocked, as well as it having a consistent 60 FPS.
However, from a personal standpoint, I can definitely see why the default Nintendo Switch cursor is 2D and not 3D. You can change the cursor to 3D, but I’d really suggest otherwise unless you fancy a floating box as a cursor…
Sound
I was confused to say the least upon starting the game, as I am accustomed to background music when playing farming simulation games. On the very first day of gameplay, there was no background music (BGM) whatsoever, which was rather unsettling. I messed around in settings seeing if there was a way to ‘turn it on’, but to no avail.
However, there was BGM from day 2 onwards, which also changes with each season. I then realized that the absence of music on day 1 was due to a lapse in my attention during the game’s introductory speech with the mayor. He had said that the first day there was a day to rest, and I assume the lack of BGM was to symbolize that.
A feature I found pretty cool (albeit a little eerie), is a chime at 8pm, followed by an absence of BGM and featuring the occasional hoot of an owl. This is helpful, as it is quite easy to get absorbed into all of the daily tasks and got to bed late. Going to bed late will mean that your players oversleeps the next day.
TL;DR 8pm is Bed o’clock.
Story of Seasons Friends of Mineral Town Tips and Tricks
1x bag of seeds actually covers 9x tiles of tilled soil, as opposed to 1x tile, which I wrongly assumed.
Pay attention to instructions and accept the mayor’s tutorials. It took me until nearly autumn of year 1 to realize I had to hold down the Y button on my Nintendo Switch to water more than one crop at a time with an upgraded watering can..
Befriend the 7x Nature Sprites that live in a quaint hut behind the church as soon as possible. By giving each of them gifts that they like, your friendship with them will increase. Once you have enough hearts of affection for a sprite, you can ask them to assist you on your farm (the level of affection required was 3x hearts in the original game.
Don’t chop down the fruit tree directly in front of your house as this is a source of honey, which can be used to befriend Nature Sprites. However, don’t panic if you do, as you can speak to Gotts to buy more fruit trees.
Each Nature Sprite’s favorite gift is the grass type that corresponds to their color. This is the ideal gift, as your fruit tree will only spawn 1x honey from the tree’s beehive each day. However, not all types of colored grass can be found all throughout the year. Since most Nature Sprites seem to like honey and fruit, these can be gifted to the Sprites whose corresponding grass color is in season.
In order to cook and participate in the cooking festival, you will need a kitchen. To have a kitchen (and also to obtain a fridge), you will first need to upgrade your house.
If you get stuck or are looking for tips, you’re in luck! A the game is a remake of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (and an authentic one at that!), you’ll likely find helpful information on existing guides for the original game.
Replay Value
As the game is rather slow-paced (as is the norm for Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games), it is unlikely you’ll immediately want to replay the game. Personally, it is the type of game I’d return to a year or two later, when my terrible memory has forgotten all about it and it’s like getting a brand new game!
Personal Overview
Albeit slow-paced, one of the most appealing things about the game is that there is always something to do. The phrase ‘not enough hours in the day’ really does ring true. With the only real danger/threat in the game being collapsing from fatigue, the game is definitely family-friendly. In comparison to more modern farming simulation games, some may feel that the game is too simplistic. But sometimes simple is better, especially when it comes with fond childhood memories, wholesomeness and a pinch of modern-day relevance.
The Pros
Only take up 999mb of space to download on Nintendo Switch
The most adorable of animals
If you see a beehive you don’t need to run for your life
The Cons
Little character customization
Gameplay lacks some features that more modern farming simulation games have
The 3D ‘curse-or’ of doom
★★★★
Big thanks to XSEED Games andMarvelous USA, Inc. for providing myPotatoGames with a copy of Story of Seasons Friends of Mineral Town!
Wands are cool items exclusive to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. They allow players to instantly change into pre-assembled outfits with, well, the swish of a wand. The Star Wand recipe is the wand recipe that players are most likely to first obtain. All wands require star fragments to craft them. In order to learn more about obtaining the Star Wand recipe and obtaining star fragments, check out this article here. However, the Star Wand isn’t the only wand players can get their hands on. There are a whole bunch of cute and cool wands in the game waiting to be discovered. And so, here’s how to get all wands in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. 🌟
Star Wand
Celeste will give you the recipe for this wand the very first time you meet her. It requires 3x star fragments and 1x large star fragment to craft.
Bamboo Wand
The Bamboo Wand recipe can be found during spring either in a message in a bottle, or in a balloon present. Alternatively, players acquire it as a gift from another resident. It will require 3x star fragments and 6x young spring bamboo pieces to craft. You can sometimes find a bamboo island and collect bamboo resources from it when using a Nook Miles Ticket to go on a mystery tour.
Cherry-Blossom Wand
Again, the Cherry-Blossom Wand recipe is exclusive to spring. Or rather, cherry blossom season during spring to be more precise. Like the Bamboo Wand, the recipe can be found either in a message in a bottle, or in a balloon present. Or alternatively, as a gift from another resident. You will need 3x star fragments and 3x cherry blossom petals to craft it.
Bunny Day Wand
The Bunny Day Wand recipe can be acquired from Zipper on Bunny Day once you have crafted all of the bunny day items. For more on this, click here. The recipe necessitates 3x star fragments and a nice and 1x creepy Wobbling Zipper Toy to craft.
Wand
This simply named ‘Wand’ looks like it came straight out of a Harry Potter film. So for all you Potterheads, this one is a must have.
The Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 2x star fragments to craft.
Top Tip: Combine it with a graduation gown, round specs, black trousers and shoes, and you’re a wizard Harry!
Tree-Branch Wand
The Tree Branch Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 5x tree branches to craft.
Mums Wand
The Mums Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 1x yellow mum flower to craft.
Cosmos Wand
The Cosmos Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 1x white cosmos to craft.
Lily Wand
The Lily Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 1x white lily to craft.
Hyacinth Wand
The Hyacinth Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 1x pink hyacinth to craft.
Rose Wand
The Rose Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 1x red rose to craft.
Pansy Wand
The Pansy Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 1x yellow pansy to craft.
Tulip Wand
The Tulip Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 1x red tulip to craft.
Windflower Wand
The Windflower Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 1x orange windflower to craft.
Mushroom Wand
The Mushroom Wand recipe can only be found during fall. Like the Bamboo Wand, the recipe can be found either in a message in a bottle, or in a balloon present. Or alternatively, can be received as a gift from another resident. You will need 3x star fragments and 3x thin mushrooms to craft it.
As the Mushroom Wand looks uh, rather questionable, I personally prefer mine customized to the red and white version 🙂
Shell Wand
The Shell Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 3x summer shells to craft.
Ice Wand
The recipe for the Ice Wand can be obtained from Snowboy during winter. The crafting materials needed include 3x star fragments and 1x large snowflake.
Golden Wand
The Golden Wand recipe can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 2x gold nuggets to craft.
Iron Wand
The Iron Wand recipe (which literally looks like a metal pipe) can be given to players randomly by talking to Celeste when she visits. It requires 3x star fragments and 3x iron nuggets to craft.
Fish Wand
Players can receive a Fish Wand from C.J. during the Fishing Tourney. This wand is a physical item however, and not a recipe. It therefore doesn’t have a DIY and can’t be crafted.
Bug Wand
Like the Fish Wand, the Bug Wand is also a physical item and not a recipe. Players can receive the Bug Wand from Flick during the Bug-Off event.
Wedding Wand
The Wedding Wand recipe can be gifted from Cyrus during the Wedding Season event in June. If you help Reese and Cyrus take wedding anniversary photos at Photopia, you will be rewarded with wedding-themed items. The recipe for the wand requires 3x star fragments and 1xWeddingFlowerStand to craft.
Days don’t have enough hours since Animal Crossing New Hoirzons released merely one week ago. To sweeten up the ongoing release party Active Patch is giving away three Animal Crossing goodie packages featuring some adorable merchandise including a brand new Clear Switch Dock Sock that perfectly protects your Dock.
Entering is super easy, simply leave a comment on this Facebook post naming your favorite product from Active Patch, you can check out all their adorable items including some super cute Animal Crossing themed items right here.
For an extra entry make sure to give Active Patch a follow on Instagram or Facebook.
Animal Crossing Goodies
Once you entered you will have a chance to snatch up one of these three Animal Crossing goodie packages.
Isabelle Figurine and Clear Nintendo Switch Dock Sock!
Bell Bag and a Timmy and Tommy Amiibo!
Clear Nintendo Switch Dock Sock and a Screen Cleaner for your Nintendo Switch!
Winners will be announced after the giveaway concludes on April 9th. So make sure to check to see if you are one of the lucky ones receiving an Animal Crossing Goodie Package!
Winner Announcement!
Thank you so much for participating! I am happy to announced the three following winners! If you are one of the lucky ones, please make sure to reach out to me via the myPotatoGames Facebook, Twitter or e-mail ([email protected]) so I can get the prizes into your hands as soon as possible!
Congratulations to the following winners!
Isabelle Figurine and Clear Nintendo Switch Dock Sock: Caroline Seow
Bell Bag and a Timmy and Tommy Amiibo: Fabi Michelle
Clear Nintendo Switch Dock Sock and a Screen Cleaner for your Nintendo Switch: Laura McLaughlin-Smith
Creating the perfect island in Animal Crossing takes time, effort and lots of planning. This Animal Crossing New Horizons Island Planner is designed to make it easier and even save you some bells along the way.
Not only is this an expensive adventure but if you also don’t choose to time travel it will take a while to move shops and other establishments around. Only one building can be moved per day and you will need to get a good night sleep before the move can be completed.
Save Bells – Plan your Island!
A fan project now created an island planner that allows you to create your dream island layout in 3D in the comfort of your web browser. You can choose paths, make rivers and even place any sort of buildings wherever you like. Once you have the desired layout you can copy it to your game.
The adorable life-sim, Coral Island, will have multiplayer capabilities and so much more!
I recently had the chance to get a closer look at the upcoming adorable life-sim game, Coral Island. Even with their insanely busy schedules, the amazingly kind developers at Stairway Games took the time to answer a few questions that would give everyone a much better idea as to what to expect from their upcoming beautiful indie title.
In the interview I learned that, while Coral Island will be a super charming life sim game, underneath is a true and deep message of positive change. The developers mention the game exploring such topics as the effects of climate change, as well as cultural representation in gaming. But don’t let me spoil all the juicy details, the interview below has everything you need to know!
Q&A With Developers Of Coral Island
Q: Who are the members of Stairway Games, and what is their favorite part of being developers/artists/musicians?
Jeremiah, Game Director: Loading the latest build of the game, and handing the controller to my daughter — only for her to find a new bug in 5 seconds flat!
Ayuni, Creative Director: It’s hard to say. Because I love writing this game and seeing the ideas being implemented… But if I had to pick just one, my favorite part would be seeing the characters come to life.
Soma, Game Producer: I get to work with very talented and driven people that really want to make this game great.
Damas, Game Art Director: Creating a world for others to be fully immersed in and (hopefully) also enjoying it as much as I enjoy making them.
Bimo, Technical Artist : Using all my knowledge for the game and working with very talented people.
Reza, Studio Co-Art Director: I get to sit and design. It’s a great feeling to see them turned into 3d objects and placed inside the game.
Rama , Animator : Learning new skills!
Baiquni, Level Artist : Place & organize the assets into the game map to make the game more alive & fun to play. Fav part, optimization is everything!
Aditya, Sound Designer: It’s such a challenging experience working on game audio since this is my first interactive audio work. My favorite part during this production is learning audio middleware (Wwise) as part of audio implementation in a game. In addition, working with very talented & kind people in this team is a great experience.
Surya, Game Programmer : Learn and grow with awesome people to build this game.
Mario, Game Programmer: My favourite part about being a developer in Stairway Games would possibly be that I get to learn as much stuff as possible and have fun in the process. It is such an honor to work in such a great atmosphere with some of the most talented people in the Gaming Industry in Indonesia.
Laksamana, Game Programmer : Just ordinary person that bored to only play the games, and now love to make one, first time to work in game studio and really get excited to make this game with other talented dev.
Q: What inspired the creation of Coral Island?
At Stairway, we’re all gamers and collectively have played through our fair share of games. We don’t see as many characters as we’d like who look like us or our family/friends and want to change that. We believe that the gaming community can do better with regards to representation.
Aside from that, the space that we all share, our planet, is our second biggest inspiration. We want to spread awareness of the very real and current environmental challenges we face and the need for sustainability. We touch on these topics through gameplay that combats trash build-up, all of which will feedback directly into the gameplay loop.
While the game itself is inspired by our love of Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon, Coral Island is, hopefully, our way of contributing to the wagon of change by adding even more representation and sustainability awareness to the industry.
Q: What would your team say is the hardest part of making a game like Coral Island?
Nailing the game feel continues to be the hardest part of development. We’ve found that many farm life sim games, as they make the transition from 2D to 3D, lose something that makes play as enjoyable as it could be.
Many things influence game feel, such as the camera settings (distance, whether it is fixed or free-roaming), the scale of objects and characters in the world, the speed that the player will move, even map size, etc. All these things also end up impacting our art development pipeline — so a balancing act indeed!
Q: What is one feature of Coral Island that your team is particularly excited about?
We’re very excited about diving! How you go about yourself here will impact the game directly. Whether that is improving the quality of your crops or animal products, and most importantly, the island’s ecosystem.
Q: What are some of the key features that make Coral Island what it is?
Although we could list it all here, in the coming months we’ll be releasing a video showcasing all of our games key features! We hope this will form a clear idea of what Coral Island is and what to expect.
Q: Any ideas yet as to an approximate release date and/or what platform/s the game will be releasing on?
The team is targeting a Q1 2021 release for early access on PC. Given the large scope, we can’t wait to get feedback from the community, and together, shape Coral Island into the dream farm sim life game we know it can be! In the future, we would love to release our game on other platforms.
Q: What would your team say is the main message or theme of Coral Island?
To our players, we hope our diverse cast of characters makes you feel wholly represented, and second, we hope to bring attention to the impact of global pollution and promote sustainability.
Our big dream is to create the type of farm sim life game we’d like to play, but don’t yet see on the market. We hope Coral Island can be enjoyed by the gaming community and push the standard for farming sim life games.
Q: Do you plan for there to be any sort of online functionality in the game, i.e. co-op, leaderboards, trading?
Yup! Though things may change during the course of development, we are currently planning to implement drop in-and-out couch co-op, and traditional online/LAN modes too.
These Animal Crossing New Horizons Themed Isabelle Joy-Con grips are the absolute cutest!
Animal Crossing New Horizons is here, and it’s everything we ever wanted it to be. My island is growing so fast, I can hardly keep up with who lives where! It is pretty much the greatest game ever, and that gives cause to celebrate.
One great way to celebrate this amazing game would be to decorate your Nintendo Switch console with an accessory that is just as adorable as the game itself. Weren’t able to get an ACNH themed Switch? Did get an ACNH themed Switch and now wonder what it would like if it were even cuter?
These Isabelle themed Joy-Con grips are the perfect little addition to beautify any Nintendo Switch console! The grips feature a close-up of the face of that delightful little shitzu, and are available right here while supplies last.
Each order comes beautifully packaged with two Isabelle Joy-Con grips.
Aug 10, 2020
