Apr 10, 2020
The most adorable trailer has been released for the new Koupen-chan game, Issho ni Asobo Koupen-chan!
Issho ni Asobo Koupen-chan ( Let’s Play Together Koupen-chan) is a four player game coming to the Nintendo Switch as a Japan exclusive release this summer. The developers have now released a gameplay trailer showing off how cute the game really is!
Though the game is set to release exclusively in Japan, you can still download the via the creation of a Japanese eShop account. However, you will need to know how to speak Japanese if you want to know what is going on. Other than that, we can all just keep hoping that the game makes its way West.
Switch Trailer
Issho ni Asobo Koupen-chan is a family friendly party style game with up to four players. The game will include lots of mini games (including fishing) as well as a quest mode that allows you to tackle challenges in co-op and single player modes.
For more information on Issho ni Asobo Koupen-chan, you can check out the official website.
Japanese Rural Life Game
For more adorable Japanese titles, check out my coverage of the upcoming game about Japanese rural life.
- Apr 10, 2020
Hokko Life and Team17 are partnering up to bring the most refined version of Hokko Life to PC this year.
Robert is the sole developer behind Hokko Life an indie life and village simulation game that is heavily inspired by the cuteness of Animal Crossing but shines complelty on its own.
Hokko Life allows players to take full control of their village with near unlimited customization options. Freely place any villager home in your town, decorate it with custom patterns and even create new furniture from the ground up – Lego style!
Partnering with Team17 will allow Robert to pour more time into making Hokko Life as great as can be. Stardew Valley fans might have seen a similar move when ConcernedApe teamed up with Chucklefish to bring Stardew Valley to more platforms.
Hokko Life Could Possibly See a Nintendo Switch Release
As of now Hokko Life is only planned to release on Steam with an Early Access release planned sometime early this year. However, partnering with Team17 could possibly allow Robert to bring the game to more platforms if it proves to be a viable option.
Team17 is known for games such as the beloved Overcooked series, Worms and the latest co-op survival game The Survivalists.
Hokko Life is expected to launch in Early Access for PC and Mac sometime this year.
More Hokko Life News
For everything Hokko Life, check out the latest reveal trailer as well as my interview with Robert on some insight information on the upcoming village simulator!
- Apr 9, 2020
Players have been posting some intriguing dialogue from their island’s residents to social media. Tweets of videos and screenshots shared from players’ Switch consoles and things people have noticed themselves, have left us Animal Crossing fans puzzled but excited. In a future update, it’s possible that an expanded museum, Brewster, and more shops could come to Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
An Expanded Museum
You may have noticed that the museum has a staircase leading to nowhere. Additionally, there is a cordoned off area in the far back right-hand side of the fossil section of the museum. This could simply be for decor however. You might also have noticed that the museum lacks a section for art, unlike previous games of the franchise. Excitingly, Twitter user @sylvidia posted the following tweet of a conversation between her and Fang:
Could an art section be included in an update?
Brewster And The Roost
The Roost, is a coffee shop run by a pigeon called Brewster. Brewster has appeared in all of the mainline games (as well as the film and some non-mainline games) since Wild World. He will always seem rather reserved at first, but will bond with players if you visit him and buy coffee a lot.
Therefore ’tis a crying shame that the coo-l pigeon is yet to make an appearance in New Horizons. This may be about to change however, due to the dialogue of Clay (shown below) who says that Brewster advised him not to drink that much coffee:
Additionally, in a French screenshot, villager Olympe (Maddie in English versions) specifically mentions Brewster and the Roost. You can tell this due to the colours of the words, which always indicate characters and places.
More Shops
Upon speaking to Isabelle in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, she sometimes gives an unusual tip. She says the island could do with more storefronts, but we can only build two, so are Nintendo planning more?
Below are some of the past shops/vendors/buildings that may or may not make a reappearance.
City folk introduced a variety of new shops/buildings/vendors to the Animal Crossing franchise. These include:
- The Auction House
- The Fortune Shop
- GracieGrace
- Kicks
- Phineas
- Shampoodle
- The Happy Home Academy
- The Marquee
New Leaf introduced the following shops/buildings:
- Club Lol
- The Dream Suite
- Leif’s Gardening Store
- The Photo Booth
Likelihood Of These Shops/Building/Vendors Returning
The marquee from City Folk is unlikely to be a building that players can visit, as players can now learn new reactions from other islanders.
Similarly, Club Lol is highly unlikely to make a return, as after progressing to a certain point in the game, K.K. Slider appears at the plaza on Saturdays, and takes song requests after 6pm.
The Happy Home Academy is also unlikely to be one of the buildings to appear in an update given that they sneakily evaluate your home without you noticing and will score/award you via mail.
Shampoodle is unlikely to be a shop included in an update given how players are able to change their own facial features and hairstyles and colors.
It’s possible that kicks could set up his own shop, especially as he is the only vendor of backpacks and bags. However, for the time being, he is one of the island’s travelling merchants.
Whilst nothing has hinted to it as of yet, the fortune teller’s tent/store run by Katrina would be a desirable addition to islands.
Again, nothing has hinted at there being a GracieGrace store in a future update, this was always a place where players could purchase high-end (albeit a little pricey) furniture.
Phineas has had two different roles in the franchise. His first appearance was in City Folk, and his second was in New Leaf. It’s unlikely he will hand out scout-like badges to players like in New Leaf, as Nook Miles have kind of replaced that. However, it would be super cute to see him handing out free pinwheels and balloons to players in the plaza, like he would do in the city in City Folk.
As there currently isn’t a section for art in the game’s museum, it would make sense that Redd would not appear and sell (mostly) fake art. However, it is possible he could appear in an update, especially if the museum had an art section.
It’s unlikely the Photo Booth from New Leaf will return, as players have a camera app on their NookPhone.
The Dream Suite would be a nice addition, as it would allow players to visit other people’s islands and share their own without the worry of anything being destroyed or taken.
Leif’s Gardening Shop would also be a nice addition, as Nook’s cranny is very limited in the plant department.
- Apr 7, 2020
We all need something to make us smile or laugh in these trying times. Whether they’re relatable memes or just silly in-game content, here are some of the best Animal Crossing: New Horizons memes.
Nephew* But Uses Zr To Use The Agreement Reaction
But How Many Wasps Stung You As Karma?
Get Cocky With The Spidey And You’d Better Hidey
The Time Travelling Doggo
The Ocean Needs Hydrating Too ?
Multiplayer Chaos
Because E G G S
More E G G S
S T O N K S
Yes.
Rude.
Haha Funny Meme
Sarcastic Gyroids
Pspspspspsps
B U G S
- Apr 7, 2020
Just like in previous games, players can crossbreed their flowers in New Horizons to make their island more vibrant. Additionally, there are new breeds of flowers such as mums, hyacinths and windflowers, meaning that there are now eight different types of flowers in the game. Your island will have three native breeds.
The first can be found once you have obtained a ladder whilst helping Tom Nook, and the other two breeds (alongside the first) can be purchased in the form of seeds from Nook’s Cranny. If you’re lucky, you may find new breeds of flowers on deserted island. However, the best solution is to visit the island of a friend who has them.
Crossbreeding flowers to create hybrids can take some time and patience, but is fairly simple if you place flowers correctly and water them daily, if it isn’t raining. So let’s get to it, here’s how to create hybrids in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
The eight different types of flowers available in Animal Crossing: New Horizons are:
- Mums
- Hyacinths
- Windflowers
- Tulips
- Roses
- Lillies
- Cosmos
- Pansies
Like in previous games, you will need to place two different colours of the same breed of flower in a checkerboard-like pattern (shown below). This will give space for hybrids to grow.
If you water them daily, or let the rain do it for you (you can tell if flowers are watered as they will sparkle), then hybrids will eventually begin to sprout.
Below are all of the hybrids discovered so far, and what two colours of each breed you need in order to obtain them.
Mums
- White + Red = Pink
- White + White = Purple
- Purple + Purple = Green
Hyacinths
- White + Red = Pink
- White + White = Blue
- Yellow + Red = Orange
- Blue + Blue = Purple
Windflowers
- Red + Orange = Pink
- Orange + White = Blue
- White + White = Blue
- Blue + Pink = Purple
- Blue + Blue = Purple
Tulips
- Red + White = Pink
- Red + Yellow = Orange
- Red + Red = Black
- Orange + Orange = Purple
Roses
- Red + White = Pink
- Red + Yellow = Orange
- Red + Red = Black
- White + White = Purple
- Orange + Orange = Blue
- Black + Black (and watered with golden watering can) = Gold
Lillies
- Red + White = Pink
- Red + Yellow = Orange
- Red + Red = Black
Cosmos
- Red + White = Pink
- Red + Yellow = Orange
- Red + Red = Black
Pansies
- White + White = Blue
- Red + Yellow = Orange
- Red + Red = Purple
- Orange + Orange = Purple
- Blue + Blue = Purple
- Apr 6, 2020
As soon as that creepy bunny started showing up on people’s islands to initiate an egg hunt, different types of eggs would show up. But not just here and there, they were everywhere. Floating through the sky, swimming in the water, hidden in rocks, you name it. The abundance of eggs was lessening the crafting materials obtained from trees, rocks, etc. Additionally the egg inundation issue was frustrating people in the northern hemisphere. This is because the egg hunt coincided with the ten days at the beginning of April where Cherry Blossom recipes could be crafted. The recipes for these could only be obtained from red balloons and clear bottles washed ashore. However, the colorful bottles on the shore and the whooshing of colorful balloon presents indicative of Bunny Day eggs/recipes, became so irritating
that I nearly yeeted my switch console out of my first storey window. Anywho, it seems that Nintendo have listened. The latest patch for the game lessens the drop rate of Bunny Day eggs in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.Nintendo Japan posted the following on their website:
This means that if you have updated the game to version 1.1.4, the drop rate of eggs will lessen. That is until that blasted bunny returns on the 12th for Bunny Day, when there will be more eggs again. Yay.
The word egg has lost all meaning. Thanks Zipper.
- Apr 6, 2020
There have been a lot of rumours floating around the internet regarding removing unwanted residents from your island. For example, shoving them and hitting them with nets, and complaining to Isabelle about them. However, as of right now, these are the only two proven methods on how to evict residents in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Neglecting Them
Not speaking or interacting whatsoever with the resident you want to leave will eventually make them consider leaving. You’ll know if they’re thinking about leaving as they will have a pondering expression as they walk around and a thought bubble above their head.
It’s important to note that you shouldn’t even hit them with a net, shove them, or send them hate mail as this still counts as interaction. Additionally, make sure to speak with all of the other residents on your island and do any favours they ask of you.
Inviting Other Animals To The Campsite Via Amiibo
The next method will require you to have the maximum amount of residents living on yout island (10). This will be a bit further on in the game when you are able to start selling plots of land, have built a campsite and visited Harv’s island to unlock the game’s amiiibo feature.
Once you have 10 residents, head to the Nook Stop terminal in Residents Services, and scan the amiibo card of the character you’d like to move in. You can also just keep checking the campsite, but you may be waiting a while and there’s no guarantee the camper will be someone you want living on your island
If you’ve opted for the amiibo method, head to the campsite after scanning your desired amiibo card. They may ask you to craft DIY recipes for them over the 3 days that they will stay.
If you craft these recipes, and keep them happy, on the third day of giving them their desired item, make sure to talk to them lots. Eventually, you will have convinced them to move to your island.
However, they’ll sadly note that there is no room for them on the island, but that they have heard that a resident was thinking of leaving. You will then be able to choose which resident you want to
boot off of your islandsadly say farewell to, so that your amiibo camper can move in.The camper will then negotitate with the rogue resident, who rather conveniently, was thinking about leaving anyway (sure you were bud). The resident will then start packing up to leave, and your camper will be making preparations to move in.
Happy evicting!
- Apr 6, 2020
An official Koupen-chan game is coming to the Nintendo Switch, and it looks magnificent
For those that have never met this adorable little creature, Koupen-chan is a super cute little baby emperor penguin that just wants to relax his life away. He would do exactly that were it not for the conniving little Shima Enaga, a foul mouthed little bird who wants to take over the world.
Issho ni Asobo Koupen-chan (Let’s Play Together) is a family friendly party style game that is currently set to release exclusively in Japan this summer. The game will include lots of mini games (including fishing) as well as a quest mode that allows you to tackle challenges in co-op and single player modes.
Koupen-chan is the product of Japanese artist Rurutea, and is widely known in his country of origin. Hopefully, we may even get to see the Koupenchan-chan Switch game in the west, though no official word has been heard.
While the game is a Japan exclusive, you can still access the download by creating a Japanese Nintendo eShop account.
For more information on the game, you can check out the official website, where it is mentioned that more details will be released in just two days!
Japanese Rural Life Game
For more adorable Japanese titles, check out my coverage of the upcoming game about Japanese rural life.
