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To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Animal Crossing series, you can log into Animal Crossing: New Horizons to collect a special gift. After you download the newest update, Version 3.0.2, you can find it in your mailbox. The Japanese social media account for the game was the first to share the reveal. However, shortly after the North American Nintendo Support site also updated to share the patch notes for the update, which also include some fixes for issues tied to the hotel and Slumber Islands.
The gift for the Animal Crossing anniversary is a giant statue in the shape of the iconic leaf. You can place it as a landmark or just stash it away as a collector’s item if it’ll ruin your island’s aesthetic. The leaf will also come with a letter from Nintendo, written on nostalgic-looking stationery. Though the official Animal Crossing social media account and Nintendo’s site only announced the leaf, it’s possible that there will be more updates to the game to celebrate the 25th anniversary.
The Animal Crossing series is a social simulation “cozy” game that first came out in 2001. They generally all follow the same pattern, in which the humanoid player character lives in a village with anthropomorphic animals. Aside from activities like fishing and fossil hunting, the player can interact with the animal villagers or watch them interact with each other. The latest games in the series are New Horizons, which came out in 2020, and Pocket Camp Complete, which came out in 2024 and is a paid offline version of Pocket Camp. Pocket Camp ended service that same year.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is readily available on the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.
