There are some games that many fans of a certain franchise were expecting, but instead got something that they were expecting to get. One example was Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival for Wii U in 2015. It wasn’t well received because fans were expecting an Animal Crossing game and not a spin-off like Happy Home Designer, but instead waited for five years later when New Horizons was released in 2020. To be honest, when I got this game for Christmas, I played it, and thought it wasn’t horrible. There are some things I love about it that makes it worth a try. What are those things? Stay tuned as we look at the positives. A little disclaimer before we start: I am sharing my opinion on this game in a reasonable and polite tone, and not trying to force people to like this game since it will defeat the purpose of opinions. That being said, let’s look at the positives on Animal Crossing amiibo Festival:
One of the things that is nice about the game is that despite being a board game, it still feels like an Animal Crossing game with its charm including wonderful graphics, catchy music, and lovable characters. Positive #1 is that the charm of the franchise is still present. When you buy the game, you’ll get two figures: Isabelle and Digby, and three cards: Goldie, Rosie, and Stitches. This is the only game where amiibo are required to play, however only the first player needs a figure to play, and some of the minigames you can unlock by trading in tickets require the cards you get. The other players can use human characters which will be the CPUs for playing solo if you don’t have enough figures. If you want more characters, you have to buy card packs and compatible figures for the game. Thankfully, the minigames don’t require a lot of cards to play, so even if you bought just one card pack or use any cards for Happy Home Designer, you can still play those minigames. Positive #2 is only one person’s required to have a figure to play, and the other figures and cards can be optional. Speaking of which, the card packs came in four different packs, making it easier for you to buy one to get the chance of someone you really want instead of every character in one single pack. Positive #3 is the extra cards are sold in separate packs. One of the things that makes the Animal Crossing franchise interesting is how beginning with the GameCube title, it uses the date and time on the console’s calendar, and uses real worldwide holidays from Valentine’s Day to Thanksgiving. There are special events relating to these holidays like Halloween in October where you collect candy for Jack and Toy Day where Jingle gives everyone a present that will help them in the game. There are also birthdays for both the characters you play as, and even the villager who hosts the game that makes you receive bells, happy points, or both. And sometimes at random, Opposite Day happens which makes you go backwards, events do the opposite, and turnip prices aren’t seen until you land on the space! Positive #4 is the holidays that have special events depending on the month you’re playing in. The board game’s main goal is to get the most happy points which are similar to Stars in Mario Party, and you earn them along with Bells by landing on spaces that trigger events relating to New Leaf. These can be entertaining to look at regardless whether they’re good or bad, and in some cases, there will be an event that’s related to what the character’s role in the franchise is. There are also five characters that may appear at random: Redd who sells different cards you can use later, Katie who lets you trade any cards you receive, or play a card game if you don’t have any, Katrina who reads your future that affects you based on what number a player rolls, Dr. Shrunk who tells you a joke that lets you receive a card, and Phineas who gives you an award of bells or happy points for anyone to win by a wheel making whoever landed on the space a higher chance of winning. Positive #5 is the different kinds of events which are fun to look at. Speaking of events, there are some instances where you land on a space that another player is on which may trigger an event that occurs to both you and the other player whether good or bad. Positive #6 is events that occur when a player lands on the same space another one’s on. After playing any game, you’ll receive tickets that you can trade in for minigames or decorations for the board not only to give it some pizzazz, but also have events relating to them or even change the spaces on the board! Positive #7 is decorations to make the board look more active. The minigames you can play in the main menu once you trade them for tickets, four out of the seven can be fun to play, but my two favorites are Balloon Island where you drop a character to pop balloons and land safely on a moving island using the cards you have, and Desert Island Escape where you control three characters that are finding three pieces of wood and a sail to make a raft for escaping an island. Depending on which cards you have, certain animals have special abilities like dogs sniffing out areas with the question marks that may contain materials for tools, food, or the required items; cats can catch fish in the water without fishing poles, and bears having a higher chance of getting honey from beehives. Positive #8 is the minigames Balloon Island and Desert Island Escape. Finally, one thing I find funny about the game when playing with four people, the player who finished 4th gets a wood trophy at the end of the game, which may give them self-esteem or an award for participating! Positive #9 is the 4th place contestant getting a wood trophy in the end.
So, now that I mentioned these positives, the question still remains: is Animal Crossing amiibo Festival one of the worst party games if not one of the worst video games in general? The answer is no, not at all. I’ve seen plenty of bad games on the Wii U as well as party games that are either more boring or difficult to play even when playing alone, as well as ones that try to mimic other popular party games and fail to do so. But this one works fine since I really love the charm it has as well as the events that happen. If you manage to find this in a store, you might want to pick it up and give it a try since it’s not that horrible.