New Horizons update adds 25th anniversary gift

Nintendo released a new update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Tuesday that commemorates the franchise’s 25th anniversary (while also fixing a few bugs along the way). Players who download the latest update for New Horizons will get a special anniversary gift and a thank-you letter from Nintendo.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Ver. 3.0.2 for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 will gift players a new item called the Leaf Statue. It’s a chunky, Villager-sized version of the classic Animal Crossing leaf icon — and it lights up. Have fun obsessively switching it on and off, or simply placing it like a non-threatening monolith in your Villager’s bedroom.

Players will receive the gift through their mailbox. It’s included with a letter from Nintendo that reads:

Dear friends,

It’s been 25 years since 4/14/01. It was said, “Better than one is two, better than two is four, and better than four is… many.” And there are so many of you now! Thank you. Enjoy your islands, your way.

Sincerely, Nintendo

The in-game letter is affixed with a stamp featuring the Nintendo 64 logo, home to the first Animal Crossing game, which was released in Japan on April 14, 2001 as Dōbutsu no Mori. The original N64 game’s cover art featured the tagline “Better than one is two, better than two is four, and better than four is… many.” Dōbutsu no Mori was later ported to Nintendo GameCube with enhanced features and ultimately came to the West as Animal Crossing in 2002.

While we wait for news on a new Animal Crossing game for Switch 2, players can enjoy turning around the new leaf that dropped in Nintendo’s latest update. You can read the full patch notes for Animal Crossing: New Horizons Ver. 3.0.2 below.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Ver. 3.0.2) Patch Notes

The following updates have been made when playing the game on Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch:

General updates

• A commemorative item for the 25th anniversary of the Animal Crossing series has been added. Please check the in-game mailbox to receive it.
• Fixed an issue in hotel guest rooms where furniture placement or guest behavior could prevent you from exiting the room.
• Fixed an issue where crafting multiple items at once using a DIY recipe requiring six types of materials was sometimes possible even without sufficient materials.
• Fixed an issue where a dung beetle appearing on a snowball could remain on-screen after the snowball disappeared.
• Fixed an issue where items could pop out of a rock before the shovel made contact when hitting it. This issue was addressed in Ver. 3.0.1 but could still occur under certain conditions, so it has been fixed again.
• Fixed an issue where bringing custom designs created by the player to a Slumber Island could prevent them from being displayed at Able Sisters or uploaded to the Custom Designs Portal.
• Fixed an issue where glowing spots on the island would not appear lit when viewing it from the plane while returning from another island.
• Fixed an issue where villagers who had promised to visit the player’s home could sometimes appear in unnatural locations inside the house.
• Other adjustments and corrections were made to improve the gameplay experience.

Changes to DLC

The following issues related to the paid DLC Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise have been fixed.

• Fixed an issue where animals requesting vacation homes would stop appearing on the beach even when some animals still did not have vacation homes.

Related

Everything new in Animal Crossing: New Horizon’s 3.0 update

What’s actually in this update?