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Animal Crossing: New Horizons, released in March of 2020, came at such a perfect time. With all of the free time many of us had at home last year, it’s no wonder why this game was the “Sweet Escape” we all longed for. I’ll admit that I’m brand new to Animal Crossing in general, so when it came out on the Nintendo Switch, I became more curious as to what all the hype was about. I bought the game and on the first day, I think I played it at least 6 hours straight. Now, I definitely know what all the hype is about. 😂
Considering Resetting ACNH?
If you’re reading this post, you’re probably quite seasoned in the game if you’re in a stage where you’re considering erasing your game data & starting over. Perhaps you’re just wondering why anyone in their right mind would even consider doing this (especially after putting hundreds of hours into your current island).
Unless your island has one of these cool underground game rooms already, I would definitely recommend starting over for multiple reasons I’ll go over in this post! Luckily, I reset my game when I was only 3 months into it, so it may be a harder decision for those further along. But if you are considering resetting, the earlier, the better!
Reasons to Reset Animal Crossing: New Horizons
So, what are the biggest reasons you would want to redo your entire game progress? After all the hard work you have done on your current island, starting over seems bizarre, right? It seemed borderline insane when I first considered it too, but after I did it, I felt ZERO regret. Here is why:
1. You can Fix your Newbie Mistakes
If you were as excited as I was when you began this game, you may have done one of the following, which are permanent decisions (at least to my knowledge):
- Gave your island a dumb name – You may have picked a name quickly just to get the ball rolling, so resetting your game would be the only way to change that.
- Selected an undesirable island map/layout – Do you remember being given 4 island maps to choose from? When you made that initial decision, it is likely you had no idea what to look for when making a selection. (especially if you were a first time player like I was).
- Didn’t give your home/building locations much thought when placing them – This was a big one for me! I placed my homes & shops in the worst locations imaginable, which made infrastructure planning difficult further along in the game. Sure, you can move buildings in this game eventually, but it cost you bells and doesn’t resolve everything like placement of everything else that isn’t a building.
- Blindly planted your Flowers and Trees – Initially, I placed flowers & trees anywhere and everywhere – all over the place! Again, you can move them, but I just couldn’t imagine having to eat all the fruit I would need to eat to move everything where I want it.
The simple fact is that when you’re first starting out, you aren’t aware of all the things that aren’t easily changeable and now that you know what you’re doing and how you want things to look, playing the game from the beginning a second time is a GAME CHANGER – literally!
2. It’s Oddly Relaxing…& Exciting! (and Different)
This may sound a bit dorky but when I reset my game, starting over felt great because you immediately notice the difference in your thinking when making those early island decisions. Not only that, you may notice some surprises too – for example, in my first island, It came with lots of pear fruit trees and my 2nd island came with lots of orange fruit trees. I also collected many fish & bugs that I had never caught before at my first island, which helped the excitement of discovering creatures super fun all over again. 🐠
3. New Animal Crossing: New Horizon Villagers
I didn’t mind my original villagers so I was a tad bit worried about getting new ones that I did not like, but you get it over it quickly and begin to love your new ones just as much. I’m also able to strategically invite new villagers to move to my island now, unlike before when I’d invite ANYONE who I crossed paths with. 😣
My favorite villagers (and one of my not-so-favorite) deserve a shout-out:
Agnes – An adorable black & white pig, who is as sweet as can be and easily pleased.
Bones – Super nice, mellow and C-U-T-E dog who always looks content.
Rex: He’s just a chill guy (except for that one time I kept accidentally hitting him with a net) LOL
There was a particular villager that I was not fond of:
Rasher – A cranky, deep-voiced, rough-looking pig who refers to you as “swine”. (Oddly enough though, he once gifted me some flower-shaped sunglasses). Have I missed having him living on my island though? No! LOL
You can check out the full list of 397 possible villagers at the Fandom page!
4. Planning Capabilities
After restarting ACNH, you have that beautiful clean slate to work with, making the projects you plan to create SO much easier. Getting ideas from other’s islands and making them your own can be a lot of fun. Specifically if you aren’t very good with design/organization. Here are some examples of some other player’s islands that I have kept for inspiration. Starting your island over from scratch allows you to pre-plan what empty pieces of space/land you will need to keep empty for when you get the items/supplies needed to create them. Check these out!
Kawaii Inspired Island 🌸
If you’re all about that cutesy life, you’ll love this island’s kawaii aesthetic! Staying true to the color scheme has to be a little difficult, but it looks so dreamy!
Neon Lights Paradise 💜
Starting from scratch will also give you the advantage of planning what design possibilities there are. I never had even considered the ability to make this custom flooring look like an LED-lit mega palace! If you have not mastered creating your own custom designs, you can actually use the codes for these here: Identity RX
Pool Hangout 💦
This right here…Animal Crossing New Horizon POOL GOALS! You can get more info on this design here: My Potato Games
5. You’ll put a Natural Emphasis on Quality over Quantity
This point pretty much sums up all of the reasons listed above, but it is an important one. Like mentioned earlier, when you are playing ACNH for the first time, you find yourself just rushing to get to the next task. You don’t realize it, but you put the decorating and logistical aspects on the backburner, more focused on collecting bells for upgrades, and filling up your Critterpedia and fossil catalogs. When you reset the game though, you play with a different mindset, focusing on the details as you go, which saves you a ton of work and rearranging later.
If you’re finding yourself unhappy with your island, or even if you are just getting bored of it, take a risk and start over for a fresh, new, fulfilling experience.
How to Reset your Animal Crossing: New Horizons Game:
f you decide to do so, it is simple when you follow these steps:
On your Nintendo Switch homepage, go to:
- On the Nintendo Switch homepage/menu, go to “System Settings“.
- Click “Data Management”
- Select “Delete Save Data” (Don’t worry – this will not delete all of your games, you will select what game’s data you want to delete on the next page).
- Now choose “Animal Crossing: New Horizons“
- Finally, select “Delete All Save Data for this Software“.
After that, you will go back into the game and be greeted and welcomes to set up a brand new account, island name and location. It is freakishly freeing and fun redoing everything – I promise! 😍
Not Ready to Reset ACNH?
If you decide restarting is not in your best interest, that is completely fine. That probably means that you are pretty happy with your island and proud of all the work you have done on it. In the meantime, you can do some real-life decorating with these cute ACNH products that are too cute to not deck your real home with.
Animal Crossing New Horizons Merch Set 🎈
Reset your style instead with this uber-duper-cute Tom Nook beanie and pin bundle! 🐻
“B*tch Better Have my Bells” Mug 💰
Bahahaha! Those of you who know the constant struggle of the reality of constantly owing Tom Nook bells can appreciate this the most. 🤣
Animal Crossing New Horizons “Bellionaire” Glitter 🔔
ColourPop has these cute ACNH-inspired jars of gold body glitter. I’m in absolute awe!
Whether you’re about to reset Animal Crossing: New Horizons for a fresh new start or have decided to put in the manual labor and money into making major infrastructure alternations instead, all that matters is that you have fun doing it! Either way, make your dream island come to life (and don’t forget to take a break every once in a while!).
Get to decorating that new casino by the beach – November, Oscar, Whisker!
Well Crap! Now I have to go buy this game! LOL Thanks for the Newbie tips, these will come in handy! 🙂