Every Animal Crossing Game Ever Released, Ranked

Animal Crossing, originally released in Japan as Dobutso no Mori (Animal Forest), has since grown to become an internationally-recognized hit. Animal Crossing asks players to slow down, take a deep breath, and enjoy a wholesome experience. This places the series among other life and social simulation games. However, gorgeous graphics, beautiful music, and iconic characters all cause it to stand out among its competitors.

There are some truly great, beloved Animal Crossing games floating around. Unfortunately, there are some not-so-great ones, too. Most fans would prefer to forget some of the spin-off games, for example. On this list, we’ve compared our favorite entries in the series along with its rare misses.

9/9 Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival

Amiibo Festival is the only entry in the Animal Crossing series that crosses the line from “just mediocre” to “truly bad”. Conceptualized as a slightly friendlier version of Mario Party, it ends up just being plain old boring. The main trouble with Amiibo Festival is that it removes the one most exciting thing about Mario Party — its competitiveness. No longer will you yell at your friends on the couch, it’ll be more like slightly upset grumbling.

Amiibo Festival was, notably, packaged with several Amiibos: two full figures, and three “Amiibo cards” representing Animal Crossing villagers. While it’s nice to have some figures included with your game, Amiibo Festival integrates them in a clunky way. It ends up feeling forced, as players are constantly reminded how much better the experience would be if the Amiibos weren’t there at all.

8/9 Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

When this mobile game came out, fans were hungry for a new Animal Crossing. The other new games available at the time, both on WiiU, were Amiibo Festival (extremely underwhelming) and Animal Crossing Plaza (more like a screensaver than an actual game). So unless you were still enjoying New Leaf on the 3DS, Pocket Camp was the only decent option for a new Animal Crossing experience.

Although it definitely isn’t a traditional Animal Crossing, the game is actually not half bad. It has a surprising number of features, including fishing, bug catching, decorating, and so on. The main downside is that Pocket Camp also has its fair share of free-to-play features, such as timed events and microtransactions.

7/9 Animal Crossing: City Folk

City Folk is the series’ entry on the Nintendo Wii, and while it isn’t a bad game by any means, it did little to innovate. Even in terms of graphics, City Folk felt an awful lot like an updated version of Animal Crossing on the Gamecube.

One thing added by City Folk is, of course, the city: a hub filled with shops and villagers. It may be a nice-looking area, but even the city has very little new to offer. There are shops, but there are no new shops, really. There are some other small places to visit, but it won’t be long before players grow bored and just return to their life in the small village. Unfortunately, City Folk is the most forgettable of all the mainline Animal Crossing games.

6/9 Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer

Happy Home Designer was a 3DS game focused on (as the title says) designing homes. It obviously isn’t a traditional Animal Crossing experience, hence its relatively low ranking. Despite that, viewing it as a home design game rather than an Animal Crossing game, it’s actually quite good.

For the first time, all of the furniture in the series was easily available, making home decoration a breeze. The game also implemented a new drag-and-drop design system, which influenced the simplified decorating in New Horizons. Happy Home Designer was a big hit for fans of Animal Crossing and interior design. Others had trouble getting into it, and because it was a standalone game, Happy Home Designer didn’t do all that well on the market.

5/9 Animal Crossing: Happy Home Paradise

Happy Home Paradise is a DLC for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and the spiritual successor to Happy Home Designer. It builds on and refines the successes of Designer with plenty of new features. Also, since it uses the gorgeous graphics of New Horizons, Happy Home Paradise is a treat for the eyes as well.

Because it’s a DLC rather than its own game, it integrates amazingly with New Horizons. Features from Happy Home Paradise carry over to the main game, and the player can invite villagers from their island to their “vacation homes” in Happy Home Paradise. All in all, it’s a solid title and a more-than-worthy successor to the previous game.

4/9 Animal Crossing: Wild World

Wild World is the series’ beloved entry on the Nintendo DS. It condensed the Gamecube game down to handheld size, which was very impressive at the time. Wild World also built on the success of the Gamecube version with a bunch of new features. The observatory, the cafe, the hair salon, online play, and more are all series of mainstays that were introduced in Wild World. Unfortunately, its 3D graphics have aged somewhat poorly.

Wild World also removed some key features of the game, like holidays, which were seriously cut down. It attempted to introduce things like outdoor decorating with designs that could be laid on the ground. These, and some other features, felt clunky at best due to the obvious limitations of the DS. Still, Wild World was impressive for its time and is remembered fondly by many fans.

3/9 Animal Crossing: New Horizons

New Horizons famously dropped at a time when people were stuck indoors. Because it offered a serene outdoor getaway, it took the world by storm, introducing countless new fans to the Animal Crossing series. It also feels fresh, with plenty of new twists on the existing formula, notably landscaping and outdoor decoration. New Horizons is breathtakingly gorgeous, with new graphics that still feel appropriate for the series.

The only reason this game isn’t ranked higher is that it was initially missing some beloved features from previous games. Things like swimming, the café, Katrina the fortune teller, and more were all missing from New Horizons 1.0. Thankfully, Nintendo eventually released a huge update that patched in many of these missing features.

2/9 Animal Crossing: Population Growing

Animal Crossing: Population Growing (known as just “Animal Crossing” to most fans) was the first Animal Crossing game released in America. It was actually a port of Dobutso no Mori (Animal Forest), an older Japanese game. The English port introduced some new features, but it’s mostly unchanged from the original game on the Nintendo 64.

The chill, quirky atmosphere established in Population Growing has never been matched by any other game. Maybe it’s nostalgia speaking, but Population Growing will always feel unique and amazing. A lot of its features (the dump, the wishing well, etc.) were cut out, never to be seen again. Its music has a weird tone that simply isn’t present in newer games. For many of us, it was our first exposure to this type of game, and it will always be special.

1/9 Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Animal Crossing: New Leaf on the 3DS was a breath of fresh air for the series. After City Folk failed to really innovate, it seems Nintendo reassessed the Animal Crossing series. They came up with a game that felt new and fresh without straying too far from the formula. New Leaf introduced awesome new graphics and mechanics and kept many players glued to their 3DS playing it years after its release.

For the first time in New Leaf, players could take on the role of mayor of their small town. With building projects and ordinances, mayors made a noticeable impact on their world. The experience felt smooth and refined. While New Horizons overwhelms with options, New Leaf feels like the sweet spot in between. The customization isn’t so extensive that it’s overwhelming; it’s just right.