Animal Crossing: New Leaf Walkthrough [Guide]

You’re the only human in a town where animals can walk and talk like regular people can. If that’s not weird enough for you, you’ve also just been elected mayor, and are now in charge of the entire community. If that sounds like a nightmare to you, I can assure you that it’s not. It’s simply the quirky premise behind Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the newest game from Nintendo for the 3DS. Here, you can pass laws, chat with citizens, go fishing, and pretty much do whatever you want. If you want to get more acquainted with your town, then it would be best to read this very comprehensive guide.

Gameplay
In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, players take on the role of a town mayor, albeit a green one, and you must perform tasks and gather resources in order to ensure that your constituents are happy and contented. The game is an open-ended world, which means that there are no required tasks to move forward. Players can pretty much work towards their own goals, although most of these would require players to gather different items, go to different places, as well as find a way to earn some money.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf happens in real time, which means that the game occurs in sync with real life time and dates. Thus, special holidays like New Year also occur within the day, as are sunrise and sunset among others.

Getting Started
Once players start the game, they will be asked certain questions that will define how the game initially behaves. This includes the time and date, the player’s name and gender, as well as the town’s name and location. These things cannot be changed once they have been set, so players must be sure before they make any finalizations.

Once players arrive in the town, there will be a sequence of events that players must follow, such as building a tent in the location where your house will eventually be constructed, as well as attending a ceremony in your honor. After this, you will be left on your own, although you can talk to different characters in order to know what you can do next.

Currency
Bells are the currency within the town. Bells can be earned by selling items to the various stores found within the land, and these are also used to purchase items from them. Bells can also be found when you putter around the grassy areas, where one rock will net you a couple of thousand of coins per day. This occurs once daily, so make sure to strike at each one in order to find it.

Animals
There are many animals that players can interact with. Animals in this world can speak, and they will be able to give you information on how the game can be played such as tutorials as well as places to go to and things to do. Players can build relationships with the animal characters by speaking to them, doing them favors, as well as giving letters and gifts. In turn, they will also provide you special items that you can sell or use in other tasks.

Stores
There are many stores that the players has access to, and each is manned by a specific animal friend. There’s the gardening shop where you can buy trees and flowers, the dress shop where you can buy different clothes and accessories to further customize your character, the convenience store where players can buy nets and other items, as well as the Re-Tail shop where players can buy and sell used items.

Some stores, specifically the Re-Tail shop, will have featured items displayed, where players can get more Bells if they sell the said item within the day. This changes from day to day, and items for sale in other shops are also refreshed on a daily basis. In addition, Joan the Pig will also arrive once a week to offer turnips at different prices, and players will have the rest of the week to sell them at prices that differ per day, allowing players to get more Bells for the turnips than what they actually paid for.

Trees and Flowers
Trees and flowers are used mainly for decorations, although fruit from trees as well as the flowers themselves can be sold for a profit. Trees have a specific number of times that they can be shaken in order to get fruits before they die, and flowers can be hybridized, allowing players to get more Bells from them if they choose to sell them.

Fruits are also quite special, as there are “perfect fruit” trees that players can cultivate and plant, as these fruits bear a much higher price. There are also specialized fruits specific to each town, so players can harvest them and sell them at neighboring towns for a much higher profit.

Gathering Resources
There are many types of resources that can be gathered within the town. Aside from fruits, there are also insects, shells, fossils, fishes, and many more. Some of these can be picked off the ground, while others would require the use of tools such as fishing rods, shovels, nets, and others. Resources can be given as gifts, specifically in the museum where gifting items can improve your rating as mayor, and they can also be sold at shops for additional Bells. Most of the resources available within the game are renewable, so there’s no worry of them running out.

Inventory
Players only have a limited amount of items that they can store in their inventory. Excess items must be sold or stored in other locations such as your house, or in rented lockers. Other items may also be dropped and picked up later for future use, although you might lose them after some time should you leave them at a distance.

Mayoral Duties
As Mayor, players have the duty to their citizens to improve the town. This will require players to start building projects as well as enact new laws. Building projects will allow players to build new structures within the town which may interest other animals to move in. Ordinances, on the other hand, are rules that you can pass in order to earn more Bells as well as get more out of the game. Examples of these are the “Early Bird” and “Night Owl” rules where stores will operate earlier or later to suit your playing schedule.

Social Function
Animal Crossing: New Leaf has a social function where players can visit each others’ respective towns and trade items. This is a good idea for people who would like to build up their currency reserves by selling items that they have acquired at a higher markup in other locations. The game also allows for in-game chat as well as the ability for up to four players to participate in mini games for the chance to earn medals. Medals are required to purchase the wet suit that will allow the players to swim in the ocean depths where new resources can be found and acquired.

Tips and Tricks
As this guide cannot list down everything that you can do within Animal Crossing: New Leaf, it is important that players interact with the animals within the town as much as possible in order to know what else they can do within the game. These characters will provide the players information on what else they can discover, so make it a point to communicate with them whenever you can. Also, animals will sometimes provide you with tasks that you can do. Although you can reject these requests, they will feel bad if they do, and your reputation as mayor might drop.

Aside from this, do not forget to explore as many areas as possible. This includes visiting other towns. This will allow you to get items that you cannot find if you limit yourself to just one area, and some of these items are very rare and might fetch you a high price in the store. Make it a point also to visit stores and talk to the characters at least once each time you play, as this will allow more items and additional content to unlock.

Planting trees and hybridizing flowers are also essential, as these, especially your perfect fruits, fetch a high price when sold. Take note, however, that trees require different surroundings to grow, as well as adequate space in order to mature. Flowers must also be watered regularly in order to bloom, but you can enact laws that will require your citizens to water them for you.

Lastly, don’t forget to interact with other players by building your friends list. You may also participate in mini games so that you can get medals that will in turn allow you to buy the wetsuit, a very integral part of the game. Having friends will also allow you to trade with them, giving you the potential to earn a lot more Bells as compared to working at it alone.