Animal Crossing – Happy Home Designer

Animal Crossing – Happy Home Designer is a 2015 sandbox video game developed and published by Nintendo, with assistance from Monolith Soft, for the Nintendo 3DS. The game was released in Japan in July 2015, in North America in September 2015, and in PAL regions in October 2015. The game is a spin-off of the Animal Crossing series where the player has to design homes for various anthropomorphic animal characters.

The game received mixed reviews from critics upon release, praising the creative freedom and improved design controls, but criticizing the lack of challenge, lack of reward, and the game not being DLC for Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and has sold 3.04 million copies worldwide as of March 2016. Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer downplays the wider community simulation mechanics of the main Animal Crossing series in favor of focusing on house designing; players work as an employee of Nook’s Homes, designing homes for other animal villagers based around their suggestions.

As players progress, they will unlock additional furniture elements they can incorporate into their designs. Players can also visit the homes they have created. The game interacts with New Leaf, primarily by allowing the player to unlock exclusive furniture through the Nookling Junction kiosk. The game integrates with Animal Crossing Amiibo cards; scanning cards allows their respective character to visit a home that a player had designed, and allows players to design homes for other major characters such as K.K. Slider and Tom Nook.