The sheer amount of content inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsmeans that gamers will be putting hundreds of hours into the game in order to do everything it has to offer. Getting the exact decorations they want for their island and homes, while also finding their favoriteAnimal CrossingVillagers, requires an incredible amount of work from players. Seasonal items could be missed and players could be stuck grinding out fish bait for hours just to get the last critter they needed for their museums. However, one service solved all of this: Nookazon.
To be clear, Nookazon was not officially created by Nintendo and was instead made by some passionate fans looking to bring theAnimal Crossing: New Horizonscommunity together. With friend codes being so restrictive and no form of trade system in-game, Nookazon became an incredible service that players could go to for just about anything. With the nextAnimal Crossinggame, Nookazon should either be integrated directly into the menus or serve as the inspiration for an official trading system.
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An In-Game Nookazon Can Make The Next Animal Crossing More Enjoyable
Few games are a better example of Nintendo’s outdated views on multiplayer thanAnimal Crossing: New Horizons. Searching up Dodo codes to join players’ games was tedious and painfully slow, and it was something that meant few players truly connected through the game and instead only hung out on their close friends' islands. Obviously, this made trading with other players difficult, with gamers needing to search social mediaplatforms like Facebookfor trade opportunities. However, this void in the game helped Nookazon take off, providing an excellent alternative to searching social media for good deals.
Like the play on Amazon suggests,Animal Crossing: New Horizonsfans could browse Nookazon for deals on various trades, with nearly everything apart from fish and bugs able to be shared between players. If gamers had enough bells orNook Milestickets - a tool used primarily to hunt for new Villagers - they could essentially get anything they wanted. Proper item trades could take place as well, and so could free giveaways, with a review system even in place so that gamers could be sure the person they were trading with was trustworthy. Dodo codes were easily viewable when deals were accepted, too, speeding up what would otherwise be a lengthy process.
The benefits of Nookazon are extensive. Players can collect seasonal items that they may have missed due to real life events pulling them away from their island. Gamers can get their dreamies - their most desired Villagers - by putting down a lot of bells or tickets instead of visiting random islands for dozens of hours. Those tired of grindingfish bait inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonscan simply purchase some on the internet with in-game currency, and those wanting to do some good can share items they do not want with newcomers.
Though the service became very popular, which makes sense given how hugeAnimal Crossing: New Horizonswas during COVID lockdowns, it could have been far bigger if it was actually integrated into theNintendo Switch exclusive. After all, with no advertising or official partnership with Nintendo, many gamers likely had no idea that Nookazon even existed when they were sinking a ton of timeAnimal Crossing: New Horizons. While Facebook groups and other social media platforms worked decently well, the sheer convenience of Nookazon ensured it was a cut above, and that convenience is something the nextAnimal Crossingshould lean into.
WithAnimal Crossing’s next iteration, Nintendo has a few options. It can either partner with the amazing fans who keep Nookazon running to make the platform accessible in-game, or it could create its own trading system for players to make use of. While Nookazon is excellent in its current form, needing to go outside the game for trades is still unnecessarily tedious, adding an extra step for no real reason. A trade block like what is seen in sports games likeMadden’s Ultimate Team could work well, though it may need to go deeper so that players can also exchange services like weeding and gardening. No matter how Nintendo goes about presenting it, some kind of in-game system for buying items from other players would be an amazing quality-of-life mechanic.
