Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival

North American box art
Image gallery
Developer(s)		Nintendo EAD Nintendo Cube
Publisher(s)		Nintendo
Platform(s)		Wii U
Release date(s)		November 13, 2015 November 20, 2015 November 21, 2015 November 21, 2015
Genre(s)		Party
Language(s)		English, French, Spanish Japanese English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian
Modes		Single-player Multiplayer
Ratings		ACB:  G CERO:  A ESRB:  E PEGI:  3
Media		Wii U Optical Disc
Input methods		Wii U GamePad amiibo
Guide at StrategyWiki

Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival is a party game for the Wii U released in November 2015. It features various game modes that make use of the Animal Crossing amiibo figures and cards, with the main mode being a board game where characters from the Animal Crossing series travel around a town and compete to collect the most Happy Points. The game, which requires the use of amiibo to play, came packaged with Isabelle and Digby's amiibo figures and three amiibo cards.

A series of Animal Crossing amiibo figurines, including Isabelle, K.K. Slider, Tom Nook, Mabel, Reese, Cyrus, Lottie, and Digby, were released alongside the game. Blathers, Celeste, Kicks, and Mr. Resetti were released later in a second wave, and a third and final wave of amiibo consisting of Rover, Kapp'n, Timmy and Tommy, and a variant of Isabelle wearing her summer outfit was released in 2016, making the final character roster have 16 characters for the Board Game mode.

Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival is the lowest-selling Animal Crossing game released outside of Japan. It received mixed to negative reviews from critics, who criticized its gameplay, arguing it did not justify its full price tag, and its complete dependency on amiibo functionality.

Gameplay

Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival's main mode is the Board Game, which is the only one unlocked by default. There are also eight minigames, which can be unlocked with Happy Tickets after two games of the Board Game mode have been completed.

amiibo functionality

Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival is compatible with all 400 Series 1–4 and promo Animal Crossing amiibo cards, all 16 Animal Crossing amiibo figures, and the Villager Super Smash Bros. amiibo figure. amiibo are required to advance past the title screen and to start and play any game mode. Figures are primarily used in the Board Game mode, while cards are used in the minigames.

amiibo Festival can also read and write save data from Animal Crossing amiibo. Upon a completion of the Board Game, each player using an amiibo can save their Happy Points to that amiibo to level up that character, which unlocks new outfits and emotions for them to use in the Board Game mode. Additionally, amiibo with Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer home data saved on them can be scanned to move that villager and home to the board-game town.

The minimum number of amiibo required to play all game modes is seven: one Animal Crossing figure for the Board Game and six unique Animal Crossing cards for the minigames.

Board Game

The Board Game mode

Between one and four players can play the Board Game mode, where participants compete to earn the most Happy Points. Prior to beginning a game, each player must tap in an amiibo on the GamePad, in order to select the character they will play as. Players that do not tap in will use a player as their avatar. After the initial game, which takes place in the current month, the players select a month to play, which determines the events that can occur during the game (such as Bunny Day and the Fishing Tourney).

A player's turn begins with a die roll to determine how many spaces they will advance. After moving forward, an event will occur, causing the player to gain or lose Happy Points or Bells; collecting 1,000 Bells earns a player an additional Happy Point. When the game ends, the player with the most Happy Points is declared the winner.

Certain characters from the Animal Crossing series such as Katie and Joan will make regular appearances on the board and interact with the participants of the game.

Plaza

The plaza after everything has been unlocked

After two games of the Board Game mode are completed, the plaza is unlocked. It is a plaza where villagers and special characters gather, with a beach to the south and a train station—where the players of the Board Game travel to the board-game town—to the north. Surrounding the plaza to the west, east, and south are the eight minigames. Directly south of the train station is the Happy Gyroid Statue, where the player can change the names of the human player characters. If a Villager amiibo figure is scanned, the Happy Gyroid Statue is replaced with a golden Villager statue.

From the plaza, the player can spend Happy Tickets to unlocked minigames and purchase features for the board-game town. One Happy Ticket is received for every 100 Happy Points earned in either the Board Game or minigames.

Minigames

In addition to the primary Board Game mode, Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival includes a collection of minigames, which can be unlocked with Happy Tickets after the plaza is unlocked. All of the minigames require the use of amiibo cards to either complete a goal or compete with other players. Completing a minigame rewards the player with Happy Points.

There are eight minigames in total:

Minigame	Image	Unlock cost	# of players	# of cards required	Completion reward	Description
Acorn Chase		3 Happy Tickets	1	3	130 Happy Points	The player scans amiibo cards to move characters through a maze, collecting acorns while avoiding a cart.
amiibo Card Battle		5 Happy Tickets	2–4	6	10 Happy Points	Players draw amiibo cards to see which one has the highest die value.
Balloon Island		Unlocked by default	1–4	1+	23 Happy Points	Players scan amiibo cards to drop characters on an island, popping balloons for points.
Desert Island Escape		4 Happy Tickets	1	3	??? Happy Points	In this turn-based strategy minigame, three villagers are stranded on an island and must explore it to acquire the necessary materials to create a raft and escape within a certain number of days. There are three difficulties and 30 island layouts the player can choose from.
Fruit Path		3 Happy Tickets	2–4	1+	10 Happy Points	Players compete to collect the most fruit.
Mystery Campers		5 Happy Tickets	1	6	30 Happy Points	The player guesses which villager is hidden in which tent.
Quiz Show		4 Happy Tickets	1–4	1–4	Happy Points equal to the point total across all players	Players answer multiple choice questions based on Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival.
Resetti Bop		4 Happy Tickets	1	3	Happy Points equal to the player's point total	The player hits Mr. Resetti dolls by scanning the amiibo card with the winning rock paper scissors combination.

Development and release

A promotional image showcasing the amiibo included in the bundle release

According to director Aya Kyogoku, Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival began development because "the team wanted to create Animal Crossing amiibo and needed a game to utilize them."

Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival was announced during Nintendo's E3 2015 presentation on June 16, 2015, set for release in Q4 2015. The final November release date was revealed in October 2015, one month before the game's release.

The game was first released in North America on November 13, 2015, then later released in Europe on November 20, and in Japan and Australia on November 21. The game was exclusively released in a larger box that included amiibo figures for Isabelle and Digby and unique, Desert Island Escape-themed amiibo cards for Goldie, Rosie, and Stitches. A blurb on the box which denotes the Digby amiibo figure as a limited-time offer suggests that a version with only the Isabelle figure was planned; however, such a version was never released, likely due to not enough stock selling of the initial print run. Unlike other Wii U titles, amiibo Festival did not receive a digital release on the Nintendo eShop.

amiibo Festival was the first Animal Crossing game to be localized in Dutch and Russian, which would later be introduced to the main series with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It is the only Animal Crossing game to be localized in Portuguese.

Reception

The initial unveiling of the game in Nintendo's E3 2015 was overwhelmingly negatively received, with the reveal trailer on Nintendo of America's YouTube channel having a dislike-to-like ratio of over 4:1 and having comments disabled.

Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival received generally unfavorable reviews from critics according to video game review aggregator Metacritic, on which the game received a score of 46 out of 100 from critics. Generally, the Board Game mode was criticized as being unengaging, with critics saying that its gameplay boils down to simply rolling dice and reading messages. Most of the minigames were criticized as simple and lacking replay value, with the notable exception of Desert Island Escape. Desert Island Escape received positive reviews for its strategy-based gameplay and was considered by reviewers to be the best part of the game. Nintendo World Report gave the game a 4.5 out of 10, calling the game "boring" and "nothing more than a simple board game", along with stating that its content "lacks variety and fun". IGN shared a similar sentiment, calling the game a "snooze fest" while giving it a score of 5 out of 10. While criticized for its gameplay, amiibo Festival's visuals were generally praised by reviewers for their "Animal Crossing charm."

Sales

In its first week of sale in Japan, Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival sold 20,303 copies. Its lifetime worldwide sales total around 490,000 copies, making it the lowest-selling Animal Crossing game released outside of Japan.

The game launched at a $60 price point in the United States, and would see significant cuts to its listing price during the Wii U's lifetime.^{[citation needed]} Most of the amiibo figures compatible with the game would also see significant price drops.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

For more images, view this subject's gallery.

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  English logo

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  Key art

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  Various characters

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  Isabelle

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  K.K. Slider

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  Mabel

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  Tom Nook

Names in other languages

どうぶつの森 amiiboフェスティバル Doubutsu no Mori: amiibo Fesutibaru

Animal Forest: amiibo Festival

External links

• E3 2015 Trailer
• North American website (archived)
• Japanese website
• Australian website
• Japanese E3 2015 lineup page (archived)