Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer is the new Animal Crossing game for Nintendo 3DS, and it works with special Amiibo cards to make the game even more interactive.
Somehow, we had never tried an Animal Crossing game before, although I had always meant to – so we were really interested to see how we would get on with Happy Home Designer.
Experience the Animal Crossing world with a brand new way of interacting with your favourite Animal Crossing characters! Join the Nook’s Homes family business and make hundreds of your favourite animals happy by designing their dream home – some might even ask you to spruce up their garden! Go beyond home décor and try your hand at bigger projects like a school or a café and assign unexpected roles to some of your favourite animal friends.
In the game, you play a new employee at Nook’s Homes interior design business and soon pick up work designing rooms for various characters according to their style briefs. It’s a simple and fun game that you can play at your own pace and use some creativity to put together the rooms with different furniture and decor.
The game is easy enough to follow, using the instructions on the screen. Children need to have a fair grasp of reading in order to follow the instructions, which is why it’s recommended for age 7+ but if you are playing with a younger child, you can always do it together and read the instructions and dialogue for them which I did with my 5.5 year old as he was really keen to play and he really enjoyed the creative aspect of it.
My 7 year old really liked the amiibo cards, and this is the first time we had come across these for a 3ds game. He loves his amiibos on our Nintendo Wii U, and he loves collecting all different types of cards. The amiibo cards are a great cross between the two!
When playing Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer, you can place one of the amiibo cards onto the bottom screen of your 3DS when visiting characters houses and this will bring the character on the card into the game as an additional visitor to that house. It’s really easy to do and pretty cool. You can buy other packs to collect more cards and use them in the game too.
Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer is a fun game that will appeal to a wide range of ages, and to both boys and girls. I have to admit, I have sneaked a few goes on it when the children haven’t been playing. The characters are really cute, and it’s a relaxing game that you can’t go wrong with.
Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer is available on the Nintendo Official UK Store for £34.99, and other retailers including Amazon. Prices will vary between retailers.
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We’re part of the Nintendo blogging Network and were provided with the game for review. Affiliate links included
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.