Is Animal Crossing’s Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Worth The Upgrade? (Review)

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It’s been nearly six years since Animal Crossing: New Horizons first launched, and Nintendo is back with an upgraded Nintendo Switch 2 Edition bringing the game back into the spotlight.

In this review, we’ll break down everything that’s new in the Switch 2 Edition, and whether we think it’s worth the upgrade over the original version of Animal Crossing: New Horizons or not.

What’s New in Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

For those with a keen eye on visual detail, the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition’s highlight feature is an increased 4K resolution when playing in docked mode on a TV. This brings improved visual quality across the game with less aliasing, but especially with text and other interface elements. However, the frame rate remains capped at 30 FPS.

In terms of new items, a tool from Animal Crossing: New Leaf on 3DS makes a comeback with the Megaphone item exclusively for use in Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. Using this tool, you can speak into the system’s microphone to call out any villager or special character’s name.

If they’re out and about somewhere on your island, you’ll hear a response back from them in the form of a directional speech bubble that you can follow to find where they’re located.

For example, if you heard from Isabelle during her morning announcements that Saharah is visiting, you can use the Megaphone to more easily locate exactly where on your island she is. That can be quite useful!

There are some fun easter eggs with this addition too, like how using the megaphone near Gulliver immediately wakes him up or villagers can get upset if you use it too close to them! Unfortunately, the Megaphone doesn’t appear to work on villagers who are inside their homes or otherwise not wandering around the island.

Next up, the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition makes generous use of the system’s new mouse controls on Joy-Con 2 controllers. I found these new controls to be a great replacement for touch controls when playing in TV mode for any activity that Animal Crossing: New Horizons normally supports the touch screen.

That includes drawing messages on the bulletin board, creating custom design patterns, and decorating an interior with furniture — whether your own house, a visitor’s room in the new Resort Hotel from Version 3.0, or in the Happy Home Paradise DLC. I found the mouse controls when designing homes to be particularly helpful for everyone, while custom designs are a more niche use case for more creative players.

Lastly, the Switch 2 Edition brings expanded support for 12 player online multiplayer to Animal Crossing: New Horizons from the original cap of 8 players, including on the new Slumber Islands feature in Version 3.0.

While it’s nice to see Nintendo showing off the capabilities of Nintendo Switch 2 handling so many players at once, it’s difficult to imagine this feature being useful for most. I suspect many of us don’t even know 11 friends who own a Nintendo Switch 2 yet!

Along the same lines, the Switch 2 Edition also brings integrated support for connected USB cameras through GameChat into Animal Crossing: New Horizons letting you see your friends’ faces near their characters when playing online. Again, that’s a cute addition, but not many of us have friends with a camera connected to their system.

Catching Up on Six Years of Free Updates

If you’re looking to dive back into Animal Crossing: New Horizons with the Switch 2 Edition after much time away, it’s worth mentioning the many substantial free updates Nintendo has released over the years.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a drastically different game now in 2026 than what many of us first played in March 2020. Much of the criticism from fans has been addressed piece by piece, with the latest Version 3.0 update slotting a few of those final pieces into that puzzle.

Some of those pieces have been quite major — like the additions in Version 2.0 that brought Harvey’s commune with dedicated shops and stalls for many traveling characters or the return of Brewster’s The Roost with gyroids to collect. Plus, the Resort Hotel adds a new piece of daily gameplay in Version 3.0.

Other smaller but meaningful features, such as crafting items in bulk or quickly cleaning up your island’s mess with Resetti, have come with Version 3.0. Everything adds up to the ‘final’ rendition of Animal Crossing: New Horizons we now have — a pretty well rounded entry in the Animal Crossing series I can recommend to anyone.

Should You Upgrade to Switch 2 Edition?

Realistically, there aren’t too many new features exclusive to Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. The real bulk of Animal Crossing’s 2026 additions are found in the free Version 3.0 update available for both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.

However, the Switch 2 Edition is priced appropriately to match this reality: the asking price at $4.99 USD or $6.99 CAD for existing owners to upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is a very reasonable token cost for these new features if you value them.

In particular, fans who like to cozy up on the couch and play Animal Crossing: New Horizons in docked mode on their TV can easily find 5 dollars of value here between the Joy-Con 2 mouse controls and increased 4K resolution quality. I certainly found them to be great additions for docked play.

Dedicated handheld-only players may find the upgrade to justify though, as the Version 3.0 update improved handheld resolution to 1080p for free on Nintendo Switch 2 without the upgrade pack, and the game’s existing touch screen controls cover most of Joy-Con 2’s mouse controls. The Megaphone and online features do apply to handheld though.

Along the same lines, for completely new players wondering if they should start off with the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition or stick with the original version, I’d recommend beginning with the newest version if you expect to spend a lot of hours on your TV. That extra cost is a small fraction of the game’s price, so you might as well just pick up the extra features from the get go.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Switch 2 Edition is available for Nintendo Switch 2 at $64.99 USD / $89.99 CAD, or as an upgrade pack for existing players at $4.99 USD / $6.99 CAD.

Full Disclosure: Nintendo of Canada provided a digital download code of Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition to Animal Crossing World for review.

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