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But despite all of the new things added to the game, there were many things that were cut that have been part of the series for some time. Nintendo has continued to create updates for the game and isn’t stopping anytime soon, but it’s worth looking at what has been cut that hasn’t been confirmed to reappear.
10 Shampoodle
In Animal Crossing: Wild World, players were able to get their hair done by Harriet at Shampoodle, being able to get wild hair designs based on a series of questions that she would ask the player. In later games, it was also possible for Harriet to change the player’s eye color and also allow the player to wear their Mii as a mask. While Harriet is gone from the game, players can easily change their hair and eye color in the game with a mirror at no cost to them, so the transition away from Shampoodle is actually an upgrade.
9 Dr. Shrunk
Another character that debuted in Wild World, Dr. Shrunk was gave the player their emotions. Through his terrible jokes, he would teach players how to feel joy, sadness, anger and other expressive feelings to use mainly amongst friends who visit the town but could also be used to show emotion towards villagers. In New Horizons, however, the method of getting these emotions is through the villagers themselves, as they now just walk up to the player and teach them, making no dire need for the axolotl.
8 Police Station
Cooper and Booker have served the Animal Crossing franchise since the very start, beginning as police officers, then working as guards for the visitor gate and returning as police officers in Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
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The police station provided a way for players to pick up things from the lost and found, which really was just junk that was generated randomly but some cool things did end up on the shelves. In New Horizons, there is a recycling bin that serves this purpose but oftentimes does not have anything that stands out.
7 House Visits
Players of Animal Crossing are used to stopping by a villager’s home to look at the decor, talk to the villager, or in the case of New Horizons, see if they are crafting anything that they haven’t learned about yet. But in the Switch title, no villagers ever visit the player’s home or even ask to. This is different from New Leaf, where not only would villagers ask to come over, some would just show up & hang out of nowhere. This is a feature that some players are happy to not have anymore, but it was nice to have an animal friend see their hard work.
6 Gyroids
There used to be a time when there were more than just fossils that generated in the ground. There used to be a random pitfall seed buried every day, but at least those weren’t completely removed from the game as they are now craftable. What was completely removed from the game were gyroids, which were musical furniture items that would dance as they made noise. While the talking Gyroid made the cut in New Horizons as the outlet to raise money for projects, there is no gyroid furniture in the game.
5 Fortune-Telling
Through the first four games of the series, there was no character that showed up in a similar way as consistently as Katrina. The panther would come to the player’s town on a random day to tell the player their fortune. Each visit, the player could be told their fortune, which would decide whether or not the player would have good or bad luck for the day, or if everything would remain completely neutral. The effects of these readings would linger, such as more money from rocks for good luck and falling down for bad luck.
4 Café
The museum was rather boring in the first Animal Crossing game, so Nintendo added some expansions to it in Wild World. One of those expansions was the café, which players were able to visit and get coffee from Brewster. In the first two games, the café was the home to K.K. Slider’s weekly performances.
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In New Leaf, Brewster got his own separate building where players had the chance to actually work behind the counter and serve residents coffee. Brewster and his coffee shop’s lack of presence in New Horizons has been one of the major upsets for Animal Crossing fans.
3 Multiple Nook Shop Expansions
One major theme of every Animal Crossing playthrough in the first four games was expanding Nook’s shop to the point where it becomes a massive department store. The first three games had three expansions, with the shop going from Nook’s Cranny to Nookington’s. New Leaf saw this expansion count go up to four, with the evolution of the store being Nookling Junction to the T&T Emporium. Nook’s Cranny only has one expansion in New Horizons at the moment, and the store doesn’t even change its name when it is upgraded to a slightly bigger store.
2 Furniture Series
This is one of the more stunning removals from the game, but it does make some sense. A big part of Animal Crossing was collecting furniture that fit a specific series, which included Cabana, Kiddie, Lovely, and many more. While there are furniture items that do pair with each other, series are no longer a massive part of the Animal Crossing experience in New Horizons. However, the ability to customize furniture allows players to create a series of their own that blends well together, so it makes the loss slightly easier to bear.
1 The Post Office
Pelly, Phyllis, and Pete were massive parts of the Animal Crossing franchise for the first four games. Pelly had the cheery personality as she would help the player send mail out, while Phyllis was the grumpy one that worked the night shift. Pete could be seen wandering around town, with Pete actually shown to put mail in the player’s mailbox in Animal Crossing: Population Growing. There was even a love triangle storyline that fans were invested in. Unfortunately in New Horizons, the mail system was replaced with the airport’s postcards and none of the characters made the cut.
NEXT: 5 Things Animal Crossing: New Horizons Needs Fixed As DLC (& 5 Things We’re Worried They’ll Ruin)
