Best Tips for Brand New Animal Crossing Players

Here are the best tips for brand new Animal Crossing players. Animal Crossing: New Horizons has brought a slew of brand new players to Nintendo's beloved technicolor talking animal town-simulator. For those who have just joined the community: welcome! This guide is intended to start your journey off on the right foot.

It can be frustrating starting a new game and franchise for the first time. There are so many little secrets, innuendos, and tricks that previous players already know. This may leave newer players feeling left behind and discouraged. Hopefully, these tips will get you well on your way to being the best Resident Representative you can be!

Best Tips for Brand New Animal Crossing Players

1. What's the Deal With fruit?

Every island starts off with one native fruit: apples, peaches, oranges, pears, or cherries. While it doesn't truly matter what fruit you start off with, you'll always have the chance to collect the others. Non-native fruit can be found on Nook Miles Islands, be sent to your mailbox by NPCs, or gifted by friends.

Eating fruit gives the player character extraordinary strength they can use to move whole trees. Be careful when using this power, however, as hitting a rock while fed on fruit will cause the rock to break open.

Non-native fruit can be sold to the Nooklings, Timmy and Tommy, for a higher price than native fruit.

2. Manilla Clams, Fishing Bait, and More on the Shore

Ever notice the spurts of water that pop up when you walk along the beach? Take your shovel and dig them up for a surprise: a manilla clam. Digging up a clam for the first time will get you the fish bait recipe, which can be used to attract fish to your area.

In that same vein, some fish only spawn in certain bodies of water. For example, goldfish can only be caught in ponds or lakes and tuna can only be caught off your pier. Rainy weather increases the chances of rare fish.

When you're doing the quest for Gulliver, the seagull who will occasionally wash up on your beach, these turn into Communicator parts.

Additionally, there are certain plants that can only be planted on the sand of your shore. Coconuts and coconut palm trees are among these.

3. Town Progression and You

As the first profile on your Switch, you will be named the Resident Representative. This means that the only progress that counts in-game is yours, so you'll need to keep track of exactly what you've done and where you're at.

Here are some easy milestones to remember:
- Donating five specimens to Tom Nook will invite Blathers to your island. Giving Blathers extra specimens will have him create your museum.
- Nook's Cranny can only be built after a few days in-game. They will ask for a certain amount of supplies which can usually be gathered on your island or on neighboring Nook Miles islands.
- The Resident Services building upgrades after you pay off your first loan, build Nook's Cranny, and invite three villagers to live on your island.
- The Able Sisters' tailor shop will only be prompted after spending 5000 bells with Mable when she visits your town plaza.

4. Trees, What are They Good For?

There's so much you can do with trees in Animal Crossing, but, like all rewards, there exist a danger associated with it. New Horizons will give you a certain amount of drops per day from non-fruit trees. These include: two pieces of furniture, ten 100 bell drops, and five wasp nests. It's this last one you want to look out for.

Fortunately, the wasps can be caught. There are several methods on how to do this, but ultimately its about finding what works for you. We recommend always having your net out while shaking trees for maximum protection.

Additionally, have you ever spotted a glowing spot on the ground? By now, you've probably already dug up a couple to reveal bags of 1000 bells in soil, but did you know you can plant a whole new tree in the hole left behind? Before closing up the glowing pit, "plant: another amount of bells inside to grow a money tree! Up to 10,000 bells can be buried to reap 30,000 bells later. Money trees can only be harvested once before they become a regular hardwood tree.

If you only want wood from your trees without the threat of chopping them down entirely, use a flimsy axe or stone axe. These won't hurt the trees. Note, however, that you can only get three pieces of wood from each tree per day.

5. Fantastical Bugs and Where to Find Them

Some bugs can only be caught under special conditions. Fish are similar, but not nearly as particular.

Throughout the seasons, you'll encounter many different types of bugs that make their homes landing on the trunks of your trees. To catch these bugs, press and hold A to sneak up on them so they don't fly away. Only release A when you're confident you're in range.

Certain bugs will only spawn on tree stumps, so don't worry about leaving some stumps over when redecorating.

You may find bugs by shaking trees—including spiders, bagworms, and even wasps. Strike quickly before they recede back into the boughs or, in the wasps' case, before they mess you up.

Tarantulas will only appear at night after 7 pm. Meanwhile, Giant Water Bugs spawn exclusively in rivers and will hide along the bank where you can't always see them.

6. Interacting with your Villagers

You may not always be happy with the villagers you get. Fortunately, there's a relatively painless way to be rid of those you'd rather not have take up residence. Ignore them!

That's right. Nintendo was smart with this one. By favoring some villagers and ignoring others, the game will naturally understand who to keep around the longest and who to let go.

If you or a friend has a villager moving that you or they would like to have in town, travel to the town in question and speak to the moving villager. This will give them the option to move to your town instead of just disappearing into the void.

Villagers can also be encountered on Nook Miles Islands.