Animal Crossing: New Horizons updates add gardening, art sales, wedding season
Nintendo unveiled its next updates for Animal Crossing. There's a lot going on.
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Get ready for art and gardening.
While the real world stays much the same inside, Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons keeps growing, adding expansions like clockwork. After April's Bunny Day egg-hunting, the company just announced its next additions, and many of them will be familiar to Animal Crossing vets.
As had been rumored and expected, art shopping is coming: Previous games had art collecting that linked up with the museum, and Jolly Redd will start appearing selling art in New Horizons... except sometimes the artwork is fake. If it's real, you can add it to a new museum gallery.
A new gardening shop sounds like just the thing I'd be turning to right now while playing.
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Meanwhile, the next seasonal events sound intriguing. Animal Crossing's version of Earth Day, Nature Day kicks off this week through May 4 with extra challenges for Nook Miles. Then comes a bonus island visit for May Day from May 1-7 with a "special visitor" who "looks familiar" (any guesses here?). There's an International Museum Day in late May that has some sort of stamp-collecting challenges.
Finally, there's Wedding Season in June, which sounds totally weird -- like there's a wedding where you'll help take photos and celebrate, out at Harvey's photo-studio island.
Never a dull moment in Animal Crossing-land.
Read more: All our best Animal Crossing: New Horizons tips
The descriptions below come from Nintendo:
- Leif's Garden Shop: Nature-loving Leif will regularly visit players' islands to sell his flourishing assortment of foliage, including shrubs and flower seeds. These decorative items will help make any island paradise a little greener.
- Jolly Redd's Treasure Trawler: After downloading the free update, Jolly Redd will occasionally show up in his boat to sell in-game art, as well as furniture with unique colors. Like in previous Animal Crossing games, players will have to figure out which art pieces are real and which are fake. After purchasing genuine art, players can donate it to the island museum to open an art gallery, which will display all types of donated pieces, from paintings to sculptures.
- Nature Day (April 23-May 4): During the Nature Day period, special Nook Miles challenges will be available that focus on nature-inspired goals, such as planting trees and watering flowers.
- May Day Tour (May 1-7): In the first week of May, players can use a one-time May Day Ticket at the island airport to head out on a limited-time tour to an island that looks different than the usual mystery island tours. A special visitor who looks familiar might also be there…
- International Museum Day (May 18-31): To celebrate International Museum Day, players can take part in a Stamp Rally. After receiving a special stamp card, players can enjoy viewing fish, insects and fossils while collecting stamps at the various museum exhibits to earn an in-game reward.
- Wedding Season (June 1-30): During a nuptial-themed June, players can visit Harvey's island to meet the married couple Reese and Cyrus, as well as help arrange and take anniversary photos with them in the wedding-picture studio. Players will get wedding-themed items as a token of their gratitude.
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