Animal Crossing: New Leaf

The charming community-building franchise returns for with Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The Nintendo 3DS entry into this popular franchise introduces a number of options new to Animal Crossing, including the…

88 8 November 2012

Simulator Business Fantasy Kids Sandbox

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a simulator developed by Nintendo EAD Software Development Group No.2, released 8 November 2012 on Nintendo 3DS.

Verified 15 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What Animal Crossing: New Leaf is

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a simulator game developed by Nintendo EAD Software Development Group No.2 and released in 2012. It was published by Nintendo. It is available on Nintendo 3DS only.

The premise, in the publisher's words

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a social simulation game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. The game was first released in 2012 in Japan and later worldwide in 2013, it is the fourth main game in the Animal Crossing series. The player controls a human character who takes on the role of mayor in a town populated with anthropomorphic animals.

Description from Wikipedia · source

How it plays

It is played from a bird view / isometric perspective. Its themes are business, fantasy, kids and sandbox. It supports multiplayer for up to 4 players online, and includes co-op. Local play supports 1 players. Available modes: Co-operative, Multiplayer and Single player.

Where it sits in the Animal Crossing series

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the 66th of 85 entries we hold in the Animal Crossing series. It arrived 4 years after Animal Crossing: City Folk. The next entry was Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Premium Edition in 2012. Its critic score of 88 is 5 points above the series average of 83. The highest-rated entry is Mario Kart 8: DLC Pack Two at 96.

See all 85 Animal Crossing games in release order →

How it was received

Animal Crossing: New Leaf holds a critic score of 88 out of 100. That places it above 92% of the 2,882 rated simulator games in our database, which average 71. Games released in 2012 averaged 70, so it scored 18 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 87, across 270 votes.

How long it takes, and what that costs

A full completion run takes around 350 hrs.

What it launched against

Animal Crossing: New Leaf launched on 8 November 2012, within three weeks of Far Cry 3, Hotline Miami, Assassin's Creed III and Halo 4. It reviewed better than 2 of the 4.

Released around the same time: Far Cry 3, Hotline Miami, Assassin's Creed III, Halo 4.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Animal Crossing: New Leaf yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

Know one? Send it in and we will test it →