Animal Crossing has by far been one of the biggest hits when it comes to Switch games (or games in general) in 2020. Within the first six months of its release, it already sold close to 30 million copies around the world!
Since this game is based around playing with other people, a lot of users bought it to be able to play it with their friends and family. With most games, adding a second player only requires a push of a button. It turns out that for Animal Crossing, the process isn’t so simple. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. You can still add a second player on Animal Crossing on the same switch, and it just requires you to follow a process to do so.
Adding a second player in Animal Crossing
When you want multiple users on the same switch in the same Animal Crossing game, you need to do it from the very beginning. This means that if you already have an island, you will have to delete it and start afresh.
One Switch device can support up to 4 players in Animal Crossing, but the requirement is that each player has a user account on the console. Depending on if you want to add one extra player or have all four, you will have to create that many accounts.
How to make a new user account on Nintendo Switch:
From your main home screen, go into the “System Settings.”
Scroll down to where it says “Users”, and you will see all the existing user accounts on the console.
Here, tap the “Add user” option, pick an avatar for the user and type in their name or nickname and click “OK” once you are done.
You will be prompted and asked if you want to link the specific user to a Nintendo account. Pick yes or later depending on if you want to link it immediately or not.
Your user account will be made and ready to go!
Add the players in the animal crossing game:
Once your accounts are made, you can use each account to add a new player in the game. To do this, launch the game and let it start.
When your game is launching, it will ask you to select the user account you want to play with. The user that you want to be the primary resident of the island is the one you pick first here. The primary resident would, later on, be the “leader” and would have the most control over what goes on on the island.
Once you’re in the game, take the tent that’s in your inventory, and place it on to a vacant spot.
Once it’s been placed, press the (-) button on your left joycon and tap on the “save and end” option.
Now you can switch users.
Press the home button on your right joycon, tap on “New Horizons” and tap “Change user”.
A prompt will appear that will have all the user accounts available on your switch, pick the user you want to add into the game.
Then, open up your “NookPhone” and tap on the flag icon labelled “Call Resident.”
Then you will have the option to call any island resident, select the player you want to play with you. When you “call” them, they will have the invitation to join the game with you. Tap “confirm” to confirm your selection
Now you will have to calibrate a second controller, or joycon, within the next 30 seconds. When each controller is activated, the user gets to play in the game.
The user will now be added into your game.
Although this is a somewhat lengthy process and isn’t simple by any means, so far it’s the only way that works. You can set up the game this way, and if you want to change the party leader at any point, the leader can shake their controller, and the users can swap leaders to gain more access of the island.
