After its 25th anniversary update on April 13, Animal Crossing: New Horizons version 3.0.3 has gone live. The Nintendo Switch game is the latest entry in the beloved Animal Crossing series of life simulators, where players take control of a lone human living his daily life in an area with animal villagers. Whether you want to encourage your neighbors, pay off your loan, or build the best house on the island, the low stakes and adorable aesthetics won the hearts of many. Animal Crossing: New Horizonsin particular, it did so well that it became the best-selling entry in the series and the second-best-selling Switch game overall.
While six years have passed New horizons came out, Nintendo hasn't kept updates of simple bug fixes. Back in January, the game released its version 3.0 update – the first real content update since Happy Home Paradise DLC 2021. Adding a new gameplay feature with the hotel and hotel tickets as well as new furniture and amiibo villagers, the update coincided with the launch of a Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade pack. More recently, the 3.0.2 update of the New horizons has added a new item to celebrate Animal Crossing 25th Anniversary of the Franchise: The Leaf Statue.
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Animal Crossing: New Horizons Version 3.0.3 makes the Leaf Statue permanently available
Players who didn't actually pick up the game during Animal Crossing Series Anniversary may be worried that they missed out on the leaf statue, but version 3.0.3 has added it to the Nook Shopping catalog so it can be purchased by anyone at any time. Nintendo's patch notes made sure to clarify that even players who didn't get the statue during the anniversary will still be able to purchase it from the catalog. Shaped like the series' signature leaf icon, the player can interact with the leaf statue to make it glow. Along with making the leaf statue permanently available, version 3.0.3 fixed a bug where items in home storage or the hotel directory would not display correctly.
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Even in small patches like this, it's always nice to see a game get support for so long. Then New horizons also follows an actual calendar and clock, it can be easy to miss limited time items and events if you don't have time to play or simply forget about it. Making the leaf statue permanently available, even if it's a small gesture, is an appreciated one. Fans probably shouldn't expect any more updates on the level of version 3.0, though; although it was available in both the Switch and Switch 2 versions, the fact that it launched alongside the upgrade pack makes it clear that 3.0 was a special occasion intended to bring more attention to the Switch 2 update for New horizons.
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The leaf statue isn't the only thing Nintendo did for the anniversary either; the GameCube soundtrack Animal Crossing was uploaded to Nintendo Music on April 13th as well. Now that the anniversary is a few weeks away, though, it's worth wondering if Nintendo might ever add the GameCube version to the Nintendo Switch Online catalog.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Version 3.0.3 Patch Notes:
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The 25th Anniversary Leaf Statue is now available for purchase from the Nook Shopping furniture catalog.
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Even players who have not previously obtained the leaf statue will now see it in their catalog.
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The price of the leaf statue has also been adjusted with this update.
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Fixed an issue where images for some items were not displayed when opening your Home Storage or Hotel Room Decoration catalog.
- Released
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March 20, 2020
- ESRB
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All / Comic Mischief, Mild Fantasy Violence, User Interact, In-Game Purchasing
- Developer
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Nintendo EPD
- Publisher
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Nintendo
