Animal Crossing New Leaf took the 3DS gaming space by storm when it arrived in 2012, but it's fair to say nothing can quite compare with the mania that has surrounded New Horizons. The newest installment eclipsed the lifetime sales of its predecessor, with New Horizons emerging as one of the Switch's best-selling games.

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Of course, sales figures don't mean everything. While it's clear fans adore New Horizons, some have been disappointed at how much content from previous Animal Crossing games has been left out. No game is perfect, but comparing the features of these adorable life sims can help bring into focus which is truly the better game.

10 Better: More Pocket Space

It's difficult to understand just how significant extra pocket space is without having played older Animal Crossing games. New Leaf allows players to hold up to 16 items in their inventory, which is already a step up from the 15 spaces of games like City Folk.

New Horizons sees players starting with 20 pocket spaces, and gives you the ability to upgrade your inventory to hold up to 40 items. Even with this huge capacity, it's easy to run out of space thanks to the range of DIY materials available. It's almost scary to imagine how frustrating New Horizons would have been with New Leaf sized pockets.

9 Worse: No Post Office

Sending and receiving letters with your animal neighbors has always been a fun little mechanic within the series, and it still features in New Horizons. However, without a dedicated post office, the letters seem to have been shoved to the side and hidden in a corner.

Without a post office, New Horizons is also missing NPCs like Pelly the pelican, and her older sister Phyllis who runs the night shift. Phyllis may have been a little coarse at times, but the Pelican sisters were an adorable part of the series that have so far seen their last appearance in New Leaf.

8 Better: Terraforming

In New Leaf, the town layout you start with is the one you're stuck with. Whether the river winds awkwardly through where you want your housing district, or there's a pond exactly where your custom path is meant to go, there isn't really anything you can do about it.

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New Horizons turns all this frustration around. From waterfalls and rivers to tiered neighborhoods, terraforming makes nearly any layout possible. Deserted islands can be remodeled in almost any way a player could imagine, meaning you can truly, and finally, make your ideal animal paradise.

7 Worse: Soundtrack

While there are a few catchy tunes introduced in New Horizons, and the remasters of old K.K. Slider hits are always welcome, the soundtrack as a whole is rather lackluster. The hourly songs are overly simple and repetitive at times, with the 2pm theme in particular becoming almost grating after a while.

This is in stark contrast with the New Leaf music, which stands out as one of the best soundtracks in the series. The late night and early morning music isn't afraid to get a little melancholic at times, and the overall flow of the hourly themes seems much smoother and more emotive.

6 Better: Moving Buildings

Like with terraforming, the ability to choose where most buildings go gives players so much more control over their island layout. Villagers can have beachfront homes, organized shopping areas, or whatever one's heart desires.

Perhaps most importantly, players can decide where a villager will live before they even move into town. In New Leaf, new houses would simply spawn in a random location, potentially ruining paths and garden beds. It doesn't matter how cute a villager is, if their home messed with your town layout, they would instantly become your most hated character.

5 Worse: Autosave

Autosave might seem like a beneficial feature, and the Animal Crossing series has always discouraged dishonest saving practices like time-travel. However, a number of problems can arise when players don't have control over what data stays and goes.

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If a particularly cruel player visits someone's island and plucks all their flowers or steals all their fruit, the victim is unable to reset the damage by just turning off their game. Some players have even discovered a glitch that creates permanent cliffs, and autosave means accidents like this can't be undone.

4 Better: DIY

New Leaf featured the ability to customize the color palette of some furniture series, and of course designing textiles has long been possible thanks to the Able Sisters. These mechanics don't even come close to the customization New Horizons offers.

With a diverse range of crafting materials, players can make anything from umbrellas to giant robot statues. Some of the best furniture in the game comes from DIY sets, and it's fair to say most players will expect this crafting system to return in any future Animal Crossing installments.

3 Worse: You're Not The Mayor

This isn't so much a gameplay problem as an emotional one. In New Leaf, the title of mayor is bestowed upon players as soon as they arrive in their new town, and all improvements made to the town are accordingly credited to the player.

In New Horizons, the player is still the one doing all the work, and indeed contributing most of the Bells to new features like bridges and ramps. Only now, you're just the Resident Representative and everyone acts like they've worked together to make any changes. It may be petty, but if the player puts in the effort, surely they deserve the credit.

2 Better: Online Community

Players have been able to visit each other's towns since the very first Animal Crossing, and New Leaf saw more advanced interactivity with StreetPass features like the Happy Home Showcase. This ability to be involved with other players promoted the growth of a creative online community, and this has been taken to new heights with New Horizons.

Whether it's trading items on Nookazon or chasing stalk prices on Turnip Exchange, the impact of the internet on how people play New Horizons has been massive. While there'll always be some conflict and drama, for the most part the online community surrounding New Horizons has been a force for good.

1 Worse: No Town Ordinances

Perhaps the most significant feature that didn't survive outside of New Leaf is the presence of town ordinances. As the mayor in New Leaf, players can choose from a number of improvements that impact how the town functions. These include the Night Owl and Early Bird ordinances, which allow shops to open later and earlier respectively, and the Bell Boom ordinance which makes items sell for 1.2x the regular amount.

The most missed one is probably the Beautiful Town ordinance, as this prevents weeds from growing at their usual rapid rate. While weeds are now a useful DIY tool, their growth can quickly get out of control. The option for ordinances has such an interesting and positive impact on New Leaf's gameplay, and it's sad to see it go.

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