Animal Crossing Deluxe expands the original GameCube release with restored and adapted content from other versions of Animal Crossing, new gameplay systems, quality-of-life improvements, additional customization, and numerous smaller fixes and enhancements.

Some features are still in development and may change in future releases.

Player customization

  • Skin tone can be selected during character creation.
  • The skin tone and tanning system has been overhauled. Each skin tone has eight tanning levels.
  • Boy player characters can wear the princess hat, and girl player characters can wear the viking hat.

Storage, saving, and menus

  • Storage has been overhauled to work more like Wild World and later games, with 160 storage slots per player.
  • Saving and loading are faster than in the original game.
  • “Before I go…” has been renamed to “Settings.”
  • Settings menu options have been rearranged for easier navigation.
  • Press Z + Start to quicksave.
  • Nook’s catalog can use either the original sorting order or alphabetical sorting.
  • Letters and patterns use their own dedicated files on the Memory Card.

Display, camera, and performance

  • Proper widescreen support has been added.
  • Acre-to-acre camera transitions can be disabled.
  • The outdoor camera angle can be adjusted with the C-stick.
  • A more detailed town map can be viewed by pressing R.
  • Higher frame rates are supported, up to 200 FPS.
    • Work in progress: some systems have not yet been fully converted to use delta time.
  • Catching a bug, finding a fossil, and similar actions no longer cause their fanfares to interrupt the hourly music.

Controls and shortcuts

  • Keyboard input is supported.
    • Dolphin: any USB keyboard.
    • Original hardware: PSO keyboard.
  • Menu tabs can be switched backward with Z + R.
  • Tools can be swapped or put away using the D-pad.
  • Holes can be filled without equipping a shovel.
  • Trees can be shaken while a net or fishing rod is equipped.
  • On the time-change screen, press L + R + Z to synchronize the in-game clock.

Pattern shortcuts

  • Press Z + B to remove a pattern from the ground.
  • Press Z + D-pad Up to automatically place the most recently used design again.
  • Hold Z while using a design tool to access transparency while editing a pattern.

Town and overworld changes

  • A Game Boy Advance is no longer required to visit the island. Kapp’n is always available at the dock.
  • Furniture can be placed outdoors.
  • Bugs and fish can be dropped on the ground.
  • Player-dug holes no longer disappear because of distance.
  • More acre types are valid locations for Tortimer to build the third bridge.
  • The chance of a villager moving away after visiting another town has been reduced from 100% to 10%.
  • Villager quests can progress even when the relevant villager is inside an igloo.
  • The wishing well provides additional hints when the town has not yet achieved perfect-town status.
  • The requirements for washing Gracie’s car have been reduced by 20%.
  • The gyroid outside a player’s house can be given a nickname.
  • Feng shui colors for furniture have been updated to match later Animal Crossing games.

Custom patterns

  • Patterns can be imported and exported through the Memory Card, allowing designs to be shared.
  • Patterns can be placed on the ground.
  • Patterns can use transparency.
  • Additional color palettes can be unlocked by befriending Sable.
  • A town flag has been added next to the train station and can display a custom pattern.
  • A custom pattern can be used as the background of the item screen.
  • Town tunes can be entered using a keyboard.

Plants and gardening

  • Chestnuts have been added as a new fruit type. Chestnuts were originally a scrapped Doubutsu no Mori item.
  • Flower mechanics have been overhauled and work similarly to, though not exactly like, Wild World and later games.
    • More detailed information about the flower system can be found in the dedicated plant documentation.
  • Flowers can be dug up and replanted using a shovel.
  • Roses have been added.
  • Jacob’s ladders, originally introduced in e+, have been added.
  • Hybrid flowers can be bred using a watering can sold by Tom Nook.

Housing and furniture

  • The top floor of the player’s house can be expanded to 8×8.
  • Basement wallpaper and flooring can be changed.
  • Music-player volume can be raised or lowered inside houses.
  • More furniture can be used as a surface for tabletop items.
  • The control for turning house lights on and off has been moved to the D-pad.
  • Gyroids can be placed on tables.
  • Tabletop items can be rotated after being placed.
  • Rotated diaries no longer have their positions reset.
  • The player can change the direction they are facing while seated on four-sided chairs.
    • This also applies to stumps and rocks.

Tom Nook

  • Tom Nook sells one K.K. Slider song each Sunday.
  • The player can decline to work for Tom Nook.
  • The player can decline to have a statue built after fully paying off their loan.
  • Nookington’s no longer requires a second Memory Card to unlock.
  • Nook’s catalog can be switched between its original sorting order and alphabetical sorting.

Crazy Redd

  • Crazy Redd sells four items instead of three.
  • Crazy Redd is guaranteed to offer at least one painting during each visit.

K.K. Slider

  • All K.K. Slider songs through Animal Crossing: New Leaf have been added.
  • Song requests are more forgiving of minor differences when typing a song title.

Clock and HUD

  • The clock interface can be changed to resemble the clocks used in Doubutsu no Mori, Doubutsu no Mori+, and Doubutsu no Mori e+.
  • The current acre is displayed near the clock.
    • Currently, this is supported only by the default clock style.

Fossils

  • Blathers can assess fossils after the player has donated 15 fossils.
  • Once fossil assessment has been unlocked, fossils can still be mailed to the Farway Museum to be sold.
    • Multi-piece fossils have a higher sale value when sold this way.
  • Five additional fossils from Animal Crossing: Wild World have been added.

Golden tools

  • The golden watering can is now the reward for achieving a perfect town.
  • The golden axe is obtained after purchasing 100 saplings from Tom Nook.

NES games

  • NES games can use different aspect ratios.
  • The “Forbidden Four” NES games can be obtained through normal gameplay.

Letters

  • Letters can be thrown away while indoors.
  • Multiple letters can be selected at once for:
    • Mailing.
    • Marking as read.
    • Receiving enclosed gifts.
    • Throwing away.

Balloon presents

  • Balloon presents play a sound effect as they float past.
  • Balloons are more likely to collide with trees now that a collision bug from the original game has been fixed.
  • Balloons can be knocked down with a net while standing at the edge of a cliff.
  • Mario items can be obtained from balloon presents.

Content and mechanics from other Animal Crossing releases

In addition to Deluxe’s original changes, a number of features and pieces of content have been restored or adapted from other versions of Animal Crossing.

Doubutsu no Mori / Doubutsu no Mori+

  • Scrapped furniture and clothing from Doubutsu no Mori and Doubutsu no Mori+ have been restored.
  • Japan-exclusive furniture has been added.
  • A fireworks festival takes place every Saturday in August.
    • The existing July 4th fireworks festival is still present.
  • Newly created towns have a 50% chance of generating a shrine instead of the wishing well, as in Doubutsu no Mori and Doubutsu no Mori+.
    • Towns with a shrine use the Japanese version of the New Year’s celebration.

Doubutsu no Mori e+

  • Outdoor decorations from e+ have been added and can be obtained from a new visiting NPC named Renna.
  • The villager move-out system has been overhauled to work like the system in e+.
    • See Nookipedia for additional details on the e+ move-out system.
  • Resetti’s Surveillance Center has been added.
  • Tom Nook can be woken up to access his store at night.
  • Players can become best friends with villagers, who will greet the player as they pass by.
  • Best-friend dialogue and interactions from e+ have been added, including greetings, live-song gifts, and other interactions.
  • Villagers, furniture, bugs, fish, and K.K. Slider songs from e+ have been added.
  • Sale Day has been overhauled to work like its e+ version.
  • During the Fishing Tourney, Chip gives the player a fishing rod if they do not already have one.
  • Letters and patterns use dedicated Memory Card files.

iQue

  • iQue-exclusive furniture and shirts have been added.

Animal Crossing: Wild World

  • Wallpaper and flooring from Wild World have been added.
  • Clovers have been added.
  • Rafflesias have been added.
  • Turnip prices can now change between the A.M. and P.M. periods.
  • Flower mechanics have been overhauled to work more like Wild World and later games.
  • Mushroom furniture from Wild World has been added and can be found while mushrooming.
  • Additional standalone furniture from later games is being added.
    • Work in progress.
  • Villagers introduced in Wild World and later games are being added.
    • Work in progress.
  • Monkey villagers from Wild World are present.
  • Holes can be filled without using a shovel.

Animal Crossing: City Folk

  • Tools can be swapped or put away using the D-pad.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

  • Ordinances have been added.
  • Patterned tree stumps have been added.
  • Fruit, mushrooms, and candy can be stacked in groups of up to 10 when picked up.
  • Players can choose from four different town layouts during town creation.
  • Trees can be shaken while a net or fishing rod is equipped.