Six years on from the launch of Animal Crossing New Horizons, we’ve entered a brand new generation of Nintendo hardware with the Switch 2. Instead of launching a brand new title in the series designed for the updated console, Nintendo has instead released an upgrade package that slightly modernises 2020’s game in a few subtle ways.

After spending a few hours playing both the new and original versions of Animal Crossing New Horizons on the Switch 2, it’s a tricky one to recommend for even the most dedicated of players. With most of the exciting new content for 2026 arriving for free, the benefits from the paid upgrade package feel remarkably thin in comparison.

Still, with a relatively small entry fee, there are a select few players that I think the Switch 2 upgrade is for.

When Nintendo has issued paid upgrades for Switch 2 games in the past, they’ve felt pretty substantial. Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom having their frame rates jump to 60fps made them feel almost like completely new games.

Throw in rays of light bursting through tree canopies with the HDR implementation, and the experience of playing those games on Switch 2 feels tangibly different. It certainly made that £7.99 price tag go down a lot smoother.

I mention this because it’s best to keep your expectations in check when considering upgrading to the Switch 2 version of Animal Crossing New Horizons.

In terms of graphical changes, the only major improvement is to the resolution. Handheld mode goes from 720p to 1080p, while docked goes from 1080p to 4K.

Yes, the additional sharpness is noticeable – but not gamechanging. Animal Crossing’s art style is not something that benefits from ultra-sharp realism, so while it’s nice to have, I can’t say it’s something I felt I noticed hugely when swapping from the old version to the new.

While I reckon the Nintendo Switch 2 is more than likely capable of running a game like this at 60fps, the new version is bizarrely stuck at a decidedly last-gen feeling 30fps. If I were to guess, I reckon the game’s engine is likely to blame for this with its time-based gameplay mechanics preventing the frame rate enhancement, but it’s frustrating to see all the same.

The result is a game that feels almost exactly the same to play whether you’re on the old hardware or the new. Unless you put both versions running side by side, I wouldn’t have said it made a huge difference to the gameplay experience.

The other major addition you get with the Switch 2 is a new Megaphone item. This utilises the Switch 2’s microphone, allowing you to call out a villager’s name and summon them to your location in a pinch.

I do like this new addition, as it’s a smart use of the modern hardware’s capabilities. It’s also equally true that this is very much a ‘nice to have’ rather than a necessity. 

I also think the Megaphone is quite antithetical to the vibe of Animal Crossing. There’s a tangible sense of politeness and community that searching for a specific villager brings versus screaming their name into the void to summon them.

The crux of it is, the vast majority of what makes Animal Crossing worth playing in 2026 arrived in the 3.0.0 update – and that’s available for free as part of the original Switch game. 

Kapp’n’s Resort Hotel is a fantastic new way to spend your time decorating rooms to a specific theme. Slumber Island is also a fun time, letting your imagination run wild with unlimited numbers of items you’ve already encountered.

But if you already own a copy of Animal Crossing New Horizons, you own all of that content already.

If anything, I’d say the main reason to consider the upgrade to the Switch 2 version of ACNH is for the benefits to multiplayer. Instead of hosting up to eight players on an island at once, the upgraded version can handle 12.

This is likely to be a big deal for those who use Animal Crossing as a regular place to hang out with friends online. They’ll also likely appreciate the integration with the Switch 2’s GameChat feature, which can display camera footage of each person’s face above their villager for realtime reactions.

So, is it worth upgrading to the Switch 2 version of Animal Crossing New Horizons?

If you regularly play Animal Crossing New Horizons as a multiplayer game and have found frustration with the previous visitor limit, then the entry fee is likely worth springing for.

But if it’s visual upgrades you’re looking forward to most, I think a lot of players are likely to be disappointed. The lack of a frame rate boost, whether it’s for technical reasons or not, results in the game feeling barely different to the version that came before it.

At the same time, the upgrade fee is relatively low, at least compared to what Nintendo is charging for other packages. At £4.19, it’s priced about as high as I’d be willing to pay for an upgrade of this nature.

While the price is low enough that you might forget about it on your bank statement quite quickly, I think you’ll likely also forget about the upgrades you’ve gained in an equally speedy time frame.