Though you may already know about everything new in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update, that doesn’t mean you’re ready to jump into it from the moment it’s launched on January 15, 2026. Especially if you’ve been away from the game for a good while, there are likely a few steps you’ll want to take to prepare your island for the major update. In this guide, we’ll walk you through 11 important steps to take in order to get ready for the big Animal Crossing Switch 2 update.
Bring your save to Switch 2 with the island transfer tool
Perhaps the most important thing to do of all is ensure you’ve brought your saved data to Switch 2, if you’re planning on playing the game on that platform–or even just a different Switch console than you last used when playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Though the 3.0 update is free for all players, the game is also getting a technical upgrade for Switch 2, and many plan to pick up where they left off on Nintendo’s newest console. But for that, you’ll first need to use the island transfer tool, which will allow you to port your island to its new home. Remember that if you already transferred your Switch saves to Switch 2, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is on the short list of exceptions, so you still need to use the island transfer tool, too.
Save up some bells
Although bells aren’t the required currency for the new hotel gift shop, you’ll still want to save up a small fortune because 3.0 lets you increase your storage space to 9,000 items. Considering the final storage upgrade bumped it up to 5,000 and cost 1.2 million bells, we’re willing to bet it’s going to be pricey.
There are a ton of ways to make money in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but the most lucrative (above board) strategy is with turnips. The gist is to buy cheap from Daisy Mae on Sunday mornings (ideally under 100 bells), and sell it back to the Nooklings for a profit.
If you need money now and have time to grind, then I suggest catching bugs, fish, and sea creatures. Figure out which ones are worth a lot, and release the rest. If Flick is in town, prioritize bugs, and if CJ is in town prioritize fish. They’ll buy your critters at 50% markup.
Farming can also be pretty lucrative, but you’ll need to plot out farmland and water your crops regularly. The benefit of farming over tree orchards is that they take up less space.
Save up some Nook Miles
This isn’t quite as important as money, but you might as well save up some Nook Miles. They haven’t announced any new items coming to the Nook Shopping terminal that require Nook Miles (the LEGO items require bells FYI), but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few new items sneak onto the terminal. If not, you’ll probably want those extra miles to travel to Mystery Islands anyway.
Make sure Kapp’n is unlocked
The premier feature of the 3.0 update is a dockside hotel. We don’t know exactly how to unlock this facility, but there’s a good chance you’ll need Kapp’n. In order to unlock Kapp’n, you need to unlock Resident Services, get a three-star island rating, and attend K.K. Slider’s first show.
The following day, Kapp’n should be hanging out at your pier. If it wasn’t clear, unlocking Kapp’n is a multi-day process, so if you’ve been thinking about restarting your island, we’d recommend doing that ASAP.
Gather lots of materials
In order to have a successful hotel, you’ll need to craft items for Kapp’n to ship. We don’t know exactly how this works, but it seems like the more DIY furniture you submit to Kapp’n, the more hotel tickets you’ll get and the more items you can purchase from the gift shop.
If you want to maximize your submissions on day one, you’ll want to make sure you’re well-stocked with all three types of wood, sticks, rocks, iron, gold, weeds, and clay. I have to imagine the recipes will get more complex the more requests you fulfill, but those materials should be enough to get you started.
If it’s been a while since you’ve played, wood can be farmed from trees with an axe, and clay, stones, and iron can be procured by hitting rocks.
I recommend picking up a Nook Miles Ticket from the Nook Miles machine and traveling to a mystery island or hitching a ride from Kapp’n. Once you’ve traveled to a new island, clear out the island of all its resources, and head home. And don’t forget, if you eat something and then hit a rock, it will shatter and could reveal gold ore.
Create your island uniform
This is one you can’t quite do until the update drops, but it’s something you should do early on once it does. Alongside the new hotel, you can also set an island uniform. Inside your hotel, there are two mannequins. You can set an outfit on each that other players and NPCs can quickly change into.
If you have a very specific theme or style throughout your island, I recommend thinking up an island uniform for your guests.
Fill out your island catalog
The 3.0 update is also adding Slumber Islands. These let you quickly customize an island from scratch with all the furniture you’ve collected so far. If you want to use this feature to its fullest, I recommend collecting as many items as possible.
That way, you have a ton of furniture at your disposal. Check Nook’s Cranny daily, shake trees, and–if you own the Happy Home Paradise DLC–check the store there as well.
Kick out a villager or two
The 3.0 update is introducing four new villagers: two from Zelda and two from Splatoon. You’ll need an amiibo to get them to visit your island, but if you want them to live on your island, you’ll need a vacant house.
There’s no guaranteed way to kick a villager out. Instead, you need to either wait or timeskip. When you see a villager with a thought bubble over their head, they’ll ask if you want them to move out. Just keep in mind that the last villager that moved in can’t move out.
Wait to redesign and clean your island
If you’re an existing player with an island that needs tidying, it will be worth waiting for the 3.0 update before doing any tedious reorganizing yourself. The update introduces Resetti’s Reset Service, and this is a new feature that gives you the ability to clear out flowers, furniture, and more in bulk.
Though there are ways to remove all weeds in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it’s likely this new beautification tool will be the best one yet.
Get an active Switch Online subscription
While it’s not a necessity to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you’ll want to make sure you have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription if you want to play with friends on the new Slumber Islands.
Slumber Islands lets you customize and build islands together with friends in up to 12-player sessions, but everyone will need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to participate. Make sure to also add all your friends if you plan on partying up for some island fun.
Bring new Amiibo features to your island
Another optional choice is to buy and add Amiibos for specific characters. You’ll be able to add four Nintendo characters as Amiibo with Update 3.0. This lets you invite Mineru and Tulin from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, as well as Cece and VichĂ©, who are inspired by Callie and Marie from Splatoon.
Use our 80+ Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides
Whether you’re new to Animal Crossing, coming back after years away, or you’ve never really stopped playing, we have dozens more guides to help you through the game in our Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides hub.
