Animal Crossing: New Horizons – How to Play Multiplayer

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now out for the Nintendo Switch which means that players can now take part in the game's multiplayer feature to invite others to come visit their island. Nintendo sometimes has layers to its games' various online features though, and New Horizons is no exception. You've got to perform a few specific steps to get players on your island instead of just sending out an invite from a menu, but once you know how to play multiplayer in New Horizons, you'll be able to have a constant stream of visitors to see what you've done with your home.

New Horizons has a few different kinds of multiplayer, some of which are available through local play while other require a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online. The most common multiplayer feature players will likely be using is visiting islands and inviting players to come see their place.

To start inviting people to come see your island, you'll have to first head to Dodo Airlines. It's open all the time, and once you arrive, you can speak to Orville to begin the process. Tell Orville what you want to do, and you'll then pick friends to invite using a "Dodo Code" if they're not part of your Nintendo Switch friends list. You can also choose the "All my friends!" option to have an invite sent out to all New Horizons owners on your friends list. If someone's given you a Dodo Code, you'll need to enter that code to go visit their island.

There's also a Best Friends list in New Horizons that you'll want to configure before you start inviting people over. This list determines what tools players have access to so that they don't start messing up your creations the second they get there.

If you want to play locally instead of sending invites out to friends online, the process is a bit simpler with no codes involved. Speak to Orville at Dodo Airlines and tell him you want to play via Local Play and he'll find some local islands players can visit, assuming other players are nearby and are on the same network. Choose an island you all want to congregate on and you'll head there.

Lastly, there's a Party Play feature available through the NookPhone device players are given. Look for the "Call Islander" option and you'll be able to add several players to one Nintendo Switch to play around on the same island.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now available for the Nintendo Switch.