[GUIDE] : Animal Crossing: New Horizons – How to unlock and use a Part one amiibo

If you’re like me, you’ve got an adorable set of Animal Crossing amiibo figures as well as Animal Crossing amiibo cards somewhere around your house. Each figure or card can bring a specific villager into the game either for a photoshoot or for you to invite them to become a permanent resident. Since there are over 400 villagers, amiibo are very useful as they allow you to invite specific villagers to your island instead of letting the game choose them at random.

If you have been playing the game for a while and still haven’t found out how to use amiibo, it’s because they can only be used after the amiibo feature is unlocked in the game. On this page we We’ll explain how to unlock the amiibo feature, what amiibo do in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and also how to use them.

Amiibo figures versus amiibo cards

Source: There are technically over 400 Animal Crossing amiibo that you can use if you count the 18 NFC figures and the hundreds of Animal Crossing amiibo cards. Numbers and cards feature NFC chips and are scanned in the same way using your Nintendo Switch. However, in New Horizons, amiibo cards are more useful because they allow you to invite new villagers to your island. Amiibo figures are fun, but they can only be used to invite the special characters they represent to photoshoots while you are on Harvey’s Island.

If you are keen on inviting a specific villager to your island, you may want to browse eBay for a particular Animal Crossing amiibo card, as many sellers will allow you to purchase them individually.

A complete list of Animal Crossing amiibo cards is available on the official Animal Crossing website.

How to unlock the amiibo feature

Amiibo can be used in two different ways in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Harvey’s Island lets you use amiibo for photo ops while camping allows you to scan amiibo and invite new villagers to your island. Read on to learn more about how to unlock any of these features.

Harvey Island Villager Photopia

If you’ve played Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you might remember a hippie dog named Harvey as one of the special villagers. After a few days of play, this dog will randomly appear on your island. Make sure you talk to him, and he’ll invite you to visit his island. The great thing is that the airport allows you to fly for free. No Nook Miles ticket required.

Instead of searching for gear, bugs, and fish, Harvey’s Island only allows you to enter Harvey’s house. Once inside, you can set up a scene in one of its rooms and snap photos with your favorite villagers. That is, as long as you have a matching amiibo to invite them. You can place different pieces of furniture, change the lighting in the room, and position your favorite Animal Crossing villagers in different places before taking photos with them.

However, it should be noted that not all amiibo work with New Horizons. So far the game has warned me that Reese, Cyrus and Rover minifigures cannot be invited to Photopia. I don’t know if that means these characters never appear in New Horizons or if that means you have to wait until they are unlocked. I’ll update when I learn more.

If you scan an in-game character’s amiibo figure or card on Harvey’s Island, a poster depicting that character will be available for purchase at NookStop in Resident Services. It even works for characters that I couldn’t invite into Photopia. All you need to do is go to the kiosk, select Nook Shopping, then press R to view all the available posters. Use these awesome pictures to spice up the rooms in your home.

The campsite Invite more villagers to your island

Camping allows randomly chosen villagers to appear on your island, which in turn gives you the option of inviting those villagers to live on your island. However, if you have amiibo cards, you can use them to request specific villagers at your campsite. To be more precise, the character represented on the map is invited to your island. Note that you can only really use Animal Crossing amiibo cards here. None of the characters transformed into amiibo figures can be invited to the campsite.

You will need to complete several steps to build a campsite. Here’s what you need to do to unlock the campsite and invite villagers to your island using amiibo:

Improve services to residents in a building

Building a campsite

Invite a visiting villager to live on your island

Build additional houses on your island

Wait for the villager to move in

Use the NookStop kiosk at Resident Services

Wait the next day for the visit of the guest camper

1. Upgrade residents’ services to a building

You must first take all necessary steps to upgrade resident services from a tent to a building to unlock the camping amiibo feature. If you haven’t gotten that far yet, here’s a guide on upgrading resident services.

2. Build a campsite

Once you improve residential services, Tom Nook will tell you that he wants to open a campsite. He will then ask you to stake out a field specially for this purpose. After choosing a location for the campsite, you will have to wait until the next morning. The campsite will appear on your island the next day, but you won’t have any visitors until the next day.

3. Invite a visiting villager to live on your island

The first NPC animal that arrives at the campsite will be chosen at random. When someone appears in the tent, you can invite them to live on your island just by talking to them.

4. Build additional houses on your island

Now is the time to speak to Tom Nook at Resident Services. Since you invite even more villagers to your island, this loaded raccoon will tell you that more houses need to be built to accommodate everyone. He will then give you a housing kit and ask you to choose a location for this new house. Run around your island and select the perfect place to live your new villager. You will have to wait until the next day for this new house to appear on your island.

5. Wait for the villager to move in

You’re going to have to wait a bit. It takes one day for the house to appear after choosing a location, and then it takes another day for the new villager to settle on your island.

6. Use the NookStop Resident Services kiosk

Once the new villager has moved in, return to Resident Services and speak to Tom Nook. He will tell you that he wants to bring more villagers to the island. Now go to the Nook Stop booth and interact with it. He will tell you that you can now use the Animal Crossing character’s amiibo to invite more villagers to the island.

To do this, select “invite a camper” while interacting with the kiosk, then scan the amiibo card you wish to use. If you don’t know how to scan amiibo, check out this guide. Note that you can only have one visit per camper per day.

7. Wait until the next day for the guest camper to visit.

Finally, the motorhome you invited to your island will appear in the campsite the day after its amiibo is scanned. Enter the tent and talk to them. They won’t always be interested in moving in, so you may need to invite them back to your island a few times before they’re ready to become residents.

If there is no house available for them, you will need to build one. Your island can hold up to 10 villagers in total. At some point you will have to force a villager to move if you want to add more.

How do you scan amiibo?

There are different ways to use them depending on whether you are playing your game in portable mode or on a TV.

• Portable mode: If you’re playing on the go, hover the figure or map on the right Joy-Con joystick when New Horizons prompts you to use your amiibo.
• Docked mode: While your Switch is showing up on your TV, you will need a controller that can scan amiibo like the detached Joy-Cons or the Pro Controller. If you are using Joy-Cons, scan the same way you would in portable mode. However, if you are using a Pro controller, scan the figures or cards on the Nintendo logo at the top middle of the controller when the game prompts you to use your amiibo.

Animal amiibo

Here. As long as you have the Animal Crossing amiibo figures or amiibo cards, you will be able to invite characters into your game just by scanning the NFC chips. Remember, cards are more useful when it comes to getting the villagers you want to live on your island, although the figures are just too cute to pass up. Enjoy your game! Hope you can get all the villagers you want to come to your island.

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How to Use Amiibo on Animal Crossing New Horizons

To be able to use the Amiibo and make them come to live on your island, you will need camping, we explain how to do this in our guide to unlock the Remod’île.

Once the camping installed, you will have to wait for the first animal to come to visit your island via the campsite, you will be obliged to have it come to live with you (no more obligation for the next ones), and it is from the day after this visit that you can invite your Amiibo to come and camp.

To do this, use the terminal Nook stop at the residents’ office and select “Invite a Camper”. Prepare your card or figure and follow the instructions. The Amiibo card chip is located at the top of the card, where the logo is on the back. The future inhabitant immediately arrived at the campsite.

To do it move to your island, you will have toinvite 3 times, and every day, you have to talk to him enough to ask you about him craft an item (either you already have the plan or he gives it to you) and continue talking to him until you can ask him to come and live on your island.

On the third day, before going to talk to him one last time, go see Tom Nook to talk to him about “infrastructures” and to “sell land”. You will charge 10,000 bells in exchange for the housing kit. Go install the kit he gave you, and invite the Amiibo to come and live with you!

: Which Amiibo can be used in New Horizons?

You can get true amiibo cards on the Fnac, Cultura, Amazon websites, etc. Attention to “mini cards” which are counterfeit and to other Nintendo sellers!

Series Cards	Poster	Photopia	Live at home
Inhabitant cards (series 1 to 4)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Special character cards (series 1 to 4)	Yes	Yes	Non
Cartes Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival (Wii U)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cartes Sanrio Animal Crossing: Welcome Amiibo	Yes	Yes	Yes
Figurines Animal Crossing: Welcome Amiibo	Yes	Yes	Non
Super Smash Bros. Villager Figurine Ultimate	Yes	Non	Non
Figurine Marie de Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Yes	Yes	Non

Invite your Amiibos to take pictures at Photopia to have a poster of them. You can then buy it at the Nook stop in “Nook shopping”.