The upcoming free update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons contains a slew of new features, including one not seen in the series since the first game. Through obtainable retro console items, you can play classic Nintendo games in your villager's home--though only if you have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
Among the additions in the game's version 3.0 update is a resort hotel run by Kapp'n and his family; if you help them out at the hotel, its souvenir shop will offer retro Nintendo toys and game consoles, including the Game Boy, NES, and SNES.
You can then place these consoles in your home and play "a select classic game on each system." The trailer shows the player character booting up the NES classic Ice Climber, but it's unclear if you can play more than one game per system, and which games are available to play.
Of course, if you have an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription, you can already play games like Ice Climber on Nintendo Classics applications; playing these games through Animal Crossing: New Horizons is more of a novelty.
The original Animal Crossing game on GameCube had 19 NES games that you can play through obtainable items, with Ice Climber amongst them. Other titles included Balloon Fight, Donkey Kong, and Punch-Out. Subsequent Animal Crossing games lacked this retro games feature, possibly due to the fact that these games were all purchasable through Nintendo's Virtual Console service.
Classic consoles are just some of the many goodies coming to New Horizons: Lego furniture and items based on The Legend of Zelda and Splatoon will also make their way to the game when the update (and the game's Nintendo Switch 2 Edition) land on January 15, 2026.
Source
Among the additions in the game's version 3.0 update is a resort hotel run by Kapp'n and his family; if you help them out at the hotel, its souvenir shop will offer retro Nintendo toys and game consoles, including the Game Boy, NES, and SNES.
You can then place these consoles in your home and play "a select classic game on each system." The trailer shows the player character booting up the NES classic Ice Climber, but it's unclear if you can play more than one game per system, and which games are available to play.
Of course, if you have an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription, you can already play games like Ice Climber on Nintendo Classics applications; playing these games through Animal Crossing: New Horizons is more of a novelty.
The original Animal Crossing game on GameCube had 19 NES games that you can play through obtainable items, with Ice Climber amongst them. Other titles included Balloon Fight, Donkey Kong, and Punch-Out. Subsequent Animal Crossing games lacked this retro games feature, possibly due to the fact that these games were all purchasable through Nintendo's Virtual Console service.
Classic consoles are just some of the many goodies coming to New Horizons: Lego furniture and items based on The Legend of Zelda and Splatoon will also make their way to the game when the update (and the game's Nintendo Switch 2 Edition) land on January 15, 2026.
Source