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Adding and joining friends in Animal Crossing New Horizons multiplayer isn't exactly simple as you have a couple of different options for doing so and several ways to restrict those options. You'll need to exchange friend codes or Dodo Codes and visit each other to properly secure your ACNH friendship, but then you can also become Best Friends for even more visiting privileges. We've explained how to add and join your friends in Animal Crossing New Horizons below for a smooth multiplayer experience. But first, here are some important points to be aware of!
- Multiplayer is unlocked once your airport has been built.
- Obviously, your Switch needs to be connected to the internet.
- Local multiplayer is free but if you want to play online, you need to pay for a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
How to add friends in Animal Crossing New Horizons
There are two ways to add someone as a friend in Animal Crossing New Horizons. The simplest way is to share your Nintendo Switch friend codes and add each other as friends there. By doing this, you can invite Nintendo Switch friends to your island very easily.
Check out our Animal Crossing New Horizons tips for more info to keep in mind during your your island life.
The other way is to invite your friend(s) to your island using a Dodo Code and then find them in your recent players list on your Nintendo Switch Profile. Head to the 'Add Friend' menu, then select 'Search for Users You've Player With' and add them as a Nintendo Switch friend from there.
Once you've visited the island of a Nintendo Switch friend, speak to Orville and he should download the Best Friends List app to your Nook Phone. Under the app's 'All' or 'Friends' tabs, you can see a list of all the Nintendo Switch friends that you've visited in Animal Crossing New Horizons. This is also where you can request to become Best Friends which I've covered below.
How to invite friends using a Dodo Code in Animal Crossing New Horizons
If you want to invite your pals to your island but you are not Nintendo Switch friends, or if you want to invite anyone to your island – perhaps you want to open the gates so that other players can sell their Animal Crossing New Horizons turnips with your good prices – you'll need to set up a Dodo Code by doing the following:
- Head to your island airport and speak to Orville.
- Choose the 'I want visitors.' option.
- Select either local or online play. Local is for other players connected to the same network as you while online works for any player. Orville will then connect your Switch to the internet.
- Select the 'Invite via Dodo Code' option.
- Choose 'The more the merrier!', then confirm with 'Yeah, invite anyone'. You can restrict Dodo Codes to friends only, but there's not really any point as you'll see later.
- Orville will then open the gate and provide a 5-character code that you need to share with the players that you want to come over to your island.
Now that your friends have the code, they need to go their island airports and tell Orville that they 'wanna fly!'. After saying they want to visit someone online, they'll have the option to 'Search via Dodo Code' at which point they can enter the code. If it's correct, they'll get flown over to your island. When you want to close your island to visitors, you need to speak to Orville again and he'll shut them for you.
Furthermore, if you are playing in local multiplayer, you can set up Dodo Code if you want to restrict who can join you across your local network – keep the riffraff out, as Orville says.
How to invite Nintendo Switch friends in Animal Crossing New Horizons
If you and your friends are already on each other's Nintendo Switch friends lists, you don't need to worry about exchanging Dodo Codes to play with them, though the method for setting this up is quite similar:
- Start by speaking to Orville, saying you want visitors, and then selecting online multiplayer.
- Choose 'All my friends!' to allow any of your Nintendo Switch friends to visit your island. Orville will then open the gates.
With that, your Nintendo Switch friends can then speak to their own Orville, request to visit someone, and then choose to 'Search for a friend'. Orville will then present a list of all their friends' islands that are currently open, which should include yours. If they select it, they'll fly over to you for a hang out. Again, you can get Orville to close the gates to stop players visiting.
If you and all your friends have the Switch 2 Edition of ACNH, you will also have the option to start a large 12-player session instead of a regular 8-player session just before step 4.
How to add Best Friends in Animal Crossing New Horizons
Once a player arrives at your island, they'll find that there are certain things they can't interact with and tools they can't use. This is a safeguard to keep people from making unwanted changes to your island, but you can lift this restriction by adding players to your Best Friends List via your NookPhone.
Open the Best Friends List app and navigate to the 'All' or 'Friends' tab. Next, click on a player's name and select "Ask to be Best Friends". This sends a request that they need to accept through their Best Friend Inbox on the app. Alternatively, you can check your inbox to see if you have any Best Friend requests to accept.
Not only can Best Friends use all their tools on your island, you'll also be able to see when they come online and send each other direct messages (though you can opt out of those features if you prefer). When speaking to Orville to open your island's gates, you can also use the 'Only my Best Friends!' option to restrict visitors to only your worthiest chums.
Orville can also help you access the Animal Crossing Happy Hope Paradise DLC and fly you to work. You also might want to know how Animal Crossing Slumber Islands work as you can invite friends to them too.
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