UK Nintendo fans this is not a drill, Animal Crossing amiibo cards are back

Photo of a pile of official Animal Crossing amiibo cards, with an Isabelle card in the middle.

(Image credit: Future/Rosalie Newcombe)

Amiibo cards are back, and I'm not talking about the Street Fighter 6 cards released alongside the Switch 2. Nintendo UK has restocked Animal Crossing amiibo card packs Series 1, 2, 3, 5, and even the mega-adorable Sanrio packs are available again.

These aren't brand-new releases, and instead, the Switch 2 accessories are the same old packs as before, if that's not obvious from the old 3DS and WiiU inclusions on the packaging, but that's still a big deal. There are a ton of fake versions of these cards around, and sealed packs continue to be sold at inflated prices at retailers like Amazon. Now, they're available straight from Nintendo for just £3.49 (Nintendo) each, and the timing couldn't be any more perfect.

Animal Crossing amiibo card packs - Series 1 | £3.49 at Nintendo UK
The UK Nintendo online store has re-stocked the Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, Series 5, and Sanrio card packs for Animal Crossing at their original £3.49 MSRPs. The ringbinders and additional series packs are still out of stock, but with the amount of bootlegs and inflated packs available, these packs are worth grabbing for adding new villagers to your island (or just for collecting) while you can.

Series 2: £3.49 at Nintendo UK
Series 3: £3.49 at Nintendo UK
Series 5: £3.49 at Nintendo UK

Animal Crossing New Horizons Switch 2 Edition and the Version 3.0 update launched last month, and it awoke the obsession I have in the series and amiibo card collecting. Nintendo actually produced a set of official ringbinders for these Animal Crossing cards, and I own every single one, but each is missing a ton of cards as buying the packs got more difficult over time.

The speed at which I added these restocks to my Nintendo shop basket to fill those missing spots yesterday was unprecedented, but I'm not sure how long they will remain in stock. I got a couple of packs of each available series, and one singular pack of the Sanario cards, which are priced a little higher at £4.99 (Nintendo) each. I fully expect these to be snatched up by resellers, especially as the English Sanrio packs are difficult to come by.

A week ago, I was thinking of grabbing some new cards to invite new villagers to my updated island, but only the Japanese Sanrio packs were on UK Amazon. They were also priced at £9.93 each, which is almost double that of their MSRP. It's been many years since they were originally released as they were intended for Animal Crossing New Leaf, so I get it. The prices of older packs of the best card games, like Pokemon TCG, go up all the time. But that's exactly why it's such a relief to see any of them in stock at the official online Nintendo store.

Photo of a Tiffany amiibo card sitting on the Switch 2 right Joy-con controller. — (Image credit: Future/Rosalie Newcombe)

While they were intended for the older game, they work fine with New Horizons, if you were curious. Some characters won't be of much use, especially ones like Sable who already exist on your island. When using the Nook Stop, tapping those cards will bring up a they "can't be invited to the campsite" warning. Villagers like Tiffany are fine, and these cards can be a great way to invite your favourite characters without having to fork over any Nook miles.

The Sanrio cards sadly don't invite Hello Kitty and friends to your island, much to my dismay. However, they do unlock cute Sanrio-themed items that you can grab via the Nook Stop machine in the Residents' Services building.

The Animal Crossing amiibo card packs are only back in stock at Nintendo UK, so US players will have to make do without them for now. Some series, like the Series 5 and Sanario packs, are also on 'back order', so the delivery times might be slower than normal. But I'd much sooner deal with slower delivery times than inflated costs or fake cards.

View all amiibo at Nintendo US
View all Animal Crossing amiibo at GameStop

Our guides to the best Nintendo Switch headsets, the best Nintendo Switch 2 microSD Express cards, and the best Nintendo Switch 2 controllers are bursting at the seams with more accessories to use on your return to your New Horizons island.

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Ever since I first held a NES controller in my hand I've been obsessed with gaming, and the hardware it runs on. I could hook up a NES and SNES to a telly, without instructions, before I could walk. Even now, nothing is more exciting then taking a console, or handheld, out the box for the first time and setting it up. This obsession transformed into a love of games and game music, which lead to my music degree and dream of becoming the Scottish Nobuo Uematsu. After sharing my love of games through music, I began to share my love through words on sites like TechRadar and iMore. This lead to becoming a Hardware staff writer for PCGamesN, and later the Senior Tech Writer for Dexerto, covering all things Steam Deck, PlayStation and Nintendo. With that experience, I was able to level up as Hardware Editor for GamesRadar+, where I'm still just as Nintendo, PlayStation and gaming tech obsessed as ever.

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