How to delete and restart an animal via New Horizons island

Animal Crossing: New Horizons first launched in March 2020, its popularity has exploded with everyone painstakingly creating their own island paradise. From growing flowers and planting trees to meeting friends and welcoming new villagers to their island, players around the world have been able to create an idyllic island experience.

But for players who are ready to start something new—to wipe the slate clean and start over—creating a brand new island can be intimidating. With a cumbersome way to move off an island already built into the game, players may be worried that starting over on a new island might be just as painful, but don't worry: this guide has everything you need to know.

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One creative Animal Crossing: New Horizons player is turning part of his in-game island into a historic Viking ship graveyard.

How to delete your current island in AC New Horizons

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While many aspects New Horizons error can be cumbersome, deleting an island is quite simple – if you look in the right place. However, you cannot actually remove the island from the game. Rather, you need to remove it from the switch's system settings.

First, make sure the game is closed and you're on the Switch home screen.
Then click on System settings.
Go to Data management.
Scroll all the way down and select “Delete saved data.'
Select the appropriate game (in this case Animal Crossing: New Horizons).
Select 'Delete all Save Sata for this software.'

It's that simple! Now, when you start the game, you'll be greeted as a fresh newbie, ready to start your own island adventure for the first time.

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How to remove another player from your island

Whether you've gone through a tough breakup or are just trying to clear space on your busy island, you may want to remove another player's character from your island. This method is not obvious at all, so you are in the right place! As opposed to deleting your island you will want to make it from the game itself.

Start the game, but do not enter your island. On the home screen under your user profile, press the minus (-) button to talk to Tom Nook about different game settings. It presents you with many options, but you want to choose “save data” prompt.. you want delete user registrationand Tom offers to remove them from the game.

This method requires the player to still have a profile on the Switch. If their profile has already been deleted, you'll need to take a few more steps. To delete another player's character, if it is not connected to another profile on Switch, you will need to create a new profile, log in to the game, and have the option link a profile to an existing, unconnected character on the account. Once this is complete, you can simply press the minus (-) button again, go through the above steps with Tom Nook to delete the user registration, and Tom will be able to delete the character at that point.