Animal Crossing: New Horizons/Update history/1.8.0

The Free Update (version 1.8.0) was an update for released on February 25, 2021. It added Super Mario-themed items as part of the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary celebration. The update was announced in a Nintendo Direct on February 17, 2021. Prior to its full announcement, an update featuring Super Mario-themed items was teased in September 2020 in the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Nintendo Direct and in January 2021 in the announcement trailer for the 1.7.0 Free Update, both with a planned release date of March 2021.

New features

 * Several Super Mario-themed furniture, clothing, and interior items are added in 1.8.0. The items are time-locked and were unlocked in version 1.8.0a on March 1, 2021.
 * New Nook Shopping seasonal events include the following events:
 * Hinamatsuri, which commemorates the Heian period of Japan, is celebrated from February 25 to March 3 with the and, with the item selection rotating daily.
 * π Day, a celebration of the first three digits of the number π (3.14) matching with the date (3/14), is celebrated from March 1 to 14 with a.
 * Shamrock Day, meant to coincide with St. Patrick's Day, is celebrated from March 10 to 17 with the, , and.
 * To celebrate Shamrock Day, the Able Sisters sells the, , , and . These items are not time-locked.
 * In addition, from March 10 to March 17, the player can receive the DIY recipe for the from balloons. Like the Nook Shopping event, the recipe is time-locked.

Changed features

 * promotional items now appear in the catalog.
 * The colors of some variations of the following items were changed:

In 1.8.0

 * An issue where the in-game name of a player is displayed under their Nintendo Switch User Nickname when attempting to add a friend via "Search for Users You Played With" is fixed.