Do you want to delete your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island and start over? Whether you want to reset your island to have new villagers, a different layout, or a new experience, you can do so easily in a few simple steps. Be warned—you can’t recover data after you reset your island. All data will be erased, and you will be given a blank slate. You can continue to reset your island for specific layouts, fruits, or villagers. This wikiHow will show you how to reset your island on Animal Crossing: New Horizons with your Nintendo Switch.

[Edit]things you should know

• If it’s your first day playing Animal Crossing and you don’t like your island, you can reset the game until you find a better island.
• If you’ve been playing for a while and have at least one save game already, you can clear your saved game data to resume playing.
• Resetting your Island will erase all New Horizons data on your Switch.

[Edit]step

[Edit]day one reset

1. Press the Home button on your Nintendo Switch. If it’s your first day playing Animal Crossing and you don’t like your island’s villagers, layout, or type of fruit, there’s an easy way to reset the game and start fresh on a new island. Start by pressing the Home button on your Joycon while the game is open.
   
   • This method will work on the first day of your game.
2. highlight . It should already be selected in the Home menu. If it isn’t, use the joycon to highlight it.
   
3. Press . It’ll be at the top, on the right Joycon.
   
4. choose . The game will stop.
   
5. open . Since you haven’t reached a save point in the game yet, you’ll be able to restart from the beginning of the game.
   
   • Now you can start working towards your perfect island by deciding on a good name and layout.

[Edit]clear saved data

1. Power on your Nintendo Switch. Make sure to charge your Switch. you have to press A three times to unlock it.
   
   • This method will erase Animal Crossing: New Horizons data on your Nintendo Switch. Do not reset your island unless you are absolutely sure that you want to erase all your data.
     • Recovery is only available if your current Switch is lost, stolen, or damaged, you have an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription, and a new Nintendo Switch console.^[1]
2. choose . It’s the cog icon at the bottom of the screen.
   
3. choose . You have to scroll down to find this option on the left pane.
   
4. choose . it’s at the bottom data management Page. You will see a list of your games.
   
5. choose . Make sure the correct game is selected.
   
6. choose . This should be the only option on the page. When you click it, you will get a warning.
   
7. choose . This is the red button. It may be grayed out for a few seconds to prevent accidental deletion.
   
   • Your Switch will begin deleting the saved data.
8. open . After deleting your save data, you’ll be able to play New Horizons just like new.
   
   • If you don’t like the randomly given layout or fruit choice, you can reset your island on the first day as many times as you want.
   • Don’t forget to practice your fishing skills to complete the museum or pay off your debt. This will help your new island be a success.

[Edit]= reference