Desert Island Escape



Desert Island Escape is a minigame from Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival. The player sends 3 villagers to a desert island using amiibo cards. The task is to find 3 logs and a sail to make a raft, and then escape.

Rules
3 Amiibo cards are required to play this minigame. Since 3 cards come with the game, the player can play the minigame as soon as it is unlocked.

At beginning, you can only see observation tower's position from the map on the gamepad. As the progress goes, the searched spaces and visible spaces will be revealed. Getting on the top of a observation tower will expand your view around very greatly.

For one day, three player take actions in order you add your cards. Then you will choose a place you have ever discovered to camp, which you can make tools or heal a player to get ready for the next day. Space with a known monster or a beehive inside can not be chosen to be a camping place.

Uncovered spaces with a question mark means you will encounter a event that is needed to be judged. When you step on it, you will see that what's in there and a roulette appears to judge the result. If you encountered a monster and you are defeated or sneak away successfully, the mark will be turned to a specified monster.

The progress is with limited time (Beginner: 7 days, Intermediate: 9 days, Advanced: 12days). You need enough food to support your adventure. If a day ends without enough materials to make a raft and there is not enough food or spared days, the adventure fails and game is over.

Stats


Each card has its own different stats. There are four stats for each card that are shown on the screen when the player adds a card.

Boot Icon (Blue): The Boot Icon shows the maximum amount of steps that character can take during one round. A question mark after the Boot Icon means that the amount of steps it has depends on the card's special ability.

Binoculars icon (Yellow): The visibility of each character. That means how far back the fog goes, while the chosen character moves. If the number is 0, the character will go into the fog rather than keeping fog out before the step appears.

Apple icon (Red): Numbers added up to become the amount of portions the player needs in order to make a days worth of food. For instance, if the three cards the player has have the numbers 1, 2, and 2 beside the apple icon, that means the player needs 5 portions of food in order to make a days worth.

Fruit Tree Icon (Green): The villager's favorite fruit. That means when the villager goes to a tree that is his/her favorite fruit, the number of portions increase. Usually the player will get a maximum of 3 fruits when shaking a tree, but if the villager the player moves find a tree that is his/her favorite fruit, the maximum increases to 6 or 7. Some villagers like rhinos don't have favorite fruit and their fruit stat is shown as ’none‘.

And what's more, some hidden stats also affect the character's movement. For example, the lighter weight the character has, the more likely the player can get out from a pitfall without using a shovel. and some species may have a more probability to defeat monsters without a slingshot.

Wild Creatures and Abnormal Status
Wild creatures are set to be enemies in your journey. They can be found in some spaces with bushes or cedar trees. From small to large, It can be a centipede, a normal snake, a toxic snake, a scorpion, or a tarantula. All kinds of wild creatures can be found in intermediate mode or advanced mode, except centipedes. The larger the wild creature is, the harder you can defeat.

If the player go into it. You will encounter one and you need to choose to fight or to flee, and a roulette appears to judge whether you success or not. A player with 'Stealthy Movement' ability can sneak away from the area, and once he/she is spotted, he/she has no other choice but to fight.

Usually, fleeing has more probability to success than fighting, and using a slingshot to fight will give you more chance to defeat the enemy. Using a silver slingshot (intermediate mode) or a gold slingshot (advanced mode) will make you successfully defeat an enemy and attack all the spaces in front of you, but it can be used only once.

Digging a pitfall seed with your shovel is also useful to make the enemy stuck. Once dig in a place where an enemy is hiding, you can go through there safely for only once. When step in it for the next time, the enemy will come out again to challenge you.

Once defeated, the player will get ill and cannot move any more. Taking a medicine will turn him/her into normal for the next day. If not, he/she needs to rest and cannot act for a whole day. Players with 'Gimme! Gimme!' ability can heal himself/herself immediately right after being defeated and be available for the rest steps, except the poison attacks.

When being defeated by a toxic snake or a scorpion, the player will get ill and poisoned. The skull icon on the roulette means you defeated a toxic snake or a scorpion and you only get poisoned, too. A poisoned player can choose to rest to heal the status for another day or to act. If the player choose to search, his/her maximum steps will be 1 less than normal.

Special Ability
Each villager has their own special skill. These skills could determine having a big success or a massive failure. Here is a rundown on some of the various skills.

Chef du Jour: This skill accompanies squirrels and hamsters like Marshal and Flurry. At the beginning of his/her turn, villagers with this skill will have two options. Villagers with Chef du Jour will choose either to move around the island or cook some food. Cooking food will increase the crew's food supply. The number of food varies between 2 or 3. Cooking will make that villager skip his/her entire turn, but it could be necessary if rations are low.

Dexterity: This skill accompanies octopi and monkeys like Octavian and Deli. Master craftsmen, dexterous villagers have the ability to sniff out materials to make tools on adjacent spaces. They can also make tools during their turn as long as the materials are in your inventory. Crafting a tool skips their turn, so only do this if you feel it's necessary.

First Aid: This skill accompanies sheep and goats like Willow and Nan. This is a beneficial skill for players who jump into battle with island-dwelling creatures without the proper weaponry. These villagers are not only able to recover immediately from their own injuries, but they have the ability to cure teammates' ailments with food.

Fish Fetcher: This skill accompanies cats like Tom and Rosie. When players move a villager with this skill, they can detect fish nearby. If so, that villager will automatically walk to the spot without taking a move to try to catch fish. Because these villagers can fish by hand, they're given a 50/50 shot at catching their rations without a rod. If a rod is equipped, there is a 100% of fish being caught ranging from 2 to 7.

Flight: This skill accompanies birds like Midge and Jacques. Flying villagers are not able to land on adjacent spaces. Instead, they make their landing two spaces over each flight. They are also capable of flying over small gaps of water and even rocks!

'''Gimme! Gimme!:''' This skill accompanies pigs and anteaters like Peggy and Antonio. These villagers reap more rations from shaking trees and fishing, but their selfish nature causes them to occasionally eat some immediately after retrieving them.

Going the Distance: This skill accompanies horses and ostriches like Julian and Flora. An excellent skill, these villagers can cover a lot of ground by moving 6 spaces per turn. Fog doesn't clear as these villagers approach it, and they're also much better at fleeing from enemies than fighting them.

Headlong Charge: This skill accompanies bulls, cows, and rhinos like Coach, Patty, and Merengue. These characters charge forward in a straight line the number of spaces set for them. They pick up items, including fruit, along the way but have no chance to escape pitfalls. The charge is strong enough to take out centipedes and snakes, but be careful about charging towards watchtowers! This skill destroys them!

Honey Hunter: This skill accompanies bears and cubs like Teddy and Stitches. When they walk adjacent to a spot with honey they will detect it then immediately walk to that tile. When equipped with a net, Honey Hunters will be able to collect 3-5 honey with no fear of bees.

Hunter: This skill accompanies eagles like Apollo and Celia. These villagers are very skilled when equipped with a slingshot. Defeating centipedes and snakes provides the party with food or medicine once they're defeated.

Lone Wolf: This skill accompanies wolves and tigers like Whitney and Rowan. Lone wolves wander off on their own and don't return to camp in the evening. This is great if the team needs to spread out to cover more of the island. If these villagers stumble across materials for creating tools, they do not pick them up. They limit their findings to only those needed to build a raft.

Sleepy: This skill accompanies rabbits and alligators like Bunnie and Sly. When it's time for a villager with this skill to take his/her turn, he/she will choose to either sleep or move around the island. If they sleep, they will skip their entire turn. If this option is chosen, he/she can move farther than their set number of movement on their following turn.

Sniff Em' Out!: This skill accompanies dogs and chickens like Goldie and Ava. Whenever materials used to create tools or the raft are nearby, these villagers alert you of their whereabouts. They can detect medicine and fruit-bearing trees but not enemy locations or pitfalls.

Stealthy Movement: This skill accompanies deer and ducks like Beau and Molly. When entering an area where an enemy appears, there is a chance to escape the centipede or snake and skip the fight altogether. If the fight is skipped, an alert displays for the team that an enemy is present in that location. There is also a chance that villagers with this skill can still be detected by the enemy. If so, then the villager will be forced to fight and will not have the option to run away.

Strong & Fearless: This skill accompanies gorillas, elephants, lions, and hippos like Boone, Tia, Bud, and Bertha. If rocks are blocking your path, these villagers dish out a mean stomp that causes the rocks to crumble. This clears the way for the entire team allowing them to pass through without wasting precious steps simply trying to make it around.

Swimmer: This skill accompanies frogs and penguins like Lily and Gwen. Swimmers naturally prefer the water. While their mobility allows them to move 6 spaces by default, they can only move 3 on land. They let out a sigh of exhaustion if they avoid water for too long. These villagers are perfect for reaching distant islands but will scare away fish if they swim to a space a fish is located.

Tunnel Digger: This skill accompanies mice like Dora and Rizzo. It allows for free movement around the island as long as spaces aren't covered by fog. The longer the tunnel is, however, the less likely the dig will be successful. Because they're better at spotting what's in the ground, they can alert the rest of the team of any pitfalls nearby.

Whimsy: This skill accompanies koalas and kangaroos like Eugene and Kitt. If these villagers decide to explore the island, they'll move a whopping 7 spaces! Unfortunately, the wheel you spin to determine their movements is riddled with 0's, too. If it stops on one of those, a villager with this skill won't move at all.

Tips/Tricks
Depending on the 3 cards the player places, those villagers will take their turns in order, depending on the card position. For instance, say the player have Goldie, Rosie, and Stitches in that order. That means Goldie will go first, Rosie will go second, and Stitches will go last.

If a player has a villager with the skill Chef du Jour, players should use this villager as a last ditch effort, ONLY IF the crew is running out of food. The player can also use these kinds of villagers to give the crew a strong start.

Villagers with skills like Fish Fetcher and Honey Hunter will walk to a certain spot automatically if players get them near their desired source. Players can use this to their advantage. They can use this perk to get around the island farther out. So, the next time players see a fish spot, they could get a Fish Fetcher villager over to a fishing spot to progress forward without using a move. This maneuver saves time, and could even get the player some food while they're at it!

Villagers with the Dexterity skill could be put to best use if placed in the first slot. This will allow you craft your needed tools at the beginning of the turn allowing your group to use them as soon as they're ready to explore.

Be careful when placing camp on an island! Most are small and are only accessible by swimming or flying. Characters that simply move around on land won't have many options, so if islands need to be reached, find the best position on the mainland to reach them while giving your land-dwellers a place to roam around.