The Animal Crossing series, which has been delighting gamers since 2001, has gone mobile. The new game, the first to be released on anything other than a Nintendo console, is called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. And it's out now on Android and iOS, a day earlier than expected.

Not content with owning handheld gaming, Nintendo is trying to find a home on your smartphone too. It kicked things off with Super Mario Run, before launching Fire Emblem Heroes. It's working on a mobile Legend of Zelda game as well. In the meantime there's Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp...

Animal Crossing Camps in Your Pocket

Nintendo unveiled Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in October, teasing a November release. The game is officially released tomorrow (Nov. 22, 2017), but is already available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Which has caused a rush of Animal Crossing fans to download it.

Unfortunately for those eager beavers, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp requires a persistent internet connection to work. And that, in a situation reminiscent of the SimCity 2013 debacle, has led to the servers becoming overloaded. The only known solution is to persevere until it connects.

As for the game itself, it's essentially a simplified version of the full titles. And the gameplay mechanics will be immediately familiar to anyone who has played the previous games. The big difference is you now live in an RV on a campground, which makes the playing area a lot smaller.

Unlike Super Mario Run, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is free to play on Android and on iOS. You can buy Leaf Tickets for real-world money, but you can also earn these by playing the game. And these microtransactions aren't anywhere near as underhanded as those in Star Wars: Battlefront II.

A Worthy Addition to the Series

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is a worthy addition to the series. And a must-play for dedicated fans of these lighthearted games. And if you're not, and never have been a fan of Nintendo there's always Sega Forever, which lets you play classic Sega games on your smartphone.

Not too familiar with Animal Crossing yet? Check out the best Animal Crossing villagers!

Are you a fan of the Animal Crossing series? If so, will you playing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp on your smartphone? If you have already downloaded it, what do you think of it? Do you mind the inclusion of microtransactions? Please let us know in the comments below!