Just in time for summer, the cutest game on Nintendo Switch is heading to a snowier environment in a new update. First launched exclusively on Apple Arcade, Hello Kitty Island Adventure is a take on an Animal Crossing-style cozy life sim starring Sanrio’s characters. After coming to Nintendo Switch early in 2025, Hello Kitty Island Adventure just got its first major update, adding frosty decorations to the beach as well as improvements to core systems like making friends with your neighbors.
The Switch is the last platform to get the “Friends, Furniture, and Frozen Peaks,” update, which first hit the mobile and PC versions of the game in late April. The update was slated to hit the Switch version on May 22, but on May 14, developer Sunblink took to social media to announce that it had in fact moved the release up, making the update available immediately.
Now, Hello Kitty Island Adventure players on Switch have the chance to dig into the upgrades that PC and mobile players have been enjoying. The biggest addition for “Friends, Furniture, and Frozen Peaks” is a new area — Icy Peak — a snowy region of the game’s island that’s been hidden away until now. The new content begins with Big Challenges, an utterly bizarre-looking but beloved alligator who had appeared in virtually no Sanrio merchandise since the ‘70s before coming to Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Big Challenges is stuck in the ice in the newly opened frosty area, and after freeing him, players can journey to the rest of Icy Peak.
Icy Peak adds snowy weather to Hello Kitty Island Adventure for the first time, bringing new resources along with it and offering the chance to develop a cozy winter village as opposed to the tropical vacation vibes of the base game. Weather-appropriate furniture like log cabin decor has been added to complement the cold temperatures, along with cozy winter clothing. The snow and ice also brings new ice block-pushing puzzles to add to the game’s existing puzzle rooms.
The Icy Peak region is the most visible update, but changes to some of the game’s core systems might have an even bigger impact on players. It’s going to be easier to make friends now, as higher quality gifts will now grant bigger bonuses to the relationship of any friends you give them to. One of the seemingly smallest but actually most exciting changes comes to how furniture works. Starting with the new update, Hello Kitty Island Adventure finally has furniture stacking, meaning you can place some items on top of others when decorating your home. Just in time to be able to place a mug of hot cocoa on a table for some refuge from the cold.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure started as a mobile game, and like many of its kin, it offers rewards for visiting the island every day. While that provides a bonus for daily players, it can also feel like you’re being punished for not playing as often as the game encourages you to. “Friends, Furniture, and Frozen Peaks” takes the pressure off just a little bit, as those rewards will now stack up for three days so you have a bit more time to pick them up without missing out on any.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure may never be the global phenomenon that Animal Crossing: New Horizons once was, but it’s still a charming life sim that’s worth checking out for anyone looking for a new cozy gaming obsession. The new update makes the Switch game better than ever, and could keep Hello Kitty Island Adventure as the best way to make the wait for the next Animal Crossing game a bit easier to bear.
