Editing Photos with Animal Crossing

''Photos with Animal Crossing'' requires the use of the rear cameras of the Nintendo 3DS to scan AR cards. The Start "?" AR card image, which is usually included with all Nintendo 3DS console packs and bundles, and three ''Animal Crossing''-themed ones released for the app, are compatible. When recognized, the ''Animal Crossing'' AR cards trigger an augmented reality appearance of one of five included [[special character]]s per image, whilst the Start "?" image reveals the [[Town Tree]]. The characters can interact with each other and the Town Tree in various ways. If all three cards are present at once, there is a chance of DJ KK appearing in place of K.K. Slider. Photos can be taken with {{Input|r|console=3DS}} at any time, and they are save to the console's SD card and can be viewed via the built-in Nintendo 3DS Camera app.

Additionally, the user can add one of four effects to the screen by pressing a direction on {{Input|dpad|console=3DS}}: {{Input|dpad-up|console=3DS}} causes confetti to appear, {{Input|dpad-right|console=3DS}} causes bubbles to appear, {{Input|dpad-down|console=3DS}} causes shooting stars to appear, and {{Input|dpad-left|console=3DS}} causes snow to appear. When a card is recognized, the player can grab characters with {{Input|l|console=3DS}}, change the position of the light source or color of the light with {{Input|circlepad|console=3DS}}, or mirror the camera's image horizontally. The face buttons start a timer, which automatically takes a photo when expired; {{Input|a}} creates a 3-second timer, {{Input|b}} creates a 5-second timer, {{Input|y}} creates a 10-second timer, and {{Input|x}} creates a timer of a random length.