I think the issue with Amiibo Festival was that not only was it revealed at a horrible time, but it also was just a game that had a whole lot of nothing, and was just a ploy to buy amiibos, which many people were only willng to do with the huge NL update.
It did have the AC charm though, I'll give you that.
Also, people crap on HHD? I know they did with PC, but I thought people loved the added character that they gave the established cast, as well as having the best customization in the series.
Also, PC is nothing more than a distraction, so it's pretty harmless.
But yeah, I would expect Animal Crossing to be more popular with the Smash crowd, but that seems to not be the case, which is odd, considering that Animal Crossing and Smash are pretty much interconnected series at this point.