TheAnimal Crossingseries has featured over 400 different villagers, so it’s understandable thatsome have been lost in the shuffle over the years. Still, long-time series fans likely miss some of the older villagers who didn’t show up in newer games likeAnimal Crossing: New Horizons. Some old villagers never made it into an international version of the game, so players outside of Japan never got to meet them.
These old villagers should make a comeback in the nextAnimal Crossinggame, or even just in a new update forAnimal Crossing: New Horizons.Mario Kart 8 Deluxeproved last year that Nintendo is willing to add content to a game even if it’s been out for a long time. However it gets done, it would be nice to see these missing villagers back in action.
10Belle The Cow Has The Perfect Name And A Fun Personality
Belle Helped Start Some Traditions In Villager Design
Belle is a cow villager who appeared inAnimal Crossingfor the GameCube, as well as the originalAnimal Forestfor the N64 that was only released in Japan. As one of the series’ earliest villagers, Belle helped to establish one ofAnimal Crossing’s best traditions: punny names. Her English name is a play on words referencing the bells that cows wear around their neck, and her Japanese name means milk. In line with these cow references, Belle also wore denim and had a rustic farm aesthetic inside her house. If Belle gets a stereo, she always plays country music.
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Apart from her on-point design, Belle is also a kind and peppy villager, exemplified by her catchphrase “cuddles.” Peppy villagers are always nice to have around thanks to their positive vibes and how over-excited they get over small things. As bothan original character from the series and a fun inclusion for any village, it would be nice to see Belle come back.
9Betty Has One Of Animal Crossing’s Funniest Catchphrases
Betty’s “Clucking” Catchphrase Causes Some Funny Lines
Another original villager, Betty the chicken first appeared inAnimal Forestand then later inAnimal Crossing. Betty is a normal villager, so her personality is somewhat plain, albeit pleasant. Her house inAnimal Crossingis equally unexciting. There is no strong theme, instead it just looks like a basic kitchen with a tile floor. All that said, Betty deserves to come back because she first introduced one ofAnimal Crossing’s best catchphrases.
Like all villagers, Betty has a catchphrase that she peppers into her dialogue. Unlike many villagers, hers is (possibly unintentionally) hilarious. Betty caps off sentences by saying“clucking.”While this isn’t super out of place for a chicken, it does rhyme with a certain phrase that occasionally makes Betty’s lines feel a lot more risque than they should be for anAnimal Crossinggame. Betty’s “clucking” catchphrase was repurposed for the newer villager Knox, but it would be nice to see the original chicken back in a new game.
8Dozer The Bear Hybernates All Year Round
Dozer Always Seems Like He’s Falling Asleep
Dozer is a bear villager who only appeared inAnimal Forest,Animal Crossing, and the Japanese exclusiveAnimal Forest e+. Dozer’s design is unique in a lot of ways, from his bright purple fur to his thick swirly unibrow. This lazy bear earns his name by constantly appearing to be asleep, even when out and about. His eyes typically appear open, and his mouth is agape as though he has dozed off where he stands. Dozer’s catchphrase is just “zzzzzz,” giving the impression that he falls back asleep between each line of dialogue.
It’ssurprising to see a villager with such a distinct personality and design get droppedin laterAnimal Crossinggames. Interestingly enough, his name does appear in theAnimal Crossing: New LeafPrima Guide, which could mean that he was planned for that game at some point. However, Dozer still hasn’t returned since the earliest games in the series.
7Jane Might Not Get The Comeback She Deserves
Her North American Animal Crossing Appearance Was Her Best
Appearing in the first twoAnimal Crossingtitles, Jane was a snooty gorilla. In the North American version ofAnimal Crossing, Jane is a bright purple gorilla who wears lipstick, eye shadow, and a rainbow shirt. Her colorful appearance complements her somewhat snappy attitude.Her name is potentially a reference toTarzancharacter Jane, or else real-life Jane Goodall (though Goodall is most famous for studying chimps, not gorillas).
While there is a lot to like about theAnimal Crossingversion of Jane, her history is a little complicated. She received a recolor in the North American version, a change reminiscent of controversies like the redesign of the Pokémon Jynx, which might make her re-appearance less likely even in the form of her well-done redesign.
6Yodel’s Design Deserves An Update With Better Graphics
Yodel’s Original Design Didn’t Show Up Well On GameCube
Yodel—a lazy gorilla villager—only appeared in the GameCube era ofAnimal Crossinggames. His Hawaiian shirt and winter hat were meant to give him a laid-back skater dude sort of appearance. Unfortunately, the color of his hat was a little too similar to his face, and it came off just looking like he had a wrinkly discolored forehead. This robbed Yodel of a lot of visual personality. This could have easily been fixed in later games,but Yodel never got another chance to appearin a new form.
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Another reason it would make sense for Yodel to come back is that he was an islander. InAnimal Crossing,Animal Forest+, andAnimal Forest e+, islanders were special villagers who could only be interacted with by connecting a Game Boy Advance, which allowed players to visit their town’s island. Seeing as islands play a much larger role inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsgame, Yodel seems like the perfect fit for a future game if this theme sticks around.
5Woolio Is Just A Very “Cool” Ram
Woolio’s Design Is A Funny Attempt At Being Too Cool
This colorful sheep villager has one of the funniest designs from earlyAnimal Crossinggames. As Woolio’s name implies, he’s meant to be a cool guy, which is reflected in his design in some fashion. Woolio was always meant to be an exaggerated version of a “cool” guy. This coupled with the fact that his design is playing off of what was cool in 2001 makes his design one of the most ridiculous in all ofAnimal Crossing.
Woolio is rockingBlues Brothers-esque sunglasses, and a polka-dot shirt over his pink and purple wool. This mixed with his jock personality and love for rock music makes him a strange and eclectic combination of elements. Maybe Woolio’s design was considered a little too weird or outdated for newer games, but that’s exactly whyit would be funny to see him return in a future game.
4Twirp Is A Cranky Bird Who Is All Business
Twirp’s Cuteness Contrasts With His Attitude
Cranky villagers are a great way to spice up anAnimal Crossingtown by adding a little bit of conflict. Theirnasty attitudes are also a fun contrastto their adorable designs. A great example of this from the earliestAnimal Crossinggames is Twirp. This adorable little Bluebird has a permanent scowl, a strong attitude, and punctuates his sentence with an aggressive “CHIRP.” He isthe perfect little antagonistto run around the village getting into squabbles.
One reason that could explain why Twirp is always in such a bad mood is his house. Going inside, there is nothing of comfort to be seen. Instead, his house looks like a corporate office, complete with a vending machine and fire extinguisher. While working from home can be nice, living in the office sounds terrible. It would be fun to see this theme continued in a newerAnimal Crossinggame that could take the soul-crushing design of Twirp’s house to a new level with new items.
3Sue E Took Snobbiness To A New Level
Sue E’s Insults Made Her An Online Sensation
Sue E is a villager who is popular with fans ofAnimal Crossingonline thanks to the savage insults she likes to hurl at players. Sue E has a snooty personality, so players are likely to expect a few jabs and a bit of sassiness. However, after YouTuberJaidenAnimationsshared a brutal roast by Sue E belittling her villager for having to work for Tom Nook and insulting her financial status,players fell in love with Sue E’s over-the-top lack of charm. Players would likely be happy to see this savage pig back to roast them in future games.
Although her English name is a reference to how ranchers call their pigs to come to eat, her Japanese name is much more upfront about Sue E’s snobbiness. Her Japanese name translates to Bourgeois. Although originally used to refer to a sort of middle class in medieval France, bourgeois was later used to describe aristocrats and the ruling class during the time of the French Revolution, and later in Marxist theory. Contemporary slang tends to shorten this to bougie and use it as an insult for pretentious and snobby people, which is perfect for Sue E.
2Lulu Would Be Perfect For Animal Crossing’s Current Theme
Lulu Comes From An Island
Like Yodel, Lulu was another islander who could only be found by scanning a special card of her with the Game Boy Advance’s e-Reader accessory and connecting it to the GameCube version ofAnimal Forest e+.Lulu is one of the rarest villagers in theAnimal Crossingseriesbecause she only appeared in this single game, and never in any versions of the games that were released outside of Japan. Not only would it be nice for more players to be able to finally meet Lulu, she would also be perfect forAnimal Crossing’s current theme.
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Animal Crossing: New Horizonsfocused on customizable islands instead of just a village in the woods. With the massive success ofNew Horizons, it wouldn’t be too surprising if the nextAnimal Crossinggame stuck with the island theme. When players met Lulu inAnimal Forest e+, she would be washed up on the beach of her island. Bringing her back in the same way could be a fun Easter egg and would also fit the island theme.
1Ganon Should Return To Animal Crossing
While most ofAnimal Crossing’s abandoned villagers are from older games in the series, there is one popular group of villagers that was dropped after their first appearance inAnimal Crossing: New Leaf. The game’sWelcome Amiiboupdate added a collection of characters from theLegend of Zeldaseries that could be obtained by using certain Amiibos.While otherZeldavillagerslike Wolf Link and Epona were fun, Ganon stood out as one of the best.
It was really funny to see the big bad antagonist of theZeldaseries transformed into a cute cranky pig. His evil appearance and the gravitas he brings with him from theZeldaseries juxtaposes perfectly with the cute world ofAnimal Crossingwhere the worst he can do is argue with his neighbors. Hopefully, future games in the series bring back Ganon and similar Nintendo collaborations.
