47 Fun Facts About Animal Crossing

What does Dōbutsu no Mori, the original Japanese title of Animal Crossing, literally mean?

Animal Forest is the literal meaning. Nintendo of America renamed the game for the West, and Nintendo of Japan was so impressed with that version that it was translated back and released at home.

The first Animal Crossing reached the West on GameCube, but on which system did it debut in Japan in 2001?

Nintendo 64 was its first home: the Japan-only cartridge had a clock built in, the only one on the system, so village life could follow real time. The GameCube port followed months later.

In the GameCube Animal Crossing, the player's looks depend on answers to which cat met on the train?

Rover's small talk has consequences: the face his questions produce can never be changed, so a player who answers with random nonsense is stuck with the result.

In the first Animal Crossing, how does the player start paying off their house debt?

A shop job is how Tom Nook has newcomers start repaying him: chores like planting flowers, writing letters and meeting the neighbours double as a tutorial for the controls.

What kind of animal is Mr. Resetti, who scolds Animal Crossing players for quitting without saving?

Mole is his species, hence the hard hat and the pop-up entrances. His scolding made some young children cry, so New Leaf made his visits optional.

What is the name of Mr. Resetti's calmer brother, who sometimes turns up in his place?

Don keeps his warnings short where Sonny rants at length. New Horizons' autosave left both brothers nothing to police, so they are implied to staff its Rescue Service instead.

The traveling musician K.K. Slider is a caricature of which Nintendo composer?

Kazumi Totaka hides a short signature tune in the games he scores, and K.K. Slider plays it on request as K.K. Song. K.K. is Totakeke in Japan, a name thought to contract 'Totaka K.'

On which night of the week does K.K. Slider traditionally play his live show in Animal Crossing?

Saturday night is showtime: K.K. Slider takes requests and hands over a recording of the song for the player's stereo at home.

Which vegetable do Animal Crossing players buy on Sundays and gamble on in the 'stalk market'?

Turnips are for selling, not eating: prices shift through the week and the crop goes bad after seven days, so players must cash in before the following Sunday.

The island reached by Game Boy Advance link in the GameCube Animal Crossing grew which exclusive fruit?

Coconuts could be carried home and planted along the beach. Players could also download the island to a GBA, feed its lone resident fruit, then return to collect the Bells it dropped.

What retro bonus could players collect and actually play inside the GameCube Animal Crossing?

NES games came as furniture: put the little console in your house and it runs the real thing, and a linked Game Boy Advance could even borrow the game to play on the go.

Co-creator Katsuya Eguchi says Animal Crossing grew out of which experience of his own?

Moving far from family and friends, from Chiba to Nintendo's Kyoto headquarters at 21, left Eguchi lonely. The letters from mum, the first job and the empty house to fill all come from that move.

Animal Crossing: Wild World was released for which handheld?

DS owners could visit each other's towns online, and Nintendo dropped real-world holidays from Wild World so the same game could ship in every region.

In New Horizons, what marks the spot where buried Bells grow into a money tree?

A glowing patch appears somewhere on the island each day and hides a bag of Bells. Bury Bells back in that hole and a money tree sprouts with three bags, so the stake can come back tripled.

The 2008 Animal Crossing game for the Wii was sold under what subtitle in Europe?

Let's Go to the City is a straight translation of the Japanese title, Machi e Ikō yo. North America went its own way and called the game City Folk.

Animal Crossing: City Folk was the first Wii game to support which voice-chat accessory?

Wii Speak launched alongside the game, even in a bundle with it. The speakerphone-like microphone sat by the TV and picked up the whole room, so a family could chat with friends visiting their town.

In Animal Crossing: City Folk, who drives the bus that takes players from their town to the city?

Kapp'n has also rowed a boat and driven a taxi in other games. English versions call him a turtle, but in Japan he is a kappa, a river imp from folklore.

What official role does the player take on in Animal Crossing: New Leaf?

Mayor powers grew out of a developer's own gripe about getting home too late to find Tom Nook's shop open, so a mayor can pass an ordinance that keeps the shops open at night.

Isabelle, the assistant introduced in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, is what breed of dog?

Shih Tzu is the breed, and her tied-up hair is the clue. The team wanted the player to have a loyal, 'very affectionate' helper, so they made her a dog who is 'a little bit clumsy' but cute.

What is Isabelle's name in the Japanese versions of Animal Crossing?

Shizue is how Japan knows her. Whatever the name, she takes the job to heart: turn down the ceremony she offers after a public works project and she becomes visibly dejected.

What is the name of Isabelle's twin brother, who runs the Happy Home Showcase in Animal Crossing: New Leaf?

Digby mans the entrance to the Showcase. Pass another player in real life with StreetPass on and their house appears inside, ready to tour and to order furniture from.

Which stand-up comedian runs the Club LOL nightclub in Animal Crossing: New Leaf?

Dr. Shrunk trades in 'Reaction Jokes': bring the axolotl a treat before Club LOL opens and his routine teaches the player a new emotion to act out.

What was the free 2016 update that added figure scanning and a campground to Animal Crossing: New Leaf called?

Welcome amiibo arrived free in November 2016: tap a figure or card and that villager pulls into the new campground in a camper van, and can even be talked into moving to town.

Which character runs the tropical minigame island that Animal Crossing: New Leaf players reach by boat?

Tortimer spends his retirement there in an aloha shirt, handing out medals for minigame tours. Save up 50 and Club Tortimer membership opens the island to strangers online.

New Horizons shared its launch day, March 20, 2020, with which very different shooter?

Doom Eternal's demon slayer and Isabelle became unlikely best friends in fan art, and GameStop began selling Doom a day early so the two crowds would not pack its stores at once.

What must a New Horizons island have before K.K. Slider will play there?

A three-star rating is the bar Tom Nook sets before K.K. Slider will visit. Only after that first concert does he hand over the Island Designer app, which lets players carve their own cliffs and rivers.

Orville and Wilbur, who run the airport in New Horizons, are what kind of bird?

Dodos, flightless and long extinct, staff the island's airline: Orville works the desk and Wilbur flies the plane, and their names salute the Wright brothers.

What is the name of the secondary currency in New Horizons earned by completing everyday tasks?

Nook Miles work as a rewards programme: small goals such as catching fish earn miles, and those buy tickets from the airport to mystery islands where new neighbours can be recruited.

Which April 2020 holiday was the first seasonal event added to New Horizons by update?

Bunny Day ran from April 1 to 12. Seasonal events now arrive by online update, so players who jump ahead by changing the console's clock cannot reach one early.

In New Horizons, the island's seasons are set according to what?

The player's hemisphere is chosen during check-in before the flight out, so islands south of the equator get summer in December and snow in July, matching the weather outside.

Which New Horizons visitor buys bugs at a premium and hosts the Bug-Off?

Flick, a chameleon, took the Bug-Off over from Nat, its host in earlier games. Hand him three of the same insect and he sculpts a model of it, which arrives in the post the next day.

In which category did New Horizons take home the trophy at The Game Awards 2020?

Best Family was its only win that night. The cosy island sim was also up for Game of the Year, which went to the bleak The Last of Us Part II, and for Best Multiplayer, which went to Among Us.

What reason did Doug Bowser give for delaying New Horizons from 2019 to 2020?

Avoiding crunch for employees cost Nintendo on paper: its shares closed 3.5% lower after the delay was announced, wiping more than $1 billion off its market value.

Wardell, who sells furniture in New Horizons' Happy Home Paradise DLC, is what kind of animal?

Manatee, not walrus: that is Wendell, the wandering artist of earlier games. Wardell works the counter at Paradise Planning, where furniture is bought with Poki, the pay for designing holiday homes.

Which 2020 US presidential campaign released official digital yard signs for New Horizons islands?

Joe Biden's campaign offered four sign designs to scan in by QR code, then opened an island of its own. That November, Nintendo asked organisations to 'refrain from bringing politics into the Game'.

Who directed Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

Aya Kyogoku had co-directed New Leaf, where she and her producer built a team that was nearly half women, a mix they both credit for that game's success.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, launched in 2017, took the series to which platform?

Smartphones got the series a year late: Nintendo held Pocket Camp back so that Super Mario Run could launch first, then released it in Australia a month ahead of the rest of the world.

What premium currency in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp could be bought with real money to skip timers?

Leaf Tickets could also be earned by playing. They went away in 2024, when Nintendo closed the free game and replaced it with a paid offline version that has no in-app purchases at all.

Concerns over loot boxes led Nintendo to revoke access to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in which country from August 2019?

Belgium's gaming commission had ruled in 2018 that some loot boxes broke its gambling laws, so Nintendo shut down Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes there and said similar games would skip the country.

Which studio, known for Mario Party, co-developed Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival with Nintendo?

NDcube built the board game, and its director was frank about why it exists: 'Honestly, we just wanted Animal Crossing amiibo', and a game was the way to get the figures made.

In Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, players design villagers' houses as an employee of which business?

Nook's Homes hires the player as its newest designer, and here Tom Nook is only the employer, not the lender: there is no house loan to pay off and no Bells to earn.

Tom Nook is a raccoon in English, but which creature is he in the Japanese versions of Animal Crossing?

Tanuki or raccoon, he has a defender on Nintendo's own localisation team: pressed by an interviewer on Nook's greed, Rich Amtower called his prices 'quite reasonable' beside those of the big-city shops in City Folk.

What is the name of Tom Nook's fully upgraded shop in the early Animal Crossing games?

Nookington's Department Store is earned, not bought: the shop grows as Bells change hands at Tom Nook's counter, and this last upgrade adds a second floor staffed by his apprentices.

Blathers, the museum curator in Animal Crossing, is what kind of animal?

Owl habits explain his odd hours: Blathers dozes at his post by day and has to be woken to take a donation. For a curator, he is also oddly terrified of the bugs players bring him.

Animal Crossing's Villager first became a playable fighter in the Super Smash Bros. game for which system?

Nintendo 3DS owners got Villager first in 2014, weeks before the Wii U version followed. Director Masahiro Sakurai had earlier dropped the character from Brawl's plans because he 'wasn't suited for battle'.

The Mario Kart 8 DLC that added Villager and Isabelle as racers introduced the Bell Cup and which other cup?

Crossing Cup includes the Animal Crossing course itself, which changes season every time it is raced, so the same lap can come round in spring blossom or winter snow.

In New Horizons, which building do Timmy and Tommy run once the player helps them set up shop?

Nook's Cranny was the name of Tom Nook's own first shop in the original game. In New Horizons it passes to his twin apprentices, once the player has gathered the wood and iron to build it.