Player

"Yes! I finished paying off my home loan!"

— Player, Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Artwork of various players from Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

The player, also known as the villager or boy/girl, is a term used for the playable human character in the Animal Crossing series. The player may be either a boy or a girl; the differences in all games are largely cosmetic and with slight variations to some dialogue whenever the conversation becomes gender specific. However, in the English language text of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, gender is instead referred to as 'style', and all villagers will refer to the player with gender neutral pronouns.

Overview

Artwork of a female player from Animal Crossing (left) and New Horizons (right).

Just like the animal villagers, the design of the player characters has changed noticeably across the course of the series. Generally, the line between male and female players has become less concrete with each new installment, and the characters themselves have become more customizable.

In Doubutsu no Mori and its GameCube ports, players are short and stubby with large heads and relatively slim limbs. The female and male player models are distinguished through their hats and clothing. The female character's hat is a cone-shaped "princess cap", while the male character's resembles a spiked Viking helmet. Designs that are worn will always use the same pattern, but vary between a dress for female characters and a shirt for male characters, with the pattern also applying to the hat. The player's face and default clothing are determined by questions answered upon starting the game. While light-skinned by default, the player can receive a tan by sunbathing during summer.

In Animal Crossing: Wild World, headwear was made into its own category of clothing that can be swapped out or removed, allowing the characters' hair and ears to be seen for the first time. Facial accessories can also be worn. Harriet allows the player to get haircuts, changing the hair's style and color, and she will allow hairstyles from the other gender to be selected if one has had all hairstyles of one's gender from her.

In Animal Crossing: City Folk, the player can have their shoes shined by Kicks, which will change their color. The other gender's shoes can be worn after having Kicks shine one's shoes 16 times. Also, the Mii mask can be worn to give a character a Mii's head.

The player characters were redesigned to be taller and slimmer in Animal Crossing: New Leaf (a change which remained in all future installments), and the clothing system was overhauled. Tops, bottoms, and dresses are now individual categories of clothing — boys can now wear skirts and dresses, and girls can now wear pants and shorts. Shoes and socks are now separate articles of clothing as well, so the player can mix and match styles, or go barefoot. Gender now primarily determines which dialogue is displayed, as well as the color of the player's Town Pass Card. Face and hair styles are still locked by gender, though the other gender's hairstyles can still be unlocked from Harriet.

In Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the player can freely select their face style, hairstyle, and skintone, and change it at any time. This also means that tanning is no longer a feature past Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players are referred to by gender as little as possible, depending on the language, and are referred to with gender-neutral pronouns in the English version. Accordingly, no clothing or other visible aspects of the player's appearance are locked by gender. Although it has no impact on their appearance, one of two "styles" is selected for the cases where a language must use gendered terms. Bags are introduced as a new form of clothing, and wardrobes now allow for changing all clothing items at once.

Though players are not the only humans in the Animal Crossing series, as Mom and Dad occasionally send letters to them, they are only the humans present in gameplay. In spite of Mom referring to childhood events and the home that the player once lived in, and occasionally sending presents in the mail, there is no indication of any real backstory to the human character(s).

Before Animal Crossing: New Horizons, only one player from each town could be active at any given time, although in Animal Crossing: Wild World, Animal Crossing: City Folk, and Animal Crossing: New Leaf, visiting players (over Wi-Fi) from other games are allowed in town at the same time.

Players rarely talk aside from answering questions, remarking about an accomplishment, and talking in HH Showcase.

Appearances

In the main series prior to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the player's face is determined by a series of questions that the introductory character asks, and it cannot be changed afterwards.

In Animal Crossing

In Animal Crossing, the player's face style is determined through the answers given to the first three questions Rover asks at the beginning of the game while riding the train to town. The fourth answer will determine if the player's answers will be taken into account for generating their appearance. If "Oh yeah!" is chosen as the answer to that question, the player's prior answers are ignored and their face will be randomized.

First question	Second question	Third question	Fourth question	Appearance
Hey, mind if I sit here? I promise I won't fall asleep, tumble onto you and start drooling on your shirt!	So, tell me, why are you going to <town>?	So where are you going to be living?	You have money, right?	Male	Female
Please!	I'm moving.	Don't know yet.	Just a little...
	I'm moving.	Leave me alone!
	What's it to ya?	Don't know yet.
	What's it to ya?	Leave me alone!
No way!	I'm moving.	Don't know yet.
	I'm moving.	Leave me alone!
	What's it to ya?	Don't know yet.
	What's it to ya?	Leave me alone!

In Wild World

In Animal Crossing: Wild World, the player's face style is determined through the answers given to the questions Kapp'n asks at the beginning of the game while in the taxi.

First question	Second question	Third question	Appearance
Speakin' o' fishies, they could swim in this road... This rain be merciless!	So tell me, <Player>... Why are ye settin' sail fer <town>?	Do you have enough to get settled?	Male	Female
I know!	I'm moving.	Yup!
	I'm moving.	Kinda...
	Butt out!	Yup!
	Butt out!	Kinda...
It's calming.	I'm moving.	Yup!
	I'm moving.	Kinda...
	Butt out!	Yup!
	Butt out!	Kinda...

In City Folk

In Animal Crossing: City Folk, the player's face style is determined through the answers given to the questions Rover asks at the beginning of the game while riding the bus. All the player appearances are the same as in Wild World, though the order of answers given to determine certain appearances has changed.

First question	Second question	Third question	Appearance
First question	Second question	Third question	Male	Female
SO excited! (first player to move in) Oh, yeah! (subsequent players)	I'll find one!	Some...
	I'll find one!	Not much...
	Not at all.	It's covered.
	Not at all.	I'll get by.
Not really.	You're right.	Yeah...
	You're right.	It's a secret!
	Leave me alone!	Yeah...
	Leave me alone!	Don't worry.

In New Leaf

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Rover asks the player questions while they are boarding the train. Depending on the questions answered, the player can get various facial styles including hair style, randomly-colored eyes, and the starting outfit. The starting shirt will be different depending on when players make their villager; if they have created in from spring to summer, they are wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and from fall to winter, they are wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

Additionally, New Leaf introduces four brand new faces for each gender, but one of the male faces resembles a female-exclusive face in previous games.

First question	Second question	Third question	Appearance
So, (Player's name), do you get to go to (name of town), very often?	So why are you going there anyway?	Oh, so you're probably going to move there, aren't you?	Male	Female
I've never been there.	I'm moving.	I'll get a place there.
	I'm moving.	I'm sure I'll be fine.
	Can't say!	You guessed it!
	Can't say!	How'd you know?
I don't remember.	I'm moving.	Yes, probably.
	I'm moving.	No, that's not it at all.
	I don't know.	Yeah, I think I will.
	I don't know.	I'll let fate decide...
It's a secret!	Duh, it's a SECRET!	You got it!
	Duh, it's a SECRET!	Pretty sharp.
	I'm moving there.	No, I'm serious, yo.
	I'm moving there.	Yup!

In New Horizons

The player customizes their skin tone, among other traits.

The player's face and starting hairstyle are no longer determined by a series of questions; instead, the player can fully customize their appearance using a character-creation interface at any time by interacting with a mirror or vanity. Additional hair styles and colors can be bought using Nook Miles. Bags can now be worn by the player. In addition, more than one accessory can be worn at once, depending on where on the face it is worn; for example, the player can wear glasses and a doctor's mask at the same time, which was not possible in previous titles.

Other appearances

In WarioWare: Smooth Moves

In WarioWare: Smooth Moves, the microgame Animal Crossing: Wild World involves the player taking control of a character, the gender corresponding to that of the player's Mii. The player must pull the Wii Remote up at the correct time to catch a fish.

In the Super Smash Bros series

Main article: Villager (Super Smash Bros. series)

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a number of human characters appear in the background of Smashville. Both the male and the female players are available as stickers, while the male character is also available as a trophy named "Animal Crossing Boy."

#268

Animal Crossing Boy

Description	The male player character from Animal Crossing. He feels the need to set out on his own and move into town. Chatting with neighbors is a given, but there are a ton of other things to do as well, like collecting furniture, customizing rooms, catching fish and bugs, digging up fossils, etc. He may get bee stung or fall in a pit, but he still has fun.
Acquisition	Random

#496

Boy

Effect	Fighters
[Arm] Attack +11	All fighters

#511

Girl

Effect	Fighters
[Magic] Attack +21	Peach and Zelda

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U

Artwork of a male Villager in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U.

On June 11, 2013, Nintendo revealed their new Super Smash Bros. video game for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U at E3 2013, featuring the "Villager" (むらびと, Murabito) as a new playable character.^[1] The Villager is a boy with brown hair, wearing a red shirt with a light-blue number "1" printed on the front. The Villager's in-game moves include the ability to attack other players using a net, trapping them in pitfalls, and chopping down trees to cause damage. He is based on the default appearance for male characters, particularly from Animal Crossing: City Folk. Other seven skins are available, each with a different appearance, and alternating genders between male and female for a total of four skins representing each gender.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Artwork of a female Villager in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

The Villager returned as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, largely unchanged from their appearance in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U. Notably, the Villager's 7th and 8th skins were given darker skin tones compared to the previous game. The Villager's unique Classic Mode path, titled "Mistake to Underestimate", has them fighting against other characters that may seem similarly unsuited for battle. The Villager also appears briefly in a cutscene in the game's Adventure Mode, and is one of the earliest characters available to unlock in that mode.

In Mario Kart 8

Artwork of the Villager in Mario Kart 8.

Two genders of villagers, based on their default appearances from New Leaf, have made a guest appearance in the Wii U game Mario Kart 8 as part of the Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8 downloadable content pack (along with Isabelle and fellow Mario series character Dry Bowser), where they again are known as Villager. They are not voiced, instead making of emotions and the sound effects associated with them depending on the situation. Both villagers are classified as a middleweight, indicating average stats. Both villager types weigh slightly less than Mario and Luigi, but the male villager weighs more and has higher speed than the female villager, while the female villager has better acceleration, handling, traction, and off-road stats. Villager also returns as a playable character in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, though they are now available from the start, and were initially separate characters on the character select screen. In version 3.0.0, due to the addition of more characters, both Villagers were merged into a single character slot again.

Gallery

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Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Super Smash Bros. 4
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Names in other languages

Villager (Mario Kart 8)

	むらびと Murabito	Villager

	마을 주민 Ma'eul Jumin	Villager

	居民 (iQue) Jūmín	Resident

	島民 Unknown

	Житель (if male) Жительница (if female) Zhitel (if male) Zhitelnitsa (if female)	Inhabitant

	Dorpsbewoner	Villager

	[[:de:charaktere/Bewohner (if male) Bewohnerin (if female)\|Bewohner (if male) Bewohnerin (if female)]]	Inhabitant

	[[:es:Aldeano (if male) Aldeana (if female)\|Aldeano (if male) Aldeana (if female)]]	Villager

	Villageois (if male) Villageoise (if female)	Villager

	Habitant (if male) Habitante (if female)	Inhabitant

	Abitante	Inhabitant

	Habitante	Inhabitant