25 Things You Didn't Know About Animal Crossing

Real-life Influences

“Animal Crossing” was created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. Of its creation, Eguchi was inspired by his own life experiences, after having moved to work at Nintendo’s headquarters in Kyoto at 21. He wanted to capture the feeling of moving to a new town, knowing no one. As a game with a real-time clock, that continues even when you aren’t playing, that came from his struggle to enjoy playtime with his family. Since Eguchi worked late, but enjoyed playing games with his family, he wanted to create a game world he could still share with them, even if it was at different times of the day.

Starting on Cartridge

Much of the team that worked on the first “Animal Crossing” began development shortly after completing “Yoshi’s Story.” It was originally intended to launch on the Nintendo 64DD, due to the disc drive add-on’s real-time clock and extended memory storage. But with delays and the eventual failure of the 64DD, the game “Dōbutsu no Mori,” or “Animal Forest,” was released in cartridge form on the base console only in Japan in April of 2001, as the only one with a real-time clock. It also came with a Controller Pak for saving progress, because it was a pretty big game for the time. Even when it was ported to GameCube a few months later, and the following year internationally, Nintendo still included an extra memory card because of how much space it took up.

A Huge Translation Project

Since you spend a lot of time talking to villagers and other NPCs, the original “Animal Crossing” had a lot of text. In fact, when Nintendo of America set about translating the game to English, it became its largest translation project to date. Thousands of lines of dialogue were translated, new text was added for American players, and new holidays and items were even created to make sense outside of Japan. The process took around six months, but the end result was so impressive to Nintendo of Japan that when the game received a Japanese-only updated version, “Dōbutsu no Mori e+,” the American content was included.

Dungeon Crawling Roots

It’s always interesting to see what form a game took during its earliest days. Back when “Animal Crossing” was still being considered for the 64DD, it wasn’t initially about a player moving to a new town full of anthropomorphic animals. Growing from his desire to play games with his family, Eguchi envisioned a dungeon crawler, in which one player, like his child, could complete part of a dungeon, and another, like himself, could pick up the game later and play through the next part. Animals only came into the picture when he thought about the player using the powers of different animals as a gameplay hook to progress.

Unused NES Games

An interesting thing about the first “Animal Crossing” is that it includes a group of fully playable NES games you can unlock as furniture items. But there are a few that players don’t get access to under normal means, which can still be found in the game’s code. “Ice Climber” was made available to Japanese players, who used Nintendo’s service to transfer their data from the N64 to the GameCube version. It was also available in North America, along with “Mario Bros.,” exclusively through Game Boy Advance e-Reader cards. “Super Mario Bros.” was only available to Japanese players as a sweepstakes prize in Famitsu magazine. And finally, “The Legend of Zelda” is in the game’s code, though it was never made available to players anywhere for whatever reason.

Forgotten Villagers

There are clearly a lot of villagers in “Animal Crossing.” But there’s a decent amount who have been forgotten, only appearing in one or two entries; some haven’t been seen since the original. The 3DS’ “New Leaf” got several villagers accessible through Amiibo themed after other franchises, “Splatoon,” “Monster Hunter,” and “The Legend of Zelda,” who aren’t available in the latest game, “New Horizons.” But the most obscure villagers are those only found in the updated version of the Japanese original, “Dōbutsu no Mori e+,” and only through e-Reader cards. These are Carrot, a cow themed after the vegetable, Nindori, an ostrich themed after the GameCube, and a cat and dog duo named Bow and Meow, themed after the Bowlingual and the Meowlingual, Japanese electronic devices that were meant to translate your pet’s barks or meows.

A Superstar in the Making

The first character you meet in the first “Animal Crossing,” is this cool cat- I mean, dog, strumming on a guitar and talking to you about life. K.K. Slider has always been a celebrity in the “Animal Crossing” world, a musician not bound to any one genre. In Japanese, the character is named ‘Totakeke,’ which is the nickname for Kazumi Totaka, legendary composer and sound designer on this series and many others from Nintendo. In addition to his music, being the basis for K.K. Slider, and voicing a number of Nintendo characters, including Yoshi, Totaka is known for hiding a simple, yet iconic melody known as Totaka’s Song in the games he works on. And unsurprisingly, it has appeared in every game in the “Animal Crossing” series.

The First Villager

If you’ve ever wondered who the first villager created for “Animal Crossing” was, the answer is a simple one: Bob. In fact, it’s Bob’s simplicity that made people speculate he was the first villager to begin with. On top of being present since the original game, he has a simple name and design, his birthday is January first, and he is the first Villager in the e-cards and Amiibo cards. However, this was actually confirmed by co-creator Hisashi Nogami in 2020.

Tom Nook’s Cultural Inspirations

Tom Nook has long held a negative reputation in the “Animal Crossing” community, due to him charging players boatloads of Bells for houses and upgrades across the series. He’s characterized as a shrewd, money-focused merchant, but the negative view is something that wasn’t entirely intended. Rich Amtower and Reiko Ninomiya, members of the localization team, thought that his act of hiring someone new to town, despite that inherent risk, showed generosity. Still, being given an immediate large sum of money to work towards naturally painted him as a villain. And even if he’s merely meant to be a businessman, the inspiration behind his animal basis implies otherwise. Because Tom Nook is not a raccoon, but a tanuki, who, in Japanese folklore, are often mischievous.

Borrowing From Folklore & Myth

Tom Nook is far from the only character inspired by Japanese folklore and myth. There’s Redd, a shady arts dealer based on the kitsune, Japanese fox spirits who are deceitful tricksters. There’s also Kapp’n the turtle boatman, based on the Kappa, a river yokai, and the deer villager, Shino, whose appearance is based on hannya masks, which represent jealous female demons in theater. It doesn’t stop at Japanese folklore, either. Drago the alligator is based on a dragon, Phoebe the ostrich is based on a phoenix, and Julian the horse is based on a unicorn. As a bonus, there are a couple of villagers based in Egyptian history; Lucky the dog, designed as a mummy, and Ankha the cat, designed as a pharaoh.

The Hidden Luck System

Although the diehard fans are likely aware of it, some of the more casual players may not know about “Animal Crossing’s” hidden luck system. It’s been a feature since the original game, randomly affecting a surprising number of things, from how many seashells appear on your beach to how easy it is to increase friendships with your villagers to how many Bells you can earn from a Money Rock. Although each day starts with a random Luck level, there are ways to impact it, like clothing. A furniture item in “New Leaf,” the Good Luck Charm, would turn your luck good if you started a day with it in your pockets. The Feng Shui of your house could also affect your luck prior to “New Horizons,” where it was changed to only impact your Happy Home Academy score.

Becoming the Mayor

“New Leaf” introduced a big stepping stone in the franchise’s focus on customization, which would be a major feature in “New Horizons.” By making the player mayor of their own town, the developers sought to give players more freedom in how their town grew. The idea to put players in this role didn’t come about until a year into development. Not only was this meant to help in town customization, but ordinances about certain shops and buildings being open at certain times of day were specifically implemented to accommodate all types of player schedules. And this way, the game could still align itself with the passage of real-world time.

What’s in a Name

Nintendo loves giving characters pun names in all of its franchises, and “Animal Crossing” is no different. A lot of them are obvious jokes, like naming a horse villager Elmer after Elmer’s Glue. Some are only clear if you’re familiar with other cultures, like Pate, a duck villager named after a French dish that is commonly made with duck liver. Some names are only puns or references in other languages. For example, the alpacas Cyrus and Reese are actually named Al and Paca in the Spanish language version. Most interestingly is Vesta, a sheep villager. In the German version, she’s named Dolly, after the real-life sheep of the same name who was the first cloned mammal, born in 1996.

The Family Name

One of the most cleverly hidden pun names in “Animal Crossing,” so clever it deserves its own entry, concerns the Able Sisters. Their clothing shop has been in the series since the beginning. Run by Sable, the shy seamstress, and Mabel, the face of the business, they took over the business following the passing of their parents, providing players with fashionable looks while their other sister, Label, set out to find her own voice in the fashion industry. They have completely different names in other languages. But Nintendo of America was doing more than rhyming when they named them Sable, Mabel, and Label. The initials S, M, and L signify Small, Medium, and Large sizes, making for a perfect little joke about characters who design clothes.

Gambling with the Money Tree

Most “Animal Crossing” players are familiar with the Money Tree. In the majority of games, you had to bury Bells using a Golden Shovel to produce one, but it obviously gave you more money than you put into it. In “New Horizons,” this was changed. You no longer need a golden shovel, but can find a shining spot with 1,000 Bells in a random location on your island every day. As we all know, re-burying it will produce a tree with 3,000 Bells. Or you can plant 10,000 and get one with 30,000. What the game doesn’t tell you, however, is that it’s actually a little more complicated than that. If you plant 100-1,000 Bells, you’ll always get 3,000 in return. If you plant 2,000-9,000 Bells, there’s a 70% chance you’ll only get 3,000 back, and a 30% chance it will be 3 times the amount you buried. Similarly, if you plant somewhere between 10,000 and 90,000 Bells, there’s a 70% chance you get 30,000 back, and a 30% chance of getting 3 times your buried amount. High risk, high reward.

Haunted Art

Players have been able to collect items based on real life pieces of art since the first game. And unfortunately, what you’re purchasing isn’t always the real thing, as it all comes through Crazy Redd, who is anything but reliable. Regardless, in “New Horizons” a fun little Easter Egg was included in the fake versions of only a handful of pieces of art, signifying that they’re haunted. At different times of night, the Girl with the Pearl Ear Ring shown in the Wistful Painting will close her eyes, the man in the Scary Painting will start smiling instead of frowning, and the woman in the Graceful Painting will turn her head the opposite direction. It isn’t just fake paintings, either. The Informative Statue starts to glow, as do the eyes of the Ancient Statue, which also floats when you interact with it. As a bonus haunting, the graveyard wallpaper you can buy from Saharah features a ghost when the lights are turned off, and whose placement changes each time you do so.

The Alien Broadcast

That’s right, we’re in the spooky segment of the video. In “New Leaf,” Nintendo decided to include hints of extra-terrestrial life. If you had a TV in your house and tuned in at 3:33 A.M. on Sunday or Monday, it would suddenly be overtaken by static before you receive a message from an alien. The Easter Egg was included again in “New Horizons,” found at the same time but on Saturdays instead. Most assumed the alien was speaking gibberish. And while some players have tried to decode it, the closest answer we’ve been given is that it’s broken, heavily edited Japanese. Either way, it will be interesting to see what Nintendo does with the alien in the next game.

Coco’s Origins

Coco is one of the more visually unique villagers in “Animal Crossing.” The bunny villager’s appearance is based on the Gyroids, living stone statues with hollow eyes, which have acted as sort-of assistants to players across the series. The gyroids themselves were inspired by haniwa statues, ritualistic figurines from Japan’s Yayoi period that were used during burials and theorized to have housed the spirits of the dead. This has led to dark theories about Coco’s origins, about how she’s a spirit trapped inside a statue, operating it from within.

Robotic Villagers

There are a few characters in “Animal Crossing” that, due to their design, arguably aren’t animals. The “thing you didn’t know” isn’t that these robotic villagers exist. But what’s interesting is that they are each branded with a number on the backs of their heads, implying that they’re each one in a long line of animal-themed robots. Sprocket the robot ostrich has the number “04,” Ribbot the robot frog has the number “59,” and Cephalobot the robot octopus has the number “083.” That leaves a lot of room for future animal-themed robot villagers. We wonder what we’ll see next.

The Russian Spy

Some villagers come with more interesting backstories than others; they just might not be evident at first. Tasha the squirrel, short for Natasha, for instance, is clearly meant to be an undercover Russian spy. Although her name can be seen as another pun (a squirrel named NUT-asha), it’s also a common Russian spy name à la Marvel’s Black Widow. She’s also described in several places as being secretive; her e-Card claims she’s hiding something, her “Pocket Camp” description alludes to her having a secret, and her favorite phrase is “There's no such thing as a safe secret.” Yeah, Russian spy.

Kiki the Cat

One of the other deep cut nods, at least that younger players might not pick up on, comes with Kiki the cat. She’s one of the original villagers, and has appeared in every game in the series, including the spin-offs. Her appearance and name are a reference to the Studio Ghibli film, “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” originally released in 1989. The film follows a young witch, Kiki, who moves to a new town and starts a courier service. With her is a talking black cat with a similar blank face, named Jiji.

Inspiration for Audie

Each new installment of “Animal Crossing” brings new villagers. One of the additions with “New Horizons” was Audie, a wolf villager uniquely designed to look like a fox. Although it was never confirmed by Nintendo of America, many people believe she was named after Audrey Buchanan, grandmother to game designer Paul Hubans, who went viral after he posted proof of her more than 3,500 hours logged in “New Leaf,” where she named her character Audie. Studios have named or designed characters after fans before. And until Nintendo says otherwise, this is too heartwarming of a story to think is untrue.

A Controversial Greeting

A lot less heartwarming is a story about a different villager, Baabara the sheep. Prior to the release of “City Folk” for the Wii in 2009, Nintendo wanted to show off the connectivity feature with the DS’s “Wild World.” It sent members of the press copies with preloaded towns to load into “City Folk.” And for MTV Multiplayer, they found a far less savory version of Baabara. Whoever Nintendo had hired to play through the game to build up a town had given her a custom greeting: “Love you long time,” a reference to “Full Metal Jacket,” and a possibly offensive phrase to Asian people, along with the N word, stylized to get around the game’s censors. Needless to say, it was a pretty awkward look for Nintendo.

Finding Meaning in Song

Chevre and Nan are two goat villagers, and two others that have been in the series for years. But in “New Horizons,” they each have a picture of the other hanging on a wall inside their house. This connection, along with one of them being black and one of them being white, is a reference to a Japanese children’s song called “Goat Mail.” It follows two goats, one white and one black, who write letters back and forth, but can’t help from eating every letter before they can read it. It’s a cute Easter Egg that Japanese players might pick up on, but which is likely lost on most others around the world.

The Perfect Time

“New Horizons” was an immense success. But what some may not realize is how rocky things were leading up to its release. Nintendo hit fans with a one-two punch of hype: Isabelle’s announcement trailer for “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” in 2018 was themed like an “Animal Crossing” game, and it was followed by an announcement of an actual new game, coming in 2019. However, it was eventually delayed to March of 2020; for the noble reason of avoiding crunch, but it still came with consequences. As it was such a big title, the delay caused Nintendo’s stock to drop 3.5%, amounting to around $1 billion. The new date came with other complications, too, as the world was entering the early stages of a global pandemic. At the time, Hisashi Nogami expressed how he was disheartened by world events, and how unfortunate it was that the game’s launch coincided with them. However, he hoped it could be an escape for players, which, of course, turned out to be true.

Do you know of any other fun facts about “Animal Crossing” others may not? Share them with us in the comments!