Like most twenty-something city dwellers, I live in an apartment with neighbours no more than twenty feet away from me at any given time. And as I sit here listening to a dog in the apartment beside mine bark, birds in the apartment across the hall squawk, the people stomping as hard as they can above me, a child screaming below me, and the constant blaring music from cars pulling into the parking lot, I’m seriously jealous of my Animal Crossing alter-ego. Not only is this a place where I can afford a house but where I like my neighbours!
New Leaf was my first introduction to the Animal Crossing series. I’ve actually just celebrated my one year anniversary with my beloved town of Ooo! One year ago I arrived in the town I named for Adventure Time, and my other life in the little seaside animal community began!
For the uninitiated, Animal Crossing is a Nintendo property in which your character (which is a mini you) moves to a new town where all the other residents are animals. From post office pelicans, shoe store skunks, hairdressing poodles, and museum curatoring owls, there’s not one other human for you to interact in. And it’s amazing!
I’ve loved. I’ve lost. I’ve held villagers hostage because if they move out my life will be meaningless! Here’s a list of my favourite villagers so far!
Alfonso
“We’re friends, so I won’t gnaw on your legs, even though I’m starving.”
Alfonso the alligator is my absolute favourite villager! He’s a lazy type and loves to eat and nap. Pretty much my soulmate! He often talks about how little money he has but he constantly buys me presents because he’s a sweet, pure cinnamon bun of a reptile! He wears a red shirt with a big M on it and his catchphrase is ‘it’sa me’, in clear reference to a certain moustached plumber. Alfonso is one of three villagers that I’ve been holding hostage. He was one of the five starter villagers when I first arrived in Ooo. And, if you recall, I just celebrated a year in Ooo. That’s a long time for a villager to stay in one town! Sure he’s mentioned moving out at least ten times but I just won’t let him! What would I do without my absent-minded, lazy, foodie bud? He’s mine… forever…
Bam
“Getting a good workout, ladybro?”
Bam the deer is number two of three villagers that I’m holding hostage. He’s a jock type and surprisingly, I’m okay with that. He brags quite a bit and will often ask me random sports questions but I love him despite us having nothing in common! Sometimes he’ll sit on a bench by the sea and invite me to sit with him and we’ll just sit and smile at each other and everything is okay for that little while. He’s bright blue, has little antlers (precious), little hoofs (more precious), and freckles across his nose (most precious!). His catchphrase is ‘boosh’, he calls me ladybro, I send him workout equipment through the mail, and he hasn’t mentioned moving out half as much as anyone else so he clearly loves me back! He’s my sweet little Bam Boosh and you’ll pry him out of my cold, dead fingers!
Hazel
“Uni-wow!”
There’s a lot of hate for Hazel within the Animal Crossing community and I don’t understand why! Girl is fierce! She wears her unibrow with pride and isn’t afraid to speak her mind! She’s villager three of three that I won’t let leave. Ever. Her Uchi type personality makes her very caring and laid-back. Plus she gets along best with jock and lazy types–my three favs were meant to be! And yeah, her catchphrase is ‘uni-wow’, a play on unibrow, and if that’s not the best thing you’ve ever heard, you need to get outta my face, son!
O’Hare
“If I may be so bold, you’re looking as cool as a fair number of cucumbers.”
I love O’Hare. I love him something fierce. But the little butthead moved out suddenly one night without any advance notice and broke my heart! Little bunny jerk, taking his Hawaiian shirt and his sick dance moves and skipping town! You could always find him at Club LOL jamming out to K.K. Slider and he was a total hipster. But never insufferable about it. He’s a smug type, which you think would be a bad thing, but he was always super nice and flirted with me unabashedly, often breaking out in some air guitar when the mood was right. How could he just play with my heart like that? Don’t I mean anything to you?! Please come back O’Hare. I miss you.
Genji
“I wanted you to appreciate my rippling muscles!”
Genji is another jock and another rabbit. My town is apparently huge for jocks and rabbits. His eyes are always narrowed and I like to imagine he’s highly suspicious of everything. He knows you’ve done something, he’s just not sure what! Since he moved into my town during late summer of 2015, he’s been sick more than anyone else! He keeps catching colds–three in the last two months alone! I’m scared to let him move out with what is clearly an autoimmune disease! He’ll just have to stay with me till I’ve nursed him back to health. If my track record with favourite villagers is anything to go on, he’ll be in Ooo for a long time.
Cherry
“What what!”
Cherry is the first villager I ever convinced to move in when she was camping in my town. She’s a pink dog with a punk chic style. She’s everything I aspire to be! She’s an Uchi type like Hazel and is always happy. She once offered me eight hundred bells for a seahorse I had in my pocket but I was feeling generous and gave it to her for free. A little heart popped into existence and she called me the coolest person she’d ever met. Coming from Cherry that’s quite a complement! She lived in my town for a good three months before saying she’d like to see what else the world held. I let her go with the belief that she’ll come back to me one day. That’s what true love is after all.
Nan
“Nanny-nanny boo-boo!”
Nan is a lovely lady goat who was one of my starter villagers. She’s since moved out but I see her all the time on my main street as she visits to go shopping. She’s super friendly, always happy to chat, and she called me ‘kid’. You know, because she’s a goat. She once watched me fall into a pitfall seed trap and she ran over in a panic to see if I was alright. It’s hard to get that much concern in real life! Plus, her horns look like candy corn!
The animal townsfolk of Animal Crossing will cycle in and out of your town, sometimes moving in from other towns that you streetpass with your 3DS, sometimes they’ll camp in your town and then move in, and sometimes they’ll just show up out of nowhere. With over three hundred villagers and a random algorithm for when they’ll show up and when they’ll leave, everyone’s animal neighbours and the friendships they strike up will be special!
