How did you first discover your favorite villager?

[Yanrima~]

So, I was about to ask How did you discover your favorite villager or how did that villager became one of your favorites. I'm curious to see how others found their favorite villagers so I decided to ask this question.

So here are mine:

• Lolly- She became my favorite villager after finding out that she actually lives in my first New Leaf town back in 2015, I grew attached to her quickly because of how cute and adorable she is. And I was lucky in reuniting with her in New Horizons when I did the villager hunt on my main island.
• Raymond- His reveal in ACNH along with his appearance and the fact that he is a smug cat villager just pitted him instantly into my list of favorite villagers. He is just an adorable office cat and you can't tell me otherwise.
• Ione- She's just plain cute, plus I love her space aesthetic. Found her through the announcement of the 2.0 update and instantly put her among my favorite villagers.
• Sasha-same thing as above.
• Knox- Say what you want about Knox but he's one of my personal favorite among the "unpopular" villager. I love his design in general because I have a huge bias for themed villagers especially the knight villagers. I first discovered him through the wiki about chicken villagers in Animal Crossing and I found his design to be super cool.
• Frita- Same thing as Knox, she's just underrated and she needs more love. she's so adorable! I first found her in the when looking at the images of Animal Crossing villagers.
• Wolf Link- He's just one of the coolest villagers, who doesn't want a wolf Link living in your town? I first discovered him through the welcome Amiibo update of New Leaf. He's one of my favorite additional villagers and I want him to come back.

 

[ShadowLelouch97]

• Ankha - Okay this was before all of those weird Ankha dancing memes started circulating around. It was 2017, and I had just started my first Animal Crossing game with New Leaf. Around this time, I had gotten into Kamen Rider, and I was missing my favorite series at the time (OOO). My favorite character in OOO was a character named Ankh. So when Ankha came in I thought it was incredible. She's been my favorite ever since.

• Fang - He's the coolest wolf in the game, imo. He's everything I love about a wolf, with the cool gray fur.
• Biskit - I thought he was a cool dawg, and I really got to enjoy his goofiness in my favorite ACNL let's play, and eventually got him into my town as well.
• Jay - Some Jock villagers don't do it for me, but Jay was my best friend in New Leaf. He hosted my birthday party two years in a row, and he was my next door neighbor. Plus, he's one of my favorite looking birds.
• Fauna - How could you not love her? She's perfect and adorable, and was the last person to move into my town in New Leaf.
• Melba - Melba's become a new favorite of mine since I started playing Wild World last week (first time, too!). She has been very sweet, and lately she's been sick so I've been making sure she's well taken care of every day.
• Jeremiah - Jeremiah was one of my starting villagers in New Leaf. I felt a connection with him because of his personality, and I thought he was one of the cooler animals I got when I began. He moved away unfortunately to kick out Cole, and I miss him every day. He was a bro.
• Rosie - She was the first person I invited to move into my town with the campsite. Not only is she adorable and cool, but she also stole, I mean, won my only fishing rod during some camp minigames.

 

[Seastar]

• Kiki- She was one of the first villagers in my New Leaf town back in 2013. I also had a black cat at the time (Until 2019 ) which made me love her. Around the time I was playing Happy Home Designer, I managed to get her Amiibo card out of a pack. This allowed me to move her into my second copy of New Leaf and also New Horizons. I'm probably bringing her to the next game if it still supports Amiibo.
• Pate- She was also one of my first villagers in New Leaf and I really liked her. Unfortunately, I didn't know how move outs work back then and she ended up leaving. I vaguely remember being heartbroken and crying. This happened 10+ years ago. Later I got City Folk (Yes, after New Leaf) and one day she moved in, apparently when I was having a really bad time. I can no longer remember what that was exactly. She eventually moved out yet again because I didn't figure out move outs in that game, but I didn't get as sad this time because I knew it would probably happen. I hope to one day have her in one of my games again.
• Marina- I have unfortunately never had her in my games before aside from HHD/HHP, but I love her for being pink and an octopus.
• Cece & Viché- I didn't actually move them into a town until 2022, so I guess it's not as sentimental as Kiki or Pate, but since they're based on my favorite characters (Callie & Marie), I have to include them.

I feel like I could list some others but I think I would get carried away if I did that.

 

[micat]

Most of my favorite villagers became favorites because I had them on my first new leaf town. Idk why but that first playthrough got me so attached to my villagers ;_;

Truffles - I didn’t like her much at first. I remember pushing her around, she got angry at me, and I felt really bad. I think I didn’t realize villagers could get angry at you when pushing them. Overtime, I ended up growing fond of her, and I was pretty sad when she moved away. I remember her having “Two Days Ago” on the music player in her house; I always try to get that song from K.K. Slider when I can now!

Snake - I just adore jock villagers in New Leaf, and Snake was the first one I met… I love that he called me “ladybro”, how he'd act like we were rivals when I barely competed with him at all, and some lines of dialogue where he mentions being excited for having a friend Plus his dumb looking face...

Walker - Another case of "I just love this personality in New Leaf and he was the first one I met.” Lazy villagers were so cute in this game. I love how he bowed everytime I left his house. His house in general was really good, I loved using his piano and seeing him clap at me afterwards. I remember even installing a PWP just for him next to his house.

There are others I would consider favorites as well,, but I don’t know if I have as much to say about them.

 

[Isadoraisacat]

When Cole moved into my island and I thought he was cute / unique and than a black Havana bunny was in need of a home from a rescue and I adopted him, he’s my best bud. And since than I found out Cole is modeled after a Havana. He has since become my favorite in my all bunny island.

 

[Xara]

I have a lot of favourite villagers, so I'll just talk about my top 3!

- Beau has been my favourite villager for over 10 years now! I've gone through phases where I've liked other villagers more, but ultimately he will always be the villager that's most special to me, and he'll always be my #1! I first discovered him on a list of all villagers in New Leaf before it released in NA. Deers are my favourite animal, so deer villagers being introduced was one of the biggest reasons why I wanted NL! I loved all of the deer villagers (and still do), but Beau was my favourite right from the start. Only the JPN version of the game was out at the time, so I knew him as Peter first. I made countless dreamie lists for my NL town, and Beau was on every one. I had him in NL twice, and now he's on my NH island where he'll stay forever! :') I can't imagine having a town/island/wherever we live in the next game without him.

- I first saw Audie in one of the screenshots/videos that was posted before NH came out. iirc, it was the first pic/video that revealed her name. I loved how vibrant and perfect for the tropical setting her design was (is), and when I saw people say that she might've been named after the New Leaf grandma (Audrey), that made me love her even more! I found her in my campsite one early morning after having a hard night, and she's been on my island ever since!

- I first saw her in the 2.0 direct! I wasn't expecting any new villagers at all, let alone a new deer, so I was so so excited about her!! I still remember my exact reaction: me exclaiming, "is that a new ****ing deer!?!?" LOL. I love her design so much, and her being a Halloween baby makes her even more special and endearing to me!! I've had her amiibo card for a while now, but I wanted to find her via island hopping or the campsite to make having her more meaningful. I eventually found her while island hopping, and she's been with me since!

 

[Bruscoe]

Oh boy. Time to get my brain thinking on a few of them. I'll start with my most favorite villagers and work my way down...

• Bob - I first saw Bob as a random villager when I was watching Vinny (from Vinesauce) start a new town in his lengthy Welcome Amiibo playthrough. His funny smug face is what basically caused me to like him a lot. Bob's funny antics early on in Vinny's playthrough only made me like him more. It really disappointed me when Bob decided to move out of the town without giving Vinny a chance to prevent it from happening. As far as I know, Bob was one of the few non-duck villagers that Vinny wanted to keep in the town as he was a fan favorite. He sure became my favorite when I started playing New Leaf myself.
• Dotty - I absolutely love Dotty. She heavily resembles a pet rabbit I once had as a kid, so the emotional connection was already established. I decided to move her in to my New Horizons island after figuring out who to move in next, and I absolutely adored her simple-yet-cute design. Needless to say, she quickly became my favorite female villager, so much so that she's been my camp caretaker in Pocket Camp since the beginning. She has the highest friendship level out of any villager I've obtained by far.
• Lopez - It took me a good while to truly appreciate the deer villagers, as my favorite species at first were the cat villagers since City Folk. Lopez wasn't the first deer villager I had; that honor goes to Fuchsia in New Leaf. Like Dotty above, I was looking to move a different villager in, saw his Amiibo card in my folio, and the rest was history. I honestly think he's a very underrated deer villager in general, as his design is awesome and doesn't get nearly enough love in fan art circles. The fact that I can dress him up both casually and as a rock star truly says something about how much I like him. He's definitely sticking with me for the long haul, and might even be my top villager someday.
• Roscoe - It wasn't until late last year did I find Roscoe to be very cool. I found that his angry expression is the best out of all the villagers, and makes a good avatar picture for me. Roscoe has never been a villager in any of my towns, but that is definitely going to change in the next mainline game.
• Bruce - I can honestly say Bruce is most similar to me in terms of looks and aesthetic. When I paired him with Lopez in Photopia, it made scenes look extra cool, and I've liked Bruce ever since. While he hasn't been a "real" villager in my towns as of yet, he'll likely be one in the next mainline game.
• Cherry - Like with Bob, I found out about Cherry via Vinny's playthrough. Unlike Bob, however, Cherry was more of a thorn in Vinny's town when it came to her antics, like placing her house directly in front of his. She became a fan favorite with the chat, and I also began to unironically like her as well. She's one of the cooler-looking female villagers alongside Phoebe in my opinion. I moved Cherry into my New Horizons town, and she's been with me ever since.
• Kyle - I found that his birthday is the same as mine, and he also looks very similar to me in terms of aesthetic. We could essentially be twin brothers from different mothers.

That's all I'm going to do for now.

 

[AlexSilverpen]

I'd love to share how I met who I call my best friends in my signature:
Kabuki- back in the days of Wild World, I had him in my town. I started liking crankies after Angus had gotten sick. I brought him medicine daily, and one day he reacted by crying and saying he didn't deserve friends like me. So Angus was my first cranky friend, but Kabuki holds a special place in my heart. Once he pinged me while wearing one of my shirt designs. He said something like "See this shirt I'm wearing? You designed it, didn't you? I'm actually a big fan of your work!" On my birthday, he brought me the present. I'm a cat person, and Kabuki is a great one.
Drago- while I don't have much to say about him, I love dragons. And Drago's a dragon. It's a bias, but I love him for that.
Pietro- I watched Chuggaaconroy's New Leaf let's play. One of the first villagers to move in to his town was Pietro, and Chugga's interactions with Pietro just made me smile. Pietro makes me happy, I love him.
Tad- recently I booted up GameCube crossing, and Tad was one of my starting villagers. I've never been a fan of jocks, but in my first conversation with him he told me that if anyone gave me trouble, I should go straight to him. I basically said 'ok, you're my best friend now'.
Other villagers I love: Phoebe and Julian for being the other two mythical creatures [phoenix and unicorn], Piper [has the same name as my cat], Ketchup and Bluebear [my favorite peppies], and too many normals to name, but special shout outs to Flurry and Goldie.
Of all my favorite villagers, I have Kabuki's official amiibo card, and unofficial cards for Drago, Pietro and Ketchup. Pietro and Ketchup have the best fan-made amiibos I've seen, they work wonderfully and feel higher quality than Nintendo's official ones!
I have to say, getting Amiibos from Etsy is a great way to get favorites without buying packs of cards.

 

[QueenCobra]

Shari is funny to me. She’s this cute little monkey, yet she has a bit of an attitude. The contrast is what drew me to her.

 

[Suguri]

My top two favorite villagers are Bob and Kiki, in that specific order, mainly because they remind me of other characters. When I was hyperfixated on a Pokémon character named Kieran, I was looking for a villager that at least reminded me of him, and that was how I discovered Kiki.

Bob grew on me too, because he was like an animal version of a character I made when I was in elementary school, long before I was really into Animal Crossing; coincidentally enough, he was purple and his name was also Bob. Here's what (human) Bob looks like, for reference:

Spoiler: The Bobs

I want to do more, but this is all I'm going to put for now.

 

[rocketspruggs]

T-Bone - I discovered him back in early 2017 when I was playing Happy Home Designer. I saw him wandering around main street, and when he introduced himself, I said, "hey, you're named after T-Bone steak." After I had designed a house for him, I was thinking about how cute it would be if my player character had a boyfriend. I was searching around main street to pair her with a guy, and...lo and behold, T-Bone was the lucky guy I picked randomly. I went into random facilities to search for T-Bone so that he and my player character would date at a restaurant or something, and have her visit his house. I've even used his amiibo card multiple times in the game, but not do any extra remodels for his house to make it seem that he and my player are just calling each other on the phone.

 

[Chronos314_XD]

Static was in one of my old new leaf towns and he's definitely my favorite

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

Miranda was a completely random move-in lol. I didn't know what to expect when she moved in, but after I saw her design, my brain went "you are never leaving." So... she's stuck on Valencia now!

 

[Sheando]

My all-time favorite villager, Antonio the anteater, was a random move-in to my Wild World town when I was 11. I have always absolutely loved long-nosed animals, so I was ecstatic. He's been my best friend in-game ever since.

My other favorites break down like so:

Random move-ins, Wild World era: Dora the mouse, Tipper the cow, Peewee the gorilla

Random move-ins, New Leaf era: Benjamin the dog, Walt the kangaroo, Pashmina the goat

Saw a picture online and invited to NL town: Vesta the sheep, Deli the monkey, Lolly the cat

Random campsite villager in NH: Huck the frog

Selected from NH island: Bubbles the hippo

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

• Bunnie - My favorite villager! I love Bunnie so much and I remember years ago when I saw her in every commercial for New Leaf. I thought she was so cute and visited tons of dream towns just to meet her! Eventually, in Christmas of 2021(?) I got an amiibo card pack with her in it and I was ESTATIC! Having her in my town made me so happy and I have loved her ever since!

• Greta - ASIAN MOUSY- When I began collecting amiibo cards I remember seeing Greta and thinking she was super cute! My mother and PoPo (grandmother) really thought Greta was special so now I make her catchphrases stuff they say to remind me of my family

• Anicotti - BESTIES ON THE FIRST DAY Anicotti became one of my favorite much later as I only knew her in New Horizons! She was a random move in and I LOVED HER! She was so cute and had such a personality and is now in my New Leaf town.

• Toby - KEROPPI AS A BUNNY? I remember learning about Toby and all the Sanrio villagers through my old friend Sasha years ago. I eventually bought the card set off eBay and got Toby in my New Leaf town! When they added the Sanrio villagers to NH I was so happy and it was sweet to see everyone appreciate them

• Bettina - MY LIL COOKING MOUSY I also got Bettina in New Horizons, but through an amiibo card! I remember getting her card and thinking she looked so fancy haha. I loved her interior and personality so I added her to my New Leaf town! She loves reading and baking just like me

 

[-Blue-]

I have a few different favorite villagers, but Hazel is one of the newest from New Leaf. She was a random move in. I can't quite remember where she plotted, but it was in the worst spot and messed something up. That alone made me dislike her. But it wasn't until I went into her house one day and saw her cute patchwork room/KK disco playing and she won me over. Hazel and Kiki are my favorites and awesome. Uni-wow!

 

[Dunquixote]

Punchy became my favorite sometime while I played New Leaf; he was one of my starter villagers. My memory is very foggy but I know part of the reason I liked him is because his design reminded me of a friend’s cat. Ever since New Leaf, he has been my #1 favorite cat. I love his sassy expression, his design, personality (minus the bug dialogue), his facial expression.

Rudy was one of my starter villagers in New Horizons. When I first saw him, I was pretty neutral about him. I didn’t think I’d like him since I didn’t like having Hamlet in New Leaf and the jock talk. But he grew on me pretty much right away; I thought his facial expressions were just as adorable as Punchy’s. Now I don’t mind jocks at all!

Ankha has been a favorite since New Leaf; I love her design, theme and bonus that she is a cat. All the other snooties that I had, I did not like at all, but I loved having her and I hope to have her on my island again once I’m done cycling through villagers. I don’t remember much from back then to what made me want her or if she came as a random move in.

Gaston: I initially didn’t like him; he was one of my starters in New Leaf, but I grew attached to him over time and I ended up not letting him move in the end since I really enjoyed having him and I grew to appreciate his design .

These are just a few! I might post again later about other favorites

 

[daringred_]

with most of mine, i think they just rotated into my NL towns at points, and i liked the designs. only one of them goes back before NL, and that's biskit. he was in my WW town, and i remembered loving him, so i really wanted to get him in one of my NL towns. they're not in my main ten favorites, but the same goes for dotty and pompom. i remembered having them in my WW town together and they were really good friends, so i wanted them in one of my NL towns together.

 

[Pate and Ketchup]

I remember when I played, younger, Wild World or New Leaf, I didn't care about villagers. I loved talking to them, I did it more than anything else, but I don't really remember a villager I used to love more than the others. Cranky personality, however, was the best and the most memorable for me.
Starting New Horizons, I had a look at the villagers for the first time and got my favorites. Just for their physical appearence because I never played that long to meet everyone and every personality.
Rocket: I thought she was ugly and I don't like gorilla specie at all. But I looked at her once, twice and more, and fell in love. She perfectly embodies the uchi/sisterly personality and I love her. Can't really explain why.
Marshal: Never heard about this little guy before, but I saw him and found his face unique and cute. Something remembers me anime faces, like bad boys everyone loves... I cannot explain better than that sorry! He has great colours as well, he's cute.
Julian: Unicorn, what more than that?
Lucky: Never met him, but his face with all these bandages makes me sad. I don't know what happened to him... I understand the reason they made him like that, like an Egyptian mummy, but it makes me sad anyway.
Wolfgang: Remember him, not perfectly, from ancient game played when I was a child/younger. I think he is the only one with Static I really remember and love. Wolves are great, too.

I love so many villagers! I cannot make a complete list of all of them.

 

[Dunquixote]

Marshal: I discovered him when playing New Leaf. I love how grumpy he looks even though he is a smug and I think he is so adorable. At the time, I didn’t like smugs because I had Keaton (had trouble getting him to leave) and he always gave me creepy vibes. But thanks to Marshal, I found a smug that I liked and since then I have liked smugs more .

Puddles: I had her as a starter in New Leaf. I loved her dialogue much more in New Leaf; she is not the same in New Horizons tbh. I still see her as my favorite because she was one of my besties in New Leaf . I initially didn’t care much for her because I don’t like pink much but she really grew on me.