How much has your plan of which residents you want to keep permanently changed since starting ACNH? Which villagers do/did you want?

[Dunquixote]

I’m curious how much people’s villager plans changed since they’ve started playing the game and what villagers they wanted before and presently.

I originally hoped to get most of my favorites from New Leaf and maybe a few new ones. My original plan was: Punchy, Kiki, Rosie and/or Merry, Marshal, Ankha, Lolly, Puddles, Roscoe, and I was undecided for the last two. Later, I decided I wanted to try cycling through all with the last two spots (which now I may not do) to get their pics and find more favorites. But over time, from looking at people’s screenshots and from hearing about how much they love certain villagers, I became interested in meeting more. Like Sherb had become a favorite this way. Additionally, finding them while island hopping or at my campsite helped. I used to not like Judy and then I found her at my campsite and invited her, and grew to like her. I found Dom island hopping and grew to love him as well. I let him go but later regretted it once I saw more of his expressions from other people’s screenshots.

Currently, I have: Punchy, Kiki, Rudy, Raymond, Rosie, Merry, Spike, Reneigh, Judy, Sherb. I recently let Roscoe go only because I really don’t like him having the music hobby since I don’t like his singing voice (would’ve probably kept him had it not been for that). Judy was going to be temporary but am reluctant to let her go since she has no amiibo card. I am tempted now to replace Sherb with Dom, though I’d love to have them both again. Rudy - I did not originally plan on keeping him but he grew on me rather quickly with his cute facial expressions . Right now I am considering letting one of my two peppies go even though they are my favorites so I can try some other villagers out. Reneigh is temporary. Raymond, Punchy, Kiki and Spike are permanent. I still want Marshal and Ankha (also Lolly if I had more room).

I’m interested in so many others so right now, I’m undecided about my final villager lineup (or at least the last two or three spots).

I’d love to hear how much everyone else’s plans changed and who they want(ed) to be permanent residents. Sorry for how long this post ended up being.

 

[Moritz]

I thought I was done changing my villagers so many times over the last year.
Never worked out that way.
The only ones I now say I'm keeping forever are tybalt and Megan

 

[Imbri]

My villagers have been set, pretty much from the beginning. I didn't have a dream group when I started, so I was able to wander a bit.

I started with Cherry and Snake, and thought I'd let both go, but they've grown on me and I love them dearly. Sally and Gruff were brought in through cards, because I had them in ACGC and they've been favorites ever since. I also never saw them in subsequent games. Lionel replaced Lopez, whom I did not care for. The rest of my residents came from island hopping - Lolly, Purrl, Dobie, Flora, and Filbert. Lolly I knew from NL, Filbert from ACGC, and Purrl briefly in NL. Flora and Dobie were new to me.

I can't imagine any of them leaving.

 

[azurill]

My plans have changed for both islands. My original plan for my first island Serenity was to have an all penguin island. That changed when I had Dobie and Fang as neighbors. So now Serenity will be a penguin and wolf island.
villagers for Serenity
Aurora
Flo
Hopper
Wade
Sprinkle (currently on Jurai)
Roald ( still have to find him)
Fang
Dobie
Whitney
Skye ( currently on Jurai)
One of the reasons I got a second island was because I didn’t want to let some of my villagers go. I moved static and Ketchup to Jurai. I was going to move Mint but found a new favorite snooty Cleo. I am still not sure on all the permanent villagers for Jurai.
The ones I know are
Ketchup
Static
Joey
Dizzy
Cleo

 

[JellyBeans]

My original plan was for sure to have Rodney and Apple as permanent villagers, and aside from that I wasn't really sure. previously in NL I ended up with a set of 'dreamies' which essentially just covered each personality type plus a few dupes, but going into NH I more had the mindset that I just wanted to get as many different villagers as I could and maybe I'd find some new faves along the way.
since then I ended up getting Rodney and Apple fairly early on as they were my priority, then later let Apple go because I just didn't like her as much in NH as i did in NH. something about the way the peppy personality is annoyed me when it came to her. i very much still have Rodney + I've just been letting people move in and out as they please! there's been a few times where I've considered keeping villagers permanently but I usually end up letting them go with the intention to let them come back if i really miss them.

 

[CrankyCupcake]

A year ago, I started the game and went with the flow. No plan at all regarding the animals. I had no favourites and I had no list of islanders to make permanent.

Today, I still don't have a list of 10 forever villagers.

I would, however, say that Raymond, Fuchsia and Claude are not going anywhere in the forseeable future. Raymond because I had exchanged 3 days of my life for him using the campsite method but, hey, I love him dearly because he makes me smile every time; Fuchsia because she's my uchi MVP and I love how protective she is of my island and my well being; Claude because I find him to be super adorable for reasons I don't even know and cannot articulate. Claude is, incidentally or not, the last remaining one of the first five animals to take up residence on my island.

Everyone else will eventually cycle in and out.

It's how I've always played the game. When I'm no longer interested in meeting new animals, I'll stop playing the game entirely. This is how it has always been for me even with WW and NL. You can't teach an this old dog new tricks.

 

[Pyoopi]

I'm pretty much undecided and never had the perfect 10 villagers, ever. In ACNL, I only had two favorites, Peewee and Tiffany. Previous games like ACGC, it was Kabuki and Tybalt.

So I pretty much knew in ACNH, I wanted my favorite gorilla and rabbit back. I did like my starter jock, Poncho but I want to see more villagers. I've decided to keep Reneigh because she's a cool looking uchi and Rory because he fits my island theme. I gained Louie and while I do enjoy him, he might not stay.

Everyone else is on the chopping block.

 

[Feraligator]

I'm happy to say I got the second option fairly quickly in my playtime! My villagers have been the same 10 since June of last year, and while it wasn't the 10 I was planning for when I got the game, I've since changed my mind and don't want any of them to leave.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Before in March 2020 I used to have villagers like:
1. Antonio
2. Rocket
3. Patty
4. Skye
5. Dobie
6. Shari
7. Anabelle
8. Nate
9. Charlise
10. Eugene

Now today I gotten all the villagers I wanted and I am happy with it they are:
1. Raymond
2. Judy
3. Marshal
4. Audie
5. Molly
6. Apollo
7. Fang
8. Cherry
9. Marina
10. Louie

My original plan was to find villagers based on how well they look and whenever I got their photo I let them move out, but since then it has changed to villagers that stand out to me as long its not the same personality or a certain personality that I don't like (for example Lazy).

 

[Rosch]

I've posted several times about the permanent villagers I have and who I will let go. But recently I've been having second thoughts about some of them.

I'm thinking of replacing Hans and Buzz, then keep Maple permanent instead. Marty will be replaced with someone else once I get his photo. And I only have Ankha because I didn't luck out on finding Audie.

Right now I'm torn on bringing old residents back (such as Lobo, Curt, or Pierce) or continue to have new ones (such as Kyle, Leonardo, Audie, etc).

But I'm pretty sure I'll be keeping Rolf, Sterling, Rudy, Punchy, Bob, and Maple.

 

[CuriousCharli]

My plans were, like you, to keep to my favourites that are in my NL town. I'm quite sentimental so I jumped at the opportunity when I soft reset on my first day and got Frita and Rory. In New Leaf, Frita moved out on my Birthday and took me an entire year to get her back home where she belonged. She was never meant to leave in the first place and was just an accident. I grew fond of Rory so the idea of having Leonardo went out the window. HOWEVER, because Nintendo built in a system that your first villagers houses do not get upgraded to literally make you get rid of them and give other villagers a chance, I will have to move out the initial 5? They will have to be moved out and re-moved back in if I want them to stay and have their house upgraded which I defintely want to keep Frita and Rory for sentimental reason they were my first and think they deserve to stay until the end. This will take amiibo cards of course. My other plans I am still...uh.. planning. I want Lucky at some point since in New Leaf he was special to me and always said something different than Stitches or said it first and just thought it was cute. That and I already have a mini graveyard that he can live by. Bunnie is in my Wild World, New Leaf and New Horizons and that will NEVER change <3

 

[VelveteenCat]

I went with the second option.
Going in, I didn't even know any villagers. I had seen a few images online and therefore had a vague idea that I wanted the "dog wrapped in bandadges", the "red goth dog" and the "black and white anteater." These three did end up being my first officially permanent villagers.

In the beginning I didn't want to be spoiled too much on what villagers existed, so meeting both Groucho and Tabby was a surprise. I also met Olaf on an island and decided that I didn't want him - really regretted that one almost right away and was very happy when I finally got to adopt him.

Eventually I looked up lists of villagers and tried figuere out who would fit in permanently. I didn't have Olaf at that point, so I was doubting whether to get him or Chops and eventually both of them were up for adoption, so I just went with it.
I wanted a duck and it was between Gloria, who fits my island's aesthetic the most, and Miranda, who shares my birthday. I also wanted a snooty cat, either Monique or Olivia, and I don't know how many times I changed my mind about which of the two to get before I finally chose Olivia and decided to also get Felicity as somewhat of a compromise and to replace Tabby as my peppy in the long run. At that point I had planned to also move in either Mac or Antonio (if I had to choose today, I'd pick Antonio), but for some reason I couldn't get myself to move out Tabby, so that's why my permanent lineup doesn't include a jock.
I was contemplating for a while if I would want to let go of anyone in favor of Antonio, but I realized that not only do I love my villagers individually, but they are also just absolutlely perfect as a bunch.

I still think Monique would have been a really great choice, but I'm happy that I went with Olivia and Felicity. Others who I almost considered and who would have been great choices include Pietro because clowns have something very unsettling about them and he is so adorable and Muffy because a gothic sheep would probably feel right at home on my gothic island.

 

[Nunnafinga]

Heh,I never really have a plan as to which villagers I want.I generally have a core of permanent villagers then periodically add some new ones along the way.I recently moved in a couple of my old New Leaf villagers,Nan and Ketchup.

 

[Chris]

Maintaining a personality balance and regularly rotating villagers in/out was generally more important to me than having specific villagers. However, more recently, I've become a little more picky about who I invite to live on my islands.


Vylbrand (est. March 2020)
For the most part I've been going with flow for Vylbrand. No one is considered permanent. However, I ended up falling in love with my starter villagers, Goose and Katt, despite hating their designs initially*, so if anyone is going to accidentally end up being permanent it will be one of those two. Originally my plan was just to take any villager I came across that liked. Over time I've been drawn more towards wanting to create a grungy 80s Berlin/London sort of vibe and I've been loosely keeping this in mind when selecting villagers more recently. The only villagers I've actively gone searching for are Raddle (May 2020), Fuchsia (late 2020), and now Cyd (currently LF). However, I can't see myself making a habit of doing this in Vylbrand.

*Yes, you read that correctly, I really used to hate Goose!!


Swanstone (est. Feb 2021)
I've a specific plan in mind for this island, mostly because I want to create something that contrasts Vylbrand, so I'm tackling it in a completely different way. My plan for Swanstone is something more clean and regal. I've gone into it knowing I'd like to have Knox and Sterling as villagers and I think I want for them to be permanent. There is also a theme I'm keeping in mind in terms of villagers and I'm going to actively go searching for villagers that fit that theme. Obviously there hasn't been much room to change my style yet for this island, because it's still very new, but it's still a vastly different approach to how I've been playing Vylbrand over the past year.

 

[Felix Felicis]

I want villagers who match a theme. But since the theme of my island has changed a lot in a year (mythological, Saint Seiya, Asian inspired Chinese dramas, Peter Pan ...) inevitably, the villagers change! I'm not really attached to any of them (and their poor personality doesn't help) so I will choose them more for their looks and the exterior of their house. Draco and Chester are good examples.

 

[WaileaNoRei]

I came in not knowing about any villagers, just like @Cotton Candy Cat but kind of took the opposite route. Since I started the game I just have continuously obsessively looked up info on the different villagers. And trying to plan who my final villagers will be.

At first I also had no idea how easy it would be to rotate through villagers and find them again (I mean, still a pain sometimes but very doable) so I thought I needed to find and get all my favorite villagers ASAP. Which meant I had to figure out my villagers.

I initially thought, because I got Genji as one of my starters and he was my first favorite (even though I really liked Shari too). Anyway, cutting down a very long story/ villager research montage, I found a list I was trying to make in June 2020 which listed:

genji
Agnes
Tabby
Graham
Cole
Soleil
Annalisa
Gladys
Ruby
Kabuki
Willow
fauna
ursala
Biff
tangy
Apple
Bangle (?)


yes, it was 15 villagers long. Even then I could not quite figure out how to narrow it down.

currently I still want to figure out an eventual permanent set of villagers, but the ‘eventual’ timeline is a lot longer...since apparently I am going to play this game forever, and I have discovered I really enjoy having different villagers and like way too many of them to lock in who I want forever just yet

here is who I have now:

Genji
Bangle
Agnes
Flurry
Tabby
Soleil
Hamlet
Sydney
Weber
Deena

I am trying to be better about letting villagers move out. I plan to let Agnes move, and probably Hamlet (though I really love him) - unsure on deena and Weber who are both new.

Tabby
Bangle
Flurry
Genji

are pretty much definitely permanent

the list of villagers I am interested in inviting and meeting is:

Spoiler: Very long

1. Paula
2. Charlise
3. Deirdre
4. Flo
5. Tammy
6. Walker
7. Benjamin
8. Wade
10. Tangy
11. Apple
12. Pinky
13. Clay
14.Leopold
15. Megan
16. Toby
17. Chelsea
18. Sally
19. Sylvana
20. Kidd (yes this is because I saw him on @Moritz ’s island)
21. Lopez
22. Tammi
23. Pango

there are also some villagers I let go who I may move back:

Graham (I have not found another smug I love as much as him yet)
Cole
Maggie
Ike

on my second island I think the lineup will be something like:

Reneigh
Flip
Mac
Ursala
Freckles (don’t yet have her)
Bea (don’t yet have her)
Rex
Merry/ Wendy
Judy
Rodney (don’t have him yet)

(Incidentally, my second island also currently has cyd, who I will move out once I get his picture. He is very lightly gifted, but if say @Vrisnem gets tired of island hopping, I hope to have his photo soon, and will then be giving him away)

okay yeah.

TL;DR - So....final lineup is still a big question mark, but I am now enjoying the journey and not stressing (too much at least). I love way too many villagers . All hail Tabby

 

[Bulbadragon]

I intended to keep a few villagers permanently, but since I have the amiibos for those villagers, I've decided to just let villagers move out if they ask as long as I have their photo. I like having new villagers all time and getting a big collection of photos. Also, it keeps it my island feeling fresh.

 

[moo_nieu]

i didnt really have a plan but i think i wanted to get flurry again. i never did though! i still have my two starters, ursula and tybalt, bc i fell in love with them and as i got more villagers i quickly found more who i didnt want to part with. i did actively hunt nan tho after i found chevre bc they needed to be together atm all my villagers are permanent residents

 

[Marshmallows]

My lineup has changed so much. Before the game released, I had a list of villagers I wanted... it didn't include a couple of the first villagers I found on mystery islands, yet I still have them now (Twiggy and Zucker.) I did manage to get most on my list, but I keep finding new villagers I like.

I was sure I would never let go of Coco or Fauna, but I did to try out other characters (with plans to bring them back).

I've had quite a few villagers pass through my island (either through amiibo or on a whim from the campsite or mystery islands) and there's still more I'd like to meet. I feel a bit bad about cycling through them so often, but at the same time treat my island like a vacation spot, with some staying in the summer and others in the winter, or some just for holidays. The only negative is that decorating yards is futile.

 

[Magnolia_]

When I started playing ACNH, I knew I wanted Mitzi and Purrl as permanent residents because they were my favourites in ACWW and ACNL. But I haven’t got them yet after a whole year of playing. My search continues! So my journey has been a matter of randomly inviting characters and not wanting to let them go Lol. Especially Lopez who is my favourite in ACNH