Since the New Horizons, there are a few rare villagers that players are still desperate to snag for their islands.
There are also a combined 66 specialty characters that have appeared across the series. A specialty character in Animal Crossing is a character that can’t move into a player's town. These characters include Tom Nook, Isabelle, Celeste, and Kicks. Not every speciality character or villager has made an appearance in each of the games, and some made their first appearance in New Horizons. These characters also tend to range widely in popularity - with particularly Tom Nook being a character of contention.
Because the Animal Crossing series has been around for a while - and has accumulated many fans - there are a number of tier lists, rankings, and wide-ranging opinions on which characters are the best and which are the worst. Such differing opinions have led to many arguments over the years. For instance, the argument over who is better, Raymond or Marshall, is still raging. But while people have their favorite villagers and specialty characters, each player most certainly has characters they would be okay to never see again. Here are five characters that New Horizons could do without.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Could Lose Reese
Reese, the pink alpaca, is not exactly a long-standing character, having only been introduced to the series in New Leaf. In that title, she owned and ran Re-Tail, a shop located on Main Street. In New Horizons, Nook’s Cranny is the main (and currently only) non-specialty shop on the island. Instead, Reese co-hosts the Wedding Season event, which takes place in June, with her partner Cyrus. During the event, Reese basically tells the player what kind of photo she wants taken and that’s pretty much it. The event itself is cute but rather lackluster. The items themselves are nice, but they easily could’ve been sold at Nook’s Cranny. As it stands, Reese doesn’t really need to be a part of New Horizons.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Could Lose Cyrus
Cyrus, the blue alpaca, originally customized furniture for players in New Leaf. Now that crafting has been implemented as a gameplay mechanic, there is no need for Cyrus’ help. In New Horizons, Cyrus co-hosts the Wedding Season event, which, as stated above, isn’t exactly the most exciting. Even worse for Cyrus, he barely does anything. His part in the event is to be in the photo, and then he gives players whichever furniture items they’d like to purchase with the event currency. It really doesn’t seem like either of these characters needed to be included. A wedding event could have taken place with regular villagers, or even other players, with items being available for purchase at Nook’s Cranny.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Could Lose Gullivarrr
Gullivarrr is essentially just the pirate version of Gulliver, the seagull. Their mechanics are so similar that is just doesn’t make sense as to why there needed to be two of them. Sure, instead of digging for parts, the player has to dive to find Gullivarrr’s device in ACNH, and the items they receive from him are pirate-themed, but is he really necessary?
Gullivarrr may have worked better as a limited-time character, who was replaced by Gulliver once the summer season was over. There are some theories that Gullivarrr and Gulliver are actually the same character, and while that would be an interesting twist, it really only demonstrates just how similar - and redundant - these two characters are.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Could Lose Label
Label, the fashion designer hedgehog, is a complicated character. The Able Sisters in Animal Crossing are given a rather tragic backstory, filled with grief and family drama. Label is the middle child, who left her older sister Mable to look after their younger sister Sable, so she could pursue her dream of becoming a famous fashion designer. Putting aside the drama, Label ended up being one of the few characters that shows up each week in the Resident Services plaza. While she could have had an interesting design mechanic, she just tells the player to dress for a certain theme, then gives them one of her pieces - which leaves much to be desired - and a coupon for the Able Sister’s shop. Despite such a rich character background, Label ends up being fairly forgettable.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Could Lose Zipper T Bunny
It should come as no surprise that the infamous Zipper T. Bunny has made this list. The rabbit who hosts the annual Bunny Day event is incredibly unsettling. The Bunny Day event itself is not a particular fan-favorite due to its intrusiveness and repetitiveness. Combined with its ominous - and vaguely threatening - host, this is something that New Horizons could really do without.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Could Lose All Robot Villagers
There is something so incredibly unsettling about the robot villagers. The robot style villagers are Del, the cranky “alligator,” Ribbot, the jock “frog,” and Sprocket, the jock “ostrich.” While these three may be cool to some players, these robots' existence within the Animal Crossing universe brings up many concerning questions. Who made these creatures? Are they truly sentient, AI type beings? Are they being controlled? Just like Zipper, there is something not quite right about this lot.
With such a wide selection of specialty characters available within the Animal Crossing universe, it would be nice to see some of the favorites make a return - like Brewster the barista pigeon or Lloid the gyroid. Whether or not Nintendo intends to makes these additions remains unknown for now. However, these are some characters that New Horizons could definitely do without.