When you start Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you are tasked with the job of settling on a deserted island, and making a life there. You have a tent, a cot, a lantern, and not much else. However, you're not alone either. When you first arrive, you are introduced to two others ready to start a new life on your island. Who are these animals and how did they come to join you on this adventure? We here at iMore have all the answers about your starting villagers.
So I have to share my island?
Not only do you share your island starting with two others, but a big part of the game is attracting new villagers to join you as well. To complete your island, you will need to convince another eight villagers to move there, and keep them all happy enough to stick around. While not every player is a fan of every villager, with nearly 400 to choose from, most everyone can find villagers who they like enough to share their island with, and hopefully who get along well enough to stay.
While nearly 400 villagers might seem like an overwhelming number to sift through in order to find your favorites, all the villagers fall into one of eight different personality types, which are then further divided up into 35 different animal species. For example, if you want a jock lion, you have three to choose from, but if you want a lazy lion, there's only one of those. Some personality types get along better with others, and given just how many villagers there are, getting the ones you want might even require a trip to eBay in search of the right Amiibo Cards.
Who can I start off with?
While you can use Amiibo cards or Mystery Island Tours to recruit new villagers to your island, your first two neighbors are selected mostly at random. I say mostly because your first two villagers personalities are set in stone. You will always start with a male Jock villager and a female Uchi villager.
Jock Villagers
Obsessed with fitness and health, Jock villagers are outside often and usually exercising. They will steer most conversations towards these topics, but are friendly and encouraging. They get along with most other personality types, except for Snooty and Lazy villagers. The Jock villagers include:
- Antonio (anteater)
- Axel (elephant)
- Bam (deer)
- Biff (hippo)
- Bill (duck)
- Billy (goat)
- Boone (gorilla)
- Boots (alligator)
- Buck (horse)
- Bud (lion)
- Coach (bull)
- Cobb (pig)
- Cousteau (frog)
- Curly (pig)
- Dom (sheep)
- Drift (frog)
- Flip (monkey)
- Frobert (frog)
- Genji (rabbit)
- Goose (chicken)
- Hamlet (hamster)
- Iggly (penguin)
- Jay (bird)
- Jitters (bird)
- Kevin (pig)
- Kid Cat (cat)
- Kody (cub)
- Leonardo (tiger)
- Louie (gorilla)
- Lyman (koala)
- Mac (dog)
- Moose (mouse)
- Mott (lion)
- Peck (bird)
- Pierce (eagle)
- Poncho (cub)
- Ribbot (frog/robot)
- Roald (penguin)
- Rod (mouse)
- Rory (lion)
- Rowan (tiger)
- Rudy (cat)
- Samson (mouse)
- Scoot (duck)
- Sheldon (squirrel)
- Sly (alligator)
- Snake (rabbit)
- Sparro (bird)
- Sprocket (ostrich/robot)
- Sterling (eagle)
- Stinky (cat)
- Tad (frog)
- Tank (rhino)
- Teddy (bear)
- Tybalt (tiger)
Uchi Villagers
Uchi (Japanese for big sister) is a new personality type to the Animal Crossing series introduced in the last game, New Leaf. Uchi villagers are cheerful, upbeat, and caring. They can be blunt, but never in a mean way. They love dancing and even singing, and they will almost always offer you medicine if you get stung by a wasp. They don't get along well with Snooty and Cranky personality types. Because they are new, there aren't nearly as many villagers with this personality type. The Uchi villagers include:
- Agnes (pig)
- Canberra (koala)
- Charlise (bear)
- Cherry (dog)
- Deirdre (deer)
- Diva (frog)
- Flo (penguin)
- Frita (sheep)
- Fuchsia (deer)
- Hazel (squirrel)
- Katt (cat)
- Mira (rabbit)
- Muffy (sheep)
- Pashmina (goat)
- Paula (bear)
- Phoebe (ostrich)
- Plucky (chicken)
- Renée (rhino)
- Reneigh (horse)
- Rocket (gorilla)
- Shari (monkey)
- Sylvia (kangaroo)
- Tammy (cub)
- Ursala (bear)
I didn't get who I wanted - do I have to start over?
Source: Nintendo and iMore
If you really had your heart set on a particular villager to start out with, you can reset before completing the tutorial and try again. However, you can also recruit new villagers through Mystery Island Tours, or by purchasing the Amiibo cards. While new Amiibo cards are sold in blind packs and are pretty hard to come by these days, most of the singles can be bought on eBay, many for just a couple dollars. The really popular ones can be harder to find, and I've even seen some listed for as much as $100! Still, if you get the Amiibo cards for the villagers you want, you can invite them to your island that way.
Questions?
Do you have any questions about your starting villagers? Do you just adore your companions or are you ready to trade them in? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to check out our other Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides for all your Nook approved goodness!
○ Zelda outfits for Animal Crossing
○ How to make money fast
○ Multiplayer guide
○ How to become best friends
○ The NookPhone explained
○ What is NookLink?
○ Can you play Animal Crossing on Nintendo Switch Lite?
○ Every Animal Crossing amiibo
○ Best Animal Crossing Switch accessories
