It is without a doubt that most Animal Crossing players have at least one memorable encounter with a villager in the game. Ever since the introduction of the first Animal Crossing title in the early 2000s, to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the non-playable villagers have either won the hearts of its players or tested their patience with their rude and sometimes mean comments.
Now, Animal Crossing: New Horizons features 402 characters that can be recruited to live on the island. While this number may appear huge, it is worth pointing out that there are villagers in previous Animal Crossing games who did not make the cut. Overall, there are approximately 458 villagers in the entire Animal Crossing and Animal Forest franchises, which means that players won't be able to encounter these 56 villagers in the game.
Ace
Ace is a jock bird villager that first appeared in Animal Forest and Animal Crossing, the former being the then-Japanese exclusive version of the game. However, ever since Animal Forest e+, Ace no longer appeared in subsequent games in the franchise, making him a villager that is only familiar to players of the original game. Given his jock personality, Ace is mostly interested in sports and fitness and usually behaves hyperactive and motivated. Some of Ace's favorite hobbies include fishing and catching bugs and he usually gets along with peppy, cranky, and sisterly villagers, but may get in conflict with lazy and snooty characters.
Chelsea
Despite not appearing in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Chelsea is considered as a new villager who made appearances in Animal Crossing: New Leaf and the mobile game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Chelsea is a normal deer villager whose design was inspired by My Melody, a Sanrio character. True to her normal personality, Chelsea often acts kind towards the player and other villagers and will mostly get along with just about anyone apart from cranky and sisterly villagers. In New Leaf, Chelsea is already up at 6 AM and is one of the easiest villagers to befriend.
Ganon
As the name suggests, Ganon was named after the iconic villain in The Legend of Zelda franchise. He is a cranky villager who was introduced in the Welcome Amiibo update of New Leaf, and true to his inspiration, Ganon's catchphrase in Animal Crossing is "At last, Hyrule is mine!" Apart from his name, Ganon's appearance was also loosely based on Ganon from The Legend of Zelda, making him an interesting addition of fans of the action-adventure franchise. Due to his cranky personality, Ganon appears to be agitated during dialogue and is difficult to befriend, as Ganon will be angry whenever the player disagrees with what he has to say. Like all villagers under the cranky personality, Ganon will often engage the player in various competitions.
Poko
Poko is a jock cub villager that only appeared in Animal Forest e+, which means that players outside Japan never encountered him. Similar to most jock villagers, Poko's interest revolves around sports and other physical activities. It is currently unknown as to why Poko was never featured in succeeding games in the franchise but given that he only made an appearance in Animal Forest e+, he is one of the least known villagers in the entire series. Just like many jock villagers, Poko would always have a hard time understanding the lifestyle of lazy villagers and will usually get into conflict with snooty villagers, given that he is known to question people about their weight.
Penny
Last on this highlight list of villagers missing in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is Penny, who is a peppy mouse villager that made appearances in Animal Forest and the first Animal Crossing game. Her appearance is designed to have a brown and beige color scheme, which is based on the American penny, which she is named after. Additionally, Penny has black eyes and wears a subdued print shirt. True to her peppy personality, Penny often appears excitable and motivated. She is easy to befriend and has a tendency to overreact on the simplest of conversations.
Other Villagers That Are Not in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
As previously mentioned, there are 56 Animal Crossing villagers that were not featured in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It is worth pointing out that the majority of these villagers were only featured in the Japanese-exclusive series Animal Forest, making most of them unfamiliar to players outside Japan. However, there are still a handful of villagers in this list that were introduced in newer Animal Crossing games such as New Leaf and Pocket Camp, and it remains a mystery as to why they were not selected to appear in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
- Aisle, Belle, Betty, Bow, Carrot, Chai, Champ, Chico, Ciara, Clara, Dozer, Elina, Epona, Faith, Felyne, Flash, Flossie, Fruity, Gen, Hank, Hector, Holden, Huggy, Iggy, Jane, Jubel, Kit, Leigh, Madam Rosa, Marty, Masa, Megumi, Meow, Nobuo, Nosegay, Oxford, Pigleg, Quetzal, Rhoda, Rilla, Rio, Shinabiru, Sue E., Sunny, Tarou, Tiara, Twirp, Valice, Viché, Wolf Link, Yodel, and Zoe.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for the Nintendo Switch.