To celebrate May Day, Animal Crossing: New Horizons introduced a one-time special event in which players can tour an island with a hedge maze puzzle that must be completed with a limited selection of tools. By taking on this tour before the event period ends on May 7, players can snag nine Bell Vouchers for some extra funding as well as a unique item courtesy of a long-time Animal Crossing mainstay: Rover. Though the item, Rover's Briefcase, is a purely aesthetic decoration to place on one's island or within their house, what it represents through the meeting with Rover is significant for the series.
After releasing on March 20, 2020, New Horizons became the highest-selling game of that month — as well as one of the fastest-selling Nintendo games of all time. With such a huge install base on a system that has brought many players back onto a Nintendo console following the lackluster sales of the Wii U, no doubt this is the first Animal Crossing game many have gotten the chance to experience. As a result those players might not know why Rover is such an important character, since his role is rather subdued here compared to almost every other one of his appearances since the series' original title on the GameCube.
The first major wave of content introduced by Animal Crossing: New Horizon's version 1.2 update released for Earth Day did a lot to harken back to the history of the series with a number of returning NPCs. Players have had time to grow accustomed to the recurring antics of Leif, a nature-loving sloth, and Redd, a fox with a penchant for selling counterfeit art. However, with only one May Day Tour ticket available to each player, understanding the history of this old feline friend is the best way to appreciate his one-time appearance.
The Roving Good Samaritan
Rover is one of the first characters whom the world was introduced to in the entire Animal Crossing universe. In the original game from 2002, Rover shows up on the train taking players to their town as soon as they boot it up for the first time. The pleasingly colorful anthropomorphic cat who bears a typically canine name sits down on the opposite end of the booth and starts chatting about a number of things that act as a secret world generator for the player. More mundane questions confirm the time and date that will serve as a starting point for the all-important in-game timer, but some of the questions served a greater purpose.
Before Animal Crossing: New Horizons gave players the opportunity to design their own character models and island landscapes, Rover's questions on the train determined their gender and appearances. In a way the system was similar to the personality quizzes present in the early Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games that turned players into a Pokemon, a system which made a comeback in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX. Once Rover's questioning is finished in the original Animal Crossing, he makes a call to his friend Tom Nook and secures a plot of land for the player.
The congenial cat would come to serve a similar role in almost every game from that point on. In Animal Crossing: City Folk on the Wii, he asks the barrage of questions to players while riding Kapp'n's bus to the titular city, and in Animal Crossing: New Leaf on the 3DS, he takes his place on a train once again and refers to his voyages 10 years prior. Even in the few games he does not serve this role within, Rover appears in other capacities. Animal Crossing: Wild World on the DS passes character-creating duties to a taxi-driving Kapp'n, and Rover instead appears in Brewster's cafe The Roost where he sets up the player's ability to send and receive mail over the Internet.
How Rover Retreads History In New Horizons
Like in Wild World, Nintendo passes the initial set-up systems off from Rover to Timmy and Tommy Nook for the opening moments of Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Switch. The blue cat does not even appear on the Dodo Airlines plane that takes everyone to their deserted islands, in spite of the fact that many would have thought it a perfect opportunity to add to Rover's experience with public transit. Up until the Earth Day update, it was believed that he and other series mainstays like Redd may not appear at all.
Once New Horizons players finally got the opportunity to meet Rover on their May Day Tours, the small bits of dialogue he offers provide a fair amount of fan service. For one, it turns out Rover's place in the game is something of a role reversal from the GameCube title: This time Tom Nook has called upon Rover to help set up the maze-exploring event. Doing so has resulted in him taking airplane trips between various islands, and the character even references how different that has been than riding trains.
The special briefcase Rover hands out is also adorned with stickers that have various references for long-time players to appreciate. On one side there are stickers featuring a Dodo Airlines seaplane, the Animal Crossing leaf logo, a bag of bells, and a gyroid — another series staple collectible item which has yet to appear in New Horizons. On the other side are two stickers depicting a train and a bus, as well as stickers showing off a turnip, a house, and an acorn possibly referring to the Acorn Festival from Wild World. Then on either side players can find stickers bearing a shovel and Redd's business logo.
At the end of his conversation on the May Day maze island, Rover tells the player that he hopes "fate will bring us together again sometime." Given the character's prominence in the annals of Animal Crossing history and his reference to hearing that Tom Nook's new island might be a great place to visit, there's a chance players may get to see Rover in New Horizons again. However, for now the next major events to look forward to are International Museum Day toward the end of May and the return of Reese and Cyrus from New Leaf for a special wedding-themed photo shoot in June.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.