Summary
There are many popular and iconic NPCs in theAnimal Crossingseries who play various roles in the player’s town and help support the overall gameplay experience.Animal Crossing: New Horizonsadded a handful of new faces to this roster such as Orville and Wilbur of Dodo Airlines, Flick the Bug-Off host, and C.J. the Fishing Tourney host, but many classic characters were sidelined in the process. As such, there are a few NPCs that deserve to be revitalized in a sequel toAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsin order to give them a more useful function within the game.
Not only were some of the series' classicNPCs sidelined inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, several were missing from the game entirely at launch. While the steady stream of updates did eventually add back many beloved characters, some of their new roles felt very underwhelming, and even after these updates many NPCs from past entries were still missing entirely.Animal Crossing: New Horizonsmissed an opportunity to give these characters the prominent roles they deserve, and the nextAnimal Crossinggame should look to update their inclusion.
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Reese
Reese the pink alpaca originally appeared inAnimal Crossing: New Leafas the co-owner of Re-Tail along with her husband Cyrus, and was the main source of Bells for players looking to sell their unwanted items. InAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, she appears along withCyrus in the Wedding Season eventwhere players are able to take special wedding photos of the two on Harv’s Island. This is a far cry from the prominence she had inNew Leaf, and even after the 2.0 update forNew Horizonsthat gave Cyrus his old job of furniture customization, Reese is left with nothing new to do. She should return to her shopkeeper role in a future game.
Digby
As the brother ofAnimal Crossing’s popular Shih Tzu Isabelle, it’s a shame Digby has never had a more important role in the series. He was introduced alongside Isabelle inAnimal Crossing: New Leafwhere he oversees the Happy Home Showcase feature, although he is featured more prominently in spin-off titles and has even received his own amiibo as a result. Despite having an amiibo of his own, his entire presence is limited to small interactions that can be unlocked by scanning hisamiibo inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, leaving a lot of room for him to be more integral to a future game’s mechanics.
Resetti
One of the biggest NPC slights inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsis the downgrade given to Mr. Resetti. Since the original GameCube title, a lecture from Mr. Resetti had been the dreaded consequence of turning off the game without saving properly, leading to the character becoming an angry, iconic staple of the series. However, withAnimal Crossing: New Horizons' auto-save feature, Mr. Resetti’s old job was essentially defunct, and he had to gain new employment with Nook Inc.’s Rescue Service, which most players will hardly ever use. This angry mole deserves a more important role, perhaps overseeing a newmining mechanic in a futureAnimal Crossinggame.
Isabelle
With her introduction inAnimal Crossing: New Leafas the assistant to the player in their mayoral role, Isabelle quickly became the new face of the series and one of its most popular characters. While she is featured somewhat prominently inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsas Tom Nook’s co-workerat Resident Services, the usefulness of her role is severely reduced in proportion to the popularity of her character. She can help the player change the island flag, town tune, and check the island’s appeal, but not much else, and her announcements when the player first boots up the game for the day become obsolete after a while, leaving Isabelle to play a rather underwhelming role.
Animal Crossing: New Horizonsis available for Nintendo Switch.
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