Animal Crossing Wild World Characters

Get to know the Animal Crossing Wild World characters here, plus learn the ways to quickly build friendships with the villagers you encounter in your Animal Crossing town andhow to get pictures of animals. There are some simple strategies to boosting your popularity which are easy to master.

Good relationships with the Animal Crossing Wild World characters make the game more fun and open up more opportunities to get presents (and don't we all like those!) and prizes. Best of all, if a resident likes you enough, he or she will give you a picture (a framed photo of him or herself, with a message on the back, which you can display in your house).

While you don't have to be best buds with every Animal Crossing character who moves into your town, it's a good idea to befriend at least two or three of them to get the most from the game. Scroll down for a full Animal Crossing villagers list and vote on your favorite!

This guide to the ACWW villagers continues from the popular Animal Crossing Wild World Tips - a guide to making money and getting the best from your game.

Image by fedegrafo on morgueFile.

Make yourself known to other Animal Crossing Villagers

Be friendly and your Animal Crossing town's characters will soon get to like you.

Be chatty. Tap a character or press A to chat. If you are given a choice of answers, the positive or enthusiastic response is usually best. A negative or insulting response can put the other character in a bad mood. Better to make them glow or send them away singing by saying nice things! (If an animal is already in a bad mood, he or she might not want to talk to you at all.)

Go visiting. If an Animal Crossing character is at home, you can press A or tap their front door to go inside. If you 'speak' (press A or tap) to them, they will ask you what you want. Sometimes they may offer you a challenge or ask for your opinion (remember: be nice to stay on their good side!). Try to talk to each character once a day, either outdoors or by visiting their homes.

Keep appointments. Occasionally a character will ask to visit your home. Although you should say yes, they make it a little more awkward for you by asking you to set a time in the future. Too soon and they will say they can't make it. You need to choose a time when you know you either will still be playing or will be free to return to your game. Of course, make a mental note of the time you agreed upon. Then be IN your house at that time. The character will turn up nice and prompt! He or she will have a little wander around your house and you can keep tapping/pressing A to chat with him/her. They will probably have a little gossip about the other residents, or may rate your furnishings and taste! They don't stay long, but these visits seem to help solidify friendships so are worth the effort.

Do favours. Animals will sometimes test your friendliness by asking you to make a delivery for them of a letter or present for another character. Always accept if you can - but note the timescale. If they say they need it done in the next 10 minutes, make sure you have the next 10 minutes available. Don't be tempted to open the letter/present if you want to stay on the good side of sender and recipient! The recipient will also be happy with your kind deed, and will send you back to say thank you to the sender.

Nice guys and gals sometimes win! Sometimes you can get an animal pic without doing much at all. The first picture I received was from an animal who I hadn't really made much effort with in terms of writing letters or sending gifts. One day she simply said that she never heard bad things about me and gave me her picture. Easy as that!

Be a penpal and stay popular!

This is the most important thing you can do to win a character's affection. From time to time, he or she will hint to you to write more letters. If you want to get a character's picture, you might have to write several in a row (either on the same day, or one a day for several days).

Buy notepaper from Tom Nook. You might occasionally find some in the Lost and Found or recycling bin, if you are lucky. Most of the time you need to buy it. It's not expensive, only 160 bells for 4 sheets.

Tap on the notepaper to get to the letter writing screen. You have up to 4 lines and can use the alphabet, numbers, and special characters.

Be careful. It can be tempting to save time and write random gibberish. The game can recognise this and the animal will be unhappy with your letter! Repeating the same word too many times is also a no-go.

'Friend' is a good word to use to boost your friendship.

The animals love long letters. (A long letter is only 4 lines, so it is worth the effort.) A short letter is better than nothing. However, if you are hoping for a high value gift (e.g. furniture) from that character, write the maximum amount. If you want clothing, a medium-length letter is best. A one-line letter will only attract a low-value gift.

Presents make a big difference! Always attach a present (drag it from your inventory onto the envelope once you have finished writing the letter) for maximum friendship. Even a piece of fruit or a friendship will be accepted as a gift, but higher-value items may boost your popularity with that animal more quickly.

Include the item name. If you are sending a 'kiddie couch', write the words 'kiddie couch' in your letter. Apparently this does work, even when it looks a little odd to write something like 'here is a groovy wall for you'!

Use lovehearts! Putting lovehearts on your letters seems to increase your friendship with that animal. (It's OK, really, it's just a game!)

Use every opportunity to interact

Sometimes an Animal Crossing character will set you a challenge. This might be direct (e.g. Let's see who can be the first to catch a seahorse! Ready?) or indirect (e.g. I'd love to get a Diamond shirt as a gift; I need some white furniture to be really happy).

Direct Challenges

You should accept these when you can, even if you don't think you will be able to find a seahorse (or whatever) in the next day. In fact, it doesn't matter if you lose, some characters will actually get quite upset if you beat them to finding a certain bug or fish. But some will reward you (they usually want to keep your catch though!).

Indirect Challenges

You often get these when you visit a character in his or her home. Sometimes you will strike lucky and will have the item. The character won't know this, you have to go back again to let them know. Other times, you might have to hunt for it or buy it for them, if you think they are worth it! It will boost your friendship and there's often a reward involved in any case.

They are tops for winning friends

Yep, make sure you keep on digging up those round blue fossils that you can get from star-shaped patches in the ground. They are good for more than filling the Museum or selling to Tom Nook. The ACWW residents love to get them as gifts!

1. Dig up the fossils - you can find up to 3 a day in star-shaped patches.

2. Take your fossils to Blathers in the Museum for identification. If it's one you haven't already donated, he will ask to keep it. You decide.

3. If you are unsure of the value of your fossil, take it to Tom Nook who will offer you a certain amount of bells. A dinosaur skull or torso can get you up to 5000 bells, so you will probably want to sell him these. Keep the lower value fossils for gifts.

4. Write to the animal whose picture you want. Instead of attaching a gift, send a fossil.

5. Next time you visit the home of that animal, the fossil will be on display and you will be one step closer to getting a picture!

What to do with ill neighbors

If you haven't seen an ACWW neighbour out and about, you should visit him or her at home. You might find the animal pacing up and down, shivering or with black swirls about her head. This animal is ill.

Fortunately, Tom Nook stocks a daily supply of medicine. Run to his shop and buy a bag of medicine for 400 bells. Then hurry back to the character and ask Need Medicine? The animal will be very appreciative of your efforts.

Some illnesses last several days so you need to repeat this each day until that character is well again. However, they only need one dose of medicine per day.

You may get a reward for being such a caring friend, and your friendship will be boosted.

By the way, asking "Need Medicine?" if you don't have any is considered to be teasing and will make the character unhappy.

Which AC:WW animal did you love best? KK Slider seems to come out tops as a popular character. I liked the way he was always happy to take requests and play you a song.

KK also appears in the newer Animal Crossing: New Leaf game.

You'll be the most popular person in town in no time! See how many ACWW animal pics you can collect.

By the way, you can also get pictures from ACWW visitors such as Pascal and K.K. Slider, and from shopkeepers and town employees such as Tom Nook.

A guide to keeping your favourite villages

There you are, well on your way to getting an animal's picture, and suddenly he or she decides to move out. Frustrating, isn't it?

Help is at hand. You can sometimes influence a character to stay, with a little persistence.

First of all, do you visit your town every day? If you only play once in a while, villagers will move in and out in your absence and there's nothing much you can do about it. If you visit every day, you can keep track of the residents' comings and goings.

You will get a hint that an animal is going to move out because you won't see them out and about in your town. Go and visit their house. If they are in a bare room with only boxes, they are planning to leave the next day.

Do you want them to leave? If yes, just go outside again.

If you want them to stay, you need to talk to them. They will tell you they are moving and will give you a chance to say something back. You need to click the option that says something like 'Don't go!' (If they ask how much you like them, pick the option that says you really like them!)

Sometimes the animal will say that their mind is made up. Actually, there is still a chance to convince them, but it may take some work. You need to boost your friendship with them - and you need to do it immediately.

The best way to do this is to write them 2 or 3 letters, enclosing high value gifts such as fossils. Make your letters the full 4 lines long, too. Use the word 'friend'. Make sure you mail these right away.

Keep going back to their house to chat with them. You might get different responses each time, along the lines of 'If you really want me to stay, I'll think about it.' Next time you speak, they might say something different, like 'My mind is made up' but don't worry. It's not what they say that counts, but how much you can boost your friendship with them.

I had a character who insisted that she was leaving, but with this strategy I managed to keep her after all even though she gave no clue that she had changed her mind.

Now all you can do is wait. The next day, if you see your favorite character out and about, you are in luck - they stayed. If you didn't do enough, sadly their house will be gone and you will have to wait for a new villager to arrive.

Sometimes the same Animal Crossing character does return, but unfortunately these are different versions (although they look identical to the one who was there before). OK, I'll use an example: if Elvis leaves your town, you might get another Elvis move in at some point, but you will be a stranger to him.

Did he have his mind wiped by aliens? Is he an evil twin? A clone? Just a different Elvis from another town? Who can say!

Good luck with getting your favorite Animal Crossing animal to stay in your town!

Image by taliesin on morgueFile.

Who do you have in your town right now? Got any tips to share about staying friends with Animal Crossing Wild World characters?