# Bringing back villagers (Updated answer!)



## Damniel (Apr 24, 2020)

hey guys,

im wondering if anyone has any experience with moving out any of their original 5 villagers (with the generic houses) and then having the same villagers move back in. i love bam and phoebe, but i’d much prefer their original houses. I am considering having someone hold them and give them back to me

has anyone done this yet? if yes, what’s the experience like? do they remember you and acknowledge that they’re moving back to your own? do they come back with their original houses?

Edit: I tried this out for myself here


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## Broduskii (Apr 24, 2020)

Whats ironic is that I just logged in since 2014 to ask this same question hahaha.


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## Altarium (Apr 24, 2020)

I've not done it myself, but I've seen others do it and:

- They will come back with their intended houses, not the starter 5 ones.
- Unfortunately they won't remember you


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## Jared:3 (Apr 24, 2020)

Yes when they move into another persons town they revert back to their original house form what I've heard and not the DIY houses. Im not sure if they remember you exactly when you move out but I'm assuming they do


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## Luella (Apr 24, 2020)

It's a pain in the bootie to kick specific villagers. :/

I think it would be hard to find someone who is willing to hold 2 villagers. Or 1 even. But if you can that's great!

And I don't know how much their specific amiibo card cost, but if you can get them (or able to make your own NFC215 amiibos) it would be the easiest route since you can selectively pick out villagers through the campsite.


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## Damniel (Apr 24, 2020)

Altarium said:


> I've not done it myself, but I've seen others do it and:
> 
> - They will come back with their intended houses, not the starter 5 ones.
> - Unfortunately they won't remember you



that’s quite strange considering they remember you when you visit their new town. like if they just remember you but forgot you when they moved back that’d be strange 



Luella said:


> It's a pain in the bootie to kick specific villagers. :/
> 
> I think it would be hard to find someone who is willing to hold 2 villagers. Or 1 even. But if you can that's great!
> 
> And I don't know how much their specific amiibo card cost, but if you can get them (or able to make your own NFC215 amiibos) it would be the easiest route since you can selectively pick out villagers through the campsite.



there are cycling towns that im sure would do it if you paid them enough. i do have amiibos tho ty. im looking for my starters to keep their memories mainly


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## Heartcore (Apr 24, 2020)

I didn't do this with one of my original villagers, but I moved Diana out to make a spot for someone and then moved her back in with an Amiibo and she didn't remember anything about living on the island. It was like starting over completely with her.


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## Rubombee (Apr 24, 2020)

aw geez, that sucks :/ I love Cherry but her house looks so bad…


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## Broduskii (Apr 24, 2020)

I wish we could just reset their houses.


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## Damniel (Apr 24, 2020)

Heartcore said:


> I didn't do this with one of my original villagers, but I moved Diana out to make a spot for someone and then moved her back in with an Amiibo and she didn't remember anything about living on the island. It was like starting over completely with her.



this is different because amiibo villagers are considered “new” so they don’t retain memories 

what im wondering is if you move out one villager and move back in the same one


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## Heartcore (Apr 24, 2020)

Damniel said:


> this is different because amiibo villagers are considered “new” so they don’t retain memories
> 
> im asking if you move out one villager and move back in the same one



Regardless, they won't remember you.


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## Rubombee (Apr 24, 2020)

And you absolutely can't get the first villagers to change their flooring and wallpaper?


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## Damniel (Apr 24, 2020)

Rubombee said:


> And you absolutely can't get the first villagers to change their flooring and wallpaper?


i gave phoebe wallpaper for her birthday and she didn't put it up. so i doubt it


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## Rubombee (Apr 24, 2020)

Damniel said:


> i gave phoebe wallpaper for her birthday and she didn't put it up. so i doubt it


Damn. ahhhhhh i really don't want to start over with cherry ;u;


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## hootenanny (Apr 24, 2020)

i can't remember who, but i swear i saw someone here on the forums a few days ago who said that when their villager moved to a friend's island & then eventually got to the boxes stage after deciding to move once more, when the poster came to talk them into moving to their island again, the villager said they were excited to move back to their original island (aka they seemed to retain the memories from before they moved) 

if this is true, though, it only applies to /that specific instance/ of the villager. like, if i had roald and he moved out, and then later i moved in a new roald via amiibo or finding him on a mystery island, he wouldn't remember me because those are all different versions of him.


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## raqball (Apr 24, 2020)

I went on mystery island tours this morning looking for a new resident... I had just booted Twiggy out and guess who is on Island # 1.... Twiggy!

LOL

I go talk to her and nope, no memory whatsoever of me..


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## Damniel (Apr 24, 2020)

hootenanny said:


> if this is true, though, it only applies to /that specific instance/ of the villager. like, if i had roald and he moved out, and then later i moved in a new roald via amiibo or finding him on a mystery island, he wouldn't remember me because those are all different versions of him.





raqball said:


> I went on mystery island tours this morning looking for a new resident... I had just booted Twiggy out and guess who is on Island # 1.... Twiggy!
> 
> LOL
> 
> I go talk to her and nope, no memory whatsoever of me..



yea memories are attached to a specific individual villager. i’ve brought in a few diff villagers with amiibos several times and each time is a “new” animal


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## Rubombee (Apr 25, 2020)

hootenanny said:


> i can't remember who, but i swear i saw someone here on the forums a few days ago who said that when their villager moved to a friend's island & then eventually got to the boxes stage after deciding to move once more, when the poster came to talk them into moving to their island again, the villager said they were excited to move back to their original island (aka they seemed to retain the memories from before they moved)
> 
> if this is true, though, it only applies to /that specific instance/ of the villager. like, if i had roald and he moved out, and then later i moved in a new roald via amiibo or finding him on a mystery island, he wouldn't remember me because those are all different versions of him.


You're giving me hope ;u;


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## hootenanny (Apr 25, 2020)

Rubombee said:


> You're giving me hope ;u;


found some more concrete proof than my memory for you haha, a poster here has confirmed that their villager remembered them when a friend helped them move the villager out & then back in again:






						Let go then invite back starter villager to get their regular house?
					

Will they remember you when you invite them back via amiibo?   Or will they remember you if they were moved to your friend's then moved back?  Deirdre has such an amazing house but I have her as my starter so it's super basic and such a shame!!  Nookipedia pic:



					www.belltreeforums.com


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## Rubombee (Apr 25, 2020)

hootenanny said:


> found some more concrete proof than my memory for you haha, a poster here has confirmed that their villager remembered them when a friend helped them move the villager out & then back in again:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


THANK YOU SO MUCH


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## Damniel (Apr 27, 2020)

Hey guys! From trying the process out myself, I have an answer to this!

For this trial, I moved out my starter jock, Bam. He moved into another island where I met him before he was put in boxes:





then, he was put in boxes (I was on the next day he moved out and his old plot was open). After talking to him he seems to have remembered me still:






so then he moved in! and the next day he gave the standard move in dialogue while he was unpacking. He didn't mention he had lived here before. Isabelle also gave the standard new move in dialogue and didn't acknowledge that he lived here before. The next day he was unpacked and out about my island, his dialogue was normal. But I noticed i was able to give him gifts right away, while I usually have to wait a bit with new villagers. This implies to me that our friendship is the same or something similar.






So yea that's it! He didn't give me a nickname before he moved, so I can't say if that would've stayed or reset. He also kept the same shirt I gave him before he moved out (college cardigan). So it seems to me I have the same old Bam, but with his standard house!


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## Damniel (Apr 27, 2020)

oh. i should also mention that the order of Bam on my map/nintendo online app is now different. He used to be first on my list but now he's gone to 7th (idk how the list is ordered). but that’s minor


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## Rubombee (Apr 27, 2020)

@Damniel Tysm for completely confirming this!! I'll be able to do this with Cherry now :3


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## Damniel (Apr 28, 2020)

did the same thing with phoebe, same experience as with Bam! Her house is much cooler than her old DIY one now lol


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## Sefyre (May 20, 2020)

Hey there!

I know that this is an older thread, but I'm new and I really need some help.

@Damniel or anyone else who is familiar with the process:

Can you please explain the process in more detail?

My partner and I are thinking of swapping out our villagers to each other - we haven't got all 10 yet so we're in a good place to do this, but we're both new to this game and are unfamiliar with the mechanics.

How (and when) did you evict your old villagers / get them to move to another person's island?

How (and when) did you get them back from the other island?

How long does this process take?

Sorry for all the questions and thank you in advance!

We both love our villagers and since neither of us have the amiibos, this is our only "guaranteed" way to get them back with their houses.


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## Damniel (May 20, 2020)

@Sefyre Hey there! Here's answers to your questions:

- I was at 10 villagers when I moved out Bam and Phoebe, but as long as you have 8 at least 8 villagers I think they'll start to move out. I time traveled day by day until my specific villagers asked to move (they'll be walking around with thought bubbles above their head if they want to move). when they tell you they're thinking about moving, you have the option of telling them to stay or that they can leave. If you tell them to stay, they stay and won't bother you about it again for a while. If you tell them they can leave, they will be ready to move the next day. That next day, they'll be all packed up ("in boxes" most people call it) and that's where others can invite them. as long as the visitor has a vacant plot in their island, they can come to yours and talk to the villager "in boxes" to invite them to live. the next day, their house will be gone and the plot will be vacant. For the other visitor, the villager will move in that day (the day after talking to the packed up villager). 

If you time travel, it can take a while to move forward days to see if anyone wants to move, but if you don't it'll take at least a couple of weeks. 

the person with your old villager can now do the same thing and time travel until they want to move. as long as you have a vacant plot, you can talk to their old villager to invite them back. This could be as early as the next day. For me I time traveled until Bam wanted to move, I gave him to the trader and only moved ahead one day so I had a free plot. On the trader's side she also time traveled until bam wanted to move and then I came to invite him back. So on my island, Bam moved out on day and was invited back the very next day

hope this helps


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## Sefyre (May 20, 2020)

@Damniel

Thank you so much! That explained it perfectly! I'll share this with my partner and we'll see about working it out.

After I got my 6th villager (first one from the campsite), one of my favorite residents wanted to move out and I freaked out and said no.

If I had known at the time, I guess I could have taken advantage of it, but I didn't, so... 

Do you know if friendship levels matter when it comes to how long you have to wait / TT to get them to move?


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## Damniel (May 20, 2020)

Sefyre said:


> @Damniel
> 
> Thank you so much! That explained it perfectly! I'll share this with my partner and we'll see about working it out.
> 
> ...


its not confirmed if it does or not, but from many people's experience it seems to just be random for move out requests


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## Sefyre (May 20, 2020)

Damniel said:


> its not confirmed if it does or not, but from many people's experience it seems to just be random for move out requests



Gotcha! Thanks a bunch!


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