Shiny Villagers

[jefflomacy]

I see a lot of threads here for potential new in-game mechanics that seem reasonable. But why don't we discuss one that's completely outlandish, but I still think would be very interesting? I've raised this in the Discord a couple of times to very little appeal, so I figured I'd see what the forums think.

What would be your thoughts if Nintendo were to introduce the concept of shiny villagers into New Horizons? Much like shiny Pokemon, these would be villagers with a different texture than their usual appearance. They would however have a higher occurrence rate than shiny Pokemon. Let's say 0.5% to 1% of every Tom is a shiny Tom.

I also thought this might just be a fun thread to kill some time with and share concept art for what a villager with different texturing, but otherwise similar appearance, might look like. I'm not an artist so I used an online tool to make Shiny Tom, the red flaming cat villager:

Islands that get the shiny version of a villager are said to exist partially in an alternate dimension from the rest of the world. It is also said that using an Amiibo has a low chance of making a shiny villager show up on the shores of your island that you can invite to live there.

This feature, of course, has no other purpose than to drive you absolutely crazy chasing that rare Bob... speaking of which, what does shiny Bob look like? Or the shiny of your favorite villager?

 

[John Wick]

Please God, NO.

I played Pokemon many, many years ago and was obsessed with shinies.

It's a mania that we don't need in Animal Crossing.

There's so much to do, and so many villagers to cycle through (if you don't have any amiibo cards or figures) already, without throwing shiny villagers into the mix.

Some people might be all for it, but not me.
Keep it simple.

I want my Wolfgang to be Wolfgang, with no alternate version.

 

[Boccages]

Yeah. I see the appeal. But I don't think it's a good idea.

 

[rianne]

I don't think it would "fit" into the lore of what we know about AC (and fan theories as well). Sure, there's the UFO to shoot down, which is a Pikmin reference, as well as the alien on TV during the scheduled programming time slot. . .but that's all there is to it for me, really.

I think creating custom villagers is cool and I support the creativity you exhibited with your "shiny" villager. It's also cool seeing others conceptualize custom villagers in different media. However, I don't want the concept itself in AC, point blank.

 

[Snowesque]

I think I will pass on this. Just going off what shinies usually look like... I almost always never like the difference as it is usually bright and non-natural colors of what you would expect. I gravitate towards more natural or muted colorization almost always. Aside from that, I do not really have a drive for the sort of thing. Thinking about it in an Animal Crossing sense as well, there would not technically be multiples as there is Pokemon, so only one villager would exist. I realize that is beside the point of the creativity of the post, but that are a rather large factor I think about against towards it.

- - - Post Merge - - -

I don't think it would "fit" into the lore of what we know about AC (and fan theories as well). Sure, there's the UFO to shoot down, which is a Pikmin reference, as well as the alien on TV during the scheduled programming time slot. . .but that's all there is to it for me, really.

Some of Farley's magic gone haywire!

 

[dizzy bone]

While something like this would probably never happen, it is kinda fun to think about! There are definitely a few villagers that could benefit from some colour changes. For example, Cobb would be a cute piggy if he didn’t have that weird green colouring. Coco can have different gyroid colouring maybe? Villagers with masks/accessories can have different colour schemes too. I’m actually not a huge fan of most Pok?mon shiny recolours though.

 

[kemdi]

It's fun to think about...but ultimately I want there to only be just one version of the villagers. Unless it's like the villager's cousin or something, in which case it would just be a different villager.

 

[Sweetley]

Honestly, while it's may funny to imagine it, I don't think that this kind of concept fits into the Animal Crossing universe so well. Sure, they made in the past often references here and there to other Nintendo games, but this would look more like as if AC poorly copies Pokemon rather than a typical innuendo. Besides, like already mentioned, unlike Pokemon, villagers only exist once, so you either have to come up with some silly excuse where the other colored version of a villager comes from or you have to replace the "normal colored" villager with the shiny one. Also, I can't imagine the madness that breaks out when people trying to get a shiny villager so badly, as they are unique and all that. So overall, I prefer it more if the shiny concept sticks with Pokemon.

 

[isabll]

It's a mania that we don't need in Animal Crossing.

Agreed. I remember people being quite literally obsessed with getting all their dreamies in NL and this would only make things worse once NH comes out. I'm fine with having regular villagers!

 

[Sanaki]

Please God, NO.

I played Pokemon many, many years ago and was obsessed with shinies.

It's a mania that we don't need in Animal Crossing.

There's so much to do, and so many villagers to cycle through (if you don't have any amiibo cards or figures) already, without throwing shiny villagers into the mix.

Some people might be all for it, but not me.
Keep it simple.

I want my Wolfgang to be Wolfgang, with no alternate version.

This. I feel like it would drive me absolutely crazy because I'm stubborn and would continue to go until I was drained looking for it.

 

[EpicGamer12]

Since I'm not an Animal Crossing lunatic and I wouldn't be chasing down an island of 10 shiny dreamy villagers, I think this would be a cool idea. Just another way for your island to feel more personalized or special.

 

[jefflomacy]

Hmm. I think the easiest way to resolve the lore aspect of this problem is that Tom just decided to visit Harriet and get a full body dye job done. And he keeps it up religiously. I like this idea much better than my silly alternative dimensions suggestion in the original post. So to be consistent with this, shiny villagers always have the same eye color and other features. Only fur, feathers or other dyeable features can be changed. You could argue that they could wear different eye color contacts, but let's assume that's too much effort for villagers that won't even deliver clothes to a villager standing right next to them.

This also resolves the "multiple Toms" problem. Now we can throw a further agonizing piece into the mix: If you neglect your town for too long, your previously shiny villager returns to normal features and takes a while to re-shine. Furthermore, if your villager moves to another town, there is a 50% chance that they will give up their dying practices and return to being non-shiny. Once a villager has moved and lost the shiny attribute, it does not return, limiting the propagation of shiny villagers.

Since the island does not have Harriet initially (presumably), your island has to exceed a certain level of development before you can have a shiny villager. Moving a shiny villager into your island too soon guarantees a 100% chance loss of their shiny attribute. They may even occasionally taunt you about this, saying things like "I enjoyed my red fur but this island doesn't have a hair dresser. Too bad, me-YOWZA. I guess I'll just stick to who I naturally am."

Also, part of what I was going for in this thread is designing a feature that makes you think: "thanks, I hate it," while simultaneously being appealing to dedicated dream island designers. It sounds like I've nailed it.

 

[aburayacrossing]

Please God, NO.

I played Pokemon many, many years ago and was obsessed with shinies.

It's a mania that we don't need in Animal Crossing.

There's so much to do, and so many villagers to cycle through (if you don't have any amiibo cards or figures) already, without throwing shiny villagers into the mix.

Some people might be all for it, but not me.
Keep it simple.

I want my Wolfgang to be Wolfgang, with no alternate version.

This was my first reaction too!! Please, dear god, don’t give me more things to collect!

That said, I have often wished villagers were different colors. Maybe we could take our existing villagers to Harriet and pay for them to get a new look! Then you could choose the color you want

 

[Ossiran]

While interesting, this seems like a very bad idea and goes against the relaxing nature of the game.

 

[Sweetley]

Hmm. I think the easiest way to resolve the lore aspect of this problem is that Tom just decided to visit Harriet and get a full body dye job done.

I just imagine how some villager walks into Shampoodle and witness how Harriet, holding a bucket of paint and an a brush, painting Tom who standing in front of her only wearing underwear and both noticing the other villager, making the whole situation really awkward until the villager decides to walking slowly backwards out of the shop

 

[John Wick]

WHile interesting, this seems like a very bad idea and goes against the relaxing nature of the game.

Exactly!
The villagers are the one constant in the game.

The only thing that needs to change is their poor dialogue. ^_^

 

[Nougat]

Oh I would absolutely not want that!

Finding shiny Pok?mon is stressful enough as it becomes a quest and you spend hours and hours looking for these, so I wouldn't want that stress to translate to any Animal Crossing game. It's meant to be relaxing and fun.. And that would take much of that away from me.

 

[John Wick]

Oh I would absolutely not want that!

Finding shiny Pok?mon is stressful enough as it becomes a quest and you spend hours and hours looking for these, so I wouldn't want that stress to translate to any Animal Crossing game. It's meant to be relaxing and fun.. And that would take much of that away from me.

Indeed.
Animal Crossing is one game where you don't have to compete. There's no pressure.

Let it stay that way.

 

[nintendofan85]

Am I the only one who finds this idea kind of weird? It seems to me that the only point of a "shiny" villager would be collectible value and nothing else. Personalities would still be the same and whatnot.

What I think would be a better alternative to this would be that maybe Harriet could give makeovers to the villagers just like she can to the players, which could result in stuff like fur color changes. The Able Sisters could also possibly make it so villagers could wear accessories, and not just clothing.

 

[jefflomacy]

That is more or less how the idea has evolved in my head, as per my second post in the thread.

Regarding collectible value, villagers have kind of been a ?collectible? thing ever since Welcome Amiibo. It?s a strange concept, but this is the market amiibo cards created. Now we?re getting somewhere interesting! Before long, we can begin to discuss the philosophical ramifications of the amiibo card market.