i was wondering, was there ever a villager before marshal that was just known for being popular?? i've never heard anyone talk about a villager the way people talk about marshal!
(DISCLAIMER: i love marshal and i am not here to own him... he is good)
Wow, I never really thought about it. I've only played Animal Crossing since 2015, so it does make me wonder who the "it" villager was before Marshal came along in New Leaf.
Rosie, Tangy, and Bob have always been really popular. All 3 were around during Gamecube, though I think Bob may not be as popular as he used to be, especially among newer players. Rosie and Tangy now have competition from Lolly, though they're still really popular.
Stitches was introduced in Wild World, and to my knowledge he was an instant favorite of many people. His popularity has remained fairly consistent over the years.
I think most of the Gamecube cranky wolves have always been sort of popular. Fang and Wolfgang appear to be the 2 frontrunners, but most people seem to like at least one of them.
I remember Tangy being really popular when I was a kid. Everyone I personally knew either had her or wanted her (myself included - she's still in my OG GC town!) Though I also remember Octavian being popular amongst my friend group, too, since at the time, he was the only octopus in the entire game. He was my first dreamy, tbh, and I'm so happy I have him in the majority of my towns!
I've been playing since 2008, so I would say I'm confident on this, but I could be wrong so take some salt for the road;
Tangy and Bob have basically always been fan favourites, which could be attributed to how they've been in every game (as well as dancing bob and tangy just straight up being a fruit) and I still hear a lot about them,,, or atleast Bob. He's widely speculated as being the first AC character created, due to his ID, birthday + more so all of these things helped him out (^:
Rosie also got/gets a lot of good attention (espec after the movie),,, Like Tangy and Bob, shes been every game and shes also been used in official game covers which would've definitely helped her out.
Beyond WW it started to shift to stitches, and then NL shifted it completely and attention turned to Marshal (and others, Diana, Marina, etc)
from what i've noticed over the years, most people favor the cats (at least before more "exotic" species were introduced in new leaf). i also remember lucky being popular but i could be wrong. ._.
Most of the cats are pretty popular. I have 3 in my town so I'm on board with the cat craze too. Of course, I also have 6 in real life cats. Cats are just cute and entertaining so they will always be well liked.
Bob seems to almost have a cult following. He's cool I guess, but I prefer the look of Punchy myself for my lazy villager. He's just so dapper.
Tangy and Rosie are quite popular as well. I have Tangy in my town right now and I have had Rosie in the past. The Animal Crossing movie probably also helped Rosie become so popular, and Tangy just looks cool since she has a unique, fruity appearance.
Plenty of people are crazy for Ankha too, though I generally go after other snooty villagers myself, I do agree she looks nice.
Almost all of the wolves are ridiculously popular as well. I don't think any of the wolves are remotely considered unpopular villagers, but that's my personal opinion. I have one as well cause Freya is special to me.
I always thought Rosie, Whitney and Apollo were pretty popular villagers, only because of that Animal Crossing movie haha. But to be honest, I was more obsessed with the NPCs like Pelly and Pete xD
i thought he only rose to popularity sometime after new leaf cuz of the funny dancing bob, that's interesting!
