With the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons came an entirely new bunch of colorful villagers to fall in love with, as well as gave old favorites updated looks and dialogue to make longtime fans love them even more. While each and every villager is bound to be loved by someone, some are certainly more beloved than others, and some are avoided at all costs much more often. Thanks to the tireless work of the community, we have a tier list for New Horizons that updates every so often, but the very best and worst tend to stay about the same.
So, let’s take a look at the five most (and least) sought-after villagers to bring onto your island paradise.
10 Most Popular: Ankha
Ankha is a Snooty cat villager, and one of the most sought-after of her species, and who can blame fans with how much royal flare she’s rocking? There’s a lot to love about her with her design being directly based on the Abyssinian breed of cat, one of the oldest domesticated animals in existence. To complete her Egyptian look, she dons winged eyeliner and a cobra figurine headdress, and it’s no surprise that tons of fans dream of having her stay on their island.
9 Least Popular: Diva
It says something when a category of villagers that doesn’t have too many top-tier picks has one that’s so incredibly detested by a majority of the community. There’s just something about the sisterly frog Diva that most people don’t connect with, and we believe it has everything to do with the face. Most of her design isn’t bad, but her beady magenta eyes combined with her bright-blue eyeshadow just don’t mix well and can leave players feeling somewhat unsettled.
8 Most Popular: Marshal
No one can be blamed for wanting to have Marshal on their island, as he’s just so indescribably cute! This smug squirrel won the hearts of many back in New Leaf, and he’s still just as sought-after in New Horizons. His name could be a reference to his marshmallow-like appearance, which makes him even more adorable.
Marshal really is a case of everything going right in character design to make him as appealing as possible, topped off with incredibly rosy cheeks and a big resting grump face making you want to get to know the soft-hearted squirrel deep down.
7 Least Popular: Chadder
Most people would agree that they like cheese, and it’s commonly known that mice fancy the savory food as well- so in theory, a mouse villager based on cheese sounds like it might be a good idea, but there’s something about the smug Chadder that most fans just don’t like.
Perhaps it’s the mold-green color nose sitting atop a mouse who looks entirely made of cheese that makes him so unpalatable, or it cold have to do with how basic his house looks when a lot of villagers have stunning living spaces. Either way, Chadder is definitely not one that many will be jumping to invite to their islands.
6 Most Popular: Audie
Audie is an adorable peppy wolf and the first villager on this list to be a newcomer to New Horizons. She was named after a grandmother who spent over 3,500 hours playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf and had named her mayor Audie, and that reason alone is sweet enough to make many players seek her out.
It certainly helps that’s she’s incredibly adorable- or totes adorbs, as her personality type is known to say. Some find the peppy villager type to be a bit too much, but if you’re a fan, there’s no better choice than Audie.
5 Least Popular: Rizzo
Rizzo is a cranky mouse villager whose appearance and personality combine to do him… absolutely no favors at all. A good bit of the cranky villagers are rather cute, cool or charming appearance-wise to make players stick with them long enough to learn how soft they can be deep down, but the only thing that seeing Rizzo invokes is pure terror.
His raised eyebrows and unnaturally wide smile combine to make him incredibly unsettling, like he’s always planning something behind your back, and the personal choice to tie what looks to be a scarf around his face is quite odd. The bright purple also really doesn’t go well with the rest of his color palette, making it a bit of an eyesore.
4 Most Popular: Judy
Another newcomer to New Horizons, Judy quickly won over the hearts of the fanbase with her pastel pink-and-blue fur, adorable fashion sense, and her overall peppy appearance. Despite her looks, though, she is actually a snooty villager, which means she can come across as arrogant at first and loves to gossip. She is sweet deep-down, though, and incredibly worth getting to know if you’re lucky enough to find her visiting the campsite or on a Nook Miles island.
Her makeup skills complete the look, as bright blue eyeshadow draws focus to her eyes and the entire look is finished off nicely with just a hint of baby-pink blush on her cheeks.
3 Least Popular: Wart Jr.
Wart Jr. is a cranky frog villager who, yet again, isn’t given a very good appearance to begin with and then isn’t helped by his personality. His house also isn’t the best-looking, which all seem to be pretty major factors in whether or not a villager rises in popularity or stays firmly lodged at the bottom.
His English name relates to the myth that frogs (more commonly toads, but we don’t have any actual toad villagers) have warts and can pass them on through contact, which is a creative idea for a villager, but that doesn’t mean it makes for an appealing one. A brown frog villager covered in warts sounds like a pass in most player’s books.
2 Most Popular: Raymond
Being the only smug cat villager and another newcomer to New Horizons, Raymond shot up to the top of popularity charts as soon as he was first revealed, and his spot was further solidified by his tendency to wear cute clothes if gifted them, most prominently maid outfits. He also has heterochromia, which is a rare condition in which a person’s (or in this case, a cat’s) eye colors are different. In Raymond’s case, one is green and the other is brown, and both are strikingly lovely.
He’s also a joy to talk to, as if the player states that they like anime, he will confess to being a fan as well. He also admits that, despite dressing like a businessman and having his house decked out like an office, he doesn’t actually have a job- so he’s just a cute, dorky cosplayer we can’t help but love.
1 Least Popular: Barold
Barold is a lazy cub villager that simply got the short end of the stick as far as designs for his species go. There are a ton of super-cute and memorable cubs, so it’s pretty difficult to find a reason to stick with Barold if he happens to stop by your island in one form or another. His expression sort of gives off the feeling that he’s constantly in a state of extreme sadness, and it’s just not the kind of thing most people think of when they’re trying to compile their list of dreamies.
The tiger-print shirt he starts with clashes with his color palette, as well, and certainly doesn’t do this poor cub any favors.
NEXT: Animal Crossing: All Deer Villagers, Ranked
