Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ new best characters

Many fans asked for more Animal Crossing – New Horizons content and boy did Nintendo deliver. Nintendo announced Friday a 2.0 update that included new features such as cooking and a coffee shop. Happy Home Paradise Do-LessYou can decorate homes for the villager.

But the Direct wasn’t just about all those new features — the event was also a who’s who of Animal Crossing characters, a red carpet if you will. Classic celebrities of the franchise like Brewster and Kapp’n returned. New stars such as Niko, the monkey stole the attention of the viewers. Nintendo also announced a brand new group of villagers.

There was a lot of excitement, but not all characters were able to shine through the hype. Polygon decided to compile a list of standouts from the announcements, as well as a look at who was successful and who failed at the Nintendo Direct Friday.

Niko, the monkey

Niko, the monkey was the clear winner of all the announcements. Niko is a newly announced character who works at Lottie’s Paradise Planning business. He wears a straw-colored hat and a yellow band. He has plush fur that’s as white as snow, and ridiculously big eyes. He’s tiny, which only accentuates his cuteness even more. After seeing him, the fan art and screenshots came pouring in. We have this fan art showing him sitting on the most adorable throne: The Froggy Chair.

Wardell the manatee

Some characters are not cute. Wardell, the manatee charmed fans with his subtle charisma. The trailer shows Wardell relaxing in a coffee shop or fawning himself. Wardell works with Lottie, and they make the ideal dream team.

Lottie

Who is Lottie? Oh, that’s right, she’s technically one of the new main characters of the DLC since she runs the Paradise Planner business. Wardell, Niko and their subordinates stole the show. She is the boss of two stars, so I don’t know much about her. It’s not that she lacks cuteness, it’s just hard for her to compete with two mega-stars. She was an absolute flop in her debut.

Shino is the deer

Shino the deer absolutely stunned fans at Friday’s direct. Even though she was announced with all of the villager’s, Shino the deer outshines the rest. Red horns, she wears sharp eye-liner that could cut your eyes. We caught a glimpse of her at the direct when she was dressed in a kimono while crossing a snowy bridge.

Sasha

Sasha’s sparkly eyes and green fur captivated fans far and wide. She looks almost like she visited the island just after she went to homecoming. Fans were especially interested in the Sasha pair, just like Shino.

Brewster

Brewster made it big in his debut. Animal Crossing – New HorizonsHe arrived with his coffee shop. Brewster arrived with his coffee shop where you can enjoy some java with villager friends. Although Brewster was certainly a big star to be seen on Friday, it is hard to believe that he couldn’t have chosen a better time to make his entrance. The issue wasn’t that his coffee shop didn’t wow — it was that it came before a mountain of other news. This timing left Brewster in a rather lackluster position where he wasn’t necessarily the “big star” of the event so people clowned him with memes.

Cephalobot

Is this a robot octopus or a human? You don’t know and I don’t know because Cephalobot’s announcement fell more than flat. It’s not that we don’t like a good octopus villager, it’s that his look was just a little bit stiff and rigid. There’s a lifelessness to his eyes and not in an interesting way, but more of a “please stay away from my island” way.

It’s still unclear how players will access some of these villagers, though. We know that Brewster will come to the update, but Nintendo hasn’t clarified how New HorizonsOther players have access to Wardell or Sasha. Nintendo posted a picture of the new amiibo card, which featured Shino and Niko as well. However, Nintendo hasn’t said whether they’ll be available to randomly move onto your island, or if they’re only addable via amiibo cards.

The other is the Animal Crossing – New Horizons2.2.0 Update Happy Home Paradise November 5th will see the release of DLC.