

When the town is loaded, a villager will move out if at least 10 days have elapsed since the last villager moved out. When a villager moves out, they send the player a goodbye letter. Unlike in later games, villagers do not let the player know they are leaving, and they do not pack up. Once the maximum of 15 villagers is reached, villagers will begin to "naturally" move out at a regular interval to make room for new villagers. For the 60 new villagers in Doubutsu no Mori e+, this is the only way for them to move to town. In Doubutsu no Mori e+, villagers can also move to town if their e-Reader card is scanned at the wishing well. These include all anteaters, kangaroos, and ostriches, as well as Coco, Genji, Kabuki, Lucky, Octavian, Ribbot, Rizzo, Snake, Stinky, Tiara, Velma, and Woolio. Once a villager moves out, they cannot move back in naturally until all 218 villagers have lived in the town at least once.Ĭertain villagers cannot be starting villagers in the player's town, instead having to move in later. Villagers who have never lived in the town before are prioritized over villagers who previously lived in the town. If there is no least-represented personality among the current villagers, then the new villager can be from any personality group. If the personalities of all current and past villagers are equally represented, then past villagers are ignored and only the personalities of current villagers are considered. The game tries to select a new villager of the personality type the town has seen the least, including both current and past residents. This has a 40% chance of succeeding at the lowest Field Rank and a 100% chance at the highest. A random chance based on the town's Field Rank.The chosen player must have spoken to all the villagers currently living in the town.At least 1.75 days (42 hours) must have passed since the last villager moved in.

There is a chance for a new villager to move in each time the player's town is loaded, after the player chooses their name at the game load screen. Once the first player has settled in to their house at the beginning of the game, new villagers will begin to "naturally" move in to the town. Villager houses simply appear and disappear. As a result, there is no unpacking or packing up event for the player to witness. The events of villagers moving in and out occur exclusively during the orange-text loading screens. There is a maximum of 15 villagers in a town. In Animal Crossing, each town starts with six villagers, one of each personality type.
