In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players get to interact, befriend, and share the island with cute, cool, and funny-looking animal characters called villagers. But with more than 400 villagers available in the game, you might be wondering which of these critters you should invite back to be your next-door pal.
If rarity is important to you, let our list help you decide your neighbors-to-be. Here are 10 of the rarest Animal Crossing villagers in the game, including a breakdown of what makes them rare. Ready to meet your future dreamies?
What Makes An Animal Crossing Villager Rare?
Ultimately, there is no official rarity ranking in Animal Crossing (unlike Genshin Impact’s 5-star pulls). However, thanks to dedicated fans who did their research, we now have an understanding of how the game decides which villagers to show on Mystery Islands.
The game rolls for species first, then picks a random villager in that species. This means that the more villagers there are in a species group, the lower the chance you have of encountering a specific villager in that group.
The species with the most number of villagers is cat (23 villagers), followed by rabbit (22), squirrel (19), frog (18), duck (17), bear cub (17), dog (17), mouse (16), horse (15), and pig (15). There are 35 species in the game.
So if you want to find, say, Raymond, the probability that the game will roll for the cat species is 1 in 35, and then to have it roll for Raymond is an additional 1 in 23. In comparison, finding Zucker is easier since there are only 4 octopus villagers.
Rarest Animal Crossing Villagers
Using this analysis, our list is composed of species with the most number of villagers, represented by its most popular villager. Not only are they harder to find in the wild because of RNG mechanics, but buying them from other players can be difficult due to their steep price and competition from other players.
Marty (and Sanrio Villagers)
Marty is a bear cub villager with a lazy personality. His Sanrio theme is based on Pompompurin.
Interestingly, in terms of rarity, Marty and the rest of the Sanrio villagers are in a different situation. Since they are from a special collaboration, the only way to invite them to your island is by scanning their Amiibo cards, making them a bit rare. You best hope their cards aren’t sold out!
Julian
Julian is a smug horse villager with a unique unicorn design.
Due to having 15 horse villagers in the game, rolling for Julian or a particular horse villager might not be that easy. On top of that, Julian’s sparkling unicorn theme is popular among horse villager fans. His house is even decked with sparkly stuff!
Petri
Petri is a mouse villager with a snooty personality and a science-based theme.
She is one of the newest villagers added during the 2.0 update. Due to her newness and her clever design (lab mice, anyone?), she immediately rose to popularity among players. However, with 16 mouse villagers in the game, rolling for her won’t be as easy as Pi.
Lucky
Lucky is a dog villager with a lazy personality. He’s covered in bandages like a mummy and has a graveyard-themed house. His eyes also glow at night!
Because of his unique design and theme, many players try to get him for their island. But with a 1-in-35 chance multiplied by a 1-in-17 chance of rolling for him, you need to be lucky to get Lucky.
Judy
Judy is a snooty bear cub villager. She is one of the 16 new villagers added when New Horizons launched, making her one of the rarest Animal Crossing villagers early in the game.
She instantly became popular due to her sparkly cotton candy color design and being the only snooty among the cubs. Since her Amiibo card was only released in late 2021, meeting her through Mystery Islands was the only way to get her back then.
Molly
Molly is a normal duck villager. Her adorable nature, cute waddling, and orange-on-head meme instantly won the hearts of many players.
But with 17 ducks in the game, meeting her on a Mystery Island might take you a few tries and several NMTs.
Lily
Lily is a normal frog villager.
Frogs are usually not that popular with many players, as seen in some community rankings. However, Lily’s cuteness and pleasing pastel color have endeared her to most players.
Encountering your favorite frog won’t be that quick though, seeing as there are 18 frogs in the game.
Marshal
Marshal is a smug squirrel villager. His tiny size, marshmallow appearance, and smug attitude made him extremely popular.
His average trading price is around two million bells and 50 NMTs but it was notably higher during his peak. Squirrels are also the third most abundant species in the game, which makes rolling for a specific squirrel quite tough. This makes Marshal quite rare indeed.
Sasha
Sasha is a lazy rabbit villager and is one of the newest villager additions in the game. His combo of pretty looks and lazy personality made him instantly popular with the ACNH crowd.
There are other popular rabbit villagers, such as Bunnie, Chrissy, Francine, Ruby, and Coco. But since rabbits are the second most prevalent species in the game, rolling for your favorite bunnies can be difficult, making them rare Animal Crossing villagers to get.
Raymond
And the most popular among rare ACNH villagers is none other than this good ol’ smug cat—Raymond!
Like Judy, Raymond was a new villager added during New Horizon’s release. He’s a business cat with heterochromia and is currently the only smug cat in the game.
Because of his newness and uniqueness, demand for him skyrocketed. A meme of him in a maid dress also added to his popularity. But because cats are the most abundant villagers in the game, encountering him on Mystery Islands is not a walk in the park.
Due to high demand, Raymond’s trading price even reached more than 800 NMTs and millions of Bells at one point, and many players had to earn Bells fast just to get him.
His popularity and rarity will be forever remembered in Animal Crossing history.
