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Rover Gallery

Hi! ...It's-a ME! Mya ha! Good impression, right?
― Rover, Animal Crossing


Haven't done this much traveling by train since 2002 or so... Man, that's weird.
― Rover, New Leaf


Rover (みしらぬネコ, Mishiranu Neko?, Unknown Cat) is a special character in the Animal Crossing series. His job varies in each game, but his original role was to set-up the playable character. Despite his name, which is usually connected with dogs, he is a cat, and is very friendly and hospitable towards the playable character and others. His name also references that he is a frequent traveler, traveling via train in Animal Forest to Animal Forest e+, via bus in City Folk, via train again in New Leaf, and via airplane in New Horizons.

Appearance[]

Rover is a blue and white cat with slim, red irises, black pupils, and wears a red sleeveless sweater with black diamond patterns and yellow trim. He does not appear to have a nose. The insides of his ears are yellow.

Role[]

In Animal Forest and Animal Crossing[]

ACRover-Train

Rover talking to the player on the train

His role in Animal Forest and Animal Crossing is to set-up the game for the first time, by setting the time and date, the player and the town in which the player lives. In his first appearance, Rover meets the player on the train, approaching them to give a predicted time and date and asking if it is correct. He soon drums up a conversation by sitting opposite the player and asking questions to determine their gender and appearance, as well as asking where the player is going and setting up a house for them to stay in by talking to his friend Tom Nook. Soon after this, the train arrives at the player's town.

In Wild World[]

Rover does not play a main part in Wild World, instead, he is replaced by Kapp'n, who drives the taxi. However, Rover does appear in The Roost, where the player can talk to him. Rover will say things about the player's town, such as how he has a soft spot for it. He will ask the player if they have traveled anywhere for a "kick," and he will comment about how he rode on the trains a lot but that he was always so lonely. He will also ask if the player has seen a suspicious-looking cat (Blanca). He sets up Tag Mode/Contact Mode, which allows anonymous Bottle Mail to be sent to the town and to the beach.

In City Folk[]

Rover AF

Rover returns to his previous role like in Animal Crossing. He meets the player on the bus driven by Kapp'n and asks questions to determine the gender and town name of the player. He also appears at the start-up of the game, asking if the time and date is correct and who is going to be playing the game out of four saved players, as well as other options. He also appears on the bus the first time the player goes into the city.

He turns on WiiConnect24, as well as other options such as sound options by calling him with the phone in the player's attic. He sometimes appears in The Roost, talking about his travels.

In New Leaf[]

In New Leaf, Rover plays the same role as he did in Animal Crossing and City Folk. Rover will be on the same train as the player and asks the player questions that determine their gender, the time and date, their name, and the town they are going to ("New Leaf" by default). He will also state that he "hasn't done this much traveling by train since 2002", which is a reference to the fact that he hasn't appeared on a train in-game since 2002, when Animal Crossing was released. He also is seen on the train a second time if a civilian profile in a town moves out or a mayor imports their save from a retail hard copy to a digital version.

In amiibo Festival[]

Rover is a playable character in amiibo Festival, available when the Rover amiibo is scanned on the Wii U. Sometimes when the player playing as Rover lands on an event square in the Amiibo Festival Board Game mode, a random event specifically related to Rover may appear.

Rover has 6 unlockable costumes for the game, unlocked through leveling up the Rover amiibo:

  • Red and black-checkered shirt (Level 1)
  • Brown vest (Level 2)
  • Inspector/formal coat with a hat (Level 3)
  • Fancy red and white coat (Level 4)
  • Chinese outfit (Level 5)
  • Formal purple vest with a red tie (Level 6)

In New Horizons[]

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Rover during the May Day event

In New Horizons, Rover is replaced in the character creation role by Timmy and Tommy, but he still makes an appearance during the May Day event at the beginning of May. In that event, the player can receive a free May Day Ticket from Tom Nook and travel to an island with a specially-built maze. Rover can be found at the end of the maze, where he presents the player with the Rover's briefcase item as a reward. He explains that while he usually travels by train, he has recently been riding planes between various islands, and Tom Nook invited him to the May Day Tour island to create the maze and give the player a prize.

After completing the maze again the next year, Rover will be surprised that the player met him again and mail the player his photo the next day.

Rover's amiibo can also be scanned into Photopia, and afterwards his poster can be purchased from the Nook Stop. Since the Nature Day update, trying to invite Rover to the campsite will yield a message where he will say he is busy on another far-away island.

e-Card[]

e-Card [1]
Letter
Ac A002 Screen Shot
Back
Ac A002 bk
#002 Rover
Gender Male
Type Special
Star sign Aquarius
Clothes N/A
Petphrase N/A
Password Z3qsb4KhUxVN#V
S6LhyDCL2K&8dv
Profile Rover is what you'd call a high-class hobo. He and his cell phone ride the rails from town to town, which explains why he's so well connected. He's happiest when he's sticking his nose in other people's business.
Ac A002
SpecialSpeciesIconSilhouette
001 K.K. Slider #002 Rover 003 Porter
SpecialSpeciesIconSilhouette

amiibo Card[]

amiibo Card[2]
Back
Amiibo card back
#201 Rover
Type Special
Star sign Aquarius
Birthday 2/1
Roll value 6
Hand sign Scissors
Request I'll leave it up to you!
Amiibo 201 Rover
GorillaSpeciesIconSilhouette
200 Rocket #201 Rover 202 Blathers
SpecialSpeciesIconSilhouette

Trivia[]

  • In New Horizons, he has the voice of a smug villager.
  • Rover's French name, Charly, is a reference to either the titular cat Charley from the UK PIFs produced by the British government's Central Office of Information, or the song 'Charly' by The Prodigy, released in 1991.
  • He shares his birthday with Bill, the jock duck. They both have their birthdays on February 1st.
    • He also shares his birthday with Bradbury Robinson Jr. (1884-1949), who was (among his many accolades) a pioneer in American football player. Robinson was the first person in the sport to perform a legal forward pass as well as become recognized as a "triple threat man", excelling at running, passing, and kicking.
  • It says on his e-Card that he is happy about sticking his nose in other people's business, even though he has no actual nose.

In other languages[]

Rover
Language Name Translation
Japan Japanese みしらぬネコ Mishiranu Neko, Unknown Cat -
France French Charly -
Spain Spanish Fran -
Germany German Olli -
Italy Italian Girolamo -
China Chinese 陌陌 Mòmò
(ZH)不认识的猫/不認識的貓 Bù rènshí de māo, Unidentifiable Cat
-
South Korea Korean 낯선고양이 Natseon Goyang-i, Stranger Cat -


References[]

  1. Species navigation icons from Nookipedia by Sunmarsh, CC BY-SA 3.0
  2. Species navigation icons from Nookipedia by Sunmarsh, CC BY-SA 3.0
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