43. VILLAGER

Franchise / home series: Animal Crossing
Notable non-Smash games: Animal Crossing (2001); Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2012); Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020)

Villager made their Smash debut in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, bringing the peaceful, life-sim world of Animal Crossing into a fighting game. Their inclusion showcased how even non-combat-focused franchises could be translated into creative, playful fighters.

In Smash, Villager’s moveset centers on quirky, everyday items and tools used in unexpected ways—slingshot projectiles, tree planting and chopping, Lloid Rocket, and pocketing projectiles. Pocket in particular lets Villager steal and store enemy projectiles (and even some items), turning opponents’ strengths against them.

The character plays as a zoning/spacing-focused fighter with strong edgeguarding, balloon recovery, and flexible projectiles. Villager’s cheerful expression contrasted with sometimes brutal setups helped establish the “anyone can fight” tone of Smash 4’s roster expansion, while giving players a very unorthodox, trap- and projectile-based playstyle.