The Forgotten Critters of Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing: New Horizons may be the most expansive game in the series, as well as have the largest Critterpedia of any game, hitting 80 for both the fish and bugs, but that doesn't mean every species from the previous titles has made their way over. We decided to go over which critters sadly didn't make it to New Horizons, or didn't even make it past their debut game.

New Horizons already has an abundance of wildlife. Gone are the cold winter days of Wild World where the only bug species you'd see were the Dung Beetle and the odd Cockroach. Now there's an assortment of species flocking the Island at any given time of year. Some fish, some bugs, and some seafood have all been left in a past game, and could help further brighten up your island life if they were to return.

The Herabuna is a fish that so far has only appeared in the first two Japanese titles, Animal Forest, and Animal Forest+. The Herabuna could be found year-round in the river pond, but was more common between March, June, August, and September. When the game got translated over to an English audience as Animal Crossing, the Herabuna was no more, and was replaced by the Brook Trout, another fish that never made it past it's debut game. Similar to the Herabuna, the Brook Trout could be found year-round in he river pond, though it was rather uncommon.

Another subtle change that happened to some fish species are from the infamous Bass family. The GameCube title not only introduced us to the lovely Sea Bass, but it also housed three more fish from the Bass family - the Small Bass, Bass, and Large Bass. These three fish were more of less the same, and only differed in size. All three fish could be found year-round in the river, and unlike it's despised cousin, the Large Bass actually sold for a hefty 3,000 bells. Unfortunately, this fish family was left in the depth of the GameCube title, though the Bass did return in Wild World under the alias, Black Bass.

It wasn't only the fish that transformed into other species, it happened to a few bugs as well, namely the Ladybug. Again, back on the GameCube title, there were two Ladybug species, the Ladybug, and Spotted Ladybug. Unlike the Ladybug we're familiar with, originally it was black with two simple red spots on each side, and its partner, the Ladybug, sported the design we're more familiar with. However, when the game shifted over to the DS, the Spotted Ladybug got renamed to simply Ladybug, the the original Ladybug was left to flourish in the previous titles.

The Pine Cricket is another bug that yet again never made it past the GameCube, but given it's name and appearance, it probably got left behind due to how similar it was to the standard Cricket. The Barbel Steed and Rainbow Trout are yet another omission that don't seem to have any reason to have been cut.

Being too similar seems to be a running theme for most of the species that got the chop. The Giant Catfish, and Common Dragonfly are two more species never to return from the GameCube era. As the name suggests, the Giant Catfish was literally just a bigger Catfish, and whilst the Common Dragonfly didn't get a similar blue-shaded cousin until New Horizons, it was probably left behind to give more light to its other dragonfly cousins, or to give room to introduce a new bug species in Wild World. 

However, there were some that just got cut for the sake of being cut. The Cockroach was rather prominent in every game up until City Folk, where it lost its status as a catchable bug, and simply became a house pest you could squish after returning from inactivity. It's probably a good thing it got cut, because it only sold for 5 bells! Then there's the ever forgettable House Centipede, which only appeared in New Leaf.

The Giant Petaltail and Lantern Fly were two rather unique bugs that were present in New Leaf, but for whatever reason didn't return. The Petaltail was a massive Dragonfly that zoomed around super fast, and the Lantern Fly was a rather unpleasant looking bug that would sit on trees at dusk. Both were rather unique in their own way and it's a shame neither of them came back.

The Eel and Jellyfish are the final two fish that seemingly got cut for no reason... The Jellyfish last appeared in City Folk, and likely got cut due to Jellyfish inhabiting the swimmable waters in New Leaf, but that didn't stop the Frog and Octopus from appearing despite also being villager species... Even without and Jellyfish in the waters in New Horizons, it never returned - maybe they thought it was too similar to the Sea Pig? As for the Eel, well, we really don't have a reason for this one.

When it comes to shellfish, you probably think of their introduction as sea creatures in New Leaf, but there actually were a few shellfish available before New Leaf introduced us to this new feature. The Crab and Coconut Crab were two bugs exclusive to Animal Forest E+ and haven't seen a release outside of Japan. The Crab could be found crawling on the beach, similar to the Hermit Crab, and the Coconut Crab had a rather unique mechanic, having to be shaken out of fruitless coconut trees. Again, two very unique additions that would have been welcomed.

And finally we get to the latest exclusions, the seafood. Diving was only introduced in New Leaf, so it seems odd they'd cut some species out after just one game, but it happened. The Clam, Earshell, and Horsehair Crab were all left on the 3DS. The Clam at least may have been repurposed as the beach dwelling Manilla Clam that you can use to craft bait, and the Earshell was basically a smaller Abalone. As for the Horsehair Crab, maybe they already had too many Crab species in the game and simply wanted to introduce some more.

A couple of honorable mentions go to the Large Char, Fruit Beetle, Mountain Stag Beetle and Flat Stag Beetle. These don't appear in New Horizons by name, but their appearance, are very similar to what we know of the Char and Fruit Beetle and as for the Stag Beetles, well after a while all the Stag Beetles kind of start looking alike. There's also the Oak Silk Moth, which was replaced by the Atlas Moth in New Horizons. Still, they're worth mentioning.

That's all the species we managed to find, but let us know if we missed some (we nearly forgot the House Centipede!), but do note we purposely left out the Pocket Camp critters. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game that's been promised to receive updates. It's possible with future updates we may see some of these missing critters added back to the game, though we personally think the chances are slim.

Images and information from this article were taken from the animalcrossing wiki.  As always, be sure to follow BidoofCrossing on Twitter and Tumblr to stay up to date with the latest Animal Crossing and Nintendo news.