You’re sitting on a train. There’s a cat named Rover staring at you. He’s asking questions that seem totally innocent, but in reality, he’s basically performing plastic surgery on your digital future. If you mess up these answers, you’re stuck looking at a face you hate for the next five hundred hours of gameplay. Honestly, the Animal Crossing NL face guide is the most important thing you’ll read before starting your town in New Leaf because, unlike your hair or your clothes, your eyes are permanent.
Well, mostly permanent. You can get color contacts later at Shampoodle, but those giant pupils or those weird little eyelashes? Those are forever.
It’s kind of wild how much weight Nintendo put on a conversation about whether you like the name of a town or where you're going to live. New Leaf is a decade old now, but people are still booting up their 3DS systems every day. Whether you're a veteran returning to your overgrown weeds or a newcomer who just picked up a copy from a used game shop, you need to know how to manipulate Rover. He’s not just a passenger; he’s the character creator.
How Rover Decides Your Fate
The way the Animal Crossing NL face guide logic works is actually pretty simple once you see the backend, but in the moment, it feels like a personality test. Rover asks three primary questions after you’ve settled on your name and your town’s name. Each question has two or three possible responses. Your combination of "Top," "Middle," or "Bottom" answers determines which of the 12 male or 12 female faces you end up with.
The first question is usually about why you’re moving to the town. You might say it's because you're starting a new life, or maybe you just like the name. It feels like flavor text. It isn't.
Think of it as a branching tree. Your first answer puts you on a specific branch. The second answer narrows it down to a twig. The final answer is the leaf—your face. If you want those "shojo manga" sparkly eyes, you have to follow a very specific path of being polite and enthusiastic. If you want the mischievous, triangular eyes, you’ve gotta act a bit more indifferent or cool.
The Girl Face Variations
If you’re playing as a girl, you’ve got some iconic choices. There’s Face 1, which many consider the "default" New Leaf look—large eyes with a single eyelash on the bottom outer corner. To get this, you’re basically telling Rover that your move is a "big deal" and that you’re "excited."
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Then there’s the "Stoner Face" or the "Chill Face" (Face 10). It has those half-lidded eyes that make your character look like they haven't slept since 2013. Some people love it for the aesthetic; others restart their entire game because they think their character looks constantly bored. To get that one, you usually have to pick the most nonchalant answers possible.
Face 4 is the one with the pink rosy cheeks. It’s adorable. It makes your character look perpetually embarrassed or just really healthy. If you’re going for a "cottagecore" vibe—even though we didn't call it that back when New Leaf launched—this is usually the target.
The Boy Face Variations
For the guys, the stakes are just as high. You have Face 1, the classic wide-eyed look. It’s friendly. It’s approachable. It says, "I am ready to be the mayor of this town and pay off my debt to a raccoon."
But then you have the "Mii-adjacent" faces. Face 8 has those tiny dot eyes and a very small mouth. It’s quirky. It’s also very polarizing. Most players using an Animal Crossing NL face guide are trying to avoid Face 12, which has the very thick, flat eyebrows and the downward-slanting eyes. It makes your character look like he’s perpetually judging his villagers. Unless you're going for a "grumpy old man" vibe in a child’s body, you probably want to skip that one.
The Specific Answer Paths You Need
Let's get into the weeds. Rover's questions follow a pattern.
Question 1: This is the "Why are you moving?" prompt.
Question 2: This usually follows up on your intent or your feelings about the town.
Question 3: This is the "closer" that locks it in.
If you want the "Sparkle Eyes" (Face 3 for girls), you go:
- "That's right!"
- "I'm moving."
- "It's a secret!"
Wait, that sounds counter-intuitive, right? Why would being secretive give you sparkles? That’s the quirk of New Leaf’s localization. The Japanese logic for these questions doesn't always translate 1:1 to Western social cues.
If you're a guy and you want the "Cool/Determined" look (Face 5), which features the pointed eyes and small pupils, you need to go with:
- "I'm moving."
- "I've got money!" (Not really, but the dialogue option implies you're prepared).
- "Sticking it out."
It’s a bit of a dance.
Why You Can't Just "Fix It" Later
In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you can just walk up to a mirror and change your entire facial structure. It’s easy. It’s low-stakes. New Leaf is not like that. New Leaf is a product of its time—a time when your choices actually mattered and had consequences.
The only thing you can change at Shampoodle (once you unlock it by spending 10,000 Bells at the Able Sisters or Kicks) is your hair color, hair style, and eye color. Harriet can give you colored contacts. If you hate your eye color, that’s fixable. If you hate the shape of your eyes, you are literally out of luck.
This is why the Animal Crossing NL face guide is such a legendary piece of community knowledge. Back in the day, we had these charts saved on our phones or printed out. If you messed up the Rover intro, you’d delete the save file before even talking to Isabelle.
The Shampoodle Limitations
Harriet is great, but she's a hairstylist, not a surgeon. When you go in for contacts, she asks you weird metaphorical questions. She’ll ask about the "vast ocean" or the "burning sun."
- "Clear sky" gets you blue eyes.
- "Lush trees" gets you green eyes.
- "Deep abyss" gets you black/dark brown.
But again, this only changes the iris. The "mask" of your face remains. If you picked the face with the giant oval eyes that take up half your forehead, you're stuck with those proportions.
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The Mystery of the "AAA" and "BBB" Codes
In the early days of the fandom, we used to categorize these by letter codes. A meant the first option, B meant the second.
So, an "AAA" face meant you picked the top option for every single question Rover asked.
For girls, AAA is the classic look.
For boys, AAA is the wide-eyed, cheerful look.
If you go "BBB," you get something entirely different. For girls, BBB is the "V-shaped" eyes that look a bit more mature or serious. For boys, BBB is the "arched" eyes that look a little more mischievous.
Most people recommend going with a "Top/Top/Top" or "Top/Top/Bottom" strategy if you want a face that looks "normal." The further you stray into the "Bottom/Bottom/Bottom" territory, the weirder the faces get. Some of them look like they belong in a different art style entirely.
Don't Forget the Map and the Fruit
While you're obsessing over your face, remember that Rover is also generating your town. This is the only time you can influence your layout.
While the Animal Crossing NL face guide tells you how to look, you should also be looking at the map Rover shows you. If your River is a mess or your Resident Services (the Town Hall) is in a corner you hate, reject it. You can't move buildings in New Leaf like you can in New Horizons. You are the Mayor, but your power is limited by the initial geography.
And the fruit! If you have a deep-seated hatred for pears, keep restarting. You want your "Perfect Fruit" to be something you actually like looking at.
Why People Still Care in 2026
You might wonder why we're still talking about this. It's because New Leaf has a specific "soul" that the newer games sometimes lack. The dialogue is snappier. The progression feels earned. There's a certain magic to the 3D effect on the old handheld.
But that magic dies the second you realize your character looks like a weirdo because you clicked "I'm just traveling" instead of "I'm moving" while talking to a blue cat on a train.
Actionable Steps for a Perfect Start
If you're about to start a new town, follow these steps to ensure you don't regret your life choices:
- Decide on your "Vibe": Do you want to look cute, tired, mischievous, or serious?
- Lookup a Visual Chart: Since I can't show you an image here, search for a visual Animal Crossing NL face guide and find the "Face Number" you like.
- Follow the Answer Path:
- For the "Classic" Girl Face (Face 1): Say "Moving," "Cool!", and "I'll be fine."
- For the "Classic" Boy Face (Face 1): Say "Moving," "Sure!", and "I'm ready."
- Check Your Map: Don't just accept the first town Rover gives you. Look for a central Town Hall and a beach that isn't split into two tiny, useless strips.
- Commit: Once you step off that train and Isabelle greets you at the station, your face is locked. If you don't like it, turn off the power immediately. Do not save.
The beauty of New Leaf is the slow burn. You’ll be looking at that face every single day as you water your flowers, talk to your villagers, and slowly pay off the millions of Bells you owe to the Nook family. Make sure it's a face you actually like. Honestly, it’s the difference between a game you play for a week and a game you play for a decade.