How your face is decided in Animal Crossing on GameCube

Rover asks you four questions on the train. Three of your answers pick one of eight faces from a lookup table, in a different order for a male and a female character, and the fourth decides whether that table is used at all.

The short answer

There are eight faces for each gender. Three of Rover's questions each set one bit of a three-bit number, and that number is an index into a fixed table of eight faces. Male and female read the same index out of different rows of that table, so the same three answers give the two characters different faces. The fourth question, "You have money, right?", is the switch: answer "Just a little..." and the table is used; answer "Oh, yeah!" and the game ignores the other three answers and rolls one of the eight faces at random. Nothing is weighted either way: from the table, every face is reachable by exactly one combination of answers, and from the roll, every face is equally likely.

What the sixteen faces look like

Eight per gender, each labelled with the number the table below uses. The two sets are separate art, not one face on a different body, so a face number on its own does not tell you what you get: read it off the grid for your character.

The eight male face types in Animal Crossing on GameCube on the same character, each labelled with its face number from 0 to 7. — Male

The eight female face types in Animal Crossing on GameCube on the same character, each labelled with its face number from 0 to 7. — Female

The table

Answer "Just a little..." to the money question, then find your other three answers on the left and read off the face.

The face assigned for each combination of answers to Rover's first three questions, by gender, when the money question is answered "Just a little..."
Mind if I sit here?	What are you going for?	Where's your new place?	Male	Female
Please!	I'm moving.	Don't know yet.	Face 5	Face 0
Please!	I'm moving.	Leave me alone!	Face 6	Face 5
Please!	What's it to ya?	Don't know yet.	Face 1	Face 2
Please!	What's it to ya?	Leave me alone!	Face 4	Face 6
No way!	I'm moving.	Don't know yet.	Face 0	Face 4
No way!	I'm moving.	Leave me alone!	Face 2	Face 7
No way!	What's it to ya?	Don't know yet.	Face 7	Face 3
No way!	What's it to ya?	Leave me alone!	Face 3	Face 1

The money question, and the random face

The fourth question sets the lowest bit of the same number, and the face code reads that bit before anything else: if it is clear, the face is a plain random roll across all eight and the other three answers are never looked at. "Just a little..." sets the bit, "Oh, yeah!" leaves it clear. So a player who wants a particular face answers the money question "Just a little..." and the other three from the table, and a player who wants a surprise says "Oh, yeah!".

The face you have before Rover asks

There is a second, quieter rule underneath. When a new player record is created, before Rover says anything, it is given a starting face chosen at random from the faces no other player in the town is already using. Rover's answer then overwrites it, whether it came from the table or from the random roll, and the roll does not deduplicate: in a town with several players, only that starting face is guaranteed to differ from your housemates', not the one you end up with.

Changing your face later

The original game gives you no way to change your face after the train. On this site you can: the character editor shows all eight faces and nine skin tones on your own character, and writes the one you pick straight into your town.

Pick your face

Or read how house upgrades work.