Spirit

Spirits are a life form that appear in the, only appearing in and. Spirits look like small, swirling, purple balls of fire that slowly move around an area. From midnight to 4 am, the player can find Wisp, who when talked to, will ask the player to return the five spirits which are hidden around town. They are caught using a net, which is the only time a net is used for something that is not a bug in those games. All five spirits can fit into one spot in the player's inventory. In Animal Crossing, Wisp will mutter something about a master and what he will do if the spirits are not recovered. The spirits float around and are extremely easy to catch when found. If the player returns them all to Wisp, they will be given a choice of rewards. If the player fails do this, after 4 am, the spirits turn to fireflies. The spirits do not reappear in Wisp's second appearance in the series, instead, Wisp asks for the player to return his empty lamp to him.

Trivia

 * Coincidentally, much like Wisp himself resembles a Boo from the Mario series, spirits bear a very similar appearance to Spirit Balls from Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, a game that was released roughly eleven years after the original . Both appear to share the same inspiration: the Will-o'-the-wisp.