Wisp

"I'm a kindred spirit."

- Wisp

Wisp is a ghost in the. He first appeared in and appears in all subsequent games except  and  prior to the  update. He appears at night, usually between 12 AM and 4 AM, and rewards the player with items or services after a specific task is completed.

In
In and, Wisp is depicted wearing a  and can appear in a random acre between 12 AM and 4 AM. In order for Wisp to appear, the town must have 8 or more weeds. Once this requirement is met, Wisp will appear on a random night in 2 to 4 days. The weed requirement does not have to be maintained between meeting it and Wisp's appearance. When the player first enters the acre where Wisp is, he is not visible, but makes himself known by calling out to the player. With Wisp's name appearing as "??????", he says "Ooo... Can I ask you something...?" If the player gets near Wisp, he tells the player that he must collect five Spirits that have wandered into the town by 4 AM, or else he is in big trouble and his superior will punish him horribly. He asks the player to catch them with a Net because he has seen how good the player is at catching insects and offers a reward in return. Wisp will return every night for 4 days until his Spirits are caught and returned to him. Once his Spirits are returned or 4 days pass without doing so, Wisp will appear again in 2 to 4 days as long as the town has 8 or more weeds.

Each Wisp Spirit is placed in a different acre and does not move between acres. However, the game internally categorizes the Spirits as insects, meaning, due to the fact that having a low town rating drops the chance that a fish and insect spawn in an acre to as low as 50% chance each, it is possible in a town with low rating that a Spirit will not spawn when its acre is entered. If this happens, the Spirit is relocated to a new random acre and the chance of it spawning is calculated again when that acre is entered. The Spirits initially only appear within acres in the B, C, D, or E rows; but can appear in any acre, including ones within the A and F rows, if they are relocated due to the player either leaving an acre without catching one or low town rating. Spirits cannot appear in an acre where another Spirit resides or where the player is moving into.

After the player catches and returns the five Spirits, Wisp will offer them one of three rewards as thanks:
 * Pull weeds! - Wisp will remove all the weeds in the player's town.
 * Paint my roof! - Wisp will repaint the roof of the player's house to a color of their choosing.
 * Give me stuff! - Wisp will give the player a random item that they have not obtained before, which can be any reorderable furniture, wallpaper, carpet, clothing, umbrella, stationery, or any of the following non-reorderable items: Wendell's wallpapers, Saharah's carpets, Gracie's clothing, or Gyroids. If the player has obtained all of these items, Wisp instead gives them a Peach.

In
In, on certain nights the player can find an Empty Lamp somewhere in the town. After the player finds the lamp and returns it to Wisp, the genie will ask the player to rub the lamp in their attic, where he will offer to grant them one wish. The player does not have to rub the lamp straight away, and can save the wish for later use. As in his original appearance, Wisp will offer three choices:
 * Weed! - Wisp will remove all the weeds in the player's town, excluding clovers and dandelions.
 * Smash Roaches! - Wisp will remove all the Cockroaches in the player's house.
 * Give me stuff! - Wisp will give the player the choice of a random furniture, accessory, hat or clothing item. Usually this is an item that is not currently in the catalog (excluding rare items).

In
In, a Magic Lamp will appear randomly while walking around town. If the player places the lamp in their house, Wisp will appear. Unlike and, Wisp helps with amiibo. Wisp can only be used once a day. While Wisp did not appear in at the game's launch, he was added as a major character in the  update. When the player rubs the lamp, Wisp will appear and the player can use an amiibo card. When the amiibo is scanned, the player can choose for the villager to move to their town or to get something, usually furniture.

If a special character's amiibo is scanned, that character's RV will appear at the campground with special items that can be bought with MEOW Coupons. Wisp will take over running buildings if the usual proprietors are in their RVs; however, he will not be able to fulfill some roles, such as Isabelle's, preventing the player from using their services for the day. If the Villager amiibo is scanned, Wisp will appear at the campground in an RV.

If the player attempts to sell the Magic Lamp at Re-Tail, Reese will inform them that the lamp is valuable and will ask if they are sure they want to sell it. If the player sells it anyway, Reese will buy it for 10 Bells and it will reappear outside the next day.

In
In, Wisp returns to a form closer to his original appearance, once again donning a hitaikakushi. On certain nights from 8 PM to 5 AM, the player can find Wisp wandering around the island. If talked to, Wisp will mistake the player as a ghost and get scared, which leads to his five s scattering across the island. As of version 1.5.0 of the game, performing the "Haunt" reaction in Wisp's line of sight will trigger the same event. Similarly to, the player can find and catch the five spirits using the Net and return them to Wisp. After the spirits are returned, Wisp will offer the player the choice of receiving an item they have not had before or something expensive.

Since version 2.0, Wisp can be invited over to Photopia, The Roost, and the archipelago in for a vacation home. The latter is the only way to obtain.

Category rates
Depending on the player's housing status, Wisp will give the player a random item from each of these four categories.

"Something new"
If the player chooses "something new", Wisp gives the player an item in the following categories within the pricing range.

"Something expensive"
If the player chooses "something expensive", Wisp gives the player an item in the following categories within the pricing range depending on the status of Nook's Cranny.

"Something expensive"
Until version 2.0, Wisp has a chance of 90% to give a random item from Table 1 and 10% chance to give a random item from Table 2, both within the pricing range.

In
Wisp makes a cameo in, sometimes floating around Wisp's Willow Tree, a furniture item that was available for a limited time from August to October 2020.

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Wisp appears as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Trivia

 * In a character popularity poll held on the Japanese website, Wisp ranked as the 19th most popular character with 846 votes, ranking above Kiki but below Gulliver.
 * In, if the player attempts to invite Wisp through the amiibo Call Center and has not returned all of his spirit pieces, he will not appear at The Roost. Instead, he will relay a message saying, "When you're done resting in the café, please look for my spirit pieces!"
 * In, Wisp has the voice of a lazy villager.