Kapp'n
- "A li'l wind goes a long way."
- — Kapp'n, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer and Welcome amiibo
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Species | Gender | |||||||
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Turtle | Male | |||||||
Birthday | July 12th | ![]() | ||||||
Role | Transit to the unique locations | |||||||
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Other appearances | ||||||||
Name in other languages
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Kapp'n is a green turtle[nb 1] in the Animal Crossing series who serves as a driver of various forms of transport. He has been known to row boats, drive taxis, and also drive buses. Kapp'n himself is a sailor at heart, referring frequently to his life on the sea and speaking as a pirate would. He also expresses a fondness for women, cucumbers, and singing old sea shanties.
The word "kappa," from which Kapp'n is derived, is the name for a river yokai (supernatural creature) in Japanese folklore. They are mischievous in nature and reptilian in appearance. His name also plays on how a sailor would pronounce "captain," abbreviating certain sounds so that it becomes a phonetic pronunciation. His name reflects the way he speaks; he talks like a stereotypical pirate, saying things like "yar!", "sprat," and "garr," and he will sometimes refer to the player as a fish or sea creature, such as "scallop," "sea bass," or "urchin."
Contents
Appearances[edit]
In Animal Crossing[edit]
In Animal Crossing, he is the ferry operator who rows visitors and the player to the island through the Game Boy Advance cable. During the voyage to the island, he sings a sea shanty, usually about his life on the sea and women.
In Wild World[edit]
In Wild World, he drives the black taxi to the town and acts as the introducing character responsible for the gender and appearance of the playable character, as well as the name of the town. This is a role he takes on from Rover. He can sometimes be seen in the The Roost drinking coffee. He will talk about his life at sea upon talking to him.
In City Folk[edit]
In City Folk, he first appears driving the bus to the town, while Rover talks to the playable character determining the gender, birthday, and appearance of the character, as well as the name of the town. He will then appear again driving the bus to the city when going to the Bus Stop. During the journey to the city, he will talk about women, the city, and modern-day youngsters to male players. If the player is female, he will subtly flirt with them, calling them 'cute,' 'pretty,' and that a 'manly bus-driver is available.' If the player does not respond, he will begin to whistle his sea shanty.
He also appears in The Roost, as he did in Animal Crossing: Wild World, where he will talk about his life in more detail.
In New Leaf[edit]
Kapp'n returns to his roots in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, this time with a motorboat. He will sing and joke to the player on the way to Tortimer's Island and will flirt with female players. Approaching Kapp'n with friends will allow up to four players to travel to an island for local multiplayer gameplay. Once on the island, Kapp'n's wife Leilani, mother Grams, and daughter Leila also make an appearance, running a souvenir shop and providing tours of the island which take the form of minigames.
In New Horizons[edit]
Although Kapp'n does not appear in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Kapp'n's Poster can be obtained from Nook Shopping after attempting to invite him to Photopia via his amiibo.
In Animal Crossing Plaza[edit]
Kapp'n appears as a Miiverse stamp in Animal Crossing Plaza.
In Happy Home Designer[edit]
In Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Kapp'n appears as one of the player's clients, although he allows the player to customize freely without any specific vision.
In amiibo Festival[edit]
Kapp'n appears as a playable character in Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival, entering the game if his amiibo character is scanned into the game.
In Pocket Camp[edit]
In Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Kapp'n is the host of the Bloomin' Beauty garden event, requesting players to capture ladybugs in exchange for sunflower-themed items.
In Gekijōban Doubutsu no Mori[edit]

Kapp'n appears as a minor character in 🎬 Gekijōban Doubutsu no Mori. Near the beginning of the film, he drives Ai to Animal Village in his black taxi, like the one in Animal Crossing: Wild World. He appears later on in the film during the Fireworks Festival, as a member of the audience listening to K.K. Slider singing.
Other appearances[edit]
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]
In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS[edit]
Kapp'n is a collectible trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. He also appears as a background character in the Tortimer Island stage.
In Super Mario Maker[edit]
Kapp'n appears as an unlockable costume in Super Mario Maker.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

Kapp'n makes a minor appearance as an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, revealed in the August 8th Nintendo Direct, where he will appear with his bus from Animal Crossing: City Folk. Upon being summoned, Kapp'n will get in his bus and drive around the stage, sometimes making the bus jump. Should the bus make contact with a fighter, he will put them in his bus, and drive toward the edge of the screen, KO'ing the fighter in the bus if they don't jump out in time.
Kapp'n also makes an appearance in two separate Animal Crossing spirits.
Spirits[edit]
Villager information[edit]
In Happy Home Designer[edit]
In Happy Home Designer, Kapp'n will share a house with Leilani, Leila, and Grams.
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RV in Welcome amiibo[edit]
Description: | Kapp'n traded his taxi and bus for the open sea, but he still likes to get behind the wheel of his old camper van. "The horn toots louder'n I do. Yar!" | |||||||||||
Items: |
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Wallpaper: | ![]() | |||||||||||
Floor: | ![]() | |||||||||||
Music: | Marine Song 2001 |
Card profiles[edit]
Animal Crossing e-Reader card[edit]
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amiibo card[edit]
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Gallery[edit]
amiibo card artwork
Trivia[edit]
- While rowing to Animal Island in Animal Crossing, Kapp'n sings one of a few random songs. A line to one of his songs is that he sings better than Mario.
- One of his sea shanties is about cucumbers. In Japanese folklore, cucumbers were thrown into rivers for Kappa to eat with the names of children and/or families on. This would spare a family when bathing in a river. Children, and sometimes adults, are believed to be one of their favorite foods–cucumbers being their favorite. They would also help humans and not break an oath. This may relate to how friendly he is towards humans in the Animal Crossing series.
- If in City Folk the player leaves the game idle long enough on the bus, Kapp'n will begin to whistle Totaka's Song, which also appears as "K.K. Song."
- While riding on the bus, in City Folk, Kapp'n is interested in celebrity gossip and will question the player for juicy secrets, shortly before arriving at the city.
- In a character popularity poll for Animal Crossing held by Nintendo in Japan, Kapp'n ranked 6th with 1,572 votes, above Mitzi and below Sable.[1]
- Kapp'n appears on the album cover of "Marine Song 2001."
- Although Kapp'n is physically absent from Animal Crossing: New Horizons, placeholder data for his NookPhone exists and uses the "FtrCmnFabricHibiscus01" fabric pattern, a dark blue design with light blue hibiscuses.[2]A NookPhone with Kapp'n's placeholder fabric pattern.
Names in other languages[edit]
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カッペイ / かっぺい Kappei |
From 河童 kappa |
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갑돌 / 운전수 (Wild World) Gapdol / Unjeonsu |
갑돌 is a common fictional name for male characters in Korea Means "Driver" |
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航平 Unknown |
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Кэпн Kepn |
Transcription of English name |
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Kapp'n | |
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Käpten | Low German form of Kapitän (Captain) |
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Capitán | Captain |
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Amiral | Admiral |
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Remo | Given Italian name. It also means "oar." |
Notes[edit]
- ↑ In Japanese releases, Kapp'n is instead a kappa.
References[edit]
- ↑ Nintendo. "キャラクター人気投票結果発表!". nintendo.co.jp. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
- ↑ https://wuffs.org/acnh/bcsv_160/html/SpNpcParam.html
https://wuffs.org/acnh/bcsv_160/html/ItemRemakeCommonPattern.html
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- Characters
- Special Characters
- Happy Home Designer characters
- Amiibo Festival characters
- Kappas
- New characters in Animal Crossing
- Animal Crossing characters
- Doubutsu no Mori e+ characters
- Wild World characters
- City Folk characters
- New Leaf characters
- Pocket Camp characters
- Gekijōban Doubutsu no Mori characters
- Male characters