The interface of a stereo in New Horizons, showcasing various K.K. Slider songs
The eighth-note icon used to represent K.K. Slider songs, as seen in New Horizons
The Animal Crossing series features many songs performed by K.K. Slider. K.K. visits town on Saturday nights to perform live either a random song or a specific request from the player. During the performance, the game's staff credits play, and afterward, K.K. gives the player an aircheck of the song, which can be placed in a stereo furniture item to be played in the player's house.
K.K. Slider's songs, when played live, consist of acoustic guitar paired with vocalizations from K.K., including Animalese syllables, humming, whistling, and howling. Each song is inspired by a different genre of music. The aircheck versions of the songs differ from the live versions and are fully produced instrumental-only versions. Beginning in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, each song has a unique album cover.
Most of the initial 55 K.K. Slider songs in Doubutsu no Mori were composed by Toru Minegishi as the aircheck versions, which were then rearranged for the live versions by Kazumi Totaka in a span of two weeks; he would write out the arrangements on his train ride to work in order to meet strict deadlines.[1] Songs in later games were created by a variety of composers, including Atsuko Asahi, Sayako Doi, Shiho Fujii, Manaka Kataoka, and Shinobu Nagata.
Every game in the Animal Crossing series features K.K. Slider songs, with each new installment usually adding more songs while retaining all songs from the previous games. As of the 2.0 Free Update to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there are a total of 110 K.K. Slider songs. Each game also features secret songs which can only be heard and received if they are specifically requested, along with unnamed, live-performance only songs which can only be heard if the player inputs an invalid request for a song. Each successive game usually adds three new invalid-request songs while promoting the previous game's invalid-request songs to secret songs, and promoting the previous game's secret songs to standard songs.
In every first-generation Animal Crossing game, K.K. Slider song airchecks are obtained from K.K. after his performances in front of the train station on Saturday nights. K.K. songs the player has obtained appear in the catalog, though they cannot be ordered.
In Doubutsu no Mori, Doubutsu no Mori+, and Animal Crossing[edit]
In Doubutsu no Mori, Doubutsu no Mori+, and Animal Crossing, there are a total of 58 K.K. Slider songs, including three secret songs—"K.K. Song", "I Love You", and "Two Days Ago"—and three invalid-request songs. In Doubutsu no Mori, only one song can be placed in a stereo at a time; in all subsequent first-generation games, all 55 airchecks can be stored at once in a stereo.
Doubutsu no Mori e+ introduces 12 standard songs, three invalid-request songs, and a special birthday performance (later titled "K.K. Birthday"), bringing the total to 74 songs. The three invalid-request songs from the previous first-generation games are promoted to secret songs: "My Place", "Forest Life", and "To the Edge". The three secret songs from the previous entries remain secret songs, a practice that would not be repeated in later games.
The 12 new standard songs can only be performed by K.K. after their respective e-Reader card is scanned at the town tune board outside the post office.
The 70 songs with aircheck versions now also have their live-performance versions available as items to be used in stereos. These versions have the same names as the standard airchecks and are differentiated by a double eighth-note icon. They can be obtained from villagers who have high friendship with the player, or from special characters after the song's e-Reader card is scanned. This feature remains exclusive to Doubutsu no Mori e+.
Wild World retains 73 of the 74 songs from Doubutsu no Mori e+ (excluding "K.K. Birthday"), while promoting the secret songs "K.K. Song", "I Love You", and "Two Days Ago" to standard songs. No new songs are added, making Wild World the only game in the series with this distinction.
Like in Wild World, in Animal Crossing: City Folk, K.K. Slider song airchecks are obtained from K.K. after his performances at The Roost on Saturday nights.
City Folk introduces two standard songs—"K.K. House" and "K.K. Sonata"—and three invalid-request songs, bringing the total number of songs to 78. Additionally, the three invalid-request songs from Doubutsu no Mori e+ and Wild World are promoted to secret songs: "Stale Cupcakes", "Spring Blossoms", and "Wandering".
In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, K.K. Slider song airchecks can be obtained either from K.K. after his performances at Club LOL on Saturday nights, or, for standard songs only, from T.I.Y. and T&T Emporium for 3,200 Bells. K.K. songs once again appear in the catalog and can now be ordered for 3,200 Bells. Each song now has a unique album cover, which can be displayed as furniture items.
New Leaf introduces 12 standard songs, three invalid-request songs, and "K.K. Birthday" returns from Doubutsu no Mori e+, bringing the total to 94 songs. The three invalid-request songs from City Folk are promoted to secret songs: "Hypno K.K.", "K.K. Stroll", and "K.K. Island". Additionally, "K.K. Birthday" now has an aircheck version.
K.K. Slider performs remixed versions of his songs as DJ KK every night except Saturdays at Club LOL from 8 PM to 6 AM. DJ KK alternates between electronic dance remixes and "House Night" and 8-bit chiptune remixes on "NES Night".
In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, K.K. Slider song airchecks can be obtained either from K.K. after his performances outside Resident Services on Saturday nights, or, for standard songs only, from Nook Shopping for 3,200 Bells. Like in New Leaf, K.K. songs appear in the catalog and can now be ordered. Songs can also be gifted by villagers after they invite the player to their house for a visit.
The original release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons introduces one standard song, "Welcome Horizons", and three invalid-request songs, bringing the total to 98 songs. The three invalid-request songs from New Leaf are promoted to secret songs: "Animal City", "Drivin'", and "Farewell". 12 new songs were added in the 2.0 Free Update, bringing the total to 110.
Nearly all of the album covers from New Leaf have been redesigned, both noticeably and subtly. In most cases, the indecipherable text that appeared in New Leaf has been replaced with each song's proper name, using the language most appropriate to its genre (for example, "K.K. Jongara" uses its Japanese name, "Café K.K." uses its French name, and "K.K. Steppe" uses its Cyrillic name).
When using a karaoke system in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the screen on the furniture item will turn on and output a set of four images. The image set correlates to the mood of the song that's playing. The request-only songs, which don't otherwise have moods, are given specific image sets.
"K.K. Bashment," "K.K. Break," "K.K. Chorinho," and "K.K. Hop" use the "I feel good!" mood images, while "K.K. Khoomei" and "K.K. Lovers" use the "laid-back" mood images, despite the fact that the mood of these songs do not match the images presented on the Karaoke System.
I feel good!
A little grumpy...
Laid-back
A little blue...
It's hard to say
Leaked development assets from the production of Doubutsu no Mori indicate that airchecks were originally planned to be MiniDiscs, a rewritable magneto-optical disc format that was popular in Japan during the 1990s and 2000s. The final game uses a generic eighth note icon, a motif that would remain in place throughout the series.
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