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Kapp'n (カッペイ, Kappei / うんてんしゅ, Chauffer) is a green turtle (kappa in the Japanese versions) that features in the Animal Crossing series 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 by nature, referring frequently to his life on the sea and speaking in stereotypical pirate tones. He has also expresses a fondness for women and singing old sea shanties.
The word 'Kappa', from which Kapp'n derives, is the name for a river imp in Japanese folklore. They are mischevous in nature, and reptilian in appearance. His name could also be the sailor pronounciation of 'captain', where letters are missed out in certain words which is how sailors in the past were believed to have talked, saying things like 'yar!', 'sprat', 'garr' and will sometimes refer to the player as fish or sea creatures, such as 'scallop', 'Sea Bass' and 'urchin'. He also wears a cap on his head, which may be of some relevance to his name.
In Animal Crossing (GCN), he is the ferry operator who sails visitors and the player to the island (commonly known as Animal Island) through the GameBoy Advance cable. During the voyage to the island he sings a sea shanty, usually about his life on the sea and women.
Role in Wild World
In Animal Crossing: 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.
Role in City Folk
In Animal Crossing: 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.
Kapp'n appears as an Assist Trophy, based on his appearance in Animal Crossing: City Folk. He will drive his bus towards the blastzone and will take any fighter that he hits.
Even though he acts like an old man, Kapp'n is still just a young sea turtle. He's a little rough around the edges, but he's got a good heart, and he'll sing a sea shanty for anyone who asks. (Even if they don't!)
Kapp'n appears in the first teaser for the LEGO Animal Crossing theme, which was announced on 5th October 2023. Nintendo of America has made a post on their Twitter account,[3] as did other global divisions of Nintendo.
One of his sea shanties is about cucumbers. In Japanese folklore, cucumbers were thrown into rivers with the names of children and/or families on them. This would spare a family when bathing in a river with a Kappa in it. 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.
In the middle of his songs, Kapp'n says something to the player. On one of these occasions he makes a claim that he hates squirrels.
Though Kapp'n says, or rather sings, that he loves cucumbers, at the end of his songs, sometimes, he sings that zucchinis give him the spooks, "Zucchini spooks."
In Animal Crossing: Wild World there is a small figurine in his taxi of him and his boat from Animal Crossing.
In Animal Crossing: Wild World, if the player takes too long in the taxi at the beginning of the game, the figurine on the dashboard will fall off when getting out.
In Animal Crossing: City Folk, Kapp'n will sometimes ask the player (if female) if they will sail away to an island with him. In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, he and his family live on the paradise island. This might be implying that he followed his dream along with his family.
He has noted that the shell on top of his head is cracked.
Kapp'n has a melody he sings when heading to and away from the island, but in New Leaf, the melody that he sings when going back to the main town is the same melody that he sings to in the original Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube.
In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, he sometimes sings about writing his love's name in the sand. He ends this by singing "Her name is Leila" before adding a "-ni" at the end. This can be surprising at first, because Leila is the name of his daughter, and Leilani is his wife.
While singing on the boat, Kapp'n says he won't ever eat cucumbers without mayonnaise.
While singing, Kapp'n says if he weren't a sailor, he'd probably be a cowboy.
Occasionally in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, if the player presses some of the buttons while he's singing, Kapp'n will get mad at them and mention that everyone is in a hurry nowadays and he'll just get them to the island.
In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, if the player recently had hairstyling from Shampoodle's services, Kapp'n will sometimes comment on the player's hair: "Are you...using hair conditioner?".
