Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) Guides

Reactions & Emotes: How To Unlock, Complete List By Personality

Reactions, or emotions, are fun expressions you can make with your player character in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH)! Learn how to unlock them and see a list of every reaction by villager personality, plus the new Festivale reactions, in this guide.

How To Unlock New Reactions

The majority of new reactions in Animal Crossing: New Horizons are unlocked by learning them from your villagers! In our experience, you can begin to unlock emotions from around your third or fourth day on the deserted island.

When a villager wants to teach you a brand new reaction, you’ll see them charging towards you with a speech bubble above their head saying something along the lines of ‘Hey there [player name]!’. If you spot one of your villagers doing this, be sure to speak to them right away and find out if they have an emote to teach you.

Keep in mind this running towards you activity doesn’t always result in a new reaction. Your villagers will sometimes do the same when they want to give you an item present or have a question about a new catchphrase to use. Either way, you should speak to them and find out what they have to say!

And as far as we know, you can only unlock up to one new reaction per day. So don’t bother running around all day long hoping for more villagers to dish them out once you’ve learned one for the day, unless you time travel ahead by a day or more.

How To Unlock New Festivale Reactions

Four new Festivale themed reactions were added in the January Update (Version 1.7) for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You can unlock these four reactions called Feelin’ It, Let’s Go, Viva, and Confetti by purchasing the Viva Festivale Reaction Set sold at Nook’s Cranny (cabinet) for 19,800 Bells from February 1st to 15th.

How To Unlock Nook Miles Reactions

Nine additional reactions can be unlocked using Nook Miles, instead of learning them from villagers. These reactions added in the Winter Update include Excited, Here You Go, Sit Down, Sniff Sniff, Ta-da, Take a Picture, Wave Goodbye, Work Out, and Yoga!

To learn these reactions, head over to the Nook Stop Terminal inside of Resident Services to purchase the new Hip Reaction Collection item for 2,700 Nook Miles that unlocks 9 brand new Reactions. Unlike past reactions, there’s no need to interact with villagers to unlock them — it’s that simple.

How To Unlock Halloween Reactions

To unlock the two Halloween Reactions, you will need to be playing on October 31st after 5PM during the Halloween Night event with special character Jack the Pumpkin Czar! By giving Candy to both Jack and villagers, the Haunt and Scare reactions can be unlocked.

If you need Candy, you can find it sold at Nook’s Cranny every day throughout October for 180 Bells each, although you may only purchase one piece per day. Additional Candy can be earned in the evening on October 31st from your villagers — read our full guide to Halloween Candy here.

Complete List Of All Reactions & Unlock Sources

There are 59 different reactions and emotes to learn in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and our complete list below covers all of them in five categories:

• Four initial reactions are unlocked near the beginning of the game.
• Nine are unlocked by purchasing the Hip Reaction Collection with Nook Miles at any time.
• Four are unlocked by purchasing the Viva Festivale Reaction Set at Nook’s Cranny during early February.
• Two are unlocked in October’s Halloween Event.
• The rest are taught by different personality types of villagers with an extra unlock based on friendship level.

Default Reactions

The Joy, Greetings, Delight, and Surprise reactions are an initial set of four unlocked on the first time a villager teaches you about emotions.

Joy

Greetings

Delight

Surprise!

Reactions Unlocked by Normal Villagers

The Pleased, Fearful, Sadness, Glee, and Daydreaming reactions are only taught by Normal personality type villagers. You need to be Best Friends with a Normal villager to unlock Daydreaming.

Pleased

Fearful

Sadness

Glee

Daydreaming
(Best Friends Only)

Reactions Unlocked by Peppy Villagers

The Happiness, Aggravation, Sleepy, Curiosity, and Mischief reactions are only taught by Peppy personality type villagers. You need to be Best Friends with a Peppy villager to unlock Mischief.

Happiness

Aggravation

Sleepy

Curiosity

Mischief
(Best Friends Only)

Reactions Unlocked by Snooty Villagers

The Intense, Thought, Sighing, Amazed, and Love reactions are only taught by Snooty personality type villagers. You need to be Best Friends with a Snooty villager to unlock Love.

Intense

Thought

Sighing

Amazed

Love
(Best Friends Only)

Reactions Unlocked by Uchi / Big Sister Villagers

The Laughter, Cold Chill, Apologetic, Disagreement, and Confident reactions are only taught by Uchi personality type villagers. You need to be Best Friends with an Uchi villager to unlock Confident.

Laughter

Cold Chill

Apologetic

Disagreement

Confident
(Best Friends Only)

Reactions Unlocked by Lazy Villagers

The Bashfulness, Sorrow, Mistaken, Shyness, and Pride reactions are only taught by Lazy personality type villagers. You need to be Best Friends with a Lazy villager to unlock Pride.

Bashfulness

Sorrow

Mistaken

Shyness

Pride
(Best Friends Only)

Reactions Unlocked by Jock Villagers

The Encouraging, Sneezing, Distress, Shocked, and Flourish reactions are only taught by Jock personality type villagers. You need to be Best Friends with a Jock villager to unlock Flourish.

Encouraging

Sneezing

Distress

Shocked!

Flourish
(Best Friends Only)

Reactions Unlocked by Cranky Villagers

The Agreement, Worry, Sheepishness, Bewilderment, and Inspiration reactions are only taught by Cranky personality type villagers. You need to be Best Friends with a Cranky villager to unlock Inspiration.

Agreement

Worry

Sheepishness

Bewilderment

Inspiration
(Best Friends Only)

Reactions Unlocked by Smug Villagers

The Smirking, Resignation, Heartbreak, Dozing, and Showmanship reactions are only taught by Smug personality type villagers. You need to be Best Friends with a Smug villager to unlock Showmanship.

Smirking

Resignation

Heartbreak

Dozing

Showmanship
(Best Friends Only)

Reactions Unlocked With Nook Miles

The Excited, Here You Go, Sit Down, Sniff Sniff, Ta-da, Take a Picture, Wave Goodbye, Work Out, and Yoga reactions are unlocked exclusively by purchasing the Hip Reaction Collection item for 2,700 Nook Miles from the Nook Stop Terminal. They were added in the Winter Update.

Excited

Here You Go

Sit Down

Sniff Sniff

Ta Da

Take A Picture

Wave Goodbye

Work Out

Yoga

Festivale Reactions Unlocked at Nook’s Cranny

The Feelin’ It, Let’s Go, Viva, and Confetti reactions are unlocked exclusively by purchasing the Viva Festivale Reaction Set for 19,800 Bells at Nook’s Cranny from February 1st to 15th. They were added in the January Update.

Feelin' It

Viva

Let's Go

Confetti

Halloween Reactions Unlocked on Halloween

The Haunt and Scare reactions are unlocked exclusively during the Halloween Night Event with Jack held on October 31st. They were added in Version 1.5 of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

You can unlock the Haunt reaction by giving a piece of Candy to Jack, and the Scare reaction by giving some Candy to one of your villagers when they play Trick or Treat on you!

Haunt

Scare

All Reactions Checklist Table

If you prefer a simpler table list format, check out the complete table below listing every reaction, plus handy checkboxes for keeping track of which reactions you’ve obtained so far and which ones have eluded you still.

Reaction	Unlock
Delight	Initial
Greetings	Initial
Joy	Initial
Surprise	Initial
Apologetic	Uchi / Big Sister
Cold Chill	Uchi / Big Sister
Confident	Uchi / Big Sister (Best Friends Only)
Disagreement	Uchi / Big Sister
Laughter	Uchi / Big Sister
Agreement	Cranky
Bewilderment	Cranky
Inspiration	Cranky (Best Friends Only)
Sheepishness	Cranky
Worry	Cranky
Distress	Jock
Encouraging	Jock
Flourish	Jock (Best Friends Only)
Shocked	Jock
Sneezing	Jock
Bashfulness	Lazy
Mistaken	Lazy
Pride	Lazy (Best Friends Only)
Shyness	Lazy
Sorrow	Lazy
Daydreaming	Normal (Best Friends Only)
Fearful	Normal
Glee	Normal
Pleased	Normal
Sadness	Normal
Aggravation	Peppy
Curiosity	Peppy
Happiness	Peppy
Mischief	Peppy (Best Friends Only)
Sleepy	Peppy
Dozing	Smug
Heartbreak	Smug
Resignation	Smug
Showmanship	Smug (Best Friends Only)
Smirking	Smug
Amazed	Snooty
Intense	Snooty
Love	Snooty (Best Friends Only)
Sighing	Snooty
Thought	Snooty
Haunt	Halloween: October 31st (Give Candy to Jack)
Scare	Halloween: October 31st (Give Candy to Villagers)
Excited	Nook Miles (Buy Hip Reaction Collection)
Here You Go	Nook Miles (Buy Hip Reaction Collection)
Sit Down	Nook Miles (Buy Hip Reaction Collection)
Sniff Sniff	Nook Miles (Buy Hip Reaction Collection)
Ta Da	Nook Miles (Buy Hip Reaction Collection)
Take A Picture	Nook Miles (Buy Hip Reaction Collection)
Wave Goodbye	Nook Miles (Buy Hip Reaction Collection)
Work Out	Nook Miles (Buy Hip Reaction Collection)
Yoga	Nook Miles (Buy Hip Reaction Collection)
Feelin' It	Nook's Cranny: Feb 1-15 (Buy Viva Festivale Reaction Set)
Viva	Nook's Cranny: Feb 1-15 (Buy Viva Festivale Reaction Set)
Let's Go	Nook's Cranny: Feb 1-15 (Buy Viva Festivale Reaction Set)
Confetti	Nook's Cranny: Feb 1-15 (Buy Viva Festivale Reaction Set)

How To Use Reactions & Swap Favorites

It’s super easy to use Reactions in Animal Crossing: New Horizons! Just open up the reactions menu dial by pressing the ZR Button on the back right of your controller and select one of up to eight favorites. To use a reaction beyond one of your eight presets, press the Y Button to access the entire collection of unlocked reactions.

Want to change which reactions are on your favorites menu? Press the X Button on a reaction to remove it from the dial, and press X again on the now empty spot to select a new favorite reaction to replace it with.

Reaction Spam Trick

Have you seen other players online or in videos repeatedly use a reaction over and over at record speed? There’s a handy little trick that allows you to spam reactions as fast as your fingers can manage!

❗️ ❗️ ❗️ ❗️ ❗️ #ACNH pic.twitter.com/birWk5dggw

— Animal Crossing World 🛩️🏝️ (@ACWorldBlog) April 6, 2020

To spam a reaction rapidly, open up the regular dial with ZR and then open up the complete All Reactions menu with Y. When you have the full menu open, press the Y button again on your chosen reaction to ‘test’ it out, rather than selecting it with A like normal.

Although the purpose of this function is to test out what each reaction looks like, you can abuse this button to rapidly spam a reaction over and over for laughs since it doesn’t require you to completely re-open the menu every time. We love the using the Surprise and Shocked reactions in particular with this trick!

Get Nook Miles From Unlocking Reactions

Even if you don’t personally enjoying using Reactions for their expressiveness, you should still try and unlock all of them when villagers present the opportunity. That’s because the ‘Reaction Ruler’ Nook Miles achievement requires you to unlock up to 42 different reactions to complete its final milestone!

Reaction Ruler Nook Miles

“You learned a Reaction! Let’s celebrate this momentous occasion with…Nook Miles, hm? Reactions help you express yourself, so it’s a good idea to learn them.”

• Milestone 1: Learn 1 Reaction – 300 Nook Miles
• Milestone 2: Learn 10 Reactions – 500 Nook Miles
• Milestone 3: Learn 20 Reactions – 1000 Nook Miles
• Milestone 4: Learn 30 Reactions – 2000 Nook Miles
• Milestone 5: Learn 42 Reactions – 3000 Nook Miles

Notably, learning 42 reactions requires unlocking all but 2 of every reaction in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. So that means you’ll need to unlock the Best Friends Only reactions for at least 6 of the different villager personality types. That’s no easy task!

Some of the information used in this guide comes from the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Official Companion Guide by Future Press.