Pappy Van Poodle: The Nintendo Character No One Knows

We have seen many cute dogs in the Nintendo universe, and most of them were from Animal Crossing, a social simulation series. From K.K. Slider to Jack Russell Terrier to Isabelle and Shih Tzu, all these dog characters have left a mark in the Nintendo world. But there’s one dog character called Pappy Van Poodle that we all seem to have forgotten.

If you have never heard of Pappy Van Poodle before, it’s sad! But no worries, we are here to tell you who this character is and where you can find him.

Pappy Van Poodle is a character from Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball game on Nintendo 3DS. But if you have played the game in a specific way, you probably never came across this character. 

Nobody seems to have remembered Pappy Van Poodle until recently when a YouTuber spoke about Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball game. He found the puppy and brought him to the level of fame he deserves. Since then, most of us know about Pappy Van Poodle. Many fans are calling the puppy to be a more character in the Nintendo universe. 

If you are intrigued to know more about this mysterious character, you must give this article a read.

Who Is Pappy Van Poodle?

Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball was released for the first time in 2014. However, the game was available for free in the Nintendo 3DS eShop exclusively in North America. Although the game was free to download, players had to purchase mini-games using real money.

To purchase mini-games, players had to buy them from Rusty Slugger, the main character in the game. But players could haggle with Rusty. Since ol’ Rusty was a poor negotiator, he would usually give a far better price. 

If you try to pay Rusty the full price, instead of haggling him down, Pappy Van Poodle, along with one of Rusty’s children, will appear on the screen to remind you that you can haggle him. But, of course, no one would want to pay the full price, which is why very few players got the chance to meet Pappy Van Poodle.

Any player who tried to pay in full was treated to six extra cut scenes featuring Pappy Van Poodle. He is an old, happy, overweight dog. In one of the cut scenes, Rusty describes Pappy Van Poodle as a mentor, neighbor, and businessman. Both of them know each other for 20 human years.

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In another cut scene, Pappy Van Poodle describes himself as a father figure to Rusty and an unofficial team mascot. He gives flowers to Rusty to show how strong their bond is. One thing for sure, Pappy Van Poodle is a mysterious character. 

For those who don’t know, there is also a Japanese version of Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball, which was launched a year before the American version in 2013. The Japanese version of Pappy Van Poodle went by a different name and also had a different backstory. He also wore a different outfit from the one seen in the American version of the game.

Personality Of Pappy Van Poodle

Pappy Van Poodle happens to be a good friend and mentor to Rusty. They have known each other for 20 human years, which is 140 years for a dog. He is also the biggest fan and supporter of the’ Rusty’s Sluggers baseball team.

Rusty also describes him as the unofficial mascot of his team. Pappy is like a father figure to Rusty, who gave him flowers to show how strong their bond is.

Pappy Van Poodle is an old, happy-go-lucky dog who is very close to Rusty. Unfortunately, a character like him went unnoticed for so many years. But it is good to see that people know about him now.

Japanese Version Of Pappy Van Poodle

The Japanese version of “Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball” also has a Pappy Van Poodle, but he is way different from his American counterpart. Japanese Pappy has a different backstory and outfit.

How Pappy Van Poodle Went Missing?

If you tried to Google search Pappy Van Poodle before 2019, you would get no results. This shows that no one ever encountered this mysterious character before. From the launch of the game in 2014 until 2019, Nintendo fans had no idea that any such character existed. It was like no one saw him or posted about him online. As a result, this lovable dog character went unnoticed for 5 long years.

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However, everything changed when YouTuber Nick Robinson posted a video exposing Pappy Van Poodle to the world. He mentioned every detail about the character and how or when he appeared in the game. 

Nick discovered Rusty when he re-downloaded Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball on a Nintendo 2DS XL. It gave him access to all the mini-games for free. However, Nick wanted to see what would happen if he paid Rusty the full price, and that is when he discovered Pappy Van Poodle. After that, he made an entire YouTube video on Pappy and brought him the fame he deserved. 

There are rumors that Nick is not the first one to discover Pappy. But the question is why there weren’t any Google search results for “Pappy Van Poodle” if someone had already discovered him before Nick. 

Pappy Van Poodle Rising To Fame

Since the time Nick Robinson released his YouTube video, everyone knows about Pappy Van Poodle. The character that went completely unnoticed for so many years suddenly became famous overnight.

Now, if you Google search Pappy Van Poodle, you will come across many related content talking about the character in detail. Not just articles, but you will find loads of fanart and animations of Pappy as well. 

Even discussion forums like Reddit are talking about Pappy. More YouTube videos are being made about the mysterious character. You will be surprised to know that there’s a petition online to include Pappy Van Poodle in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. 

A crossover fighting game created by Bandai Namco in collaboration with Nintendo, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, allows players to purchase Challenger Packs in the game. Fans have recently posted a petition on Change.org for Nintendo to introduce a new Challenger Pack with the forgotten character, Pappy Van Poodle. 

It’s surprising to see how a single YouTube video could do so much. It took just one person to discover Pappy, and now the whole world knows about him. Fans are so hyped about the character that they even went to the extent of signing an online petition to convince Nintendo to add Pappy in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Pappy Van Poodle was mostly unknown because of the unlikely technique to introduce him in the game. But luckily, Nick found him, and now he is famous all over. If you haven’t checked Nick’s video yet, you should do it now. He has a detailed video on his YouTube channel where he talks about the character and how he discovered him by accident.

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Out of all the dog characters in the Nintendo Universe, Pappy Van Poodle is the most mysterious one. He has been there since the beginning, but no one ever encountered him until Nick’s video.