Tom Nook, known in Japan as Tanukichi (たぬきち), is a fictional character in the Animal Crossing series who operates the village store. He first appears in the Nintendo 64 game Dōbutsu no Mori, released in Europe and North America on the Nintendo GameCube as Animal Crossing. Nook sells a house to players at the beginning of each title in the series, giving them a set mortgage for them to pay and allowing them to upgrade it over time after the mortgage is paid off. He has made several appearances in the Super Smash Bros. series as well. Nintendo's Treehouse localization members Rich Amtower and Reiko Ninomiya argued that, in spite of his perceived greed, he is a nice person due to taking the risk of hiring someone who was new to the town.