Hello Kitty Island Adventure Critters: List and Locations

01

How to unlock the Net and Bubble Wand

The Net comes first. Once you reach friendship level 2 with Keroppi and finish "Power Up the Gate," his "Open the Nature Preserve" quest starts in Spooky Swamp. Badtz-maru hands you the Net crafting plans at his Comic and Bait Shop in Seaside Resort, and the Net costs 10 Sticks, 3 Thread and 1 Light Stone. Catch a Lily Frog, donate it to the Curator Nul inside the Nature Preserve, and Kiki and Lala reward you with the Bog Star Fragment.

The Bubble Wand comes from Hangyodon's "Magic Bubble Wand" quest. It unlocks after "Comic Relief," "Enraging Ruins," "Deep Diving," "Finding Flippers," "Open the Nature Preserve" and "Bring Back the Swing." You collect three plan pieces from chests near the Sunken Ship mailbox, on the ledge above the Hot Springs waterfalls, and in a purple room of the Crystal Caves. Chococat combines them at his crafting table near the Resort Gate, and the wand costs 20 Starfish, 5 Box Clams and 3 Mechanisms. To finish, catch a Sapphire Seapony outside the Comedy Club.

02

Net vs Bubble Wand: which tool to use

With the Net selected in your toolbar, walk up to a critter and swipe before it runs. A startled critter shows a red exclamation point and flees. The wiki says the Net only works on land, so every Rainbow Reef critter has to be caught with the Bubble Wand.

The Bubble Wand releases a bubble that floats toward the nearest critter in the direction you're facing. Once the bubble surrounds it, walk into the bubble to finish the catch. The wand works on every critter but is slower than the Net on land, and it can't catch fish (the fishing guide covers those). Underwater critters never startle, and the wiki recommends the wand for easy-to-startle critters such as the Cloudragon.

Keroppi helps a lot, and he can join you as a companion from friendship level 6. His Critter Calmer ability slows critters by 10% at level 6, 30% at level 11 and 50% at level 13, and his Critter Friend ability at level 9 gives critters a 25% chance to stay calm instead of running. The wiki calls the speedy Starlien nearly impossible to catch without him.

03

When critters appear: time of day and weather

A full in-game day lasts about 60 minutes: roughly 10 minutes of morning, 25 of daytime, 10 of evening and 15 of night. To skip ahead, sleep in a bed in a Visitor Cabin, or bring Pekkle once his Dance All Night ability is unlocked.

Weather critters exist only while their weather is active in their region. Weather events have a chance to happen every 20 to 40 minutes of play, only one region is affected at a time, and closing the game ends the current event. With Kiki and Lala both as companions, their Meteorology ability (unlocked by "Together Forever") cuts the wait between weather events in half. Each special weather type needs a quest first:

The wiki adds a useful clue: if a region has active weather but no weather currency on the ground, a weather critter or fish is very likely there.

04

Hello Kitty Island Adventure critters list by region

These tables follow the wiki's critter table, and "All" means any time of day. Tool advice comes from each critter's own wiki page; entries marked "(inferred)" are our reading of the wiki's general rule that the Net works on land and the Bubble Wand on any critter. For the regions themselves and how to unlock them, see the map guide.

Seaside Resort

Spooky Swamp

Rainbow Reef

Gemstone Mountain

Mount Hothead

Merry Meadow and Icy Peak

Cloud Island and the Moon

The Cloudragon and Stardrake startle easily, so bring Keroppi with both critter abilities.

City Town (DLC)

Imaginary seafood is technically imaginary technology, not critters, so it skips the Critters tab and can't be donated. All eight are Rare Chef's Station ingredients that appear at any time once the right Sashimi Spire upgrade is done.

Wheatflour Wonderland (DLC)

05

Where to donate critters

These Hello Kitty Island Adventure critters locations matter twice, because most catches can also be donated. The Nature Preserve sits in Spooky Swamp, just north of its fast-travel point, and has five rooms: Seaside, Bog, Reef, Gemstone and Volcano. Donate to the Curator Nul in the main room, and each critter appears in its home region's room. In Keroppi's follow-up "Restore the Nature Preserve," the other four Critter Lists are all inside the preserve, and since update 2.4 they no longer need Flippers, a Snorkel or a Pickaxe.

Three more spots take donations. The Cloud Island Critter Corral opens during "Catching a Cloudragon," Kiki's quest at Kiki friendship level 8 and Keroppi level 13 after "Icy Recovery" and "Magic Bubble Wand." To get to the Merry Meadows Critter Corral, you plant three Giant Seeds to reach the Meadows Temple level. City Town critters go to the City Critter Park, and the wiki's City Key page says donating a Squeakle stopped earning a City Key in version 2.14.

Woolox, though caught on Icy Peak, goes to the Gemstone room. The wiki says Blubby, Crabloo, Penguino and the Moon critters can't be donated anywhere yet, and Wheatflour Wonderland critters can't go to a Curator Nul. The wiki also disagrees with itself on weather critters: the preserve and corral pages list Frost Friend, Soaking Slugler, Hearthling and Stardrake, while their own pages say they can't be donated, so check in game.

06

Other uses: cabins, homes, crafting and gifts

• Visitor Cabins: Terrariums from Small Gift Big Smile hold critters, land or flying critters can also sit directly in a room, and water critters need an aquarium. Pikki wants 1 Eruptoad and Keroppi's Grandma 1 Swampy Snapper; see the visitors guide.
• Homes (Welcome Home): Some Character Island Home Layouts list critters among their items, and layouts don't include the items, so you supply them. Keroppi's layout lists Bush Friend, Lily Frog, Mossling, Orchid Glowbuddy, Rosy Duster, Scarlet Scuttler and Twinklebug. See the homes guide.
• Critter Furniture: "Incredibly Critterful" (Keroppi at friendship level 15, after "Restore the Nature Preserve") unlocks the plans, and "Critter Chic" asks you to craft all 13 pieces. The Critter Bookshelf alone is crafted from 40 Lily Frogs and 5 Eruptoads.
• Gifts: Keroppi treats several swamp critters as 2-heart gifts, including Lily Frog, Bush Friend, both Glowbuddies, Phantom Flutterby, Pumpkin Spiceler and Swampy Snapper.
• Transformations: In Wheatflour Wonderland, a Critter Wand from the Wand Forge takes 10 of one Wheatflour critter plus 50 Fairy Dust, 1 Gemstone and 3 Flecks, and turns you into that critter for Critter Launchpads and puzzles. On Friendship Island, the Critter Potion from the Cauldron turns you into a random critter for 2 minutes; see the potions guide.

07

Critter achievements

The in-game Critter Catcher Goals reward catching 5 critters (2 Sticks), 25 (1 Woodblock) and 100 (a Critter Totem), plus 5 catches with the Bubble Wand and 5 each in Seaside Resort, Spooky Swamp, Gemstone Mountain, Rainbow Reef and Mount Hothead. Nature Preserve Goals cover donating 5, 10, 25 and 50 critters, donating every critter in each preserve area, and finding each Critter List. On Steam and PlayStation, the Critter Master achievement asks you to catch 100 critters. The full checklist lives in the achievements guide.

08

Event critters: Lovebug and Heartwing

The Lovebug appears only during the Hugs & Hearts event, as a second event currency for exclusive outfits at the Event Stand. You can net one Lovebug per day near the stand in Seaside Resort, and missed days don't stack. Lovebugs can't go in Visitor Cabins and vanish when the event ends. Afterward, Keroppi gifts you a Heartwing, once per save. It carries the Critters tag but counts as an item, not a catchable critter.