Isabelle has received generally positive reception since her debut, to the point that she has become the mascot of the Animal Crossing series. In July 2020, Isabelle returned to the official Animal Crossing Twitter account. While under Isabelle, the account tweeted in the style of the character in order to remind players about current or forthcoming Animal Crossing titles. Nintendo's official Animal Crossing Twitter account was named after Isabelle before the account was turned over to Tom Nook. Isabelle appears in a one-off gag manga in the magazine CoroCoro. line, and five Animal Crossing amiibo cards. She has two figures from the Animal Crossing line, one from the Smash Bros. Isabelle also appears as part of Nintendo's amiibo line of toys-to-life figures. Player costumes based on Isabelle appear in Super Mario Maker and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Isabelle also appears in the Wii U video game Mario Kart 8 as a downloadable racer, as well as in its Nintendo Switch port Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U before becoming a playable fighter in the Nintendo Switch sequel Super Smash Bros. series, first appearing as an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Outside of the Animal Crossing franchise, Isabelle has also appeared in the Super Smash Bros. She has appeared in several Animal Crossing games since, including Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. In the game, she acts as the secretary to the player character, who becomes the town mayor, and assists them with various tasks. Isabelle first appeared in the 2012 video game Animal Crossing: New Leaf along with her twin brother Digby. series director Masahiro Sakurai chose not to make Isabelle an "Echo Fighter" (a character with relatively minor differences from another) of Villager because of her different animations and her proportions being based on character models in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, as opposed to earlier Animal Crossing character models. Ultimate is based on fellow Animal Crossing character Villager. Isabelle's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Animal Crossing director Katsuya Eguchi and New Leaf producer Aya Kyogoku both enjoyed Isabelle Eguchi appreciated her for her smile, friendliness, and clumsiness. Animal Crossing designers wanted players to reject Isabelle's offer of a ceremony for various accomplishments as mayor at least once so that they feel bad about having done so. They focused on making a "very affectionate" character who was loyal and helpful, and thus chose to make a female dog who was "a little bit clumsy. The development team of New Leaf created her after deciding that the player-controlled mayor needed an assistant. Isabelle is a golden-coloured Shih Tzu, originally named Shizue in Japanese.