Sims 1: 10 Weirdest NPCs In The Legacy Collection

The Simshas finally hit its 25th anniversary, and in celebration, EA has re-released the first two games of the series in a bundle that includes almost every expansion pack. While The Sims has always been a relatively quirky series, with more recent entries constantly referencing llamas and cowplants, the first game had some truly odd NPCs running around. The base game could be strange or scary, like with the terrifying Burglar, but every expansion pack added even weirder characters for players to discover.

Playing The Sims 1 and 2 for the first time can be a stressful experience, especially with how difficult the original games were compared to now. This difficulty can be offset by the joy of discovering the weird little characters hidden in special interactions and events. NPCs like the Mime and the Campfire Ghost, who only appear in very specific circumstances, make The Sims a very special series to discover through playing hours and hours.

10 Cake Dancers Are The Life Of The Party

This One's Just For Adults

The Sims 1 Female Cake Dancer performing

The Cake Dancers are by far the raunchiest addition to The Sims. The sexy dancers were first added in the second expansion pack, House Party, and can only appear after a large cake has been purchased for a party. Once the cake is on the lot, players can choose “Buy Male/Female Entertainer”, which will cause a dancer to burst out of the cake and dance to entertain partygoers, though any children at the party will be kicked out by adults.

Buying a Cake Dancer leaves the experience up to chance, since they have a small variety of options for each gender and an even smaller chance of accidentally summoning the Tragic Clown. While the Cake Dancers themselves aren’t that weird, the fact that they seem to be the only sexy NPCs ever added to the series make them an interesting anomaly.

9 The Obsessed Fan Is Disturbing NPC

The Dark Side Of Fame

The expansion pack that introduced players to the high life of fame, The Sims: Superstar, also introduced the uglier side of stardom. The Obsessed Fan is the price of being a celebrity, as this crazed NPC will stalk any Sims that don’t form a good relationship with their fanbase. His genuinely disturbing actions include following the celebrity Sim around at home or at any community lots, digging through their trash, leaving ominous black roses around, and trying to steal any awards the celebrity Sim has earned.

While this NPC’s actions are creepy enough, the character model for the Obsessed Fan makes him even stranger. With his short red hair and blue button-up shirt, the Obsessed Fan seems to be modeled off of a famous stalker: John Hinckley Jr. Hinckley was fixated on actress Jodie Foster and attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981 just to get her attention. This connection to The Sims is so out of left field, it becomes hilarious and somehow even more ominous.

8 Miss Crumplebottom Has Strict Standards

No PDA While She's Around

First introduced in Hot Date, the Old Prude NPC is actually Miss Crumplebottom, one of the few Sims to make an appearance in every game in the series. Included in the steamy expansion pack, which added items like a heart-shaped, two-person hot tub and a cuddle couch, Hot Date also added the old lady NPC to smack and bother any Sims who display too much affection for each other in community lots. The inclusion of Miss Crumplebottom in Hot Date is hilarious and puts a stop to any players who want to get a little too intimate on their dates.

7 The Tragic Clown Brings Down The Mood

Failing To Bring The Cheer

The Sims 1 Tragic Clown visits the household lot

The Tragic Clown was first introduced in Livin’ Large and is an iconic NPC in The Sims, as he has made an appearance in almost every mainline title. As the name implies, the Tragic Clown is a sad clown who will appear to try and cheer up any Sims feeling down, but only if they own the Tragic Clown painting. Unfortunately, his miserable appearance and lackluster clown performance will only make sad Sims feel even worse. To make matters worse, the Clown will walk around the house weeping until Sims do something about him.

Thankfully, there are a few ways to get rid of the clown to make Sims feel better, most of which involve destroying his painting or hiring special clown catchers to take him away. The Tragic Clown will make numerous appearances in other scenarios, like appearing while Sims are on vacation, on a date, or as a cake dancer at a party. If the Tragic Clown does show up at a party, partygoers will boo and jeer until he leaves the party.

6 Drew Carey Is A Very Y2K Inclusion

A Celebrity Cameo Of Its Time

The Sims 1 Drew Carey visits a good party

The Sims is full of celebrity cameos, each of which is painfully Y2K. Real life stars like Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah McLachlan, Christina Aguilera, and Avril Lavigne all make an appearance in the expansion pack Superstar, but one celebrity broke into The Sims before all others. That celebrity is, of course, Drew Carey. The stand-up comedian was added to the game in House Party simply as a reward for having a good party, to which he would show up and chat with any Sims on the lot.

While Drew Carey himself isn’t that strange and his NPC counterpart doesn’t do anything unusual, the choice to include the gameshow host as a special character feels strange twenty-five years removed from his heyday. Playing the Legacy Collection version of the game now will likely cause most fans to think of Drew Carey for the first time in over a decade, which makes his inclusion as a special NPC retroactively very funny.

5 The Campfire Ghost Sells Any Scary Story

A Perfect Dose Of Fright

Sims 1 Green Beard the Ghost scares Sims away from the Campfire

Green Beard, otherwise known as the Campfire Ghost, is a special NPC that only appears in specific interactions around a campfire. First introduced in House Party, the Campfire Ghost can only be summoned while Sims tell scary stories around the KampRite Instant Kampfire, and only if the Sim telling the story has a high level of Charisma. In the midst of a scary story, Green Beard the Ghost will rise up from the middle of the fire making ghostly noises and waving his arms around, scaring any Sims listening and occasionally causing them to wet themselves.

4 Gabby The Mime Is A Drag At Parties

Some Nights Aren't Meant For Fun

Sims 1 Gabby the Mime visits a bad party

Like the Tragic Clown, Gabby the Mime is an NPC that no player wants to see on their home lot. The Mime acts almost identically to the Tragic Clown, but his single appearance in The Sims and no other games makes him slightly more interesting. Gabby, added in the House Party expansion pack, will only appear when a party is going poorly. In his attempts to cheer up guests, the Mime will only make things worse and will even refuse to leave when asked.

Bizarrely, other Sims can slap Gabby, but that violence has little impact since he sticks around trying and failing to entertain guests. The only way to be rid of the Mime, without outright deleting him, is to improve the overall mood of the party or just end it. Unlike the Tragic Clown, the Mime might steal things from around the lot, which makes him an even more bizarre NPC to randomly appear during normal gameplay.

3 Clones & Evil Clones Can Cause Chaos

Be Wary Of Doppelgangers

The Sims 1 evil clone ruins relationships

Clones, first introduced in Livin’ Large and then further expanded in Makin’ Magic, are one of the strangest occurrences in the entire first game. Clones can be created by drinking potions, which would ideally take the place of a Sim at work or school. However, creating a clone can have disastrous consequences, as it may create a rogue evil clone NPC. This evil twin will wreck relationships by being mean to every other Sim around before running off the lot.

While creating an evil clone NPC is bad enough, players can also inadvertently scar their Sims for life by creating a clone using the Clone Drone charm when hungry. The clone will magically appear and then burst into flames, showing a player’s Sim exactly what they’d look like if they also caught fire.

2 The Giant Is A Charming Easter Egg

Will Wright Has A Cameo

The Sims 1 Will Wright as a Giant easter egg

One of the last NPCs added to the game, the Giant, is less of an NPC players can see and interact with around the various community lots and more of a fun Easter Egg for longtime fans. In the final expansion pack of the game, players can grow a beanstalk at home and have their Sims climb up. At the very top of the beanstalk, players will find a special area where the Giant is sleeping.

This Giant is actually Will Wright, a founder of Maxis and the creator of both SimCity and The Sims. Players can view the Giant and get a message reading “Thanks for playing The Sims.” While there is a comically large can of beans next to the Giant, there’s nothing else to do up in the clouds except admire the Sims' god.

1 Claire The Bear Is As Weird As It Gets

A Very Human Animal

The Sims 1 Claire the Bear going through trash

Claire the Bear is by far the strangest NPC in The Sims. Introduced in Hot Date, far before Unleashed introduced animals to the game, Claire is a bear that walks on two legs (seemingly in high heels, based on her walk cycle) that will visit residential lots to rifle through garbage cans. Claire will also wander around the lot to react to any bear-themed items, some of which will cause her to freak out and flee the area. These items include teddy bears, which cause delight, and bearskin rugs, which Claire reacts to with inhuman groans before flatout sprinting away.

What makes Claire the Bear so startlingly unique is that she is the only “animal” NPC to be added before actual animal models were coded in. When comparing her to other animals, like El Bandito the Raccoon or Henri LeStanc the Skunk, her strangely human behavior becomes even weirder. She looks more like a grown woman in a bear suit snuffling around her neighbor’s homes, especially with her groans and shrieks when reacting to bear-themed items in The Sims.