As expected, people have started reverse-engineering game cartridges that arrived early, so we have a little bit of new information about the game (but nothing terribly unpredictable).

The big news is that the only special characters are the ones we've already seen in trailers, plus K.K. Slider (who was heavily hinted at in merchandise). That means no Rover, Kapp'n, Redd, Resetti, Gracie, Brewster, Reese, Cyrus, Katrina, Joan, etc. They may be added in updates, but for now they do not exist in AC:NH. (There is data for Rover but no graphics, suggesting he was meant to be in the game but got cut before release.)

Other interesting factoids:
- There are 397 different villagers (list). All the Sanrio villagers are included, but not the crossover ones like Epona.
- Not all items from AC:NL have been kept; for example, the Froggy Chair (subject of many memes) is missing.
- There are 32 different hairstyles (picture).
- The soundtrack is being gradually uploaded here.
- The game's code includes the physics engine from Breath of the Wild; it's not clear why.
- The Dodo Airlines building can be upgraded.

For more, follow @OatmealDome and/or @DeckoDecks on Twitter!

I hear there are no gyroids (besides Lloid) this time around.  I for one would be very upset if that's the case.  I had them in every room of my previous houses...

Do backpacks serve a function?

Can the town hall be moved?

From what I have heard backpacks are purely for the looks.

It has been confirmed that the "town hall" area cannot be moved

Thank you for this disappointing news

What about buckets for fish and stuff? Do those serve a function for storage?

That's a lot of villagers! Surprised that there are relatively few new ones though.

Are there any villagers from New Leaf that haven't made the list or are they all there?

Not sure if I'm allowed to say this on here, but people have already decrypted the ACNH save files! Save editors and Homebrew are now possible..... Just wish I was that computer savvy. I remember visiting those towns in New Leaf and I was in awe

teencrosser, I've modified and cheated in City Folk and the original heavily. I don't recommend it since it destroys any sense of accomplishment and you wouldn't want to play anymore. Sure, one could give themselves infinite bells and a fully upgraded home, but why play it anymore if they just eliminated a good portion of the game and the enjoyment?

I think Nintendo will come down hard on people "cheating" in the first few months after the game's release.

Yeah I do not plan on even attempting to mess with any of that stuff, I was just throwing it out there for people who do in fact know what they are doing   I don't wanna ruin my game, and especially not my new ACNH themed switch haha.

Haha, I'm the same - even if I was drawn into the dark arts of altering the game in any way, I wouldn't have a clue how to go about doing it.

Anyway... anything on new fish/bugs yet? Seen a few new ones in various pieces of game footage but apparently there's only 80 of each so there can't be that many new ones.

- The soundtrack is being gradually uploaded here.

That channel is gone already.

Teencrosser;

"Not sure if I'm allowed to say this on here, but people have already decrypted the ACNH save files! Save editors and Homebrew are now possible..... Just wish I was that computer savvy. I remember visiting those towns in New Leaf and I was in awe "

Given how early on the Switch itself was hacked, and how cheating runs rampant in Smash and Splatoon, I was already expecting people to be cheating in ACNH on day one, and for wacko hacked towns to appear within a week or two, so this doesn't surprise me at all.

This only adds to my feeling that Nintendo's anti-cheating methods for the game only inconvenience legitimate players by preventing them from being able to easily back up their save-files - ACNH now has day-zero cheating, and the only people who can freely keep their saves safe are the cheaters.

Is anyone else disappointed that there's only 8 new villagers and 0 returning from the Gamecube days?

There are nearly 200 returning Gabecube villagers:
I wish Woolio was one of them.

PennyGwin:

"This only adds to my feeling that Nintendo's anti-cheating methods for the game only inconvenience legitimate players by preventing them from being able to easily back up their save-files - ACNH now has day-zero cheating, and the only people who can freely keep their saves safe are the cheaters."

I cannot agree more, Penny!  The only saving grace would be if there is some measure in the Nintendo cloud that will detect the hacked saved file (e.g. Items that have not yet been released, too much money on Day 1, etc, etc.) and prevent those players from interacting online.  I am not holding my breath, though.

And where is Dozer!?!  He doesn't even have an amiibo card!   I guess he's one of many GC characters that are MIA.

^^ I meant the "forgotten villagers" that haven't been in a game since gamecube

asorrypartridge - I think that it's ironic that this has come about on the same day that this interview (where the devs discuss their reasons for making save-backups inconvenient and initially-unavailable for regular users) is doing the rounds.

I love that "male ponytail" hairstyle! (Bottom of the pic) I'm definitely using that one when I get it.

As for the villagers, here's the new ones:

Megan (purple bear)
Raymond (cat)
Judy (pastel rainbow sparkly-eyed bear cub)
Cyd (elephant)
Sherb (blue goat)
Reneigh (horse)
Dom (white sheep who looks like a girl, but is a jock male)
Audie (wolf)


One thing to note though- the numbering on that list is rather odd.

We'll start off with the anteaters.

ant00 Cyrano
ant01 Antonio
ant02 Pango
ant03 Anabelle
ant06 Snooty
ant08 Annalisa
ant09 Olaf


There is no ant04, ant05, or ant07.

Either this means that more villagers were initially planned, perhaps even worked on, then scrapped. Or they're leaving those empty spaces to add them later on. (Coincidentally, there are 3 anteaters who never made it past the Gamecube versions, one of whom is Japan-exclusive in DnM e+. They would fit into those spots.)


But yeah, some of this stuff is rather disappointing. It seems they focused way less on certain areas than New Leaf did.

8 is the least amount of new villagers we've gotten in any game, as well as the very low number of special characters, with so many left behind.

But it has already been confirmed that many will return in future updates. So I'm beginning to think we're getting way more. At least, I can hope.


And it's a bit disingenuous to say that Resetti and Joan aren't in the game. Daisy Mae is shown to mention Joan (at least, it's heavily implied), and we can assume Resetti runs the rescue service. I am very shocked at how many special characters they took out though.


Also sad, but not surprised, that the game has pretty much already been fully hacked. Kinda scared at what this may mean.

I have my hopes up that they'll bring back and add more villagers in future updates soon. They're my favorite part of the game. ^Noticing the missing numbers in there was a good catch and gives me hope.

Also, now there's a villager who I share my name with, so that's cool. But with that said, I don't get why any of the new villagers were named what they were (beside Reneigh, but that kind of bothers me because there's already a Renee).

Some villager names are just random.

For example: Olivia, Rudy, Jacob, etc.

Megan's name suits her surprisingly well. I don't know her personality type but she seems like such a preppy girl. Like, she looks exactly like I'd envision a villager named Megan to look like, if that makes sense.

No villagers have my name yet, but my mom's name is Judy. As for why they named that villager Judy, idk.

I think Sherb's name could come from sherbet (in reference to his pastel blue color, or maybe because goats live in cold climates and sherbet is cold). Or a reference to the Sherpa people of the Himalayas, known for mountain climbing.

Audie is confirmed to be a reference to a real life elderly woman named Audie who played New Leaf, but why specifically a wolf? Who knows. (I think having her named Audrey would've been better, since that was also the woman's real name. And I just am a fan of the name.)

A domette is a thin cotton padding used in sewing certain clothes, likely where Dom gets his name from.

For Cyd... well, Cydonia is a region of Mars. Mars is bright red, so is Cyd. That's my theory there.

PennyGwin:  I didn't see that interview.  Thanks for sharing, and yes- very ironic timing!

Makes you wonder how long the hackers have actually been at it... and if they waited to release the info until the "right moment".

In the face of simlar issues in NL, what ended up being the best method to connect with new players while at the same time avoiding duped/hacked items?  I will primarily be networking with trusted family members, but it would be nice to meet ACC community members online without fear of running into a hack that is somehow detrimental to a legit game save.

I am a bit skeptical about the statement that Switch hardware and systems are a factor in needing some specialized backup tool for NH.  Ummm... is this game not developed by the very same company that marketed the heck out of the Nintendo Online cloud save feature, and the same company that developed the console itself?  Whose bright idea was it to develop a product incompatible with the other products it's meant to work with, which are still being sold by the same company?

I feel like that was a CYA statement in the event that the game was hacked, to justify continued lack of support for cloud saves even when the argument for hack protection became moot.  Which it just did.

It has been mentioned before- but I think it bears repeating here- that seasonal events being gated by free software updates is nothng more than another measure to prevent "cheating" (via time travel) and to lessen the impact of hacking.  One may be able to hack a save to gain max bells, but they can't warp to Christmas and start duping Jimgle items to give everyone if that event is not yet patched into the game.

Here's hoping we don't begin isolating ourselves virtually on top of isolating ourselves physically!

You know, I'm genuinely shocked by the amount of content that was cut from New Horizons, and stuff that was re-purposed and cost us NPC's.

First off, the few things I noticed right off the bat that aren't in the game are swimming, paintings for the museum, and gyroids.

Secondly, the amount of special NPC's not returning is shocking. I honestly at least expected to see Crazy Redd, Brewster, Katrina, and Gracie. I'm really surprised they did not return. I'm kinda most disappointed Brewster is not back since I was hoping The Roost would be a place we could add to the town. Then you have characters like Harriet, Pelly, Phyllis, Pete, Leif, Reese & Cyrus, Dr. Shrunk who were replaced, which I'm disappointed about. Harriet was replaced by an app, all the mail is handled by Orville now, Cyrus's job can be done at a crafting bench, emotions can be taught by villagers instead of Dr. Shrunk, and Leif was replaced by a cabinet in Nook's Cranny.

I'm even more shocked because Nintendo of America said "New facilities are available to be built on your island in #AnimalCrossing: New Horizons, from a museum showcasing the island’s rich ecosystem, Nook’s Cranny, the Able Sisters’ tailor shop, a campsite, and so much more." That's really it. The only other facility we can build is the resident services upgrade and ONE upgrade to Nook's Cranny.

I have to say, these are my biggest disappointments about what the datamine revealed. I know it'll still be a very enjoyable game and the new stuff really is going to make this an amazing game, but the content that was cut and the NPC's that were replaced by mechanics and such just disappoint me.

I feel like gyroids are iconic in their way but the background of what they actually are is mostly lost in the games post N64/GameCube. In the original I only remember certain animals mentioning "bizarre ancient statues being dug up from the dirt" or something like that. I'd say in terms of furniture types they're one of the least used and dysfunctional things to try and use in your house. I never would keep any in my house before NL when they came in abundance.

I wonder though, this datamine news, is it possible there's going to be a day 1 update that we don't know about to install these characters and such? Or perhaps they've been given other purpose we don't know about yet.

Rover seems like he'd fit in so easily, riding a sea plane between islands on the loading/connecting screen? Weird. I hope they aren't giving us a bare minimum game that's just heavy on building features.
Also they did show that other character selling turnips instead of Joan, and Joan has talked in previous games about how she's been selling turnips on sunday for the past XX amount of years, maybe she's retired for a new character.
As for Resetti, maybe they've changed the save feature or that if you don't save you don't get a threat from a mole that scares little kids? They already scaled him back from the original to be less harsh.

In the long run I doubt they just axed all these characters permanently. There's probably some kind of explanation. I also don't see why they'd shelve things like the Cafe when the game already should be more powered than NL on the 3DS.


- The game's code includes the physics engine from Breath of the Wild; it's not clear why.

For the aerobics bouncy ball!!