A player with an "unknown" beta item in their pockets.
Beta refers to a stage in a game's development. It is the software development phase following alpha. It generally begins when the software is content complete. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software.
List of Beta Elements in Animal Crossing[]
Shaki[]
Shaki (シャキ Crispy?) is a beta special character in Animal Crossing. Her name was previously mistranslated as "Chestnut" by English-speaking players. Before any name for her was known, players also called her "Blazel", based on the fact that her appearance combines features of Bliss (now known as Caroline) and Hazel (now known as Sally). She can only be accessed by using an Action Replay code.
If hacked in game, her name shows up as "
ù«–•B¡¡". This, "ù«–•B¡¡", is actually "ジョニー・B"[1] in Animal Forest e+, which translates to Johnny B. This is used similarly to the John Doe pseudonym in the United States. It should be noted that "ù«–•B¡¡ " is the default name for any special character which lacks a name. Her text data was scrapped, leading to use of multiple animals' texts.
Shaki exists as two different character indexes, one under 0xE15A and the other under 0xD06C. When using the character index of 0xE15A, Shaki will recycle Jambette's data, and be named "Jambette". If her character index is 0xD06C, she uses one of Kapp'n's lines, and has her name set as "ù«–•B¡¡ ". This happens because only the lower byte is used to determine the villager's name (0x5A in this case). Jambette's villager index is 0xE05A.
Shortly after her name, the word "とりゃ〜 (torya〜?)" is found; it is likely that this would've served as either a default catchphrase or an opening text box, as all special characters in Animal Forest e+ have a saying or catchphrase. Her name and text are the last two entries in the file.
In other languages[]
Note that apart from the Japanese name the others were purely invented by fans
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| Warning: Theory starts here. |
Internally, her texture and model files refer to her as "xsq", which likely means extra squirrel. However, in the game's code, she is called "ac_ev_dokutu". That can be broken down into "Actor Event Dokutu". Characters with ev in their name are traveling characters like Crazy Redd, Saharah, or Joan. Dokutu may be shorthand for ドクトル (dokutoru?), which is the English word "doctor" written in katakana. Strings before her name in Animal Forest e+ include "sick" and "patient", which supports this. These things imply she may have been a traveling doctor of some sorts. She may have also healed the player if they ever happen to get stung by bees on the day she was in town, since medicine was not introduced until Animal Forest e+ was released and internationally when Wild World released as well. She was likely cut due to uninteresting/useless mechanics, or time constraints. She may have also been a character for gardening, because her name, "Shaki" is used in Japanese as an onomatopoeia for swift blade movement, like a shovel, another reason why she would be wearing gloves and an apron, meaning she could have been the character for gardening before Leif was introduced to the series.
Her data appears again in the gigaleak of beta Animal Forest files. This time, she appears to be a temporary replacement for Porter as she says his dialog when the Player exits the train for the first time. It is now thought that she was a remnant of the original RPG version of Animal Forest, where she was likely a doctor. This explains why she uses one of Kapp'n's dialogs in Animal Forest+, Animal Forest, and Animal Forest e+. She was likely used as a placeholder for him while his character was under development. This is further corroborated by her internal name being xsq, which likely means "extra squirrel".
| Theory ends here. |
Appearance[]
Shaki most closely resembles an unfinished version of Caroline. Her fur is red, and her eyes are large and blue. On her tail, she has a light tan pinstripe, similar to Hazel. In addition, she has another light tan swirl on her head that resembles a question mark. Her shirt appears to be a green apron over a white undershirt. Her hands are white, so she may be wearing gloves.
Gallery[]
CAT13[]
CAT13 is an unused villager in Animal Forest, and was discovered after a gigaleak of game files. She has been given the unofficial nickname "Catty" by fans.
Appearance[]
CAT13 is a dark brown cat with a tan question mark-like stripe on her forehead (not unlike Chestnut), and thick tan eyebrows. She has black, half-closed eyes, making her look disinterested or bored. She has shiny pink lipstick, no visible nose, and the insides of her ears are blue. In screenshots where she has been modded into the game, she can be seen wearing a deer sweater, but it is unknown whether this is her official shirt or just a placeholder.
In other language[]
Many other languages use Cat13 to recognize it even if some have stayed on Catty or Katia.
Gallery[]
Blue Fish[]
The Blue Fish is a beta item in Animal Crossing. It is simply a blue fish with a hook in its lip.
Although its purpose is original unknown, it is suspected it was used to test fish items or fishing. Its final use was most likely as a placeholder or default texture, as it is the texture for quite a few invalid item indexes.
DUMMY[]
A player places a DUMMY in his home.
The DUMMY is a beta item that is only available in the original Animal Crossing. Its hexadecimal item index is 0x33C4.
When placed in the player's house, it appears as a floating white triangle with red Japanese characters in the center reading "ダミー". The characters, when translated into English, read "dummy". It is widely considered a glitch item, since it cannot be sold nor does it appear in the catalog.
As it can be placed as an actual item, it is assumed that it was a substitute item for real furniture during testing of the game.
It is only obtainable by talking to a villager inside an Igloo through specific conditions. It can be awarded through the "pick two cards" game. One card results in an item that must be purchased with Bells, and the other card will award a free prize. This free prize card is occasionally the DUMMY.
Glowing Yellow Box[]
The cubes pushing the player outside Nook's Cranny.
The Glowing Yellow Box is a beta item in Animal Crossing, possibly a beta for the Lighthouse. It is a yellow cube that shifts from side to side, changing its color to brown and back every once in a while. It can alter where the paper airplane spreads to, and can push the player, sometimes causing them to "fly" and stand on top of the cube. This beta item can be seen in Animal Crossing's Beta World 01, when used with cheats.
The hexadecimal item index number for the glowing yellow box is 0x8003.
Paper Airplane[]
A paper air plane before replicating.
The paper airplane(s) after reentering the acre a few times.
The paper airplane is a beta item in Animal Crossing. It cannot be obtained without the use of cheats. Its hexadecimal item index is 0x8000.
The reasons for its removal are unknown, but the item still remains in a buggy state. When added to the inventory, it acts similar to a piece of paper, giving the player the option to "Read" or "Write a Letter". It is invisible when dropped, but running out of the acre it was dropped in and returning causes it to appear. It has the ability to spread and shut down acres. It may spread throughout the entire town, rendering the game unplayable. The areas it spreads to are altered by the Glowing Yellow Box.
Sickle[]
A sickle in the player's inventory.
A sickle as it appears on the ground.
The sickle is a beta item for Animal Crossing. Its hexadecimal item id is 0x222C. It is in the game's programming and in the Animal Crossing guide, but it cannot be obtained without hacking or using the Action Replay, as it was never completely programmed. When obtained, it can be found in the player's pocket and appears as a net. When equipped, it looks as if the player is holding nothing, as well as acts like they are holding nothing, but on the pocket menu when the cursor is over the player the game shows that they are holding it. When dropped, it appears as a toolbox, which appeared in Animal Forest, Wild World, and New Leaf.
Unknown Item[]
The unknown item in the player's inventory
Unknown is a beta item in Animal Crossing. It shows up for most invalid item indexes in the inventory. Certain unknown items can be placed like furniture and show up as the DUMMY beta item.
List of Beta Elements in City Folk[]
dummy[]
ダミー (dummy in Japanese, and as shown in game) is an item obtainable by using an infinite bells Action Replay/Gecko code and telling the game to put all of the bells in your wallet into your pockets. Due to (possibly) an overflow error, it gives the player an item named "ダミー". (ダミー is always the name of the item, no matter what language the game is set to.) ダミー has no sell value, and cannot be placed as furniture. When ダミー is dropped, it appears as an apple.
Image 1: How ダミー appears in the inventory. Looks like a standard item (represented as a leaf icon).
Image 2: How ダミー appears when dropped - looks like an apple.
List of Beta Elements in New Leaf[]
The following are only seen in the original 2010 screenshots:
- The cliffs were a lot different: wavier than the actual cliffs.
- In the dialogue box, the villager's name is written a lot smaller.
- The player houses look more like released villager houses than in the final release, and there is no paved exterior bar a hedge closely fitted to the house.
- The bench is surrounded by an oval of pavement, as is the street lamp.
- The player is able to look down on a villager walking on the beach with the villager actually noticing them and looking back. This rarely happens in the actual game.
- Villager houses are the same as in previous games.
- Flowers and bushes appear to be a lot more abundant.
The following are only seen in the 2011 E3 trailer:
- Originally the villager speech boxes were rectangular, rather than cloud-shaped as in the final release.
- The cobblestone bridge was darker.
- Rosie's house is more similar to her City Folk house. It evidently hadn't been redesigned yet.
- The Dock was slightly longer and was more of an L Shaped design.
- Sounds, such as the sound when a tool is equipped or the sound when clothing is changed, were the same as in City Folk.
- Trees, flowers, bushes, and other plants had a shape different from the ones in the final release.
- The main theme soundtrack is extended further than what plays in the released game.
The following can be seen in the trailer during the Nintendo 3DS Conference 2011:
List of beta Elements in New Horizons[2][]
Beta Rooms[]
IdrMuseumArt_0 IdrMuseumArt_1 IdrMuseumCafe IdrMuseumShop IdrMuseumHaniwa
In New Horizons, there are unused room IDs for the Museum in the game's files. Gyroid in Japanese translates to Haniwa. The Roost (the Museum Café) and Gyroids later appear in New Horizons after the release of the version 2.0 update on November 4th, 2021. The Art gallery appeared in New Horizons starting in version 1.2.0, however, there is only one room for the art gallery, not two, therefore making the first two IDs unused.
Unseen Skybox[]
In New Horizons, every room has a white skybox around it. These are normally unseen.
Unused Model[]
The desk inside Dodo Airlines in the overworld.
While the player is outside in New Horizons, if the camera is changed by using hacks, a low poly desk can be seen inside Dodo Airlines. This cannot be normally seen, since it is blocked by the lighting.
Unseen Text[]
When the player enters the airport, Wilbur is stored out of bounds behind Orville. However, Wilbur can only be seen in the airport when the player goes to someone else's island via Local or Online play. But if someone hacks the game so that they can clip through walls on another island, then Wilbur says the text stated below.
Hey, are you the one visiting from <Island>? You're <Player name>, yeah? I knew it! When I first saw you, I said, 'I...don't know that person.' I thought maybe you were maybe a spy or something... But what would you be spying on? I didn't know! THEN I remembered hearing we have a visitor who is definitely NOT a spy! Anyway, I'm Wilbur! Welcome to <Island>! Enjoy your non-spying stay!
This dialogue is shared with lazy villagers.
Beta Sound[]
DummySound
This is a sound in New Horizons's game files. This is a .bfsar file, and its use is unknown.
Unseen Textures[]
Dummy Textures[]
Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingNavy Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingOrange Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingPink Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingPurple Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingRed Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingWhite Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingYellow Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingGary Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingGold Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingGreen Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingLightBlue Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingLightGreen Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingMint Layout_FtrIcon_DummyCraftingRecipe Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingBlack Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingBlue Layout_FtrIcon_DummyWrappingBrown
Most of these textures are storage icons for wrapped presents. Since they can't be put in storage, these icons are considered "unused".
K.K. Slider's Guitar[]
In New Horizons it is impossible to see the stickers on the back of K.K. Slider's guitar. They are a reference to the past locations where K.K. has performed.
Beta Animation[]
CharactorAnimation10100\Animations\Skeletal Animations\Dummy
This is an unused animation in New Horizons's files. "Character" is misspelled.
Other[]
In one of the early trailers, a white picket fence can be seen. This fence was not available upon the game's release, but is now available through customization as of the November 2021 2.0 update.
There was also footage shown in Japan of the game before it was complete. These pictures show grass patterned similarly to previous games in the series, with multicolored green and blue triangles. Also, every building appears to be the same at this stage in the game's development. Bob can be seen in the background of one of these pictures.
Beta New Horizons[]
