Nintendo Shows Off Unobtainable Layouts in Latest Animal Crossing: New Horizons Commercial

Fans have desperately been awaiting for the next big Animal Crossing update for months now with no avail. With E3 just around the corner, it's possible a big update could be imminent within the coming weeks. Additionally, a new TV commercial released in Japan shows off unobtainable layouts multiple times, and this isn't the first time this has happened... Is this simply a slip up on Nintendo's behalf, or are they teasing us of what's to come?

[任天堂HP]『あつまれ どうぶつの森』のCM「雨の日篇」を公開しました。#どうぶつの森

— 任天堂株式会社 (@Nintendo) June 3, 2021

The commercial in question is linked above, and we'll give you a minute to see if you can spot what's wrong (we noticed it in three different shots!). There could be more things we didn't notice, but here were the three scenes we noticed that something was off...

In all three scenes, there are trees/bamboo shoots planted without adequate space next to them. If you try to do this in the game, you'll be unable to either plant the tree, or terraform the surrounding area due to the ground being unstable. In the second photo, there also appears to be a cliff that's too close to the water, which again, would not be possible in the game, but the cliff is somewhat obscured from view so we can't say this with 100% certainty...

Last time this happened, Nintendo was quick to release a follow up statement regarding their goof, but they've yet to release a statement this time. It's also possible they haven't released one due to this not being as widespread.

What does this mean for Animal Crossing moving forward? Is this simply a developer build they're using for the commercial that no one noticed their slip up, or is this teasing something that's coming in the near future?

We were firm believers that the villager housing incident was a simple mistake on Nintendo's behalf, but this time we're not too sure... The commercial was shared to Nintendo's 1.8 million Twitter followers, and is also airing on YouTube and TV in Japan. This one is a lot more widespread than a simple photo on a website, and also isn't anywhere near as obscure as a new Villager house out of 300+ contenders... The fact this fairly obvious "goof" would have slipped past so many editors and higher ups during the creation process is peculiar to say the least.

Nintendo have already given us a date for their E3 plans this year, which includes a 40 minute Nintendo Direct. If there is something building on the horizon, it shouldn't be too long before we find out! As always, if you haven't already, be sure to follow us over on Twitter and Tumblr. Feel free to join our discord server too.