Gameplay modification

Hacking in the involves the manipulation of gameplay in a way other than permitted in a game's original programming. Methods include changing the amount of Bells the player has, or changing the town layout.

Hacked distributed items
Hacked distributed items, sometimes shortened to HDLC, are distributed items that are not created by Nintendo. They are usually created with the help of a cheating device, such as an Action Replay. At random times, the player will find them in the Able Sisters, if they have visited a hacker's town or a hacker visited their town.

Hacking in
They can give themselves any item in the game, as well as jump, which allows them to reach normally inaccessible places, including the island without a Game Boy Advance.

Hacking in
Seeds were a major threat to other player's towns in before online play was discontinued. Also, hackers in that game had access to a larger variety of tools and map editors to give themselves large sums of money and items, and a town layout of their choice. Action Replay codes are commonly used in.

Hacking in
Although the seed threat is diminished in, there are still hackers who play the game. Most use ACToolkit to customize the town layout, inventory, etc., and on the whole this works similarly to hacking in. Hackers may give even non-hackers DLC, which can appear in shops like the Able Sisters.

Hacking in
The Nintendo 3DS is commonly hacked with homebrew and custom firmware, typically used to edit the town's map layout. . It can also be "hacked" with an Action Replay, being a more simple option with no known consequences compared to the possibility of the 3DS "bricking" using the homebrew method. Injecting and extracting saves is extremely common in the AC community.

Abilities
Hackers can perform a variety of things to play around with the game, including, but not limited to;


 * Retrieve any object, including unobtainable objects.
 * Gain any amount of Bells, in their inventory and savings account.
 * Regrow the grass (in ).
 * Change the layout of their town.
 * Create custom villagers.
 * Create custom objects and HDLC.
 * Jump, and therefore reach inaccessible areas, such as the top of cliffs.