xsq
| This page contains information about unused content that cannot be seen through normal gameplay. |
| ||||||||
 | ||||||||
| Species | Gender | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squirrel |  Unknown
| |||||||
| Main appearances | ||||||||
|
| ||||||||
| Other appearances | ||||||||
Name in other languages
N/A
N/A N/A N/A
N/A
N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A N/A | ||||||||
xsq is the internal ID for an unused squirrel character who exists in the data of the GameCube first-generation games, but does not appear in-game. Their intended role is not known other than that they would likely have served as a special character. The internal ID xsq, likely short for "extra squirrel", parallels Rover's ID being xct, likely short for "extra cat". Aside from Blanca, who was added in Doubutsu no Mori+, they are the only special characters to use villager models instead of their own unique models. The character's name was previously believed to be Chestnut or Shaki (a transliteration of the Japanese シャキッ), but these were later discovered to be unrelated text strings (see #Speculation), leaving them with no known official name.
xsq, alongside an unnamed cat villager (identified internally as CAT13) found in the source code of Doubutsu no Mori, are the only known characters to be completely cut from the series.
Characteristics[edit]
Appearance[edit]
xsq's visual appearance resembles Bliss (later renamed Caroline) with elements of Hazel (later renamed Sally), earning the character the community nickname of "Blazel". They have red colored fur and large blue eyes just like Bliss, and a creamy white pinstripe on their tail just like Hazel. In addition, they have another creamy white swirl on her head that resembles a question mark, unlike Bliss's flowery swirl. They wear a green apron over a white shirt.
Game data[edit]
xsq exists only in the games on the GameCube: Doubutsu no Mori+, Animal Crossing and Doubutsu no Mori e+. In these games, their model is used for an unused event special character actor (entity), ac_ev_dokutu. ac_ev is used for the actors of special characters involved in visiting town, and while the meaning of "dokutu" is unknown, it may refer to the Japanese word 洞窟 (doukutsu) meaning "cave" or "opening in the ground", which is romanized as dôkutu using Kunrei-shiki romanization. However, whatever this actor was meant to be, it was scrapped entirely and likely unrelated to xsq, as in the original Doubutsu no Mori it uses Gulliver's model and Porter's dialogue.
Beginning in Doubutsu no Mori+, the ac_ev_dokutu actor was changed to use the xsq model and if spawned in uses Kapp'n's dialogue. The NPC's name appears ジョニー・B ( Johnny B?), a common placeholder name; in Animal Crossing this renders as the mojibake 
ù«–•B¡¡. This string is used as a fallback for characters with an invalid name.[1]
The unused special NPC actor uses the hexadecimal ID 0xD06C0xE15A0xE05A
Speculation[edit]
| This section contains unconfirmed information or speculation. |
There have been several theories as to the original use of xsq, which have also changed with new discoveries.
Initially, it was assumed the character's name was シャキッ ( Shaki'?), due to this and the exclamation とりゃ〜 ( torya?) being the last strings in Doubutsu no Mori+'s string table. This was also mistakenly corresponded to the string "Chestnut" in the English version of the game, which is actually used for a paint color. The シャキッ string and several others are preceded by islanders' catchphrases, and only rendered with the dummy text "TRANSLATE" in the English version, meaning they were likely unused catchphrases for islanders. (There are several other unused catchphrases among those used for villagers that were also left as "TRANSLATE".) シャキッ is an onomatopoetic word for a crunchy texture, a refreshing feeling, or the sound of the swift movement of blades. Due to this, the character was sometimes also referred to as "Crisp".
As for the character's role, speculation has mostly been derived from the actor name ac_ev_dokutu. The connection to caves as well as the model being a squirrel led to the idea that they may have been connected to burying/digging up items. "dokutu" was also suggested to be a corruption of ドクター (dokutā, "doctor"), though it is less likely that the word would be rendered this way.[2]
Given the discovery that the model was entirely absent from Doubutsu no Mori, this leaves its connection to the ac_ev_dokutu actor questionable. In spite of its name, the use of Porter and Kapp'n's dialogue in Doubutsu no Mori and Doubutsu no Mori+ respectively suggests the actor may have been simply used for testing (and perhaps repurposed from a scrapped NPC that was actually related to the name dokutu). Porter's role at the train station, which concerns travelling between towns (a concept likely implemented later in development), and Kapp'n's role as a ferryman to the island, a feature new to Doubutsu no Mori+, both could indicate they were the final NPCs that needed testing.
The last piece of information about xsq is that in the game's symbol map, their code lies between plj_1.o (which is used for Copper during Morning Aerobics) and item_name.o. These alphabetically correspond to folders which can be seen in the source code of Dòngwù Sēnlín, INSTRUCTOR0 and ITEM_NAME respectively. The word ISLAND(ER) would fit alphabetically between those two, indicating a likelihood the model was originally a special NPC related to the island in some fashion. It is also possible that after this was scrapped, their design was repurposed and modified for that of Bliss, an islander.
Action Replay codes[edit]
xsq can be spawned into a player's town using the below Action Replay code, using "xxxx" as a regular villager and "yyyy" being set to either of the two indexes their model is located at (0xD06C0xE15A
040051A0 3C600001040051A4 3863xxxx040051A8 7C032040040051AC 7C832378040051B0 4082000C040051B4 3C600001040051B8 3863yyyy040051BC 4E8000200453A198 4BACB00904544FFC 4BAC01A5
References[edit]
- ↑ Cuyler (2018-01-10). "Solving Chestnut's Mysteries in Animal Crossing". YouTube.
- ↑ garrick (2020-02-06). "Japanese Debug Text in Animal Crossing". Twinkle Spiral Heart Attack.
 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||
 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
