New Horizons ‘Adult-Only’ Island Banned by Nintendo

Though a majority of Animal Crossing: New Horizons fans may be celebrating the release of the Switch 2 version and update 3.0, those with a love for adult humor are in mourning. This is because, despite Nintendo leaving it untouched for a half a decade, one of the funniest islands in Animal Crossing: New Horizons just got banned.

Though many of the secret Animal Crossing: New Horizons features that went unmentioned in the patch notes are beneficial, such as a new form of movement for easier decorating, one controversial change that went unmentioned is a sweep for NSFW Dream Islands. While it makes sense that Nintendo wants to keep the Animal Crossing series as PG as possible — it’s always been a family-focused company, and New Horizons is rated E for Everyone — that doesn’t make players any less disappointed. One of the Dream Islands that got deleted was particularly famous with Japanese players, as it was visited by a number of streamers, such as @retrogametv1, and served as a constant source of 18+ humor when it was active.

As for what made this mature island created by New Horizons player @churip_ccc stand out, it housed the following adult-oriented jokes:

• A “free information center” that greets players as soon as they land, which are used in Japan to guide residents to brothels, strip clubs, and so on.
• A red-light district housing everything from pachinko parlors and saunas to “natural herb” vending stands.
• A “love hotel” featuring multiple copies of Michaelangelo’s David statue outside its doors. Trees are used to block out all parts of the statue besides its exposed genitals.
• Blathers room is filled with used tissues, with numerous Isabelle photos left by the side of the museum curator’s bed. Tom Nook’s room is similarly lewd.

The Creator of Animal Crossing’s Adult Island Knew Its Days Were Numbered

The island’s points of interest can be seen in the video above, and even though everything is in Japanese, no language barrier can prevent this kind of humor from translating. As humorous as this New Horizons Dream Island is, it’s clear that a lot of work went into creating it, too. As such, fans of the adult island are celebrating its creator following the disappointing news that the location can no longer be accessed. While one might expect @churip_ccc to be equally disappointed, the creator has taken the removal of the Dream address in stride, even thanking Nintendo for “turning a blind eye” for so long.

It’s unclear whether @churip_ccc is correct about Nintendo looking the other way and letting players enjoy the island for years. On one hand, certain Dream islands have been banned in the past for being offensive, and the 2.0 update would have been a perfectly valid time to remove the Dream address for this particular location, so it feels odd that such a well-known outlet if adult content lived on. On the other hand, there are undoubtedly thousands of active Dream islands within New Horizons for Nintendo to watch over, so it’s possible — if unlikely, given how infamous it is — that this one slipped through the cracks. Players will likely never know whether the humorous island was intentionally given time to shine or if @churip_ccc simply got lucky, but the outcome remains the same: this island is gone and can only be seen through recordings going forward.

With players able to decorate together thanks to Animal Crossing’s New Horizons’ big update, those looking to make their own adult islands will have an easier time doing so. It’s probably not the best idea to publish them as Dream Islands, though, as it’s now clear that they’ll (eventually) be taken away.

Systems

Released

March 20, 2020

ESRB

Everyone / Comic Mischief, Mild Fantasy Violence, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases

Developer(s)

Nintendo EPD

Publisher(s)

Nintendo

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