The "Gyroid Face" legend is an urban legend revolving around the 2001 life-simulation game Animal Crossing.
Description
If a player takes the in-game train to the town of another player online, resets the GameCube while in the other player’s town, and starts up the game again, the player will lose all of the items they had in their inventory at the time and their avatar's face will be replaced with that of the Gyroid statue, complete with empty eye sockets and gaping circular mouth.
It is sometimes claimed to be a glitch, however it is a deliberate event/Easter Egg programmed in by Nintendo. Unlike when resetting improperly in the same town, where Resetti will pester the player when reloading the game, a villager will instead warn the player that they left their things behind in the other town and that resuming will cause their items and bells to be lost. This is in addition to the Gyroid statue replacing the avatar's face when entering the home town - a likely hint to the player that they should talk to the Gyroid at their home town house and save to avoid losing progress and items.
Trivia
- The face was also used by Coco.
- In the Kofun Period of Japan, a haniwa was an item buried alongside graves to remember the dead.
- Some haniwa could be slightly humanoid with slightly wavy arms.
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