It's not really random, it occurs basically when people are doing something the game does not want you to do. Such as, turning the power off before the saving process finishes, quitting without saving (a lot), removing the cart while the game is still running, banging the console around while the game is running, stuff like that.
From my understanding, the game knows you reset because it puts some marker of some kind when you load the game and removes said marker when you save and quit. I imagine it has to do with this. Again, by resetting a lot, you really are going against what the game is programmed to handle. It can handle a couple resets usually (battery dying, accidentally powering off, what-have-you), but it's not meant to take repeated resetting like that which people have to do for the resetting trick. You're not supposed to quit while the game is still running, that is a fact. By doing so, you're increasing your risk for something going wrong with your game. This even goes for basically any game really, not just Animal Crossing. Do something the game is not meant to handle and it's more likely to malfunction. This isn't about being for or against using these cheats, tricks, and glitches, it's just true.
It is.
I realize some people don't mind random house placement, but a lot of people do and apparently there's reason to think resetting messes with your file, so... I just feel like Nintendo should make an effort to prevent save corruption.
