Should You Time Travel in Animal Crossing?
Here’s my brief experience with the controversial tactic
It may surprise you to learn that there’s a lot of debate within the Animal Crossing community. Most of it is friendly, but some is outright ruthless (search for the Raymond fiasco of 2020 as an example).
But one subject that is always heavily debated is time travel. And boy do I have opinions on this one!
First, I’d like to start with a story from way back in 2006; my blissful years of youth (not really, high school sucked eggs). These were the glory days of workless weekends playing with my neighborhood friends and fighting with my little sister.
We received Animal Crossing for our GameCube as a gift from our uncle and had to share a single town. So, I would log in whenever I could and pay off as much debt as possible, this was my only goal. I would catch red snappers and screech with excitement. Little did I know, my sister had been messing with the controls. She was TIME TRAVELING. The horror!
Actually, it was pretty funny. On Friday night, it would be snowing in our little town. Then, come Sunday, I’d log back in to find it was cherry blossom season! While the time traveling always threw me for a loop, I never complained. It meant more weeds to sell and materials to harvest.
Now, 15 years later, I received Animal Crossing: New Horizons for my Switch. For the past year I have played with no time traveling; I wanted to experience the game as the creators meant for it to be.
I waited and built my wealth one step at a time. My island is cluttered and the layout chaotic. But I love it. I am so happy I spent a full year experiencing the in-game holidays in sync with real life; seeing the seasons change in real time with the world around me.
After experiencing the game “as it was intended” for a period of time, I’ve now started another new island on my Switch Lite. On this occasion, I time-traveled a lot! As a result, my island went to 3 stars in a single week. Unlike last time, I kicked off this island with a particular plan in mind. So I’ve avoided clutter, for example. Now I’ll reach my goal of a perfectly organized island.
I now feel I can time travel guilt-free, since I’ve paid my dues with a real-time save file. I think new players deserve to have the full experience; there are certainly no lack of activities to undertake as you pursue 3 stars. But once you’ve experienced what the game has to offer, consider re-playing and taking advantage of time travel as way of cultivating your “ideal” island.
This small anecdote certainly won’t end the debate on time travel in Animal Crossing, but I hope it adds a new perspective for players who are considering it.
