The winter update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons recently released on Nintendo Switch, and it will allow players to participate in the game’s Turkey Day and Toy Day events. However, players that enjoy using the game’s so-called “time travel” option have found that Nintendo reinstated limits on their ability to do so. With the new update, the company has prevented players from simply moving their calendar forward to participate in these events. Players can still time travel back to previous holiday events, like Halloween, but playing events like Turkey Day and Toy Day is not an option, at the moment.
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It should be noted that the current method is how events were initially handled in New Horizons; players weren’t able to jump ahead to holiday events because of the way that the system logs online to check that the game card’s date is correct prior to the event. For recent events, that restriction seemed to have been loosened, but it has now been reinstated for Turkey Day and Toy Day.
Time travel has long been a controversial feature of the Animal Crossing franchise, and fans have been split over the practice. Since the first game released on GameCube, players have taken advantage of the internal clock in order to participate in events ahead of time. Some fans that time travel simply like to play the game at their own pace, but the Nintendo Switch makes it easier for players to upload and share content. That likely played a role in Nintendo’s decision-making, and its efforts have made it less likely that players will spoil holiday events for others, inadvertently, or otherwise.
That isn’t the only way that Nintendo has placed limits on time travel, however. While previous Animal Crossing games have released with all of the holiday content already in the game, New Horizons has been releasing those events as game updates, instead. Not only has this helped prevent spoilers regarding the game’s content, but it has also helped keep players involved with the game. Animal Crossing: New Horizons released back in March, but it’s clear that the game remains quite popular. If everyone was able to see and share all of the holiday content ahead of time, some of the appeal of those events might have been lessened.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available exclusively on Nintendo Switch. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the game right here.
Are you looking forward to Turkey Day and Toy Day? Do you use time travel in New Horizons? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
