Should You Time Travel? | How-To Change Time

Should you time travel? Find out with our complete Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) guide! Learn how to time travel backwards and forwards, how far you can time travel to, and the penalties for doing it.

Should You Time Travel?

Yes but Not Neccesary

Should you time travel? Well, it depends. If you want to experience the game a lot faster, then time traveling is definitely for you! Here are all the benefits you get::

Penalties for Time Travel

No Significant Penalties

It seems that the game doesn't attempt to significantly discourage time travel. For example, Penalties like flowers wilting and villagers moving away seem to be gone in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

However, there will still be some changes to your game if you time travel.

Turnips will rot

Don't set the in-game clock back if you have turnips in your inventory. They will rot automatically. Keep this in mind when time traveling!

Cockroaches will appear

Cockroaches will appear if you don't play for more than a month or if you skip ahead in time with Time Travel.

The more time passes, the more Cockroaches will spawn, so check in often to avoid your house being taken over by them!

How to Get Ride of Cockroaches

Flowers will overgrow

The number of flowers in your island will increase as you time travel to the future. The only way to relocate your flowers is by using a shovel.

Prevent overgrowth by building fences around your flowers!

List of Flowers, Shrubs, and Bushes

Weeds will grow untamed

Be careful when time traveling as weeds increase over time. This can greatly affect your Island Star Rating.

Residents will get lonely

If you time travel forward for over a month, residents will notice your absence and will react to it. They will say things like "Where have you been?"

Newer events are time locked

As of version 1.6.0, new events are time locked, meaning you can't time travel to access the events before the specified event date.

Once officially released, you can time travel to them at any time, even after the event has ended.

How to Time Travel

1. Close and Save the Game

Close the game with the – Button and save the game before exiting. Be sure to always save before quitting the game when time traveling!

2. Close the software from the HOME menu

Press the X Button on the Switch Main Menu to close the software.

3. Select System Settings

On the Switch Main Menu, select System Settings -> System -> Date and Time -> Set “Synchronize Clock via Internet” to OFF

4. Change the System's Date and Time

After navigating to the System page, select "Date and Time".

After selecting the Date and Time, you'll be able to change the setting manually so you can time travel freely!

5. Start Animal Crossing: New Horizons

You're now able to start the game with the time and date you chose. Happy time travelling!

Related Guides

All Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks
ACNH 100% Checklist	Daily & Weekly To-Do List
Island Designer Unlock Walkthrough	How to Raise Your Island's Star Rating
How to Kick Out Villagers	How to Get New Villagers
How to Get Specific Villagers You Want	Time Traveling Guide
How to Get Villager Photos and Posters	How Often Does a Message in a Bottle Spawn?
How to Increase Inventory Space	How to Get Presents from Balloons
Jolly Redd's Treasure Trawler	List of Haunted Art
How to Get Infinite Tarantula Island	How to Get Infinite Scorpion Island
How to Get All Fruits	Secrets and Hidden Content
What is Luck?	How to Use the Warp Pipe