Time travel in Animal Crossing refers to jumping around in time. The game, by default, progresses along real-time, and many people use time traveling in order to accelerate time because they want to play more, or to compensate for poor availability. Whatever the reason may be, time traveling is a way to change the time of your Animal Crossing town so that it does not flow alongside real life. There are two different methods for time traveling in Animal Crossing: New Leaf—changing the time in-game and changing the time via your DS.
Steps
Method 1
Method 1 of 2:
Changing the Time In-Game
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Load your Animal Crossing game. When you first boot up Animal Crossing: New Leaf on your DS, Isabelle will be there asking you if you’re ready to begin the game. -
Get help. Instead of choosing “Yes, let’s” to get started as you do normally, choose “I need help first…” to reach another branch of dialogue.- From this dialogue branch, Isabelle can either assist you with setting the time, demolishing your home, or re-creating the town.
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Set the time for time travel. In order to time travel, choose “Set the time” from the options. Isabelle will then allow you to choose the date and the time. -
Start your Animal Crossing game. Once you have the time that you desire, start the game, and you will see that the date has changed to reflect your adjustments.- This can be done however many times you wish. You could play a whole Animal Crossing month in one real-life day, should you want to do so!
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Method 2
Method 2 of 2:
Changing the Time Outside the Game
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Turn on your DS. In order to change the time outside of the game, you will need to start your DS. -
Go to the Settings menu. Instead of loading an Animal Crossing game, click on the settings icon from the DS menu.- The system settings will not open if you have a game running; if you do, the DS will inform you that the software needs to be closed to proceed.
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Select “Other settings”. Once you’ve clicked on the system settings, you will see four different panels. “Other settings” is found in the lower-right corner. -
Change the date and time. Tap on “Date & time,” which is the second on the list; here, you can either change today’s date, the current time, or both (just one at a time). -
Start your Animal Crossing game. Once you’ve selected the date and time that you desire, load Animal Crossing: New Leaf. You will see that the date in the game will also change in order to reflect the system settings.Advertisement
Community Q&A
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QuestionIf I go forward a week or so, will I be able to set it back to the original date?Community AnswerYes. You can always go back to the original date. However, time traveling can lead to your villagers moving away faster, your villagers forgetting you, weeds increasing in your town, flowers dying, your mailbox becoming stuffed (thus not being able to receive other mail), any turnips you bought going bad, your house becoming infested with cockroaches and your character getting bedhead. Having the Beautiful Town ordinance will help with some of these problems.
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QuestionHow to get the letter badge in Animal Crossing?RubyTop AnswererSend 50 letters for the bronze badge, 100 letters for the silver, and 150 letters for gold. Letters must be at least ten characters long. Read the article Earn a Letter Badge in Animal Crossing: New Leaf for more information.
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QuestionHow do I time travel safely (so that villagers don’t move)?RubyTop AnswererUnfortunately, there is no guarantee villagers won't move if you time travel. If you want to ensure that your villages stay, time travel small chunks at a time to your intended day. This way you can be alerted if a villager wants to move out and stop this from happening.
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Tips
- If you participate in the Stalk Market via buying and selling turnips, you will need to keep in mind that turnips always spoil one week after you’ve purchased them, at 6AM on Sunday. You can time travel forward without turnips automatically spoiling (so long as you don’t exceed the one week period).Thanks
- You can time travel backwards and play time that you have already visited, but it will cause your turnips to spoil (and thus be worthless). Any progress you made won't change, even if you time travel backwards.Thanks
- Time travel should also be considered potentially dangerous because frequent and often time-travelling can result in unanticipated changes. A few other areas of New Leaf that are affected include more weeds (unless you have the Beautiful Town ordinance enacted), flowers can shrivel and die, cockroaches will appear in your home, and villagers may not remember who you are.Thanks
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