Time travel in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a controversial subject. It's the practice — or cheat, some call it — of changing the internal clock on the Nintendo Switch, which the game relies on to tell the time. This reflects what's happening in the game.
There's a reason people do it — it can provide many advantages. But Nintendo has also tried to encourage players from skipping large chunks of time by implementing some discouraging features.
So, ultimately, is it worth it? That's up for you to decide, but there's a balanced argument.
10 Advantage: Bank Interest
The main reason that some players make huge time skips in the game is to rack up the savings interest. When you keep bells in your savings, there's a small amount of interest added every day, but imagine skipping years or even decades and coming back to collect the interest? It's a quick way to grab some bells and shoot back to the present, making yourself a millionaire in minutes.
9 Disadvantage: Weed Invasion
If you time skip in Animal Crossing, don't expect the weeds to lay off. They grow overnight and are easy to stay on top off if you sign onto the game every day.
But leave them for weeks, months, years, or time skip for that amount, and you can expect to have to do a lot of weeding by the time you get back to your island. What was seconds to you, was a lifetime for the island.
8 Advantage: Don't Need To Wait Overnight On Construction Projects
The slow pace of the game is mainly due to wait periods required. Whenever a house is being built, or a villager is moving on, there's an overnight wait on projects and the next morning, it'll be ready.
One day to build an entire house, store, or bridge, is nothing at all, but some players are too impatient to wait for even that and skip to the next day when it's already done. The advantage of this is skipping forward one day and then back again means that the project will stay complete — it won't revert if you jump back again.
7 Disadvantage: Turnips Can Go Bad
Turnips. They can be bought on Sunday morning and sold before the next Sunday at Nook's Cranny. They have two different prices a day for turnips, changing at noon, and the aim is to sell them before the turnips go back — for a profit.
If you move back in time, or skip past the next Sunday, your turnips will automatically rot. As this is one of the most profitable things in the game, it's not ideal.
6 Advantage: Farming Materials Becomes Easier
Once you've plucked the fruit from your trees, collected all the materials from stones and the trees, you'll have to wait for everything to refresh. For certain things, it's the next day but for fruit, it takes a couple. Time-skipping means that the wait period is automatically gone, and you can get however many materials and fruit you need.
5 Disadvantage: Cockroaches In The Home
Not only will weeds grow if your island is left unattended, you could find cockroaches in your home.
At least it's another bug to give to poor Blathers!
It's not a big deal — it's pretty easy to get rid of a cockroach — but it's an unpleasant concept, to come back to your house and find it infested with a gruesome bug.
4 Advantage: You Can Get Bugs/Fish/Etc. From Different Times & Seasons
In the game, certain animals can only be found at night — such as tarantulas and scorpions. Others can only be found during certain seasons, or when it's raining.
Rather than wait for the time to roll around when you can find certain animals, you can time skip to a point in time where they're available.
3 Disadvantage: The Bedhead!
One of the funnier disadvantages of time travel with no real consequences is the disheveled appearance your character will have when you return from a long time away. The bedhead is amusing and fixed quickly, so it's not a real disadvantage, but it's still supposedly a sign you've left your game too long.
2 Advantage: You Get Far More Shop Choice
Nook's Cranny has limited stock each day, including exclusive wallpapers and floors that don't change until the next day. Time-skipping through days means a bigger shopping advantage, so you don't have to agonizingly collect your furniture at a super-slow pace.
1 Disadvantage: It's Just Not How The Game Was Meant To Be Played
Time travel is not how this game was meant to be played. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is intended to be a sl0w-paced, relaxing saunter through the world, not a sprint to become rich.
Ultimately though, you have to decide on your playstyle and what will make you happiest in the game. If you want a stress-free experience where you can enjoy the little things, do not time travel by any means.
If you're hungry for fame and bells, then well! That's your choice.