Nintendo LifeUnlike previous games in the series, Animal crossing: new horizons was ‘incomplete’ when it was launched in March. In a move that has upset travelers worldwide, Nintendo has decided to launch annual events in the game through updates throughout the year.
While it had the benefit of keeping the buzz of the game circulating on websites and social media on a monthly basis, it also prevented guide and video makers from broadcasting the events and wasting the beans months before their calendar-dictated debut.
But what was your favorite event in 2020 in New Horizons? Well, there’s a poll you just ask the question at the bottom of the page, but let’s first take a brief look at all the events – big and small – that have come to be seen on deserted islands on Switches around the world.
First up after the launch of the game on March 20, 2020, was Bunny Day, a twelve-day event in which Zipper T. Bunny sent you on an egg hunt. For many players, too many eggs came too soon after the game was launched. We were still trying to get into the rhythm of things, catching fish and digging up fossils and ending up with a bloody egg half the time.
To be honest, younger players tended to hunt the eggs, although we were glad to see the back of it.
The following week in the last week of April was the return of Leif the sloth and his shrubbery for the Nature Day Event – another ‘day’ that lasted almost two weeks. In the middle of this was the May Day Event, in which stalwart Rover (okay, ‘return’ might be a bit strong – ‘cameo look’ is closer) returned on the one-off May Day maze tour.
The second half of May was captured by the International Museum Day Event, which charged you with collecting stamps in the museum to collect three plates for the fish, fossils and bugs. Very nice, it was too, although completing the Stamp Rally on other days just gave you identical plates. The walls in our bathroom were full of it.
The wedding season was filmed throughout the month of June, and while it was great to photograph ReTail lovebirds Cyrus and Reese for the first time on Harv’s Island, our enthusiasm did less than 30 days of doing the same. The four Bug-Offs and Fish tournaments spread throughout the year were much less arduous.
Sunday evenings during the month of August were lit up by the fireworks displays presented in the July update. You can create custom fireworks to fill the night sky with your custom designs and enter Redd’s raffle to get your hands on prizes available nowhere else.
At the Halloween event in October, Jack, the Tsar of Halloween, returned in the fall update, which also added new makeup options, costumes and pumpkins. Franklin returned in time for the series for Turkey Day in Thanksgiving in November, with Toy Day taking place recently on Christmas Eve.
Of course, there are still events in the new year and March 20, 2021 will be exactly a year of events. It will be very interesting to see if next year’s replays change in any way – perhaps to offer returning players new rewards, or to make adjustments based on last year’s feedback. We definitely welcome a little equipment that automatically scratched any eggs in the water while we were trying to catch fish!
So which of the annual Animal Crossing: New Horizons events above was your favorite? Let us know by choosing your two favorites in the poll below (we also added ‘Cherry Blossom, Maple Leaf and Mushroom’ in the seasons if you really like collecting the items for DIY Recipe Sets):
Let us know below what you enjoyed above your favorite event (or what made the shine of your least favorite) and tell us what you’re looking forward to in 2021.