When the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct told us all about the new content coming in update 2.0, a lot of us wondered how to prepare our islands for all the new stuff. After all, for many of us, we hadn’t visited the game in a long time. Wouldn’t it just be easier to start fresh?
Well, yes and no. It’s easier because you’re not tied down to all the decisions you made a year ago… but it might also make your life a little more difficult. Or, at the very least, it’ll keep you playing for a while longer, if you’re a completionist.
As reported by Reddit user earlgreypowermakeup (excellent name), Kapp’n’s boat tours — specifically the rare islands, which includes the Maple Leaf Island, Bamboo Island, Mushroom Island, and Cherry Blossom Island — are timelocked. These special islands give you the chance to find seasonal DIYs and obtain the materials to make them.
What this means is that you won’t find any of the seasonal islands in your game until a certain amount of time passes from the beginning of that season in your game. In order to get all of the seasonal islands appearing on the boat tours, your account needs to be at least a year old.
If you’re spending 1,000 Nook Miles on the boat tour, and your account is new, or less than a year old, be aware that you won’t have the chance to visit some of these islands — they just won’t be in the pool of potential islands that the game picks from.
Note that if you didn’t restart your island, but you “missed” the season by not playing for a period of time, you’ll still have the chance to see those seasonal islands — which makes it easier to catch up!
Here are the dates when each island unlocks for both Northern and Southern Hemispheres, which were revealed in the latest ACNH datamine:
Snowflake Island
NH: February 24th
SH: August 24th
Cherry Blossom Island
NH: April 10th
SH: October 10th
Bamboo Island
NH: May 31st
SH: November 30th
Star Island
NH: June 15th
SH: December 15th
Summer Shell Island
NH: August 31st
SH: February 28th
Maple Leaf Island
NH: November 25th
SH: May 25th
Mushroom Island
NH: November 30th
SH: May 31st
Make sure to check out our Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides to keep up with all the new stuff — and the stuff you missed!
Did you reset your island over the last year? Do you regret it, or did it give your game new purpose? Let us know in the comments.
