New day

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A new day is a situation that occurs in every main Animal Crossing series game. It is a technical transition between days where the game processes changes updating the town and its inhabitants. This can include seasons changing, construction projects advancing, villagers being moved in or out, plants progressing to their next growth stage, items being spawned, event scenes being arranged, objects being reset, and more. Actions that the player can only perform a limited amount of times each day (such as ordering items from the catalog, or striking the bell rock with a shovel) have their counters reset, allowing the player to perform them once again.

The new day transition does not coincide with the calendar date advancing at midnight. Instead, it is typically scheduled to occur at 5 or 6 AM. In most games, a cutscene will occur if the player happens to be in-game during the transition. In this situation, the game will automatically save before processing the necessary updates. Whenever a player first boots the game for the day (after the scheduled transition time) the new day transition updates are processed immediately, regardless of the current time. In some games, there are specific changes that are processed separately for each player character residing in town (such as the appearance of message bottles in New Horizons), and will only update for each player when they load the game individually.

If the player does not load the game for a long period of time, the game will process several days or weeks worth of changes at once to simulate the passage of time. This can result in more extreme changes to the town, such as the excessive spread of weeds, cockroach infestations, and differences in the villagers who reside in town. These changes can be mitigated if the player exploits time travel.

In the mainline games

First generation games

A scene transition for the Fireworks Show in Animal Crossing.

In the first generation games, a new day begins at 6:00 AM, though weather precipitation is updated at 12:00 AM. Whenever a player boots the game, they will be greeted by a random resident villager of the town who will simply ask for the player's name and then load that player into the town. Unlike later games, there is no cutscene if the player is in-game when the transition occurs, nor does the game automatically save. However, exterior updates to the town will not be processed until the player enters and exits a building.

A similar transition can also occur for events that begin at a later time in the day (such as Halloween or the Fireworks Show). In this situation, a cutscene will occur if the player is in game, during which the necessary actors and objects for the event scene are loaded. The cutscene will focus the camera on the train station's clock, with an unseen character announcing the start of the event to the town's inhabitants. The transition will occur again at the conclusion of the event to unload the scene.

The following updates are processed during the new day transition:

Environment

• On dates with a seasonal transition, the visual appearance of the ground and trees will update accordingly.
• The bell rock is reset and a new rock is designated (this can potentially be the same rock).
  • Doubutsu no Mori e+ only: after certain prerequisites are met, on one random day a week a rock will be designated as the entrance to the Reset Surveillance Center. The rock can be broken with a shovel to reveal the entrance, and will respawn during the transition to the following day.
• Shining soil will be positioned on a random, valid ground tile in town.
• Tree growth, as well as any fruit or Bells growing on them, will progress by one stage.
• Three weeds are spawned on random, valid tiles.
• Certain items are spawned on random, valid tiles in town, but not within acres containing the player houses, the wishing well, the train station, the lake, or the dump:
  • Up to five buried fossils will spawn. If there are already five buried fossils, no new ones will spawn.
  • Three buried gyroids will spawn if there was rain or snow the previous day, regardless of any existing buried gyroids.
  • If certain criteria is met, a villager will bury an item or pitfall as part of a treasure hunt.
  • Lost balls will spawn, which villagers may request the player to retrieve.
  • Snowballs and mushrooms will spawn if the current date falls within the period in which they can appear.

Civic

• Special character and Camping Season visitors are determined and spawned accordingly (the latter only during the period in which they can appear).
• On dates with Events commencing from the start of the day, actors and objects for the event scene will be spawned and arranged accordingly.
• If the criteria is met, a new villager will move in and immediately establish their house in town.
• If the criteria is met, an existing villager is selected to move out and will immediately depart town. The player will also receive a goodbye letter from them.
• New notices to the bulletin board are determined, and posted accordingly.
• New items may be spawned in the dump. On a Monday or a Thursday only, all existing items contained within the dump are removed.
• New items may be spawned in the police station's lost and found.

Construction

These actions will immediately complete during the new day transition only if the player has initiated them on the previous day:

• The player's house will be expanded or the roof repainted to the selected choice.
• A new bridge will be constructed in town in the location the player has proposed to Tortimer. This can only occur once per town.
• If the player has fully repaid their loan to Tom Nook, a monument will be erected in front of the train station. The exact appearance and material of the monument depends on the order in which each player in town has finished repaying their loans.

Shops

• Tom Nook's store will change its selection of available stock. If it's the last day of the month, no stock is available as the raffle will take place instead.
  • If the prerequisites for a shop upgrade are met on the previous day, the store will close for renovation. The building is upgraded during the transition to the following day.

Wild World

In Animal Crossing: Wild World, a new day begins at 6:00 AM.

City Folk

In Animal Crossing: City Folk, a new day begins at 6:00 AM.

New Leaf

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, a new day begins at 6:00 AM.

New Horizons

Isabelle delivering an island news broadcast in New Horizons.

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a new day begins at 5:00 AM. Tom Nook or Isabelle will deliver an island news broadcast from Resident Services to the inhabitants of the island. The news bulletin announces new developments occurring that day, such as villager and special character movements, birthdays, events taking place, construction projects, or seasonal topics. If there is no news to report, the host will instead provide a personal anecdote. Following the broadcast, the game will save, and the player will be returned to the front door of their house. Although the briefing marks the beginning of a new day, it always occurs individually for each player the first time they load the game that day, regardless of the current time.

The broadcast cannot occur while the player is on Harv's Island. If the player is on the Archipelago during the transition time, a black screen will appear instead of the broadcast. The game will automatically save, and the player will say "It's a brand-new day. I'm gonna make it another great one!". The player will be transported to the dock, where Niko will remark on how they didn't make it home. The player is then free to continue playing on the Archipelago, but Wilbur will refuse to transport the player to Harv's Island until they first return to their home island and receive the broadcast. Additionally Orville will not provide any additional flights to and from the island until the day officially rolls over. Once the player exits the airport, the daily broadcast will commence immediately to process updates to the town.

The following updates are processed during the new day transition:

Environment

• On dates with a seasonal transition, the visual appearance of the ground, trees, bushes, buildings, and certain objects will update accordingly.
• Shining soil will be positioned on a random, valid tile in town.
• The bell rock is reset and a new rock is designated (this can potentially be the same rock). The other rocks are also reset to allow them to once again produce materials when struck with a shovel.
• If there are less than 6 rocks, a new rock is spawned on a random, valid ground tile. If there are no valid ground tiles, no rock will be spawned.
• Fully-grown trees are reset to allow them to once again produce wood materials when struck with an axe.
• Tree growth, as well as any fruit or Bells growing on them, will advance by one stage.
• Produce plants will advance one growth stage. Fully-grown plants will have a higher yield of produce if they have been watered on previous days.
• Flowers will regrow missing petals. Flowers that were watered on the previous day have a chance to produce offspring (the exact flower produced is determined by the genes of its parents).
• Weeds are spawned on random, valid ground tiles, or spread from existing weeds (the Beautiful Island ordinance reduces the chance for weeds to spread). There is a chance for weeds to advance their growth stage, with a higher chance if they were watered on the previous day. If there are 31 or more weeds in town, only one new weed will spawn. If there are 150 or more weeds, no further weeds will spawn, and all existing weeds will cease growing.
• Certain items are spawned on random, valid tiles in town:
  • Four buried fossils will spawn, with an additional two fossils spawning if the player was absent on the previous day. If there are already six buried fossils, no new ones will spawn.
  • Gyroid fragments that were buried and watered on the previous day will be turned into fully-formed gyroids.
  • A single gyroid fragment may spawn on the beach shoreline (30% chance).
  • Up to two gyroids may spawn if it rained or snowed on the previous day.
  • Snowballs and mushrooms will spawn if the current date falls within the period in which they can appear.
• Existing Snowboys will progress melting by one stage.

Civic

• Pending mail is delivered to each resident player's mailbox.
• Special character and campsite visitors are determined and spawned accordingly.
• If the Resort Hotel has opened, island tourists are determined and spawned accordingly.
• On dates with Events commencing from the start of the day, actors and objects for the event scene will be spawned and arranged accordingly.
• If the criteria is met, a new villager will move in and establish their house in town. They will unpack boxes until the transition to the following day.
• If the criteria is met, an existing villager will begin packing boxes in preparation of moving out. They will immediately depart in the transition to the following day.
• New notices to the bulletin board are determined, and posted accordingly.
• New items may be spawned in the recycle box. Only 60 items are visible, but the box can contain up to 80 items. If the limit is exceeded, the oldest items will be removed to fit the new ones.

Construction

These actions will immediately complete during the new day transition only if the player has initiated them on the previous day:

• The player's house/storage will be expanded or customized to the selected choice.
• Buildings pending relocation will be moved to their new designated position.
• Villager houses redesigned by the player will update to the new design.
• Pending bridge or incline public works will be constructed if the project donation goal has been met.
• The Resident Services tent will close to begin construction of the permanent structure if the prerequisites have been met. Construction will complete during the transition to the following day.
• The Nook's Cranny or Able Sisters plots will begin construction if the project donation goal has been met. Construction will complete during the transition to the following day.
• The Museum tent will be erected if the plot has been placed. Construction of the permanent structure will commence if the criteria for this upgrade has been met. Construction will complete during the transition to the following day.
• The Roost will be added to the Museum if Brewster has been found on a boat tour.
• The pier will be expanded and the Resort Hotel will begin construction if the criteria for this has been met. Construction will complete during the transition to the following day. This only occurs in towns that have not yet met the prerequisites when the 3.0 update is installed.
  • If the criteria has already met when the update is installed, the pier will immediately upgrade when the game is loaded.
• Shops in the open-air market of Harv's Island will open if their donation goal has been met.

Shops

• The order limits for the Nook Shopping catalog, the Paradise Planning catalog, and the Resort Hotel catalog are reset. Pending orders for resident players are delivered to their mailboxes.
• Nook's Cranny, Able Sisters, Paradise Planning, and the Resort Hotel change/replenish their selection of available stock.
  • If the criteria for the Nook's Cranny upgrade is met on the previous day, the store will close for renovation. The building is immediately upgraded on the following day.
• On a Monday only, Kicks, Leif, Redd, and Saharah's shops on Harv's Island change their selection of available stock.
• Redd sends art purchased by resident players to their mailboxes. If these were purchased from his shop on Harv's Island, the sold stock will be replenished.

Other

• Story progression for any stages gated by day progression in the main questline, Happy Home Paradise questline, or the Resort Hotel questline added in 3.0 will advance to the next stage, provided all prerequisites have been met.
• Each player's luck for the day is determined, and can be revealed by Katrina's fortunes once per day.
• Kapp'n's boat tour limit is reset.
• The Bonus Daily Mile streak at the Nook Stop will progress or reset depending on whether or not the player used the Nook Stop on the previous day.
• Nook Miles+ tasks are refreshed.
• Message bottles are spawned on a random tile of the beach shoreline. One bottle will appear for each player who loads the game that day, and can be claimed by any player. With Happy Home Paradise, another bottle will be spawned on the shoreline of the Archipelago's main island for each player who visits the location that day.
• Certain characters who give the player items once per day will reset, allowing them to offer these once again.
  • During fall, Cornimer will appear on Harv's Island and offer the player acorns.
  • The teacher in the in the Archipelago's School facility will give the player one start for either a Pink-Plumeria Bush or White-Plumeria Bush.
  • The chef in the Archipelago's Restaurant facility will give the player one random DIY cooking recipe.
• On a Monday only, the DIY Requests list is fully refreshed with new requests, with all old requests being removed.

Only after a long absence

• These actions only occur for individual players who have had a long absence from the town:
  • Cockroaches are spawned in the player's house, requiring them to be stepped on to be removed. Alternatively, Resetti will immediately remove all cockroaches from the player's house if they use his Reset Service. If the island has the Beautiful Island ordinance in effect, no cockroaches will spawn.
  • The player character will emerge from their house with long and unkempt hair. They will quickly ruffle their hair to restore their original hairstyle.
• Weeds and flowers may spread excessively across random, valid ground tiles.

In spin-off games

Happy Home Designer

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer does not utilise a real-time clock, so a new day can only be manually triggered by the player. The player must sit at their desk in Nook's Homes, and select "Finish work for today" to begin writing their end-of-day report. This action will save the game, and prompt the player if they wish to continue playing. If the player chooses to proceed, the time will immediately progress to the next morning. If the player chooses to quit, the time will advance when they next load the game. During the morning, an attempt to end the day will display a message advising that it's still early, but the game will allow the player to proceed nonetheless.

At the start of the new day, the player will enter Nook's Homes in the morning and be greeted by Lottie. If the main storyline is in progress, Lottie will advise the player of their current task, and introduce them to any new features that have been unlocked. After completing a design project, the time of day will immediately progress to evening. The player can only complete one project a day, so must advance to the next day in order to undertake further projects.

Situations
Activities Approval rating Fashion check Group stretching Part-time job Petition Snowball Quests Ball Favor Hide-and-seek Lost item Time capsule Tortimer's Lighthouse Request Treasure hunt Villager scenarios Birthday Moving Sickness Visit Other Drama New day Spotlight item Category