Animal Crossing: New Horizons April Update Release Date & Time (Nature / Earth Day Event)

5 years ago Justin 1 Comment

The highly anticipated April Update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons with Nature Day and more is finally almost here! Learn everything we know about exactly when the update will be available for download and the Nature Day event will start.

When Will The April Update Release For Download?

The April Update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons including Leif’s Garden Shop, Jolly Redd’s Treasure Trawler, a new Museum Art Gallery expansion, the Nature Day event, and more will be released on Thursday, April 23rd according to Nintendo.

However, the company did not specify an exact release time in the official trailer. Thanks to additional information on the Japanese Nintendo website though, we have some more details on the exact release time!

According to the official Nintendo website in Japanese, the Version 1.2.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons containing all these exciting new features will be released at 10AM Japan Standard Time on Thursday, April 23rd.

For everyone living in other time zones, which almost certainly includes you, that release time converts to 6PM Pacific Time or 9PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, April 22nd! Interestingly, this means the update could actually be arriving quite a bit earlier in parts of the world than Nintendo advertised in the trailer.

However, we don’t know for sure whether the update will be released for all regions at the same time, or if there will be a delay imposed before it can be downloaded in North America and Europe. It’s very well possible that you’ll only be able to download the update at 6PM Pacific Time or 9PM Eastern Time on Wednesday when using a Japanese Nintendo Account.

So if you’re excited to get your hands on the April Update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons as soon as possible, be hopeful for an early release starting at 6PM Pacific Time / 9PM Eastern Time and have your Nintendo Switch ready to update. But don’t be too disappointed if you still have to wait until the next day.

If the update’s release is locked by region and does not arrive globally at 10AM JST, then we suspect the update may be released at 7AM Pacific Time / 10AM Eastern Time for North America and 10AM local time for other regions.

How To Download April Update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Your copy of the game should update automatically for you, but if for some reason it doesn’t, you’ll be able to manually trigger any available updates by pressing the + button on the Animal Crossing: New Horizons home screen icon, selecting Software Update, and hitting Via the Internet.

The Nintendo Switch will check for all available Animal Crossing: New Horizons updates when you do so and download the April Update if it’s been released for your region.

When Does The Nature Day / Earth Day Event Start?

As part of the April Update, the first brand new event since Bunny Day will coming to Animal Crossing: New Horizons with the Nature Day (previously known as Earth Day) Event!

During this nature-themed event starting April 23rd through May 4th, you’ll be able to complete new Nook Miles+ challenges encouraging gardening activities like planting trees, watering flowers, and planting new bushes from Leif.

While Nintendo has not shared a specific start time for the event, we suspect Nature Day is most likely to commence on your island at 5AM in real-time on April 23rd when a new day begins, assuming the update has been released and downloaded by that time.

It’s worth being aware that time traveling to an event included in this new April update is not expected to work, similarly to Bunny Day, based on the following notice posted by Nintendo in Japanese:

Please note that even if you have already downloaded the update data, the event will not start simply by changing the main unit date to the date and time of each event holding period. After the real-time event start date, it is necessary to connect the main body to the Internet and start the software with the user and the Nintendo account linked.

This isn’t particular relevant to Nature Day given the timing, but worth keeping in mind that you shouldn’t expect to be able to play the other upcoming events like May Day and Wedding Season until we get closer  to their real world dates. Check out our Four Upcoming Animal Crossing: New Horizons Events — Everything We Know So Far (Analysis) article for more information!

We hope you’re just as excited for the April Update as we are — the possibilities for these new bushes on our islands is going to be amazing! Check out our Animal Crossing: New Horizons Guides page here for more on the game.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Event News Update