Ranking Toy Day Events in Animal Crossing

Toy Day is a festive celebration occurring on Christmas Eve throughout the Animal Crossing series; only Wild World lacks the event. Although initially untitled, the event has been called Toy Day since New Leaf.

It features Jingle, the “black-nosed reindeer” in one of two basic roles. In the earlier games, your job is to find Jingle around town repeatedly to acquire exclusive Jingle furniture. In later games, Jingle asks you to deliver presents to each of your villagers.

Jingle: Happy holidays! I'm Jingle, the black-nosed reindeer!

Even though I’ll be ranking my favorite versions of the event from best to worst, I should mention that I love the atmosphere in all four games. The snow, the music, and the festive lights on trees combine to make it a memorable session that almost feels magical. If this event doesn’t get you into the Christmas spirit, then nothing will. 🎄

1. City Folk

Much like the GameCube event, City Folk requires you to find Jingle repeatedly to obtain Jingle furniture. But here, the event is greatly improved over its original incarnation. You have to trick Jingle by wearing a different hat each time. But fortunately, each of your patterns (worn as a hat) can be used to trick Jingle repeatedly.

Jingle isn’t as stingy in this game as he is on GameCube, plus there’s the novelty of being able to go inside animals’ houses when they’re not home!

Jingle, in a villager's house: Oh, ho ho ho...hey.

It can still be a time-consuming event, but it’s possible to rack up a lot of bells. More than any of the other games, in fact. It’s also a lot of fun, and it’s my favorite Christmas Eve event in the series.

Video of Christmas Eve in City Folk

2. New Leaf

New Leaf introduced a completely different objective for the event: Jingle gives you a sack of gifts to deliver to your villagers, and you have to dress up as Santa and give the correct gift to each animal. So how do you know who gets what? You have to speak to your villagers in the weeks before Toy Day and take notes of their hints.

Rolf: You know, I just really want an orange gift from Jingle this year. That simple!

So this event does require more preparation than the others, and you’ll probably want to buy a Santa suit ahead of time, too. But if you’ve been a studious note-taker, Toy Day itself is quick and satisfying. In fact, it’s the fastest Toy Day on this list. So you can get a taste of the festivities, make your villagers happy, and then carry on with your holiday.

But if you didn’t prepare for the event, then you’re really out of luck. Your villagers are going to be disappointed in you, and so will Jingle.

Jingle: I mean, I probably would have been more careful to give the right gifts to the right people, but oh well.

3. New Horizons

The New Horizons event is a gift-delivering event, much like the one in New Leaf. But there are extra tasks required here: You have to craft special wrapping paper, which requires ornaments that are shaken down from festive trees.

While the crafting may be tedious (especially if you don’t have ornaments stockpiled already), the gift-giving is easier than New Leaf. You don’t have to keep track of their wish lists ahead of time, and you don’t need to be wearing a Santa suit. So the deliveries are pretty easy.

Jingle: All you have to do is visit each resident, magic bag in hand, and deliver Toy Day gifts!

But there is an additional component to the event that is optional: Once you’ve given all of your villagers their gifts from Santa, they want gifts from you too. So if you’re a completionist, or just feel obligated to help your villagers, this additional gift exchange really turns the event into something quite long and tedious.

You can give them whatever gifts you want, but they must be wrapped or they won’t accept them. And tracking down all of your villagers for a second time (essentially making 20 deliveries in a row) probably isn’t the way you want to spend your limited, valuable time on Christmas Eve.

Video of Toy Day in New Horizons

4. GameCube

The original Christmas Eve event is also my least favorite. While it still has a festive feeling with the snow and Christmas lights, it’s also quite a pain. You have to track down Jingle repeatedly (as in City Folk), but here you must fool him by changing into a different shirt each time. (And you can’t keep using different patterns like you can in City Folk.) So if you didn’t stockpile a bunch of clothes, you’re not going to get very far.

Jingle: I think you'll find that it's something you like!

But the worst part is that you have find Jingle five times before he’ll even give you the first item! Considering GameCube towns are among the biggest in the series, this is no small task. He can’t hide indoors in this game, but that’s not much of a consolation. I’m generally tired of the event by the time I get the first few items.

Another thing I hate about this event is that Jingle eventually cuts you off, even if you have more clothing to change into. So you can’t complete the set in a single year! It’s a lot of work for just a partial set of furniture. While I may occasionally check this event out just for the atmosphere, this is not a version I spend much time in any more.

Video of Christmas Eve on GameCube

When is a Toy Day not a Toy Day?

Note: The GameCube version of Animal Crossing also has a separate event called Toy Day, on December 23rd. However, there’s not much to it: Tortimer will give you a gift (a miniature car for boys, or a dolly for girls), and that’s it. Since this is not the full Christmas Eve event featuring Jingle, I did not include it in the rankings above.

Tortimer: For Toy Day, I'd like to give you this miniature car.

What’s your favorite Christmas Eve/Toy Day event in the series? Leave a comment below! And Happy Holidays! 🦌❄️🎅🎁

BOTW #29 – Shrine 120!

Earlier this week, Nintendo announced a full title (Tears of the Kingdom) and release date (May 12th, 2023) for their next Zelda game (previously known as Breath of the Wild 2). I’m really looking forward to the game, but I figured it was about time to finally get that last shrine in Breath of the Wild.

I generally don’t like using guides unless I’m really, really stuck on something. But after 5.5 years of playing BOTW without finding that last shrine, I felt like that qualified as “really stuck.” 😂 So I found a map that showed all of the shrines, and I scoured it for several minutes until I found the one I was missing. It was in the Gerudo area, between the highlands and the desert. So I headed there, but I initially didn’t see anything.

Sand. Just sand.
Never gonna run around and desert you.

But after exploring the area a bit, I found a big hole and dropped down into it. (It’s the valley that leads to the Yiga Clan hideout, but that’s not where I needed to go.) Exploring the area from down below led me to an altar that had never been used!

Finding the last altar.

Note: Because the shrine wasn’t exposed, only the altar, my Sheikah sensor did not beep to indicate it was nearby.

I had actually been afraid the last shrine would be something very difficult or time-consuming, like defeating every Talus or Hinox in the game. So I was relieved to see it was just something I overlooked…even if it was hard to believe I’ve missed it for over five years!

Anyway, the sign said to offer a shining blue stone. A sapphire didn’t work, but my next choice (a luminous stone) did the trick. The 120th shrine rose up out of the sand, and I entered the Sho Dantu Shrine. The hint was “Two Bombs,” and I joyfully solves the puzzles to complete my last shrine. 💣💣

Using bombs in the Sho Dantu Shrine in Breath of the Wild.
It was a blast.

The monk gave me a spirit orb, but he also had a side quest for me! It was easy, though: I just had to go to the Forgotten Temple for my reward.

**SPOILER ALERT** If you don’t want to know the reward for completing all shrines, you probably want to stop reading this entry now.

Okay, still here?

So I got to the Forgotten Temple to claim my reward. There were three treasure chests inside, which gave me a cap of the wild, a tunic of the wild, and trousers of the wild. Basically it’s Link’s traditional outfit!

Link wearing the hero of the wild outfit in Zelda BOTW.
Nostalgia much? It’s like a link to the past! 😉

While I was there, I also exchanged my final four spirit orbs for another heart container.

With eight months to go until Tears of the Kingdom, I may not be posting any more BOTW blog entries. (It’s still possible, but maybe not likely.) So I figured I should post my game stats for (perhaps) one last time.

  • Completion percentage: 59.88%
  • Shrines: 120/120
  • Shrine quests: 42/42
  • Side quests: 76/77
  • Korok seeds: 418/900
  • Hyrule Compendium: 363/385
  • Rupees: 39,806

Also, I no longer plan to purchase the DLC. But I will certainly be back next May with my Tears of the Kingdom progress! Hopefully the game won’t get delayed any more. 😛 But here’s the TotK trailer if you’re interested:

Nintendo Switch Sports Impressions

Nintendo Switch finally has an entry in the Wii Sports series, and these are my impressions after about five hours with the game so far. There are six playable sports, all using motion controls: Volleyball, badminton, bowling, soccer, chambara (swordfighting), and tennis.

Nintendo Switch Sports

When you first start up, you can customize your appearance: skin color, hair color, eye color, hairstyle, and so on. Unfortunately, there are only six hairstyles to choose from at the start. You also have the option of using a Mii instead of the customizable characters.

One curious aspect of this game is that your ranking/progress are based only on online matches. Older Wii Sports games had you battling CPU-controlled opponents that gradually increased in difficulty as your skill rating grew. Here, offline matches don’t count for anything. I’m not a fan of this change. The many unlockable custom options for your character also require online play. So if you don’t have a Nintendo Switch Online account, don’t expect much out of the one-player modes.

Bowling

Bowling was the first game I tried out. One change that’s immediately noticeable is that you no longer release the back button (ZR in this case, B on Wii) as you release the bowling ball. I’m not sure why they changed this mechanic, but I got used to the new controls quickly.

Bowling in Nintendo Switch Sports.

The online setup is a bit curious, to say the least. The game gathers a whopping 16 players before you can begin. And then, after every three frames, a large portion of the bowlers are eliminated. Half of the players are eliminated after three frames, and only three out of the 16 players gets to play the full game!

Once you get to the “pro league,” most players are pretty good. So even a tiny mistake can mean your game ends after just three frames. I really hate this setup; I don’t understand why all 16 players can’t bowl the complete game. And in the pro league, regular lanes are sometimes replaced with annoying obstacles. As much as I enjoy bowling, it could have been so much better.

On the bright side, I do like the way you can see how the other bowlers are doing in other lanes as you play. And if you finish before the others, the game may focus on someone to show you what they’re doing. It’s a nice touch.

  • Have I made Pro League yet? Yes.

Tennis

Tennis plays very much like the Wii Sports versions. It’s a 2-on-2 game, but you control both players (unless you’re teaming up with a friend). But I’ve noticed that players seem to have a superhero-like ability to dive for unrealistically long distances. They almost seem to be flying at times.

Tennis in Nintendo Switch Sports.

Tennis is a lot of fun, just as it was in Wii Sports. It’s my favorite of the six mini-games to this point (and that’s unlikely to change later on).

Have I made Pro League yet? Yes.

Volleyball

Volleyball is new to the series, and it has controls for serving, bumping, setting, spiking, and blocking. Online matches are played with four players, two on each team. Teamwork is required; if your teammate isn’t competent, you don’t have a chance.

Volleyball in Nintendo Switch Sports.

The gameplay is a bit…formulaic? It follows a repeatable pattern: Bump, set, spike, bump, set, spike…and timing plays a key role. But that’s not a bad thing, because volleyball is surprisingly enjoyable.

Have I made Pro League yet? Yes, right before finishing this blog entry.

Badminton

Badminton may resemble tennis at first, but it is quite a different sport. The game is played in one-on-one matches (instead of 2-on-2), and on a much smaller court. With less ground to cover, each point can drag on for a while with long volleys.

Badminton in Nintendo Switch Sports.

I’m not as good at this as I am at tennis, and I’m not even sure why. I feel like there’s something I’m missing. Well, I certainly need more practice.

  • Have I made Pro League yet? No.

Soccer

Soccer is probably the oddest sport included in Nintendo Switch Sports. It’s a bit weird to play a game normally played with your feet by swinging your arm/wrist. (Yes, there is a shootout mode that you can play with your leg, but that’s not the main attraction.)

Soccer in Nintendo Switch Sports.

The game is played by eight players (4-on-4), and the ball is huge. Larger than the characters! And unlike most sports in this compilation, you can actually move your character around with the control stick on the left Joy-Con.

Most of your time is spent just moving around with the left stick, and constantly adjusting the awful camera with the right stick. The motion controls are basically only needed when you’re right at the ball, which isn’t very often. There have been matches that I’ve barely touched the ball at all. I’m really not a fan of soccer so far.

  • Have I made Pro League yet? Not even close.

Chambara

This is basically swordfighting, like the swordplay duels in Wii Sports Resort. This is, by far, the sport I’ve played the least…due to my lack of interest. You try to hit your opponent to push them back, eventually knocking them off a tower and into a pool. You can block attacks with the guard button (ZR) if your sword is perpendicular to your opponent’s as he/she strikes.

Chambara swordfighting in Nintendo Switch Sports.
No silver or gold medals for Yukon.
  • Have I made Pro League yet? Heck no.

No Help

The game sometimes gives you tips for a game after you play it, instead of before (or during). And these “tips” are sometimes just basic controls that should be spelled out in an accessible manual somewhere…but aren’t. There are some playable tutorials, but only for three of the sports. Why not a summary of the moves for each sport? 🤔

Nice Touches

Just like in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you can give yourself a title that is viewable by other players. New title words can be unlocked as you play online matches.

And even though I started out by giving the new characters a try, I’ve lately gone back to using Miis. It can really make you stand out during online matches. If you’d like to see some of my Miis, check here. Unfortunately, you can’t scan those QR codes with a Switch, but you can on 3DS and I think there’s complicated process to transfer them over, but I don’t remember the details. 😂

Ranking the Sports

Since this is just my impressions and not a final review, this list is subject to change. But after 5+ hours with the game, here is a list of my favorites from best to worst:

  1. Tennis
  2. Bowling
  3. Volleyball
  4. Badminton
  5. Soccer
  6. Chambara

Perhaps the most likely to switch places may be volleyball and badminton. I’ve kinda gone back and forth between which I like more, so they’re pretty close in my opinion. Are you all enjoying the game? Have any tips you’d like to share? Leave a comment below!

Want to buy Nintendo Switch Sports at Amazon?