If you have been on social media in the last two weeks or have been playing Animal Crossing yourself, you’ve most likely been seeing a lot regarding the Bunny Day event, with not a lot positive being said about it.

What is the Bunny Day Event?

For anybody who has been living under a rock, the Bunny Day Event was an event in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The event itself began on April 1st, fitting I know. It then ran continuously up until April 12th. The event consisted of the theme of eggs, eggs and more eggs. Eggs in trees, the ground, the sky, everywhere. Most notoriously, however, Eggs in the water.

Bunny Day added the addition of a new islander, Zippy. Zippy set the player the task of collecting as many eggs as possible before the 12th. Come the 12th, Zippy would arrive back on the island and give a special item to those who’d crafted all the event items.

What Went Wrong?

Where do I even begin. I suppose, I’ll start with the main theme of the event, the eggs. The sheer abundance of eggs was ridiculous to start with come April 1st. Players could simply not do a thing in the game without being bombarded by hordes of eggs. This made some important elements of the game practically impossible to do, such as fishing. With the change of the month taking place and new fish arriving in waters too, it became even more frustrating for players when they were spending hours fishing and only obtaining water eggs. Players had twelve days to obtain these eggs, meaning they did not have to be as common as they were.

Speaking of the length of the event, it did not have to go on for almost two weeks. Two weeks of one event just made it a drag to the finish line for this event.

when u give him it all n ur reward is a recipe… #bunnyday #ACNH pic.twitter.com/KqV6HsPdL5 — literally only ac screenshots (@bonsaii_helena) April 12, 2020

As for the main additions of the event, the Bunny Day themed items, and new islander. The amount of eggs players were obtaining turned out to not even be rewarding, with how ugly the themed items that could be crafted with these eggs looked.

With that, if ugly items that will never be publicly displayed on your island was not enough, then welcome Zippy. Zippy was the bunny running the event. Zippy had a terrible design that made him look like a divorced alcoholic in a rabbit costume. On top of his creepy look, his annoying personality was insanity inducing.

How Can Disastrous Events Like This be Avoided in the Future?

For me the main problem is the event length. Almost two weeks of an entire month does not have to be taken up by one event. For example, events should last between 1-5 days at most depending on the quality and abundance of items available in the event. This shortened length will make events feel more premium. Most importantly, this will make players want to act fast upon the limited-time occasion rather than brutally crawling to the finish line after two weeks.

As well as this, I think this goes without saying to be honest, do not obstruct core gameplay mechanics en-mass with events. Fishing and other core mechanics should still be as normal and consistent as ever if the player so-wishes. Lastly, once again, this goes with saying, make the themed items actually look good. There is no use adding new items and themed collectables into the game if players don’t even want to collect them.

With Bunny Day coming to its close, we as players can hope that Nintendo and co. learns from this event and uses the feedback to improve future in-game events. Lastly, let’s just be happy we can see the back of Zipper for another year at least.

(Image Source: Polygon)

If you enjoyed this piece and want to read more Animal Crossing related articles from us here at Culture of Gaming, why not check out our piece on a hinted addition to New Horizons or our piece on why Animal Crossing is more sinful than DOOM? As always, thanks for reading COG!