Daylight Savings Time Abuse
Daylight Saving Time Abuse, often abbreviated as DST Abuse or simply DSTA, is a trick that abuses the Nintendo Switch's system clock to harvest a time-dependent seed early for an extra Power Moon. This trick is primarily used in the Any% category, but it can apply to other categories as well.
Since Daylight Savings Time functionality is built into the Switch's operating system, rather than implemented through Internet connectivity, setting the system's clock to the time when Daylight Savings takes place will cause the system's clock to jump forward an hour. Daylight Savings Time Abuse takes advantage of this by using the time jump to make a seed in the Sand Kingdom grow instantly, whereas it would normally take around 20 minutes to grow fully.
Execution
Here is an explanation of how to reproduce this trick in an Any% speedrunning context:
- Before starting the run, set the Nintendo Switch's system clock to roughly seven or eight minutes before the time when Daylight Savings strikes. (The exact amount of time varies based on the speed of the runner through the first two kingdoms.)
- Play through the game normally up until reaching the Sand Kingdom.
- Upon reaching Tostarena Town, plant the nearby seed in one of the flower pots.
- Enter the nearby pipe to the rumbling floor room and collect the moon inside. If everything was timed correctly, Daylight Savings should set the clock forward by an hour while inside this room.
- Exit the room to find a fully grown seed, and collect the Power Moon.
Usage in runs
Any%
In the Any% category, this trick is used in the Sand Kingdom to spawn a seed moon instantly.
World Peace
This trick is not used in this category because of how much movement is required from the player to reach both bosses. There are more than enough moons along the way that this trick is considered too slow.
All Moons No Post Game
DSTA is used in All Moons No Post Game because all of the kingdoms have more moons on a revisit before beating the game and since most of the revisits are done after Luncheon which is one kingdom after seaside, dsta is used to plant the seeds in seaside to reduce menuing and do seaside as the first revisit.