Daylight Savings Time Abuse
Daylight Savings Time Abuse, often abbreviated as DSTA or sometimes DST Abuse, is a speedrunning trick that abuses the way the Nintendo Switch's system clock handles daylight saving time (DST) 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 DST functionality is built into the Switch's operating system, rather than implemented through Internet connectivity, setting the system's clock to the time and date when DST takes place will cause the system's clock to jump forward an hour. This can be timed so that it causes a seed to grow instantly, since the game thinks an hour has elapsed since the seed was planted.
Daylight Savings Time Abuse can be applied to any seed moon in the game, although it is usually used for the Desert Gardening: Plaza Seed moon in Tostarena Town, since this is the place where it is easiest and saves the most time.
Without DSTA, the time that it takes for a seed to grow varies depending on the size of the full grown plant. That being said, a seed takes anywhere between 15 and 24 minutes to grow (Exception being the long plant in Seaside Kingdom)
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 DST 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.
Speedrun usage
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 in Sand Kingdom. 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 grow the seeds in seaside since it takes less than 20 minutes to complete Luncheon and revisit Seaside.