A longtime Pokemon fan has shared a heartbreaking experience in which they lost 20 years’ worth of their most cherished Pokemon while attempting to transfer their data over to a Nintendo Switch 2 console. Data transfers of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet from the Nintendo Switch to the Nintendo Switch 2 don’t seem to be causing these problems regularly, but new Switch 2 owners might want to proceed with caution to avoid a similar fate.
The release of the Switch 2 on June 5 has invigorated Nintendo fans, with the company recently reporting that more than 3.5 million console units had been sold within its first four days of availability. While there were no Pokemon titles among the list of Nintendo Switch 2 launch games, Pokemon Legends: Z-A is set for release in October, and fans are still able to access their Pokemon games from the original Switch through the new console’s backwards compatibility features.
Related
One Pokemon Game is Practically Begging for a Switch 2 Port, But It May Never Happen
The Nintendo Switch 2 is finally out and about, and while there is no news about it, one Pokemon game would be perfect for a port on the new console.
But transferring data from the Switch to the Switch 2 has been a traumatic experience for one Pokemon fan, who has reportedly lost more than 1,000 hours of play time and some of their favorite Pokemon, including ones that have been with their team since Pokemon Diamond on the Nintendo DS and Pokemon LeafGreen on the Game Boy Advance. This player reported transferring data to the Switch 2 with no initial apparent issues. However, when booting up Pokemon Scarlet, the game immediately launched into the language selection and character creation screens, and after a thorough search of data files on the Switch 2, they realized that their save file containing all their favorite monsters had been deleted.
Fan Loses 20 Years of Favorite Pokemon in Switch 2 Data Transfer
Several other fans responding to this player’s story reported similar scares, but in all these cases, their save data was eventually recovered. For one, the option to load or overwrite previous save data popped up after the language selection screen. Another suggested holding up, B, and X simultaneously on the game’s start screen to search for a hidden backup save file, but the original player reported they were unsuccessful when using this trick. Others have suggested contacting Nintendo support and customer service, who have recently been dealing with other major Nintendo Switch Online service issues. Some players have also suggested transferring games’ save data individually to avoid potential situations like this one.
Thankfully, not all the player’s collected Pokemon from across the years have been lost. The player is still able to transfer monsters from the Pokemon Home cloud service to other games, but after losing all of their favorites, they’re not certain they even want to keep playing and have declined several offers from sympathetic members of the community offering to trade replacement Pokemon to them.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
6/10
- Released
-
November 18, 2022
- ESRB
-
E For Everyone Due To Mild Fantasy Violence
- Engine
-
Proprietary Engine