Topic: Will re-installing a digital game bring all save data back?

Hi. (if you want the whole story continue reading but reading TLDR will cover the whole question below)

So I have played around 145 hours + 60 on the Wii U of Breath of the wild, and I love the game. But of course I got a bit tired of it when I explored most of the game and felt satisfied. But recently I watched a bunch of content, speedruns, tips and tricks, funny highlights etc on YouTube and Twitter and just wanted to play so hard. Especially after I visited a few friends and slept over and played a bunch of it along with OoT. But I couldn't find the card and it's case in my home. I asked a friend if I left it there and he said "yes I do" but after searching for days he couldn't find it. Me neither. So I'm going to install a digital copy tonight, but is the save data and things saved on the game card or on the switch? (will I have to re-do everything, or I it like I left it last time I played it?)

Tldr: Lost game card, going to buy it digitally on the switch, will I continue as I left it or do I have to restart the whole game?
Thanks!

Probably!

Everything is saved in the switch.

@Yosheel that's the answer I was hoping for. Thank you so much!

In the case of BotW the digital and physical versions are the same and use the same data file that is saved to your Switch memory.

Sometimes the physical and digital versions are different from each other.

Example: The physical version is released (and altered) by a different publisher. A slightly different version of a game gets a new ID and the save file may not be compatible with the other version.

@Plump : Save data is always saved to the console itself, and not the game card like Nintendo's previous handheld consoles, so installing a digital version of the game, even though you had originally played the physical version of the game, should pose no issues whatsoever.

@SKTTR : That is true in extremely rare cases, such as when a game is released by multiple publishers, particularly when physical versions of digital games are issued by the likes of Limited Run and Super Rare Games (where they are listed as the publisher on the game card, and attempting to access the eShop page from the options screen will result in an error as it is considered a separate piece of software). In these circumstances, I think it is reasonable to suspect that the save data between the physical and digital releases will be incompatible.