Nintendo Hints That Not All Switch Games Will Support Cloud Saves

Nintendo better clarify this and fast. If some games don't support this feature that is freaking braindead on Nintendo's part. But it also wouldn't shock me at all given how behind Nintendo is with certain things.

Well, i hope i can keep my Save Datas safely for some games without Cloud Saving support.

This is what it says on the UK site: "Please note: not compatible with all software."

I strongly suspect this is an "opt-out" feature like save backup on 3DS was. Either way, if I have to patch my games to support it, I will.

The whole thing still sounds kinda crap imo.

The 3DS had some restrictions on certain saves too. Probably just to avoid duplicate items/Pokémon etc

Read: no save scumming in Pokemon Switch.

Only compatible with NES games!

@Damo you don't need to use google translate to get info that's plainly available in English on the Nintendo UK site

I would hazzard a guess that minecraft wont be compatible. When you first boot it up it automatically created a 2GB reserved area on your onboard memory. As far as i understand thats not immediatrly used but is so you can have multiple worlds saved at once. Hopefully it means things like that rather than it needing to be patched in.

@Gamer83
I'm extremely confident this article should have never been written.

There's always some exceptions, and that disclaimer covers it if even one title can't do save backups. I definitely don't think this is gonna be like video recording. That actually required patching each individual game. This will be done on a system level.

I don't think there's anything to worry about. I know from hacking that save data extraction can be done across the board.

Homebrew it is.

What they probably mean is...
"But we're not hosting your 1,894Gb Basketball save data"

@gauthieryannick You said what I came here to say! hat tip

I think this just means that a 2GB Minecraft save data won't be hosted.

@JaxonH
Either way it needs to be clarified because this is going to spread quick and Nintendo's track record with regards to certain aspects of online isn't the greatest.

There’ll be other ways to save online for the non supported games - you can Pokemon Bank on it...

@Gamer83
Fair enough. I'm not worried about it though. Reading Nintendo's statement on my own, I would have never come to the conclusion the author came to. Just seems to me certain unnaturally large saves might not be supported (NBA 2K18 for example), certain content won't be supported (vids/screenshots), etc.

I could end up totally wrong, you never know, but I'm not concerned at this point

NBA 2K18 save file is 5GB...LOL. Every save to the cloud will takes an hour.

@JaxonH
I tend to be a bit pessimistic with everything so I won't lie, when I read the description it did raise an eyebrow. But obviously it's important to wait for Nintendo to go into more detail before completely jumping the gun.

They better clarify this as fast as possible.

I’m betting Pokémon will be one

Oh Nintendo..... what you give with one hand you promptly take it away with the other

It's a good job I love you

@Anti-Matter That's not gonna happen, not if they haven't given you an option already. Nintendo wants you to pay for the data backup, so it's cloud saves or losing your data in case disaster strikes. Your choice.

You wouldn't need cloud saves if you could back them up on an external hard drive, like on Wii U. Tying them to internal memory seems ridiculous ti me, unless I'm missing something.

Can't wait for a homebrew so we can finally get a decent offline save manager on Switch. Don't care of those cloud saves at all.

Yeah, like others said, Pokémon is likely to be one such game. Basically any game that relies heavily on people not being able to cheat by copying their game saves and reloading it. Imagine you backup your save, put a Pokémon on the GTS, then reload your backup and take back the mon you put on the GTS, that would allow for easy mon cloning. Same with Fire Emblem games that automatically save your progress mid chapter. Say you wanted to try a dangerous, risky move, you'd back up your save, try it and if it doesn't work, reload your backup and try again.

Anti-backup measures on such games have existed for a long time. you could not copy a Fire Emblem or Animal Crossing save file on Gamecube memory cards for the same reason, and there are a number of 3DS games that do not support save backup either for the same reason (including Pokémon games)... cuz yeah, for those that didn't know the 3DS already allows you to create a backup of your save files in case something happens to them, just not on cloud.

EDIT: As for the question of local backups on Switch, saved onto external drives of any kind... I think they don't want people to be able to load up on the Switch save files that have been tinkered with to trigger exploits in commercial games. The memory of the Twilight Princess exploit on Wii, their last commercially successful home system, is probably still vivid in the back of their minds and with good reason. Same reason we don't have a web browser on the Switch yet either. I know, the Switch was already hacked anyway, but it's still not really easily achievable for your average Joe, at least at this point in time.

@Nincompoop i doubt it actually contains 5 GB of save data. they probably just use it as some kind of cache file

Only supported by splatoon 2. And the next nintendo system.

your writers are either completely clueless or extremely intelligent (at click baiting)

@Nincompoop strange that other consoles your online progress is not even stored on the consoles it stored on the servers (so 2Ks server in this example)

I just hope that all my saves from games I've put a lot of hours into will be able to store in the cloud. I fear my Switch will dir on me this year. Not sure why I feel that way though...

@impurekind and only $20 a year for the privillage

@RudyC3 You can already do that with some Fire Emblem games, as early as Radiant Dawn.

@Grumblevolcano I know that but all I meant is there are precedent cases where backup was not allowed, so it's not new that the Switch would not allow it on some games either.

I checked the original Japanese, yes it does indeed imply "some" software. But take that with a grain of salt, we all know Nintendo keeps a absurd lid on information. Slowly giving it out like scrooge giving money to the poor at gunpoint...

I am sure it just mistranslation because it was done in GOOGLE TRANSLATE.

I am sure it just means all third party games will need to have an update in order to support Cloud Saves.

Also, games with saves over a certain size, will not be able to be uploaded.

Also, Hulu's save used to constantly get corrupted on my PS4 because it would try to upload it to the cloud. I would then have to delete it and the save, and then redownload it to fix it. I fixed this issue by telling it not to auto upload.

The short easy to beat eshop games do not need it honestly, as long as the big releases do is all that matters to me.

@Gamer83 While I agree that Nintendo or any company would do themselves a favor by being as transparent as possible ahead of time, I also think some onus needs to be placed on gamers to think rationally, stay calm and wait for more info as well before going all Chicken Little.

aaaand another face palm

@gauthieryannick Get that logic outta here

Meh don't care if I loose my data, I was used to it back in the day when if your console messed up you lost the lot so meh lol gives me a reason to butcher my games again

Had a coworker that speaks Japanese check the translation. It says "some software is excluded".

they specifically used "software" instead of "games"

Probably referring to the apps like Hulu

Lol. What a cluster.

Though I like cloud save, I still prefer a physical mean of having my save datas with me and not tie it to the system or a network. Nintendo is on the right track but like all companies nowadays, they took it little by little and doesn't go all out

Hopefully all the games will support it. Maybe this would refer to non game apps or Roguelikes (lol). It would be really, really dumb if all devs don’t support this feature as that could heavily impact their games’ sales. Could make or break my decision to buy a game....

I imagine that games like Pokemon may not allow for cloud saves as that could open up the door to cloning.

I'm wondering why some of you are surprised. The same was true for some 3ds title ( aka Pokémon ).

I just hope that the software developers have to manually disable that feature. That would mean that most games will support cloud save.

Nintendo, where all good news comes with a but...

LOL!... For the love of god just let people use a jump drive like on PS4.

I suspect this may be more of an issue with third-parties. I'm not too bothered by it as long as games that almost require 100+ hours (BotW, Skyrim, XC2) are supported.

@RudyC3 The same with Splatoon 2. People in Splatoon on Wii U exploited this to get perfect gear.

Probably referring to apps or titles like Rocket League where it would be pointless because it's already kept on their own servers

Hm, let's see how this works out.
Curious about why because if there's anything to let players like you it's to let them back up there saves right?

@gauthieryannick I think your comment has the most sense compared to the others here. I was giving a complement

@RudyC3 Well I do expect that games like Pokemon won't have cloud save support to avoid competitive scene cheating, not games Fire Emblem Switch though.

I don't care about cloud saves, i just want to synchronise save data to an USB drive.

@RainbowGazelle in this regard, the portable nature of switch isa detriment. I'm sure they dont want people saving to external hard drives and then undocking their switches and being screwed.

Its the case with some PS3 games too, I know Dragon Age can't be backed up through Sony's Cloud service for example.

Surely just allow us to back up our entire storage usage from our profiles? Like when you transfer it from one console to another. You can back up the software, and the software save data to redownload whenever you need it. Odd.

Are you f-ing kidding me!?
IF I can't backup my saves I'm trading in my Switch for a PS4.
This WILL be a dealbreaker for me at least.

I understand Nintendo being cautious with proving off-line save backups. This kind of feature is what made the Wii, Wii U, and 3DS very vulnerable to hacking.

But basic online play and online cloud backup REALLY ought to be free services if they want to convince people that they have more good stuff in store for subscribers.

Suddenly, I really really hate that you can't save game son Switch carts or on the SD card. Nintendo really needs a backhand to the chops over this crap.

The virtual console didn't offer nearly half the things the switch online is offering. Voice chat, multiplayer, etc. Out with the old and in with the new.