Topic: Are Splatoon 2 saves really stored ON your console?!

I was wondering, since Splatoon 2 is an online game that requires you to have an online account, is all of your all your progress really only saved on the Switch console and not linked with your Nintendo account? If this is the case then that really ruins most of my experience of the game. Besides not wanting to have to complete the single player mode again, re-level up, get ability chunks, and buy all new gear; I will lose all of my super sea snails that I earned from playing splat-fest, when I get my own switch.

I would be delighted to be proved wrong, but I believe all game saves are stored on the Switch itself. Not linked to your account.

Im pretty sure this is the case for all Switch titles, not just Splatoon 2.

It is a really bad system and its baffling that Nintendo haven't changed it yet.

For whatever it's worth, you can save your current equipment to a Splatoon amiibo. But yeah, the file is going nowhere.

Can't you move save files to an SD card and move them around that way (just like on the GameCube and Wii)? That way it could be useful if you have a spare SD card and you want to start a new save file without deleting your old stuff...

@Octane Nope. Save files go on system memory, period. Although if you wanted a new file on the same console, you could just use a different account. The issue is that you can't move anything to a different Switch.

@Zyrac What if you run out of memory though?

@Octane If you run out of memory you move your digital games to a micro SD card while the saves stay on the internal?

@Grumblevolcano
Yea, it would probably ask you to move or remove games so that the save file could fit.

@Octane I'd be more worried about the console bricking. Bye bye all that progress.

Reggie hinted that cloud saves'll probably come in the future (possibly SD card transfers too, I'd imagine) ..us early adopters are pretty much beta testing the hardware to be honest - in all likelihood, they probably soft-launched the Switch before it was properly ready so that they'd hit their targets for the financial year - the full vision (cloud saves, OS improvements, My Nintendo integration, chat app etc) won't be fully realised for some time yet - what we have right now is more of a 'proof of concept' than a finished product, unfortunately...still, you know what they say, 'patience is a virtue' and all that!

I can confirm they are stored on the console and there is no way to move them. My switch went to Nintendo for repair. They wiped the memory and now I have to start from scratch in every game I own. Also when I reinserted the sd card it told me that the card was from a different console and would need to be reformatted to be used again. Many hours of BotW MK8D and Splatoon 2 lost forever.

@Grumblevolcano But I mean, what if you have 32GB of save files? Does that mean there's a limit to the amount of save files you can have on the Switch?

@Octane Well hopefully by that time Switch will have cloud saves otherwise you'd need to delete some of your saves to make room for more saves. I don't see 32GB of save files happening anytime soon especially as Nintendo seems to be limiting eshop games.

@Octane I am not sure how big save files are, but I thought they were quite small, so it will probably take at least years (and only for some people), and I guess nintendo will have a solution in that time

@essiw Save files on the Wii U were anything between less than 1 MB to around 50 MB for the bigger games iirc. 32GB is probably enough, but I wonder how that works in theory. Especially since not all of the system's memory is usable, and you need a bunch for system updates and whatnot. And if you can't make backup files of your saves, there could be a point where you have to delete them in order to make room for more.

Thank you to everyone for all the replies. I seriously can't believe that a Nintendo has exclusively local saves for online games. Forget having to re-play through your game, some things like super sea snails can't be re-obtained at all. I sincerely hope that they provide a solution for at least their online games soon, because this is the first thing that has really made me second guess my desire to get my own switch.

I really think we'll be seeing cloud saves with the official launch of the online service. Which is great, but also kinda lame, because they're basically forcing you to pay to save your games elsewhere.

@rallydefault Yeah, but its not the only thing you'd get with your sub if they include cloud saves. Access to online gaming and a library of NES games (And possibility SNES games at some point) with possible added online features and sub exclusive discounts. And all costing much less then XBox Gold and PSN (Which is getting a price hick in the UK later this month).

They did at least hint at SD Card transfers, so there'll hopefully be options at game save back ups soon.

@Angelic_Lapras_King It's the exact same response I get when I say something about the PS+ subscription; ''But you're getting a lot more than just cloud saves, you're also getting ''free'' games, discounts and access to online gaming, for only a couple of bucks a month!'' That's the exact same PR speech that comes from corporate figures that want to sell you as less as possible for as much as they can get away with.

Online should be free anyway, as long as it's P2P at least. And don't bundle it. It means you end up paying for stuff you didn't even want to begin with, all the extra fluff. If you just want the cloud saves? That should be possible. If you just want the access to the NES library, that should be possible.