Phew, Zelda: Link's Awakening Will Support Cloud Saves On Switch After All

Surely to avoid save scumming the competitive online play. No... wait

Umm..................I don't get it.

I thought you could still transfer saves even without the cloud function

So, remind me, why are we paying for Nintendo Switch Online again???

This is so stupid it must be a mistake.

Which is also what I said when the Wii U was said to be bringing back friend codes after the 3DS did away with them, so hey, maybe Nintendo is really just this stupid.

All I want is the ability to back up my save games to my PC, like I can do with the 3DS. In the meantime, I’ll be the old man that yells at cloud (saves)

@Yosher
We're paying to access NES games that almost nobody is interested in playing.

@Roto13 3ds has friend codes.

I bet this is just a mistake/leftover text from a template page for new game titles, as there really isn't any reason for this.

A hardware platform holder not supporting cloud backup in 2019? Impossible!

Oh wait, it’s Nintendo

Why are we paying 20 bucks for again oh NES games we do not own why not have a .50-1.00 purchase option and have import games too along with GB now

This is really odd because Super Mario Maker 2 supports cloud saves and I thought if there were any unannounced features, they would be similar to that game (e.g. sharing dungeons online).

B U T I T S J U S T 2 0 D O L L A R S A Y E A R

@AlternateButtons I've been baffled by Nintendo so many times over the decades that being upset is the only option.

@Yosher me? For an extra safety ring around my countless BotW/Skyrim/etc hours and for legal access to select parts of my NES romset. And for Tetris 99 in my library. And for rather occasional online play, I suppose. Have I answered your question?

@Bobb jokes aside, I wonder if they might be thinking of something in regards to the whole "custom dungeons" aspect.

@Yosher To play online. Well, at least that's what I'm paying for, cloud saves are just a bonus.

Reggie: the online will be robust
Nintendo: hehe...here's some NES games

@Yosher To play online and have access to cloud saves on select games, as well as access to some NES games I like.

What could be the reason this time...

Smh. I dont get it.

Nintendo = clueless

So we pay for an online service that isn't even always available and for absolutely no reason whatsoever

I've barely played online since getting the NSO and although I like the NES app (it works pretty damn well), I barely have time to play those old games considering the avalanche of new stuff coming out. And seeing how cloud saves seem to not apply to a lot of first party titles, I do wonder why I'm paying for the NSO...

...uh...why, though?

So yeah, looking promising for Animal Crossing back ups then................

I get multiplayer games... Maybe...though games on mobile have sync to cloud and they are the most hacked games ever.
Still, this is one of the stupidest things Nintendo could possibly do.
Unless they really never release other consoles as part of Nintendo online that is

Oh Nintendo.......for every great thing you do...you just gotta do something incredibly stupid.

Swerve...this game will save on the cartridge just like old times.

@Kalmaro @KoopaTheGamer @nhSnork That wasn't a question to be seriously answered. I play online fairly frequently too but we've been able to do that for free for years, then Nintendo felt it necessary to start charging money for it with one of the main kickers being cloud save backup. So to have certain games NOT have cloud save backup, simply makes one question why it's a paid service at that point.

I have 1200+ hours spent on Splatoon 2 alone and I'd hate to lose that save data only because Nintendo thought it a good idea to not include that in its cloud storage service. And while it's somewhat understandable for Splatoon 2, and Pokémon, and even Animal Crossing to an extent... what excuse could there possibly be for Link's Awakening?

Yeah, I know. It's only 20 bucks a year. That's fair. I'll probably continue paying for it as well because it's just so cheap. But this is just such a Nintendo thing to do that it really does make me wonder why we're paying for the service again, even when knowing all the 'benefits'. Which, to be frank, I don't think are very beneficial at all due to how limited everything is, but that's just my personal opinion of course.

Oh boy it's time to listen to people screaming at the online service for the 100th time this month

i don't care for cloud saving so this is a none issue to me

You can transfer save data to a new switch if you're moving from one switch to a new one, you just can't copy the data via cloud

Does not compute.

Reasons why no backup cloud :
1. Nintendo force us to play fair without hacking the Save data or copying in illegal way.
2. Nintendo want to punish the hackers due to manipulate their games by force.

@Roto13 Actually, it was the Wii U which didn’t have friend codes and the 3DS had them.

Now let's see how people will try to say this is a good thing.

Meh... After my free prime year is over not having it anyway. 2019 and still no reliable way to back-up our saves on a handheld that can be lost or dropped 🤦‍♂️

Keep wishing the game looked like that promo art, lol.

Can you transfer saves via SD card?

Great. There goes my one and only reason for playing video games: saving my progress in the cloud.

No real reason to save to the cloud considering you can beat the game in about 5-10 hours.

@Anti-Matter I'm not sure what you mean. Why would hacking save files matter in a single player game? And why would not having cloud saves prevent a hacker from adding a different save file or a mod to their game?

If Nintendo isn't supporting their cloud save feature with their own single player first party games and is releasing half-baked 1st party online multiplayer games like Mario Maker then I'm skeptical of their commitment to online. Their ability to make bad online development decisions is amazing.

@Yosher Yeah, that $1.67 a month is killing me...rolls eyes...

Lol, Nintendo is so weird sometimes. This is so nonsensical

It literally says it does support them on the US eShop. What even is the point in this article?

as long as i can save the game naturally that is all i care about i never take my Switch out my house

@Amsterdamsters It's.... not the amount of money we're paying for here. It's the fact that the service that we're paying for isn't handled properly. It's entirely the principle of the matter.

Why do people keep falling for this? Yoshi, CTR, and LM3 all initially had pages on the ESHOP that stated that they didn’t support cloud saves either and all in the end supported cloud saves.

Can’t you just buy the cartridge? That would make more sense to people that want to own multiple systems. Of course, the most logical thing at this point would be to stick with the $6 version rather than the $80 one.

@Euler Nope, Switch games a read only.

@Galarian_Lassie Because it’s more fun to feign outrage.

It’s too early and I’m too late in the comment section.

Gotta keep their online service "Worth" 20 bucks! It does seem super odd the randomness of which games cloud saves are enabled on and which they are not.

shake head. Seriously youve got switch mini coming and why the ffffffffffffffffff hell cant you have cloud saves. I have xbox x for big tv a slim on my desk and can easily play games between them. How hard is it to get right.

It will support it in the end if the US versions will.

@SuperGhirahim64 its a $1.65 a month for the year subscription, I mean really what are you guys expecting. I want so much more for my $1.65 a month lol... Come on it's Nintendo, they've never been good with online but at $1.65 a month I mean really what is there to complain about,spend that on a soft drink every day so really what is $20 a year unless your a kid. I almost make that an HR at work so not a biggie for me,be nice to get some super Nintendo,64,or GameCube games though but like I said,$20 a year is nothing.

@KBuckley27 same here had it since launch day never been out the dock but one time to upgrade my SD card.

My guess is, in light of the updated info in the article (I'm late as usual. XD), the listing used to create Link's Awakening was copied from a game entry that doesn't support online backups. That or it's just the default for a new database entry.

While Nintendo's decisions with cloud saves for some Switch games continue to baffle me, I'm glad to read that this may not be the case here.

@Yosher those sweet ,sweet Nes games...

@nuovian The point is I guess that the UK gamers aren't getting cloud saves according to this article which really doesn't affect me since I live in the U.S.,but I feel like they will get them,you know these articles aren't always spot on.

Come on Nintendo Life you should know by now this gets updated closer to the time of release.

Creating drama out of nothing. Poor.

Meanwhile, the humble Wii allowed users to manually back-up their own save data. -.-

And this is such a non-article made to attract angry clicks and comments. If the US eShop states that cloud saves are supported, then it stands to reason the UK will be supported as well. The eShops are generally not updated at the same time, as even many global releases that may appear in one eShop (particularly Japan) may not appear in the other eShops until a later date and vice versa.

While I am not defending Nintendo forbidding cloud saves for the likes of Splatoon 2 and Pokémon Let's Go, I can't see any reason why this of all games wouldn't support it.

@Damo

On this website maybe not but with a lot of Nintendo releases it says on the eshop that it does not support cloud saves only to be changed closer to release.

Luigi's Mansion 3 was the last one people were worrying about it on reddit but it now states it supports cloud saves.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/c020jz/according_to_uk_eshop_luigis_mansion_3_does_not/

LOL at all the outrage in the comments. Better remove this article and make a new one with a more accurate headline instead of just updating the old one without changing the headline. But kudos at least for trying to reach out to NUK.

It's the same thing with astral chain on the french eshop it's pending but Daemon X Machina's eshop page says that it foesn't support cloud saves. Nintendo needs to do something about the cloud saves, we pay for That.
https://ec.nintendo.com/NZ/en/titles/70010000018501

@Damo Fair enough. It's just that people just reads the headline and are outraged, when there's probably nothing to get upset over. But I understand, point taken.

Nintendo?

Cloud?

Certainly everyone must be jesting. Nintendo doesn't know internets.

I don't understand why we pay for online.
There is nothing that justifies paying for it

With games like Splatoon 2 or Animal Crossing I can understand the decision to not support cloud saves. But it would make no sense whatsoever in this case, so I'll assume it's a mistake from Nintendo's side. 🤨

@SuperGhirahim64 like a said if a $1 a month kills you that much don't renew.. and your opinion on value and somebody else's can be very different. These days you can't buy one of those NES games that they give you for a dollar on any website. Not that I play them much anyway. That being said we all different in what we think is value or not.

@Galarian_Lassie
Then no one couldn't do their favorite thing on the internet and immediately complain and bitch about everything.

Sigh... Are people not reading the update? Oh... Dumb question... Of course not!

@Quarth Gotta love the hand wringing...anyone would think this site thrives on it.

@PBandSmelly Well I mean the lag was pretty bad on the Class of 64 Tournament in Smash. Like Brawl levels of bad at times so it is understandable.

Gonna laugh when the U.K. page gets updated to say it does indeed support cloud saves.

Better be a mistake...

Still don’t understand why every game doesn’t support Cloud saves. People are paying for Cloud Saves. Come on, Nintendo.

@Aslanmagic You can transfer from system to system, but that requires you to have two Switchs on hand. It's what I had to do earlier this year when my first Switch had a dead pixel; I transferred my account to my brother's Switch while I returned mine and got a new one.

Well im gonna let my online subscription run out and wait to see what they decide to do with the online service going forward.

This is just one of many reasons not to pay.

Nintendo had my money for the first year but no more until they give me better value.

Data is data Nintendo!! There shouldn’t be any issues with uploading everything to the cloud
Why do we need your cloud save if you aren’t supporting it!!!!

Wow shows how much people really look in to things lol claming over nothing...im looking at it right now on the eshop and it does say""" save data cloud back"" right next to it,it say SUPPORTED

The cloud saves hardly feel like a premium feature when they don't work on the games we would want the most to be protected.

At the same time i live in the U.S.

@personauser93 T H E R E I S N O E X C U S E F O R N O T H A V I N G A W A Y T O B A C K U P O U R G A M E S A V E S

The fact that NA says yes probably means it was a mistake

So, everyone that jumped the gun and moaned, how do you feel now that it looks like it was just a mistake on the website?

The game supports cloud saves.

It's either a bad decision, or incompetence from the website.

This objection that it's only $20 is idiotic.

When we weren't paying for online we complained about the insufficient online service, because it was an advertised feature not being properly provided. Now we're paying for it it's no longer an issue? That people are so easily manipulated by a company changing the parameter of a conversation is disappointing.

If I ordered a coffee and it didn't arrive I'd get annoyed. It doesn't matter how much it cost. I still wanted and expected my coffee.

It's the only option. You can't choose to pay more for a better service. A Switch is a fair sized investment, and after that you don't have other options for online, to access a large portion of games.
McDonald's may only cost $5, but I want other options. 'It's only $5!'. Yes, and it's awful.

Man, good thing I don't care about paying for cloud saves.

@Franklin the website said it was pending. Pending doesn't mean no.

@Trikeboy

Doesn't contradict what I said.

so what is the point in paying for nintendo online again?

the NES games? 🤔

Nintendo is always giving us some nonsense. Some of it may be due to more profit, some of it due to the fact that despite being in the market for decades they seem to be clueless. I don't get it

Playing Nintendo games online is like driving a tractor underwater.

This is the kind of game where I can't see any reason to not support cloud saves.

@Mr_Muscle Get the clouds off my lawn!

To all the gullible people here who will believe anything the internet tells them, this is false news!!!

The game will indeed have Cloud Saves! It says it on the Eshop!

Shame on you “Nintendolife” for posting fake garbage!

The online is cheap but when it doesn't have features it's like throwing (little amount of) money down the drain.

@molliolli182 LOL

Please remind me again what the benefits are to the Switch Online subscription? Because if some of their most prominent first-party games don't even support its cloud save feature, a trickling of NES games each month (which you can play but never own) sure isn't going to justify the price.

If you don't like Nintendo's online service, nobody is forcing you to pay for it. You want to play online, you have to pay, just like the other consoles.

why is this even a thing for any game...fix it nintendo please

How is there even a situation where every game released doesn't automatically support it? I guess they're just testing the waters of the whole 'Internet' thing. it might not work out.

So... I have sent an e-mail to the Nintendo UK support, asking if the info is correct or not. Hopefully I will get an answer.

@Damo I got an answer from Nintendo UK.

According to them there's no mention of there being no support for cloud saves on the webpage you're linking to in the article. Indeed, there seems to be no mention of it anymore, but we know it was there before. Either they're pretending it wasn't there or maybe it was removed before they had time to read my e-mail.

Anyways, they gave me another link which clearly says the game will feature support for cloud saves: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Link-s-Awakening-1514327.html#gameDetails

So please update the article or even better, make a new one.

Edit: If Damo doesn't see this, @Liam_Doolan @dartmonkey @antdickens @ryancraddock

@Damo The full e-mail response to me:

"Subject
Question about information on your website

Response By E-mail (Ricardo R.) (27/08/2019 01.32 PM)
Dear Daniel,

Thank you for contacting the Nintendo UK Customer Support Team regarding your question on "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening"'s official page.

We are sorry to inform you we are unable to find any mention of the Save Data Cloud not being supported for this software on the page you referred.

On the other hand, upon checking the game's Features on its 'Details' section ( https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Link-s-Awakening-1514327.html#gameDetails ), we can see the Save Data Cloud listed as one of said features.

This indicates that the software will indeed be compatible for use with the Nintendo Switch Online's Save Data Cloud, as also indicated on the Nintendo eShop's page on this same software.

If you have noticed this information being displayed otherwise on any other official pages, please let us know.

Should you have any other questions or needs, please feel free to contact us again.

Happy Gaming and Kind Regards,
Richard"

@Quarth Richard is the MVP of 2019.

Ok, much better now. Nintendo better learn not to make this sort of mistake again. Hopefully it will make them understand people really want cloud saves.

Seems like you guys made a big deal over nothing.

@Flowerlark That kind of talk is against the rules here. I'd report it.

I don't blame the author for doing the original article, but in this case, it seems to be a bit hasty of a decision to make it. I personally would have waited for confirmation before reporting it, but then again I'm not a reporter.

@Damo Great! Thanks! Next time, use their support e-mail. They seem to answer much faster, haha.

Wouldn't have been a deal-breaker for me if they'd not done it. Would just have been a reminder of how idiotic the geniuses at Nintendo can be sometimes.

@Not_Soos LOL, yeah! Damn, now I want to get home to play some Fire Emblem!

Thanks for the entertaining insta-hysterics!

People care way too much about this.

Woohoo!... Can we now get FREE local backup.

@Mallow it doesn’t take much to set this lot off!

.... I have no words..

So people got all worked up for nothing what a surprise.

So, much ado about nothing.

I think this story including official Nintendo representative comments is false. It's all a distraction! Lies, all lies!!

@Wolfgabe Welcome to the Internet @ 2019. Nintendo made an error on their website and everyone lost their minds.

LOL!

Yeah, technically the original article wasn't wrong, but there is a history of Nintendo updating eShop listings. I just hope this isn't gonna be a trend.

Don't care. I only care about Pokemon and Animal Crossing's lack of cloud saves support

I get this all the time at work. ME: X feature is broken on staging. 30 minutes later, DEV: Looks like it is working for me... ME: Looks like X is working for me now too.... interesting! Rather than acknowledged and fix, they fix and deny. Honestly depends on the person/organization.

Yay! That's good.

What is cloud saving? Why do we need this? The cartridge/ system will save the game right x

So, the internet lashed out and jumped the gun on a mislisting that has a history of happening?

What. a. surprise.

Maybe you should have waited for confirmation first, instead of rushing it out for clicks, then subsequently looking like a dumb-dumb?

Nintendo Life’s quality journalism at work.

Good job guys!

@Dragonslacker1 Yes. But the cloud save is a backup on Nintendo's servers in case you for instance have a corrupted save file, or if you lose your switch.

I was going to say, it's not like the game is built upon luck mechanics or trading, unlike the other games that have this limitation.

@Mando44646 Pokémon will have the Home app. Cloud saves in Pokémon would mean you could easily clone items and Pokémon and give yourself a full team of the best legendary. That would destroy the competitive scene.

In Animal Crossing Nintendo also doesn't want people to mess with resetting.

@Friendly that's BS. No other game on any other platform with universal cloud saves has save scumming issues. That's Nintendo's choice, not a potential abuse problem. And Nintendo should be condemned for that until they are forced to offer a service that deserves being paid for.

And Home isn't launching with the game. It comes in 2020 sometime. And that still doesn't back up anything except the Pokemon one manually transfers over. So that's not even remotely a reasonable solution

@Yosher To play MK8D and Mario Maker 2 online lol

@Mando44646 is this a reaction on my reaction to let aomeone know what cloud saves in general are?

@Dragonslacker1 All Switch save data is saved on the system itself unlike the other Nintendo handhelds which save on the cart when you're using physical games. So if your Switch breaks or is lost, you lose all your save data unless you're subscribed to NSO of which you'll lose save data for games that don't support cloud saves (e.g. Splatoon 2, Pokemon Let's Go, Pokemon Sword/Shield, Animal Crossing New Horizons).

@sanderev In Animal Crossing Nintendo also doesn't want people to mess with resetting.

Why?

@Crono1973 Mr. Resetti is on the board of directors

@Anri02 So there's no good reason that we know of?

@Shepdawg1 I know what saving to a battery means but no idea how to save to a cloud and what that means. I'm old school.

@Joe-b My comment was meant more in the style of "I don't get why Nintendo is doing this".

To answer your question, saving to the cloud means that the save data is stored on a different computer than your own (the company servers). Saving to the cloud is often used as a backup save method in case your primary save location (your own computer) fails. In the case of Switch games, imagine you've put 50 hours into Breath of the Wild, and then your Switch breaks. You buy a new Switch and can link your account to the new one, but since all your save data is tied to the original console, you can never get it back, right? Normally, that would mean you'd have lost all 50 of those hours of playtime. However, with the cloud save, you can redownload the save data that was lost and pick up where you left off.

Just looking forward to playing. Had this one on my Gameboy, I remember playing back in 97’.

@Shepdawg1 ok, wow. Thanks for the explanation. I really appreciate it. I guess I should ask, when you save a game, is it an option listed on a menu, "save to cloud" or does it just do it and I have to trust it's really there, OR does it save to the system and cloud? Thanks, sorry for sounding "gaming illiterate".

Ok thanks team. I guess I’m just old fashioned xxx