Pokémon Sword And Shield Will Not Support Cloud Saves

At least LM3 has cloud saves.. so there's a chance that Mallow is in that game.

Expected... But still, thank God we're paying for those cloud saves, am I right? These will be 2 of the biggest games for switch, and they won't support it.

They sure know how to make good value out of their cloud saves from nintendo online /s. The games you'd really want to use cloud saves for are the ones that never have them it seems.

why are people paying for this online service seriously? smh

@dougphisig the service seems pointless because of this flaw 🤔

Not surprising but still very bad.

It sucks but I get that it helps prevent cheating.

Well of course, cause they want you to pay separately for Pokemon Home instead.

People are still gonna find a way to cheat, regardless. Also, I still fail to see how this prevents cheating?

Someone remind me again why are we paying for Nintendo Online?

@nego @huyi : From 0 to 10 million paying subscribers. Nintendo are laughing it up and swimming in cash for offering practically nothing extra for something that was previously free for 13 years.

At least during the Wii days (and to some extent the 3DS) we could (mostly) manage our own save data. Now, not only is Nintendo proposing to hold our save data hostage on their servers, but they expect to be paid for the privilege.

Just gimme local backups and I won't care.

Until then, this is pure incompetence on Nintendo's behalf.

@huyi I'm paying for online so I can play Splatoon 2. Plus I enjoy the SNES games. It's cheap. If I get cloud saves for some games, cool.

Love you too, GameFreak.

I don't even use the cloud save back-ups, so it doesn't bother me.

Old man yells at cloud saves.

Oh no, how am I supposed to rotate between my 3 Switches, playing one while the others charge ect???

I guess my first Switch will be my Pokemon machine to play on. Sorry Switch lite......

@huyi well, I'm paying supposedly for the online (although I don't often use it outside freemiums which don't require subscriptions), and in practice, for legal access to a bunch of roms (no caustic sarcasm intended), stuff like Tetris 99 and - gasp - the cloud saves. If you're playing only the unsupported games like Splatoon 2 and Pokemon, the latter are clearly pointless for you (but you'd face the necessity to pay for the online functionality itself); if you're playing something instead of or besides them... take my word for it, the idea of losing hundreds of hours of progress in BotW or Skyrim isn't much less unsettling than that of losing them in Pokemon.

In the end, it's all "take it or leave it" - we either pay because there's enough on offer to motivate us to pay or we don't pay because there's not enough. Even the online stuff can't shotgun us into a payment if we consider the third option of not using it and perhaps just skipping the game at all - but of course, negative conditions like fanship can get in the way of such judgement.

@DTfeartheBEARD You can transfer saves easily enough. Doesn't excuse the ridiculous fact that so many upcoming Nintendo games aren't supporting their cloud save system, but it's something.

@arekdougy Well that's good for you since Splatoon 2 doesn't support cloud saves.

They really need to sort this out. Have a server online that holds our save data and can be restored to our account once every 6 months or something after we fill out a stupid form. I dunno. So whack, especially with Splatoon 2.

I guess Pokemon Home or Bank will at least not have our characters erased. This is just crap though, there must a non-stubborn solution to cheating/sharing resetting.

@DTfeartheBEARD You can transfer save data between systems, with a local Switch to Switch connection I think.

Will not have cloud saves after my free Amazon Prime ends anyway.

Excited to play it - cloud saves or not.

@huyi So we can play some games we like online, why else would we pay?

@Ralizah I forgot about that, thanks for reminding me. I guess I could do that if I really wanted to use another system. The cloud save would just be easier but oh well lol.

How utterly ridiculous. Expected, but ridiculous all the same. Pokémon is a game that would benefit the most from cloud saves.

@Dang69 True. I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder.

When I got Nintendo online it was exclusively to play games online that needed it. Since it is so cheap, I didn't really care what else came bundled in as well so the lack of cloud saves doesn't bother me too much.

Cloud save support should be nonnegotiable with first and second parties, people are paying Nintendo for a service and their developers damn well better support it.

Such a Nintnedo move -

game has link in game for NO so game the link is in can not get the benefit of cloud saves that come with NO.

New slogan idea -
Nintendo Online - We called it NO for a reason

I can't believe that in 2019 Nintendo can't understand internet and cloud services and not even allowing local backups to an SD, USB or whatever but they want you to pay for it and on top of that forcing you to pay for Pokémon Home to secure your Pokémon

@SalvorHardin OR offer another solution. Not just straight up go, "welp...I'm out of ideas! Just dump it!" I don't care if I lose save data for a Zelda or Mario. They play thru again just fine. But Pokemon or Splatoon where you are actively BUILDING up yourself or your crew. It's just b*****t. I hope this makes people made enough that SOMEHOW someone somewhere figures out how to rally this.

@huyi simple for the odd time I play MK8 online and Mario Maker and the NES/SNES games.
And most importantly because I have it until the end of 2021 through various offers. Otherwise I may have considered cancelling.

@DTfeartheBEARD That's where I'm at. If the saves were on the cart, that'd give an option to people with more than one system, but no. It's really too bad.

@Ralizah Woo. That's a relief because I'm in the same spot. I mean, this is the only reason I need cloud saves so it doesn't really affect me otherwise. I mean, even the cloud save implementation is so poor that just using it between consoles is more annoying than it is for anything else. Dunno why they have to make it so hard

@Yorumi Yeah, online is a product that doesn't really provide any tangibly useful service, but it's cheap. It's not forgivable, but I mean, Nintendo holding their games hostage means either don't buy Nintendo's games, which would be easy if they were good, or refuse the ones that mandate online. Which, you know, same deal

. I don't mind cloud backups not being present too much because the only time I ever use them is when a hard drive is formatted, which I don't plan to do with the switch, or when I need to transfer from one console to another, which I do frequently with the switch now. That would be a bigger problem, but Nintendo made something simple like cloud save transfers annoying so them not being present isn't much of a loss. I just need to have both switches with me if I need to transfer saves, and since one stays at home, that's not too big of a deal. It's annoying and unnecessary and shouldn't be that way, but it's not worth a revolution

This makes sense, and as someone with only one Switch, it doesn't really matter much to me, but it does make the Switch Lite seem even less appealing as a secondary Switch than it already was.

@Digitamamon64 "Biggest"

Do people even realize this was likely ultimately Game Freak's decision not Nintendo's Its also fairly obvious why they would omit cloud saves in this game to prevent cheating. The 3DS Pokemon games didn't let you back up save data to an SD card either so this is hardly anything new really

@Ralizah You do realize a good majority of Nintendo's own games do support cloud saves right? The only ones that aren't supported are Splatoon and a few other games where cheating and save scumming is likely a major concern

@Wolfgabe Thank God Nintendo is willing to risk me losing my save data to prevent me from cheating at Animal Crossing!

There's no point in having a cloud save system if some of the biggest exclusives on the console aren't going to support it. Somehow the competition manages to universally support saving data to the cloud without things tumbling into chaos. Why is that?

@Doofenshmirtz
When I say "biggest" I'm talking in terms of commercial interest. These will sell ridiculous numbers, with these being the first true gen on a HD console and all that. Personally I think they look disappointing as all hell and I won't be buying either one of them, but I don't think it's a stretch to say they are some of the biggest switch games around.
Or if you're implying that I should've said "largest"... You're probably right. Idk know the difference between them.

Not surprising, but not a good thing either...

The Pokemon save file on your Switch needs to hold an internal referendum and trigger article 50 to be able to leave and uploaded to cloud servers.

Thats not surprising to me. People would trade their Pokémon away, then backup their cloud save to get it back. Would open the door to duplication.

@Yorumi That's not how it works though, they didn't lock all online features, just the ability to play certain games online, that's it. You're essentially paying to play a few games online, at the end of the day.

@Yorumi BTW for anyone downvoting you, what you said about the "lock" is actually absolutely correct since it's all peer to peer with OUR OWN internet and devices creating the connection.

The real reason their online sucks is because the netcode in their games is complete crap and lacks any kind of "rollback" feature (like GGPO). Japanese game developers are so stubborn with this stuff because Japan is a relatively small area with AMAZING internet so they don't have issues like other places do. PLUS there's a general stubbornness toward integrating aspects of software or process developed elsewhere. There's a phrase for it in Japan, I forget the name, something like "not made here first." It IS NOT BORN out of contempt for non-Japanese or anything. Just some kind of general business sensibility.

Learned all this crap from wondering why online Smash just absolutely sucked. Spent the last year getting corrected by people a lot, lol, I used to say "why is Smash not on a server"...and then people were like, "dude it's a fighting game, it has to be P2P...read up on netcode."

@Anri02 Sure, but they REALLY SHOULD find another solution then. Maybe there's something that has to happen on the end of the user WHILE trading. Maybe it forces a cloud save before you trade, but the save data shows the Pokemon already removed on your end? Maybe you have to be connected online to trade in person? Every phone has a hotspot and it doesn't require hardly any data to do such a thing.

@Dang69 I don’t like the solution where you have to be online to trade. Not everyone’s data plan is hotspot friendly.

Nintendo sucks big time! I pay 19,99 € a year and I only can use cloud saves with 2611 from 2690 games. Did I ever need save file backup in over 30 years of gaming? No, but I am sure some day there will be one game where I will lose my save file and it will be the wort day of my life and Nintendo will be at fault.
SELLING MY SWITCH YESTERDAY!! 😡😡😡

@Anri02 But if there's 2 people there at least, SOMEONE will have it. I think I only have 3gb of hotspot a month, and I actually play Fortnite and Tetris thru it (I download games and patches and updates off my work's wifi during the day). Anyway, sorry, but that was just one tiny thing I was thinking off the top of my head. Surely there is a solution somewhere. I find it disgusting that Nintendo just goes, "hmmf people might cheat in Animal Crossing or Splatoon or trade cheat in Pokemon...ehhh let's just not support external ways of backing up their save data ON A PORTABLE DEVICE." If something like Fortnite, where BIG bucks get tossed around can figure this out, and every other NAME company that has these sorts of thing can do it, Nintendo needs to find a solution. Unacceptable.

@MrBlacky Games 30 years ago didn't require competitive stat and rank building for 100s of hours of gameplay either. Yeah I got mad when accidentally bump into my NES, with LoZ in it cuz I was too afraid to turn it off and have the save data erased, but that is nothing compared losing my rank and gear from a few hundred hours of Splatoon. GOD. Not even close to being the same thing.

I'm surprised at this point that no company has come out with a standalone card backup device yet. It's just a micro SD card after all. Put a couple micro SD slots on a small device with one button. Put your Nintendo's SD card in the main slot, put another one in the backup slot, push the button, and it just copies the contents of the main to the backup. Walla! Problem solved.

Granted, you can do this yourself with any computer that has a SD card reader, but you would think some company in China would have made this standalone "Nintendo Switch Backup Device" for $19.99 by now. Companies are getting lazy, and leaving money on the table here.

@PharoneTheGnome You'd have to hack your Switch to do that. They make it so that save data cannot be pull off there. It can be transferred though.

@Dang69
Since I mostly play for fun and not for stats, I honestly wouldnˋt give a s*** if I would lose a save file. Either the game was trash anyway or I like the game so much, that I wouldnˋt care to play it again.
But everyone is different, so what works for me, must not work for anyone else.🤷‍♂️

@Dang69 oh hell I didn't realize the save data wasn't saved to the SD card.

And this is why people hack their systems. To gain normal features that should have been included from the get go. Nobody wants to spend 100 hours in a game, with no control over your save file.

@Yorumi the problem is though that storing all your splatoon data on server would likely mean you likely would require a constant internet connection to play which pretty much goes against the Switches core philosophy.

@Ralizah Again this was Game Freaks decision not Nintendo's. This was likely done to prevent trade abuse which had been fairly common for some time now.

@Yorumi Sure, and I don't like that they don't have their own servers, but we have to be honest here. There are no features on the Switch that they locked for all games, just on certain ones. So what you're paying for are just those few games and the nes/super Nintendo games they gave us.

@Wolfgabe It would definitely mean you would have to be online to play it, but I mean, what else is there to do in Splatoon?

@Kalmaro Exactly. On a few games are truly for multiplayer and many of those (all the fighting games, basically) really shouldnt be server based. I mean, literally every console charges for basic online play. It's just something they can do because they own the platform so there's nothing competing on their platform. The exact reason why when companies try to limit basic features on the PC they fail (origin, probably epic). There's a lot of other options so players can choose where to get the thing they want. If you want to play COD on PlayStation, get PSplus. The problem with Nintendo is that Sony and MS offer some good free junk and small discounts for having their service, Nintendont. That's the real issue. Nintendo is never going to give even a pretty niche 2nd party game like Mario rabbids away for free, just emulate games that anyone could already emulate.

@Xansies Nintendo needs to catch up. I just got Microsoft gamepass for PC and it's... Amazing. Playing outerworlds and its only costing me less than 6 dollars a month. Woot!

@Cotillion I think NSO is basically a backup system for saves with retro games as a bonus and for £1.5 a month it’s dirt cheap.

I know I know it doesn’t work for Pokemon or splatoon 2 but if this annoys you I don’t think your remain a Nintendo fan for long they make a lot of strange or plain bad decisions.

I expect things like this from Nintendo now and almost look forward to their next backwards moves.

First-party game that doesn't support cloud saves, glad I didn't buy into that hogwash. You guys (that bought the online service) are continually getting ripped off by the big N.

@PharoneTheGnome It suuuuuuuuucks. If you break your Switch you lose everything if Nintendo isn't able to transfer the save data between systems. After no cloud saves were announced for Splatoon2 I pulled wayyyyy back on that game. I just don't get why, at least your rank at the very least can't be saved to your account! I wonder if I could save my good gear to all my amiibo and still be able to use those. I have everyone of them because I'm a dingus.

@MrBlacky I don't play just for ranks...but seriously if you invest enough time into something, gaining equipment with skill chunks added to them that you busted your buns for thru earning cash or sea shells or working for Grizzco, as well as getting a rank you're super proud of...to lose that all just poisons the experience a bunch. You're starting it all from scratch. You have to beat the Octoexpansion AGAIN for the Octoling skins, etc. It's just very unnecessary, especially in that game where tons of people cheat anyways. They basically just end up punishing the non-cheaters.

@Dang69 Is it the whole nine yards(progress,unlocks, and everything)with no cloud save games? The reason ask this question is if a "Pro" version of the Switch comes out I want to make sure I don't lose everything(specifically Splatoon 2 because dear God the Octo Expansion)when I transfer my data over to it(otherwise I just transfer my cloud save game to the new console(with a larger micro SD card)and keep the old console for with the no cloud save games).

Wait. So I won't be able to transfer my save back and forth from my Switch to my Switch Lite?

U cant back up pokemon on the 3ds so why would u be able to on switch.and if it wasn't for cheaters you would be able to

If you could back up saves, you could clone Pokemon like crazy. No surprise really.

You'd back up a save, trade all you favorites, and then download your back up again. Repeat.

And if you had to back up your save after every trade to prevent this - then trading would get bogged down like crazy! And you couldn't trade offline.

Idiotic. I don't care if people cheat. That's their problem! Why should the majority be punished for the actions of a few? Whatever cheating might happen, surely we're smart enough these days to combat it in the games code.

Here’s a bold idea: who cares if people cheat through cloud saves? They’re primarily ruining the game for themselves, which is their loss.

Nintendo is punishing the 99.9% in order to stop the .1% from doing something that, at the end of the day, mainly hurts themselves. Silly policy.

...

Nintendo.

The biggest games and probably those who would need cloudsaves the most don't support it. Just nintendo again. It's always a wanabe anti-cheat decision, that will not help anyone and only make customers angry.

Remainder: TPCi doesn't want to support Switch Cloud Saves because they want you to buy their own Cloud Save system, called Pokémon Bank on 3DS and Pokémon Home on the Switch/Mobile

@Cotillion because all your example are over exaggerated ‘sometimes work’ is far from reality. You mean don’t work on less than 1% of games.

@RadNitro89 It's for EVERYTHING on Splatoon 2, solo and expansion, it's all locked to your internal memory. BUT you can transfer said internal memory, every single dang thing, to another Switch (Nintendo has done that once for me when my launch Switch battery was expanding). Problem is, like you asked, is that if you have 2 Switches (let's say a Lite and a theoretical Pro) you can't use Cloud saves to easily play games like Splatoon2, Pokemon or Dark Souls between systems. It. Is. A. Problem.

@Dang69 so I am safe if I just wanted to transfer save data to a new Switch(regular).

@RadNitro89 Yes you should be fine to do that. But if you wanna be safe call Nintendo and ask 1 (800) 255-3700 - I had a question about something a few nights ago and had a rep answer really fast.

@Dang69 Thanks.