You Won't Be Able To Transfer Animal Crossing: New Horizons Save Data To Another Switch

NO NO NO CMON MAN

Um...that's not ok. Overall Animal Crossing is a game very many, including myself, can invest hours into. New Leaf for me has over a 1000 and I have switched that data across different 3ds models over the years. If the Switch doesn't allow such a move where perhaps your switch has just worn down or you want to switch your data to a pro model if that happens down the line, with no cloud saves in place it really is a royally messed up case with very little reason for it. I'd much rather have my time and energy invested in the game safe over whatever excuse for a reason they have for potentially not even allowing data transfers as a possibility.

I think I know why this is a thing.
Since the island is shared, multiple players could use the same island.
If one person transfers their data to a new system, it would essentially clone the island, causing problems down the line.

How they could solve this:

ALL players should have their data transferred over, with the source console’s save data being wiped after.

lol nintendo always screws up the last mile

I understand not being able to transfer it if the save data is shared by more than one user but what if I'm the only user?

Trust Nintendo to mess up something so obvious to the rest of us.

Most likely what they mean is that you wont be able to transfer only your save to another system.

Since the island is for the whole console, you'd probably need to do a complete system transfer for all the accounts.

Also wow, look at all the haters who were so ready to jump on the Nintendo bashing bandwagon. What is this, a Pokemon article?

One of the reasons I got a switch was cause I wanted another home console AC. All that I've seen from this though, makes me think this isn't the one.

They already said 1 island per game/switch. Surely you knew this was part of the deal?

Listen I am a Nintendo fan boy through and through but holy poo bro! Nintendo needs to grow up and realize game manipulation happens. Just let us cloud save our save data. People pour so many hours into their games and there’s Nintendo “play our games for as long as you can”... also Nintendo “nah we can’t have you cheating the system... no cloud save or transfer of data”... sometimes I hate Nintendo.

Maybe I’ll pass on this one.

If this is true I'm not buying the game. Nintendo has sucked lately when it comes to consumer support.

That's stupid, but not all that surprising. You couldn't even transfer Animal Crossing save data between memory cards on GameCube. It's still pretty dumb though, and could heavily affect my decision to buy this game. If something goes wrong with my Switch, I don't want to lose all my progress, especially if I come across a rare item that I make it back to my house with.

@TDRsuperstar2 We can cuss now?

Also disappointed in this potential...
What if you have a Switch and a Lite? What if your system breaks? Not a fun prospect..

Man if only saves were still on the cartridges like on 3ds and DS...

It says very clearly that system transfer won't be supported. I know we all want to hope for the best, but as long as the cover isn't fake, it's pretty much set in stone.

you probably need to do a system transfer instead of a save data transfer because its 1 island per system

@neogyo why would anyone use a lite and a regular switch. Theres no need for a lite if you have a regular switch.

Nothing New, if True. you couldn't transfer City Folk or New Leaf saves to the SD Card. (not sure about Wild World or Animal Crossing on the Gamecube)
But, yay for amiibo and more controller support for the game.

also this is just a rumor guys its not 100% confirmed

I’m all for people playing a game they paid for however they want, but the sense of entitlement for something that was never offered in any official capacity the first place is hilarious. This will be the biggest animal crossing game full stop. They are taking all measures to make sure you play it the way it was intended. Like when could you do ever do this ever?

I can't read whatever language it is in..... So idk.
I only play on one swicth so nothing crazy for me, but I do wonder what is going on?

Wish they would do a Direct, since the game is almost a month away and we know only basic things from it. Everything else I've learned is from speculation and things from the Reddit group.

Paranoia about hacking really can’t justify these consumer-hostile measures, and I include in that category the failure of Pokémon, etc. to support cloud saves, or for that matter the inability of users to back up their save data locally.

At least, Nintendo have to ensure the players can leave the game without being punished to play the game everyday and lost their villagers due to Moving Out without our acknowledge.

I find this disappointing... I have the original Switch and things like this and games not Supporting cloud saves will 100% prevent me from upgrading to a new Switch down the line. I don’t want to cheat or whatever it is they fear.. I just want the option of getting a new Switch with a better battery and know I don’t have to start over again.

Guy: I will have...the Caesar salad. Yes, that is one of my all time favorites.
Waiter: very nice, we make everything in house, including all of our dressings.
Guy: o. Ok.
Waiter: is there....something wrong sir?
Guy: well yea actually. It’s just that, well, at home I usually make my own Caesar salad, but with thousand island and spinach instead lettuce. I brought some from home and was hoping you could do it my way? You will say yes, or I will leave.
Waiter: unfortunately it’s against our policy to-
Guy: head explodes

@Crockin 3DS, GameCube. Probably Wii.

Hope not. I'd like to go back and forth between my OG Switch and Switch Lite when playing, even if it means manually transferring the saves like I do with Pokemon.

We'll see.

What’re they so worried about, seriously Nintendo knock it off with this anti consumer nonsense.

@FatNate I dno, some people definitely do tho. I’ve been tempted to have both for a while as I think it’d be cool to have another slightly more portable system with a d pad. Plus my reg Switch (new model even) is kinda wonky/loose connections to the cons. What about when we inevitably upgrade to a Pro?

Authoritarian dbags

I won’t support this, just like I didn’t buy Sword & Shield. Anti-customer practices aren’t my thing.

@Crockin What the heck does that have to do with anything?! If you want to do restaurant comparisons to Animal Crossing, the current situation is like this:

Guy: "Oh look the waiter is coming with my food!"
Waiter: Trips and falls and spills entire meal on the floor
Guy: "Oh no, well at least the manager will offer me a free replacement meal since I lost it at no fault of my own"
Manager: "Nope. Some minuscule percentage of customers manipulated us into giving them free meals by pretending we messed up their order, so in order to prevent that from happening we now have a policy against replacing ruined meals. You'll just have to buy another meal if you want it."

The meal is Animal Crossing save data, the guy is a consumer, the waiter is a Switch, and the manager is Nintendo. Your comparison implies people are asking for weird, oddly specific game features, but no one is. People are asking for a very basic feature that is already available for other games, but Nintendo refuses to offer it for this one for ridiculous reasons.

Just like there's no excuse for a restaurant to not replace your meal if they spill it everywhere, there's no excuse for Nintendo not to allow you to restore a backup of all your save data when their console fails. Especially when they already have the feature implemented on other games and they are withholding it from the consumer.

If they're concerned about people exploiting cloud backups to duplicate items? Fine. Make it so Animal Crossing saves can only be restored by tech support, who will only do so if it hasn't been restored recently and if they can verify you have a valid reason. Boom. Problem solved.

If it's a technical challenge due to multiple users sharing a bunch of save data? Cool. Simply make it so that you can select a primary user who's account uploads all the save data to the cloud, while the other users don't have anything uploaded to the cloud, even if multiple users have Switch Online. This is NIntendo, they are fully capable of solving any technical hurdles that come their way.

And this whole thing about not being able to transfer save data to another system is even more insane. Hopefully it's not true. But going back to the restaurant comparisons that would be like requesting to move to another table and the manager saying "Oh yeah, of course you can do that! You'll have to leave all your food behind though and order again. We will not allow you to take this food you've already ordered to the new table." Again, it's absolutely insane and there's no excuse for it.

Obviously Nintendo doesn't just want users to be able to clone islands, so why don't they, oh I don't know, allow users to choose between moving the island with them or just their profile to a new Switch? If a user transferring to a new Switch chooses to take the island with them, they get everything on their Switch while the users left on the old Switch can start out on a new island. If the user chooses to transfer their character only, they get to start on a new Island while the old switch users get to keep the old island. Again, problem solved.

Nintendo should have been planning on supporting these features from the very beginning of the game's development. They should have made sure that the saving system would be compatible with cloud saves and system transfers (Again, both basic features everyone expects to be available by default, one of which you have to pay for) and spent some time actually thinking of a way to prevent cheating instead of just taking the easy way out and just disabling cloud saves.

...I can't believe how long this ended up being.

I’m honestly shocked, the gameplay looks so good and yet they are flubbing it on the details like this

@gillnavisingh
The problem could be solved by Nintendo realizing Animal Crossing is not a Competitive game and for Online Backups and if they are worried about time manipulation just program something into the game to detect them. Problem solved

That's not a box, that's the 'back' of an NoE download card (may not actually exist as a card, just a digital template of one).

That sounds very bad if true :/

On the GameCube you could always plug the memory card into another console.
On the DS you could always plug the cart into another console.
On the 3DS you could plug the cart into another console, or do a System Transfer if it was a digital version.
Most of my AC saves have been played on multiple consoles at different points.
(Though admittedly I haven't tried transferring a Wii save)

When I heard about the one island per console, and realised that'd be an issue because the Switch has no System Transfer option, I thought, but surely they'll have a way to transfer it, won't they?

If they have decided to not even offer that, then ugh...

The amount of weird restrictions put on this game almost makes me want to try it. What's so special about this game that Nintendo wants to hold so close to their heart? And honestly, for a paid service, there should never be a game without cloud saves.

@Aozz101x @Trajan It’s not possible to move or copy data in the GameCube version.

@Markiemania95 Even between systems with the same memory card?

1 Island per Switch. Meaning the Island is not user bound. You can't transfer saves that aren't connected to a user.

@HammerKirby if it would save games to your cartridge you couldn't have a multi-user system on the Switch.

@Trajan Of course you can insert the memory card into a different GameCube, but that’s not really the same as actually copying or moving it. The similarity lies in the fact that the save data cannot be altered, regardless of whether it’s on a memory card or a system’s hard drive.

Oh no. All the people that didn’t but Sword and Shield won’t buy Animal Crossing now. What ever will Nintendo do!

@Markiemania95 Yes but in this situation the save is literally stuck on one piece of hardware, unlike GameCube and 3ds.

@Trajan On the 3DS and GC the save is stuck on one memory card as well.

Only thing that would fix this if they added full system transfer (all users and all save data) to the Switch.

@Northwind It's true because of the 1 Island / system.

@Old_Man_Nintendo It's not about 'time manipulation'.
Time changing is something you usually could always do in AC, with little to no penalty if done correctly.
Some of the games even included an in-game clock you could set separately to the system clock.

It's probably more trying to prevent save scumming/reverting, and maybe the item duping that allows.
It's meant to be a life sim that emphasises no retrying with features like Resetti.
If you can't revert to a previous save you're supposed to think more about the consequences.

There's also items which take lots of effort to get (photos, golden tools, etc) which item duping trivialises if you can just ask anyone for them.

Well that's a ridiculous development to say the least. So, while we are on the subject of Nintendo doing things we never thought they'd do, why don't they just go ahead and release this game NOW, while we have a global health crisis, so the millions of people who are at home with an illness, or quarantined because of an outbreak of illness can actually have something enjoyable to do instead of just waiting, waiting, waiting, for a spring release date that is very ill timed anyway? 🤔

@Xeawn If it works with a full system transfer, then it's not that bad.

@Roto13 you can't do a full system transfer on the Switch

Part of the fun of AC is the starting with nothing and building up.
The story of the new AC even sees you leaving your old life behind for a new island.

Surely its obvious that you'd not be able to transfer from other games

@Northwind On the 3DS the SD card data is bound to one system as well Try inserting your 3DS' sd card into another 3DS. (it won't work). For it to work you need to do a system transfer. There is no system transfer option on the Switch.

Also losing a memory card is much easier than losing an entire system.

If true, then it’s legislating to the lowest common denominator. Those cheating at games are a tiny minority, but they punish the vast majority because of the actions of a few.

If cheating affects the game for others, then I’d have a modicum of understanding, but for a game in which cheating only affects yourself, there’s no rational reason for this.

@Northwind System transfer on the 3DS also transfers system data (for instance your console Id is transfered), not just user data. User transfer on the Switch ONLY transfers User data, not System data. Also the 3DS is a single user system. The Switch is multi-user. Meaning a "system transfer" option on the Switch would transfer all data of all users. And this option DOES NOT exist on the Switch.

Got it?

@Northwind
3DS SD data is tied to a system, but that tie can be System Transferred to another system.
If a thief steals your current 3DS, or it breaks without warning, then even if you still have the SD card (or a backup) you can't actually use the encrypted data anymore, as the decryption key was only on the one system.

@Bondi_Surfe Cheating does affect the game for others by making items trivial to obtain. You can see the effects of duplication in New Leaf, where you could basically get whatever item want for free, by going on a forum and asking for it. All the host needs to do is duplicate the item. It cheapens the experience for anyone who is playing the game online.

i really hope this game has some sort of online save feature in-game
if not fans should be protesting more. it worked with smm2.

@TDRsuperstar2 First world problems, aye? Count your blessings, my friend, and stop whining about things that don't truly matter. People are dying from starvation and the like and you're reacting like this because you can't transfer a game save file to another hypothetical Switch? Sheesh! Dr. Gareth prescribes you one dose of reality check and another dose of humble pie...

But I doubt this means if you perform a system transfer you can't move your Animal Crossing save. It just means you can't play it on both your Lite and your docked console. Which is true of a lot of some other games isn't it?

so does this mean using the same account for diff systems wont carry over your progress? cause if so thats really, bad. i guess it makes sense if its strictly one island per switch, but i dont like how its like that to begin with

@Heavyarms55,

You can always count on people on here always assuming the worst.

This saving restriction really doesn't bother me. Probably because I've been playing Animal Crossing since the GameCube days and not once needed to transfer my save or lost data due to hardware failure. I also never hacked or "time travelled" in those games either.

I cannot wait for New Horizons, hurry up the 20th of March! ^_^

@Northwind Sure you can make a PC backup of the encrypted SD card. You can backup it a million times if you want.
But without a full system transfer it will absolutely never work in another 3DS. This is because the data is encrypted with the system key. Which is SYSTEM data.

So if your 3DS breaks, NO MATTER HOW MANY backups you made you WILL NEVER EVER EVER be able to revert to a backup of it. So this is the same as on the Switch.

You can, however, make a full SYSTEM transfer on the 3DS, which moves ALL system data (user + console key) to the target system.

On the Switch all data is either stored to a user or to the system. Stuff like internet connections, language, theme, is all system data and non-transferable. Even games can have system data for system wide saves (this is up to the developer of said game) this data does not have any direct link (at least on system level) to the user. The Switch (currently) only allows for a per-user transfer, which excludes all system data including system wide save games.

If Nintendo would make a "Switch 2 / Switch Pro / etc" they would have to introduce a SYSTEM transfer option. Which would include ALL user and system data on the system.

My signof wasn't (meant to be) rude, it was to ask you if you got my point. Which you still did not.

This many data restrictions smells like microtransactions or some other nefarious purchase/licensing of DLC or content scheme. Those cat tickets are gonna cost real money.

@Heavyarms55 Your explanation makes sense. And reading some of this comment section reaffirms my decision to stay away from game media while I enjoy Animal Crossing. I might be jumping off earlier than I thought!

@mystman12 u are emotional about this

There is no technical issue here. These are deliberate choices by Nintendo and the press should call them out on it. Again and again. Nintendo wants homes to have multiple Switches but the secondary Switch is an inferior system under current Nintendo policy because of (1) this — save games that don’t easily or apparently won’t transfer (2) lack of any kind of family sharing policy that works for multiple Switches and accounts and (3) weird online checks every 3 hours to see if you still own a digital game. I tried flying last week with my secondary Switch and I couldn’t play any digital game I had legitimately purchased because I had no internet. Nintendo claims you can game anywhere and the Switch is close to delivering that, but then you get these freakish experiences and it sucks. Come on Nintendo, it’s 2020. Fix your policies. Press, call them on it over and over.

This game's a train wreck, Holy cow.

@sanderev other users on your system can only visit your island. This is the same way New Leaf worked just with different save files on the game instead.

@Hyper_Hippy69 I'm sorry I thought this was a place to voice one's opinion. Not belittle them. This a forum for video games, not the hug a tree foundation... take your business elsewhere.

@koffing
1. Is a choice they made for this game. You can be happy / unhappy about it. But that's up to you. Normal save transfer works easily enough. Most games even support cloud backup.
2. & 3. Why should Nintendo give you multiple copies of a game you bought once?

If you want to take your secondary Switch outside (where there is no internet) there is litterally ONE small change you make.. register it as your Primary Switch in the eShop.

But you still own the game, right? I can't transfer my island, but I will be able to download it on whatever consoles I transfer my account to. So I can have multiple islands going? That...sounds kinda sweet.

@dugan It's pretty sad, but I had to do the same with Pokemon Sw/Sh. I just had to outright stop reading anything on this site about Pokemon because every comment section devolved into the same mess.

I really hope Animal Crossing doesn't get that way, but at least with AC I mostly want to experience the game myself, mostly blind.

@FatNate I have both because when I travel, I don't feel like lugging the full size switch around. The lite is a lot smaller and lighter than the regular switch. Plus it doesn't have rumble or separate controllers to charge so the battery lasts longer. This whole thing is first world problems to be sure, but if I can't transfer the data for the game I just hope I don't have to buy the game twice. Having two islands for the price of one isn't a bad trade off for not being able to transfer islands.

@TDRsuperstar2 My my, aren't you an angry little boy. 🤣

See, it wasn't what you were talking about, as clearly this is a website to discuss all things Nintendo related. However, it's the manner in which you express your opinion that was unnecessary. Expressing one's opinion is cool but getting annoyed about something so minor that you resort to swearing is not and says a lot about the type of person that you are. Pity you don't utilise that energy toward something meaningful. But no, instead you opt to come on here with your bitter rants. 🧐

Did anyone actually call Nintendo???or are these comments just because everyone is to lazy to dial a number?

I'm not even that into Animal Crossing, but even I can tell this is just stupid

hopefully this will be another Super Mario Maker 2 situation and Nintendo will realize their mistake and fix it

probably not though

Why dont we wait for Nintendo to actually clarify things first

I just don't understand why Nintendo abandoned the idea of storing save data on the cartridge itself. Why the hell wouldn't I want my Pokemon saved on my pokemon cartridge and my Animal Crossing data saved on its cartrdige? This is just stupid.

@PharoneTheGnome because of experience told them there are bad actors out there that ruin it for the rest of us honest game players. They should make a encryption that saved data once changed but something other then a Switch unit would delete when reinserted back into the Switch would stop bad actors. It will verify the data stored matched the last Switch write and if was changed then it deletes that data. So bad actors MODs would be wiped cleaned and if they complain NIN would say Read your EULA and then we can talk again.

@Hyper_Hippy69 it’s a public forum designed for people to leave comments about how they feel. I feel very strongly about the lack of cloud saves and lack of a way to get back lost save data. People shouldnt pour hours into a game only to be told if something happens there’s nothing we can do about it. Sure my language might be offensive to some but I was upset about this news. And people who use vulgarities tend to be more honest. Don’t tell me where to redirect my energy. I teach the youth of America there boss and I’m a father. You’re just trolling people in comments. Obviously my post made you angry enough to reply “little boy”.

@Yorumi thank you!

Shoot... reading through these comments has got me a little depressed. One island per Switch? How many accounts can have a character on that island? I thought for once that there was going to be an Animal Crossing game that my whole family of five could enjoy together. Now I am scared there is going to be a limit of four villagers per island as per usual. Rats!

So.... if I upgrade to a hypothetical Switch Pro when they make one, my Animal Crossing save isn’t going to carry over? Awesome Nintendo, huge pat on the back.... 😑

@gokev13 I'm pretty sure they've confirmed you can have 8 users on the same island.

@TDRsuperstar2 People who use vulgarities tend to be more honest?! Ha ha! Seriously? Is that what you tell yourself to make you feel less guilty about swearing in front of your own kids? While you might think it acceptable to use such profanities in the presence of you and yours, at least display a modicum of decency when using open forums that other people's children are using regularly. And let's be honest, if using vulgarities in public shows one thing, it's that the user of said vulgarities lacks intelligence and respect for themselves and others.

I replied because, even though you came across as an illiterate moron with anger issues, I had hoped to be proved wrong. This has disappointed, but do you see me resorting to swearing at you? Nope, because it's a choice not an involuntary reaction.

There's a great saying from an unknown source - when it comes to thinking, some people stop at nothing. I hope for your children's sake, you think at little more before reacting. Otherwise, you'll do the world no favours with the offspring you raise.

Peace and love, angry dude. ♥️

No cloud saves is already a deal-breaker imo, but they must allow you to transfer it to another system...maybe it's okay I gave up Animal Crossing games for New Years many years back after being addicted to the DS version.

@Hyper_Hippy69 read up on the research... Get off your high horse you pretentious a** ( that better for ya?) I don’t swear in front of my kids but they’re not dumb and understand the world isn’t rainbows and hugs. I’m an illiterate moron with anger issues? I’m sorry I didn’t know I was dealing with the next coming of our lord and savior. My absolute apologies. You talk about spreading peace and love but you’re doing nothing but making insults. See at least I’m upfront and it’s people like you in this world that make it toxic. I expressed myself. You can agree or not agree I don’t care. This is America where you can do such a thing. If I want to stand outside with a sign saying why I hate Nintendo, I can. Then you come along with your hippie attitude about peace and love. Give me a break. If you’re so about peace and love then just accept me for who I am and move on. Do me a favor and stop giving life lessons. Peace and love you beautiful spiritual a**hole 😎

@Hyper_Hippy69 heres the bottom line on this whole thing. Anyone on this forum that thinks nintendo is in the same realm as sony or microsoft is OUT OF THEIR MIND. their hardware sucks, the only saving grace for nintendo is their IPs. If it wasnt for that they would be sunk. Because their infrastructure is horrible. Please PLEASE try to tell me how nintendo is even near the same elitism as playstation or xbox. I will wait........probably as long as your joker self waiting for nintendo to join the 20th century

The hell's wrong with Nintendo. Ever since the Wii or 3DS, they became annoying about Animal Crossing's save files

The question is why? Why does it matter? Who cares if people hack and duplicate their items in a game like this? There's no real economy balance to speak of. Plus Switch hacking is a thing, what will prevents hackers from at least trading locally? Nothing, that's what

So all that serves is screwing up people who want to play legit, or prevents people to really play how they want

@ITThisisDrew How have you managed to turn this into a war of brands? The only console I currently own is a Switch (both the regular version and the Lite variant). Never been into brand bashing and nothi g of the sort has occurred here. It's about the unnecessary use of profanities on a site for all ages. Nothing more. 🤯

FFFFFFFFFUUU!
Now I know how Dexit people felt. I'm still going to buy the game but man am I disappointed!! What the actual ****!

Sure, it won't affect me now but what about if my Switch breaks or when a Switch Pro comes out?

I don't think this is is a measure to prevent time-skipping.

All this makes me think of is that Nintendo REALLY doesn't want us to be able to duplicate items. And why do you think that is? I'm calling tons of microtransactions. Not at launch but it will come.

The real story, here: Kompatibel mit amiibo

I'm not really into Animal Crossing, but it really does seem like they are trying to limit a lot of things people want from this. I don't understand why people would care so much even if there is such things as time manipulation in what is pretty much generally a single player game. I could understand if there was online multiplayer, but seriously Nintendo really likes to make their cloud saving pointless for almost any entry people want it in, and making it difficult to even get save info elsewhere. Any chance at me getting this game keeps going down with all these rules and stipulations they keep putting on the game.

This is a stupid decision. I was excited for animal crossing but this makes me think twice about getting it. There needs be a way to transfer between consoles.

I can't believe there isn't something they can engineer on the back-end system to prevent cloud save exploitation. It's just so damn lazy.

@TDRsuperstar2 Great point... Who cares if someone cheats at Animal crossing, that's their own business. It's not like it will taint Animal Crossings chances at being the next big esport...

@mystman12
Oh, that's a relief actually. I basically have the game preordered since Mario Maker 2 came out (I am assuming I will be able to use my remaining voucher for it). The thought of having to buy another Switch and potentially a second copy of Animal Crossing for everyone in my family to play made me reconsider actually getting the game. Thank you.

I don't think my family would be terribly happy with me if I said we were getting Astral Chain or Dragon Quest Builders II instead though, as I would be the only one who would enjoy those games.

@RandomNerds exactly!

@sanderev. I agree that my money is mine and I can choose to vote with it. I am big Nintendo fan and have been for three decades which is why I read this site. What I think your response — as well as most game journalists — missed is how the current Switch policies impact families. I think this is because most reviewers just use their own device. But the Switch is not JUST a personal device. It is a hybrid console-portable and Nintendo is struggling to merge their console and portable systems in a way that makes sense for families. I have five family members and three Switches — two which look identical. Do you know what sucks? Kicking one of my kids off a Switch so I can do a save game transfer so another child can play Pokemon. Or leaving my “Primary” Switch behind so my kids can play a particular game and not being able to play what I want to play. Or even having to think about which system is the “Primary” (eg the “real”) system versus the inferior. This is friction and it is annoying. You can make the argument that I should just give each person their own Switch and games and I wouldn’t have that problem. Just spend more money. And, yeah, that is a choice. But let’s be clear the Switch is marketed as both a shared family device AND a portable system that you can play anywhere. And it falls short of that. And I reacted to this article because my daughter wants Animal Crossing and I dread the day her brother is playing on that system and she can’t play on her island.

@koffing In that case you shouldn't change the Primary system, but simply switch between systems. And sure "kicking someone off the Switch so someone else can play Pokémon"... well that's actually quite normal, isn't it? You have only one game. Sure Nintendo could make check so that you can't play the same game on two systems (currently it will lock the second system from downloaded games if the first is playing). But that would increase the online checks even more.

I see it like two TVs, two DVD players and only one disc. Someone can't watch the movie. It could be easier, but it will always be family sharing, not family copying. if you buy a game in the store or in the eShop you have ONE license. Want to play with more people, you will need more licenses. Any kind of paid software will work the same way. And sure sometimes (like Office 365 Premium) you will get 5 licenses with a purchase, but that comes with a price and it is always stated how many licenses you own. 5, not 6.

Nintendo could add something like a family pack to the game sales (in the eShop) that will allow any user in the family group (which you can set up for Switch online) to have primary access to the game. This version should be more expensive, though.

@Flowerlark Of course. But one can express the severity of their grievance without resorting to swearing, no? So, am I to believe that it's okay for someone to express themselves in an aggressive manner while using profanities, but someone else isn't allowed to express their own regarding how it was presented? Double standards?

Opinions are like bum holes, my friend, insofar that we all have one but they all reek of crap. I cared not for his opinion, just the presentation. And to be honest, I know that someone who reacted in they way they did to something so insignificant would be really easy to wind up. And, lo and behold, he was and his subsequent replies didn't half tickle my funny bone. 🤭

@Flowerlark He has since editted his initial post and removed the unnecessary f-bomb.....

9TDRsuperstar2
Yesterday, 2:53am
Listen I am a Nintendo fan boy through and through but holy poo bro! Nintendo needs to grow up and realize game manipulation happens. Just let us cloud save our save data. People pour so many hours into their games and there’s Nintendo “play our games for as long as you can”... also Nintendo “nah we can’t have you cheating the system... no cloud save or transfer of data”... sometimes I hate Nintendo.

@sanderev imagine my son wasn’t playing Pokemon but the save is locked to that Switch. That’s where your dvd player metaphor breaks down. Kick someone off their movie — so you can transfer a license file — to watch your movie on a different tv?. It turns out when you have multiple systems, games, and players it happens a lot. I try to buy cartridges to avoid some of the chaos, but even they have expansion packs and free updates. The fact remains that travel offline with the secondary or multiple secondary Switches sucks with digital purchases. Nintendo could lengthen the checks to 24 hours vs 3. Most streaming services do many, many days. They could offer family sharing a la Apple and Google. They could use Switch Cloud Saves for Pokemon, Splatoon, and Animal Crossing. It’s not hard and they have the cash. Demand more. We can love their games and demand better from their legal (stop suing diehard fans) and sales departments (do I really need to pay $180+ to play Splatoon with my kids?).

Surely anyone who understands business economics realizes the only real reason to have one_island_per_console is a push to sell more consoles. Any other excuses/reasoning is/are a pure farce.

The Switch is a strong demonstration N needs to hire experts at creating better infrastructure, from their saves to non-existent system transfers to their online store. They seem to be 'phoning everything in'.

https://topics.nintendo.co.jp/article/13a78d5d-6e1e-433e-83d3-9166e5b1a992

The game will have save backups for NSO subscribers, but it won't be through cloud saves.

I let my Switch Online account lapse last month. I mean, what's the point of having it, at $19.99 or any price, if users don't even get its most important benefits on some of the system's biggest and most time-intensive titles? They can't expect users to take their online service seriously if they don't.

I'm no Animal Crossing fan but I think the majority can agree that this stranglehold Nintendo has on game save data is a bit atrocious. Having to pay to keep your data in a safe "cloud" or just let it sit on a single console is sad. I miss the days when you could use simple memory cards designed for said system or even a flash drive.

What a mistake a to make a. So what if you have an OG Switch and use a lite as your mobile device? Nintendo at times really don’t help themselves. Really poor way to treat customers.

I’m usually willing to give Nintendo the benefit of a doubt when it comes to their kooky behavior, but this is extremely stupid. What possible benefit could there be to this?

But can we still do a full system transfer if we need to replace our console for whatever reason? Like we could with 3DS? I don't see any reason not to allow that. I get that the island it locked to the Switch because it's shared among all users, but if you just transfer everything to a new unit, surely you can transfer the save data then. I suppose at worst, Nintendo would need to do it. Which would be really lame.

@jarvismp Yeah, it's too bad the original Switch is a dedicated home console that you can't just pick up and take with you or anything. Wouldn't that be convenient!

To be honest this makes sense, Nintendo have already said it's one Island per console shared between users, there would be little point to this if you could just transfer your save data between different consoles.

I would assume Nintendo will have a plan in place just in case your console goes faulty, even if that meant sending it to them to get the save data transferred to a different new unit, I do feel we need a little more clarification on this point though.

@Heavyarms55 Of course I get that but a lot of people bought a switch lite so as to not have to take the main console with them. That was my point.

@Heavyarms55 Unfortunately, a whole system transfer doesn't seem to be a thing. Looks like you can only transfer user profiles, which includes your user data and save data, which means it looks like there's no way to transfer your ACNH island to a different Switch. As most of us are used to upgrading or simply buying a different variant, this doesn't seem like great news.

"Transferring user information and save data allows you to move your user profile along with all its associated save data and Nintendo eShop purchases from one Nintendo Switch system to another. Data is moved one user at a time."

https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/27394/~/how-to-transfer-user-and-save-data

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/02/hold_up_nintendo_is_now_considering_animal_crossing_new_horizons_cloud_save_support

Ah new development, looks like cloud data saves might happen.

What the hell? That's just inconvenient for no reason

@Godlike_Virus I'm just annoyed they don't do automatic save downloads as an option. It's barely annoying, but it is annoying

@jarvismp I usually go back and forth between my docked Switch and the Lite. Now I have to choose between a subpar portable experience and never playing it on my TV. :/

coming soon: “Animal Crossing Home” for $30/year

@Sakura Well then it may be that contacting Nintendo support may be needed. But I really cannot imagine them not having any way to transfer your island in the case of a damaged Switch or even just a replacement. They might make us jump through hoops for it, which is super lame, but I'm not too worried.

@jarvismp Don't take this as an attack, but I really don't understand that idea at all. The time it takes to transfer your account back and forth every time you want to switch compared to just bringing the OG Switch with you just doesn't make a lick of sense to me. I know it's not super hard or time consuming to do it, but the OG Switch is literally designed to just pick up and go - which is why I love it so much and use that function all the time.

@Ralizah stupid question but does transferring Pokemon safe data from OG to Lite work for you? I’ve tried and failed, the consoles just said there was no console available to transfer to/ receive

The funny thing is that Early switch's are already hackable and there's appently a mod chip coming soon for switch lite and red box.

Also you can move your save data between gamecube systems by removing your memory card and putting it in another gamecube this "life hack" also works on N64 (original animal crossing) DS (Wild World) and 3DS (New Leaf, as well as system transfer). The only one it doesn't work on is Wii because there is no system transfer.

@JunoAran Yep. I transfer sava data back and forth frequently.

You understand that you have to do the procedure on both systems, right? The target system needs to be set up to receive the data as well before the process will work.

It's not as convenient as cloud saves, but it's preferable to lugging around the OG Switch.

Keep in mind Nintendo didnt force this. This was no doubt a decision by the AC dev team themselves

Way to go Nintendo, pat on the back bud! Y’all just lost a potential Switch Pro purchase from me if they ever release one. 😑 guess I’ll stick to my launch Switch

I knew this was going to happen the moment they said that the can only have one Island per console, if this is the case there should atleast have the options of transferring our villager to other Switches like how they did with New Leaf and City Folk were we could bring our villager from a previous Animal Crossing game over to the new one.

Isn't this normal? It is one island per switch so they don't want you moving islands around randomly between a primary and secondary console. However System transfers/theft recover still seem to be covered. I don't see the problem here.

@Ryu_Niiyama are system transfers covered though? It doesnt seem so from what they said

@Ralizah Yeah, I tried it with both consoles (one receiving, one sending), might have to try it again... I hate bringing my OG so I feel you, it’s so bulky and fragile.. Real pitty about NH, got my lite mostly to play that game on the go but now I’ll probably go for the OG with my town to have the option for TV mode. Thanks anyway and have a lovely day!

@gillnavisingh I agree. Easy fix if they'd implement it.

@Crockin
Gamecube breaks? I move the memory card.
DS breaks. I can put the game in my new console.
3DS breaks? I can put the game in a new console.
Switch breaks? Bye-bye save file.
I have two Switches, I want to be able to use the game on both. Barring that, if I decide to use it on another console I can't even do that.
It's an awful flaw that they could fix in so many ways. Being a fanboy and blindly defending any and every decision a company makes is silly.

I love AC and this just makes me mad!

@bluesdance Please. Don't give them any ideas! lol

@saintaqua I don’t necessarily support it, I actually think it’s weird they couldn’t find an alternative fix for all the save issues. More just pointing the entitlement that comes along with any announcement. At the end of the day, I am definitely getting this game. The issue isn’t significant enough for me personally. I get some people want to play outside the boundaries set by the developers, which is totally fine. But it is what it is, so you know, get over it

Do you need to buy a separate game for the Switch and the Switch Lite of Animal Crossing New Horizons? Can I download the same game to each device?

My wife and I share an island. She now wants her own Switch and copy of the game, but doesnt want to have to start all the way over.

You;d think in 2020 (current year argument sry not sry LOL) there'd be a simple solution. Nintendo is actively stopping certain people from buying new Switches + extra copy xD it's the only game she'd buy a Switch for.

Gun meet foot. That's $260 MSRP per person they are turning down due to some absolutely useless policy.

"Nintendo has already confirmed the upcoming Switch release won't be compatible with cloud backups either, in order to avoid manipulation of time."

YOU CAN STILL MESS WITH TIME THROUGH THE CONSOLE YOU F***ING DUMBTENDO

This does nothing to stop the thing they want to stop, all while screwing over everyone who is paying for their useless f***ing online service. Amazing developers, s****y executives abound.

I confirmed this info with Nintendo today. Bought a New Special Edition Animal Crossing Switch for my fiancé's birthday after weeks of searching. Only to discover that my fiancé won't be able to transfer her save data from her current Switch to the new Animal Crossing Switch. WTF Nintendo, why would they release a Special Edition Switch with limited availability so people can't get a hold of one, so then TONS of people are going to invest heaps of time into their games on their current switches and when they finally get a new special edition or if they upgrade their Switch, guess what.. all that time you put into your game... GONE. Complete B.S. Now I have to give my Fiancé this awesome switch and follow it up with "but you are going to have to start a completely new island from scratch, so your month of grinding and work put into your island... all gone!" What a damper on the surprise that'll be. Thanks Nintendo!

@WolfyWardark can’t really comment on the reliability of a 3ds but the game cube is also one of the best built systems ever as far as not getting damaged pretty sure there were videos of them surviving drops from 10 or 20 feet and the internal hardware was just as sturdy. One of my friends said to burn out the motors that spin the game disc which is what causes a lot of consoles to fail you would probably need to leave it running for 20 years straight (likely an exaggeration but the hardware is great) the real issue is to me the switch feels pretty flimsy like one bad drop is all it would take to decimate it, a problem exacerbated by the fact it’s portable. That said yeah nintendo has a great track record on hardware so i’d recommend buying cases and being very careful because of the lack of transfers but i’m personally not terribly concerned about it either