Over 1,000 hours lost: Pokémon fans face problems with Switch 2

Pokémon players who have followed the franchise for a long time have had the opportunity to transfer and keep their pocket monsters from one generation to another. This has allowed those characters that we have already trained - and that have become an important part of our adventures in different regions - not to be lost, thanks even to services that facilitate the transfer from one system to another. However, recent fan reports have brought to light one of the biggest fears: losing our Pokémon forever while transferring data to Nintendo Switch 2.

As reported on Reddit, user ThatOtaku26 reported that, when transferring data from his original Switch to a Switch 2, a serious problem occurred. His Pokémon Scarlet save file was lost during the process, resulting in the disappearance of over 1,000 hours of gameplay and over two decades of Pokémon that have accompanied him since Pokémon Leaf Green and Pokémon Diamond. “I just got a switch 2, did the startup and initial data transfer with no issues,” ThatOtaku26 wrote. “My Scarlet save file is gone. It loads straight into the language selection and create a character screens. No data on my OLED. Just all gone.” Along with him, other users on Reddit have reported similar situations, although the original post has been deleted.

What’s behind data loss in Pokémon?

Although there are tools such as Pokémon Home to ensure the transfer of our Pokémon, several users have pointed out a deeper problem. Pokémon titles are among the few games that do not support the cloud save offered by the Nintendo Switch Online subscription (similar to how PlayStation Plus cloud saving is). This means there is no automatic backup, no easy way to recover progress or rescue our pocket monsters in case of data transfer errors.

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