A passionate Pokémon fan has lost "20 years' worth of data" due to a botched transfer between the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. ThatOtaku26 was so upset with losing their Pokémon monsters, some lovingly nurtured since back in the original GBA era, that they said they were “about to cry.” However, the consensus seems to be that this Friday the 13th tragedy wasn’t due to user error. The social media posting was followed by plenty of corroborating reports of Nintendo’s game data transfers fouling up for no apparent reason.
“There was no error in data transfer at all. It went fine,” insists ThatOtaku26 on Reddit, as preserved by the Internet Archive. “All my other Pokémon data is still there, but not Scarlet. I had mons[ters] from my original GBA up to current on there. Literally 20 years' worth of data.”
As the data transfer process went so smoothly, there was no sign that anything was amiss until ThatOtaku26 started up Nintendo’s latest and greatest games console and noticed the Scarlet save file was missing. Firing up Pokémon Scarlet, it loaded straight into the language selection and prompted them to create a character. That was obviously a heart-sinking prompt to see, with ThatOtaku26 lamenting the loss of 1,000+ hours nurturing their Pokémon Scarlet.
While not every Pokémon was lost, the Redditor explained that “the ones I cared for the most and used the most” were all gone. Monsters dating back to the original Leaf Green and Diamond games were there, for example. But that didn’t seem to soften the blow of basically only Scarlet being affected by the mysterious data banishment.
As indicated in the intro, most fellow Redditors have been supportive when addressing ThatOtaku26’s plight. A number have offered to trade or send stuff to help soothe the distressed Pokémon devotee, but that doesn’t seem to be why the original post was made, and the tale has now been deleted.
Nintendo save game backups
Tom’s Hardware readers should be well aware of the necessity of a thorough backup regimen for their PCs. Thus, most will try and extend a similar level of care to their original generated data on mobiles, tablets, and consoles.
In this particular situation, where the Pokémon title under the spotlight doesn’t come with cloud support, Nintendo players are advised to maintain an active Pokémon Home account – a dedicated cloud service for Nintendo Switch and compatible Android/iOS devices “designed as a place where all Pokémon can gather.”
The Nintendo Switch 2 hit retail less than two weeks ago and has been through the Tom’s Hardware labs in recent days, if you want to take a closer look. The refreshed hybrid form factor gaming device already looks like a smash hit, with record opening weekend sales. However, Nintendo jealously guards its intellectual property in such a manner that it doesn’t always earn the best headlines.
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