Nintendo Switch 2 owners who say they’ve lost their Pokémon save files are strongly advising other fans to use the franchise’s Pokémon Home storage app before booting up their new consoles and starting a system transfer.
One Reddit post details a fan’s experience transferring data from their original Switch to their new Switch 2, only to discover their Pokémon Scarlet save file had vanished in the process. Other users responding to the thread have reported identical issues, and an IGN staff member has also encountered the same problem.
The Reddit post by user ThatOtaku26 states their save file contained over 1,000 hours of gameplay and more than two decades of cherished Pokémon, carried over from generations of earlier titles dating back to Pokémon Leaf Green and Pokémon Diamond on the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance.
For Pokémon fans, this is why their save files hold such deep value — many players have nurtured creatures across multiple prior games, some released years ago. Meanwhile, Pokémon titles on Nintendo Switch remain among the few not supported by the console’s built-in cloud save feature (available with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription). Specifically, Pokémon: Let’s Go Eevee and Pikachu, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Sword and Shield, and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are all incompatible with cloud saves.Fortunately, the Pokémon franchise offers its own cloud storage solution: the Pokémon Home app, which requires a subscription to store more than 30 Pokémon. It’s this very app that fans are now urging everyone to use before moving to the Switch 2, to ensure their virtual companions survive the transition.
"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 character creation screens. No data from my OLED. Just all gone.
"THERE WAS NO ERROR IN DATA TRANSFER AT ALL," they continued. "IT WENT FINE. ALL MY OTHER POKEMON DATA IS STILL THERE, BUT NOT SCARLET. I had Pokémon from my original GBA all the way up to the current generation. Literally 20 years of data. There’s nothing I can do. I don’t even know if I want to play anymore."
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Some fans empathized with the player, sharing similar experiences.
"This same exact thing happened to me when I transferred from my original Switch to the OLED," wrote Grouchy-Cress-215. "Tears were shed."
"The same thing happened to me, but literally all my saved data is gone — BOTW, TOTK, MK8, Pokémon Sword and Shield, Scarlet and Violet, and more," added Existing-Possible550. "I literally have to start everything over."
Many fans said that, despite how rare this may be, backing up precious Pokémon to Pokémon Home is now essential for peace of mind.
"I'm terrified this will happen to me, so everything I have is going into Home before I do the switch," wrote Mexican_Chef4307.
"If I get a Switch 2 in the future, I’ll move all my Pokémon to Home before any data transfer," added TheJannikku. "I can’t imagine losing them like that."
Not all fans were sympathetic, however.
"Ngl the fact that you didn’t move all your important Pokémon to Home first is on you," wrote IAmTheWire. "We’ve known this is the only reliable way to preserve your Pokémon in situations like this — or if your old Switch breaks, otherwise they’re gone forever. I’d have done it just to be safe, since it’s so obvious and easy to move them back if something goes wrong."
Nintendo Switch 2 launched earlier this month and sold 3.5 million units in its first four days. Switch 2’s launch sales have more than doubled those of the original Switch — though Nintendo’s previous console faced launch-day hardware shortages.
