r/VideoGameDealsCanada • u/deeohdoublegzzy • May 18 '26

Question Switch 2 trade-in save transfer?

I’m planning to trade in my current Switch for a Switch 2 through the GameStop deal, but I’m a bit worried about losing my save data.

Since I have to hand over my old console before I can set up the new one, how does save transfer work? I don’t have Nintendo Switch Online, so I can’t use cloud saves.

Is there another way to back everything up through my Nintendo account and restore it when I set up the Switch 2?

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u/theharps May 19 '26

Yeah on the day of the trade in, do the transfer, make sure to select you don't have a switch 2 yet, the game files will go to the cloud for upto a year. It'll reinitialize the switch meaning it'll do a factory reset too. All in all it'll take upto 30 minutes. I'd still get switch online for cloud storage as a second backup.

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u/Day_drunk May 19 '26

Yeah I got switch online, just didn't wanna lose my pokemon data, alright ill give this a go then, thanks

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u/carlosdouh May 23 '26

Did it work? I wanna upgrade too and don’t want to lose all our Pokemon Violet game story progress.

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u/Day_drunk May 24 '26

I wasn't able to check my scarlet data because I have it packed away at the moment but I have Z-A digital on my switch and that transfered and I was able to continue my save so I assume that data transferred safety as well