# One island per switch but what about digital vs hard copy?



## Ama (Mar 2, 2020)

Complicated question here:

I know it is one island per switch, but does the type of game change that? 
The way data is used on the switch, you can have two different cloud saves, one for your physical and one for your digital copy of a game. Games always seem to save to the account when you back them up, but now it is saved to the console itself which brings up the question if digital vs hard copy matters.

I have 3 switches- one for me, one for my husband, and the new acnh switch coming in the mail soon. On release day we will only have the digital copy (tied to my account). A few days later we will be getting in the mail a hard copy (got the journal preorder) I will be transfering everything to my new acnh switch before release day and will start my main island on my acnh switch with my digital game.

My husband has alreay said he just wants to wait for the physical copy and not start an island until he gets it.

About the other switch though- Could I theoretically log into my old switchon the nintendo store, download it, and then start a new island there as well? You can't be logged on the same account at the same time, but I could use this to start an island and download the game. Theoretically I could then log on to the old  switch with my husband's account, and he could make a villager there. We both have ACNH online membership, so then I could technically go visit the isalnd (with him logged in the old switch and me on the new one) and get some exra fruit, fossils, and buy new furniture for the day.

Does my plan work? 

If this doesn't work launch day, it definately will when we can just use the game cartridge in the old switch. That brings up another question though! Will the islands be the same if you use a digital or a physical copy? We've never had a game that saves to console instead of to the account so we probably won't know until after release.

Any thoughts?


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## tajikey (Mar 2, 2020)

Having the same digital copy on two different systems is possible, absolutely, however, your secondary Switch will have to be connected to the Internet, and you won't be able to visit your second Switch with your main device. Essentially, only one copy of the digital game can be online at a time. You can play both at the same time, independent of one another, but again, you'll have to have your second unit online with your primary offline.

Does that make sense?


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## JKDOS (Mar 2, 2020)

I'm not getting my hopes up for it, but in the event we can have 2 towns by owning 1 copy of each (Physical and Digital), I will definitely buy a second copy.


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## Khaelis (Mar 2, 2020)

I believe you can link your Nintendo Account to multiple Nintendo Switch consoles, but I believe they have to be 'guest' accounts, meaning not the main linked account. So let's say you have your Nintendo Switch, and your account is the main linked on. On your husband's Nintendo Switch, I believe you can link your account to his as a guest, and I think you can download eShop titles on there as well, but only you will be able to use the game. Now I could be completely wrong, since a lot of this is from memory from ages ago.

The main issue is that ACNH only allows one ACNH save file per console, no matter what. So even if you manage to download and install ACNH on your husbands Switch, he won't be able to use his physical copy as it'll use your save file.


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## SheepMareep (Mar 2, 2020)

I actually just decided to switch to digital when my bf got a switch lite for this reason.
Since the switch lite is the "secondary" he needs to be connected to wifi in order to play his games on the lite.... 
We have been able to play splatoon at the same time together (he was on the lite with his acc and i was on the main switch on my acc. the game was purchased under his acc) so i'm sure we will be able to be online together for animal crossing c: which will be really fun!!! (As long as you don't use the same acc at the same time. like you cant be on "Person A" on the main one and "person A" on the lite at the same time but "person A" can be on the main and "Person B" on the other without it kicking someone off.)

The data is saved to the specific switch so if you have a downloaded copy you can have it on both systems without the save data transferring over. 
If you have a physical copy only one person can play at a time since you'd need the game in the switch in order to play it.

edit;; putting a physical copy of the game into the switch will NOT give you a 2nd town. The data for the game is saved to the switch not the cartridge. So if you insert the game and boot it up through the cartridge you will still get the same save file as in the digital copy you have on that switch system.

- - - Post Merge - - -



tajikey said:


> you won't be able to visit your second Switch with your main device. Essentially, only one copy of the digital game can be online at a time. You can play both at the same time, independent of one another, but again, you'll have to have your second unit online with your primary offline



You actually can!!! c: as long as its not under the same acc. So if you buy the digital version under "Person A" and have that profile on both switches you can have the game on both. The only time you CANT interact online with the other switch is if you are both playing under the "Person A" account at the same time. If you had 3 switches and each person was under a different account "Persons A, B, and C" You could go online together. It just wont work if all 3 are under "Person A"
I tested this with my bf the other night with splatoon c: We both got to play online together in the same party using two separate accounts with the same exact game bought under the same account.


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## Ama (Mar 2, 2020)

Irishchai said:


> I actually just decided to switch to digital when my bf got a switch lite for this reason.
> Since the switch lite is the "secondary" he needs to be connected to wifi in order to play his games on the lite....
> We have been able to play splatoon at the same time together (he was on the lite with his acc and i was on the main switch on my acc. the game was purchased under his acc) so i'm sure we will be able to be online together for animal crossing c: which will be really fun!!! (As long as you don't use the same acc at the same time. like you cant be on "Person A" on the main one and "person A" on the lite at the same time but "person A" can be on the main and "Person B" on the other without it kicking someone off.)
> 
> ...



Thank you everyone for getting into the weeds on this! 

This actually means that he could even start his island on day one! It sounds like you two have played Splatoon together and actually tested this, so I am super excited to see how this works!

Yeah we probably wont get an extra island, and in this case that is a good thing because he can start digital and keep playing on physical later


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## tajikey (Mar 2, 2020)

Irishchai said:


> I actually just decided to switch to digital when my bf got a switch lite for this reason.
> Since the switch lite is the "secondary" he needs to be connected to wifi in order to play his games on the lite....
> We have been able to play splatoon at the same time together (he was on the lite with his acc and i was on the main switch on my acc. the game was purchased under his acc) so i'm sure we will be able to be online together for animal crossing c: which will be really fun!!! (As long as you don't use the same acc at the same time. like you cant be on "Person A" on the main one and "person A" on the lite at the same time but "person A" can be on the main and "Person B" on the other without it kicking someone off.)
> 
> ...



Hmmm. Not how I understood it, but if that's the case, even better!


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## iExist (Mar 3, 2020)

JKDOS said:


> I'm not getting my hopes up for it, but in the event we can have 2 towns by owning 1 copy of each (Physical and Digital), I will definitely buy a second copy.



Me too. I definately want two towns!


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