Do you think that the same save file will be playable on multiple systems?

[Winona]

So heres the thing: My boyfriend and I are huge Animal Crossing fans. We?ve had all the previous games since Gamecube version. We played New Leaf together in online mode. However, we just moved together and share a Switch console. No big deal until now, we just take turns with most of the games that don?t support multiplayer. Animal Crossing will be different. Each of us likes to have our own town and visit the other to see how they?ve decorated and all. We also have a lot of friends who will also buy the game and we all want to play it in the huge online multiplayer mode. He and I would never ever share a town, that would drive both of us insane.

So I?ve made my peace with buying an additional Switch Lite since it doesn?t seem like the game will support multiple towns on one game card. It?s expensive and unnecessary but whatever. It?s not too bad ? this way, we can visit each other?s town like in previous games, and not only be a random avatar to support the other in collecting sticks and stones. I really don?t like what they?ve showed us of the local multiplayer until now.

But here it?s getting tricky. None of us likes to ONLY play Animal Crossing in handheld modus. We both like the big screen. For a couple of hours, each one of us would be okay to play on the Switch Lite. We want to take turns on the TV mode like always. But it seems like (since the game files are stored on the console, not on the game card) we can?t take turns on who is playing on the Switch and who on the Switch Lite. If he is starting his town on the Switch console and I start mine on the Switch Lite, will we ever be able to switch systems and transfer our towns to the other console? Like if we?re switching user profiles, the towns will be switched as well? Or do we really have to buy another 'normal' Switch console to both be able to play in TV mode once in an while?

 

[EpicGamer12]

I think it's very unlikely that you can easily play a save file on another Switch, since Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been confirmed to have no cloud saves or backups. The best solution for your problem would probably be to buy an additional Switch rather than a Switch Lite. That way, you can just undock one Switch and dock the other when it comes time to Switch.

 

[Ossiran]

In order play the same data on multiple systems, you'd probably have to continuously transfer all your data from one Switch to another and vice versa due to no cloud save. And I'm not sure how much it'd be worth to go through all that effort given what could go wrong.

 

[Boccages]

It's possible if you transfer the save from one console to another. Nintendo has to check with their server online to do so (so you'd need online to transfer). If I were you I'd just buy the regular Switch to swap systems on the dock.

 

[StephOnACNL]

Like you said your games save data is saved on the console not the actual game cartridge. I wouldn’t recommend continually transferring save data from one switch to another. Like another person said, something could go wrong.

I think Nintendo might bundle New Horizons with the Switch. A Switch/NH bundle would probably be $40 more than buying a Switch Lite and NH separately. If you start saving now it won’t seem like such a hard blow to your pockets.