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Nintendo Switch

How to Transfer Pokémon and Save Progress to a New Game or Console

Pokémon HOME moves eligible Pokémon between supported games; a nearby console transfer or Save Data Cloud moves your game progress. Here’s how to choose and avoid overwriting the wrong save.

By VGSources Team 4 min read
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There are two different kinds of transfer: Pokémon HOME moves eligible Pokémon between supported game save files, while a console save transfer or Save Data Cloud moves your game progress. HOME does not move your story progress, and transferring a save does not move Pokémon into another game. Choose the steps below that match what you want to carry over.

Move Pokémon between supported games with Pokémon HOME

Use the console version of Pokémon HOME on Nintendo Switch or Switch 2. The phone app supports some HOME features, but Nintendo lists moving Pokémon with Nintendo Switch games as a console feature. A paid HOME Premium Plan is not required for this transfer.

Nintendo currently lists Pokémon Champions, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Pokémon Scarlet, Pokémon Violet, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, Pokémon Shining Pearl, Pokémon Sword, Pokémon Shield, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!, and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! as compatible with console HOME. Compatibility does not mean every Pokémon can enter every game: a Pokémon can move only to games in which it appears, and additional restrictions may apply. Check its compatible-games list in HOME before moving it. See Pokémon HOME game compatibility and Pokémon HOME features.

  1. Launch Pokémon HOME on the Switch or Switch 2 console.
  2. Select Pokémon, then choose the compatible game and the user whose save data you intend to access.
  3. Move eligible Pokémon between the game’s boxes and HOME boxes. Pokémon in your party cannot be transferred through this workflow.
  4. Check each Pokémon’s summary and compatible-games list before placing it in the destination game’s boxes.
  5. Save your changes and exit HOME.

Take care when selecting the user and game: HOME may access compatible save data belonging to other users on the same console. Nintendo Support warns, “Please be careful not to transfer other players’ Pokémon on your console without their permission.” Follow Nintendo’s Pokémon HOME transfer instructions.

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Move game progress to another console

If you want to continue a story from where you left off, transfer the game’s save data rather than using HOME. Nintendo documents two relevant options: a nearby-console transfer and Save Data Cloud. The nearby method does not require Nintendo Switch Online; cloud restore does, and only works for software that supports Save Data Cloud.

Method What you need Important trade-off
Nearby console transfer Both consoles, internet access, and the same Nintendo Account linked to a user on each Does not require Nintendo Switch Online. Follow the consoles’ system-transfer prompts.
Save Data Cloud An active Nintendo Switch Online membership, software that supports cloud saves, and an available backup Downloading the backup replaces the existing save for that game on the target console.

Transfer between nearby consoles

Connect both consoles to the internet, ensure the same Nintendo Account is linked to a user on each, place the systems near one another, then follow the on-screen system-transfer prompts. Nintendo says this method does not require Nintendo Switch Online. See Nintendo’s nearby save-data transfer steps.

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Restore a Save Data Cloud backup

  1. Confirm that the game supports Save Data Cloud using Nintendo’s compatibility list.
  2. On the target console, check the backup timestamp for the game and make sure it is the save you want.
  3. Download the backup using the console’s Save Data Cloud controls.

Nintendo Support cautions: “Save data downloaded from the backup will replace the existing save data on the console for that game.” The target save that is overwritten cannot be recovered. If you are uncertain which copy is current, do not download until you have checked the timestamps and decided which progress to keep. See Nintendo’s cloud-backup download instructions.

If you are moving from Switch to Switch 2

To use HOME with a game on a new console, that game’s save must be present on the console where you open HOME. Pokémon Support recommends transferring console data, including saves, when migrating systems. Transfer the system data first, then use console HOME with the user and game save you intend to access. See Pokémon Support’s HOME guidance.

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Use the right Nintendo Account for Pokémon HOME

When setting up HOME on a new device, start the app and sign in with the same Nintendo Account previously linked to HOME. Pokémon Support says Pokémon, changes, and progress from an old unlinked guest account may be permanently lost and cannot be recovered. See Pokémon HOME account guidance.

To see the same HOME boxes in the console and mobile apps, link both to the same Nintendo Account. Pokémon Support warns that if you first use the mobile app without linking the Nintendo Account intended for console HOME, those app versions cannot later be linked to that account. Set up the account link carefully before using mobile HOME. See Pokémon Support’s instructions.

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Which transfer should you use?

  • Taking Pokémon into another compatible game: use console Pokémon HOME, then check each Pokémon’s destination eligibility.
  • Continuing your game on another console: use a nearby-console save transfer if both consoles are available and the same Nintendo Account is linked on each.
  • Restoring progress without the old console nearby: use Save Data Cloud only if the game supports it and your Nintendo Switch Online membership is active; verify the backup date first.
  • Using HOME after changing consoles: ensure the relevant game save is on the console where HOME will connect to that game.

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