Pokemon fans demand cloud saves after trainer’s Nintendo Switch gets stolen: “RIP mons”
A Pokemon fan shares a heartbreaking story of how their Nintendo Switch was stolen during a robbery leading to an outcry from the community requesting cloud saves.
Since Gen 1 was introduced in 1996, Pokemon games had always relied on local storage to maintain save files. This means that players would have to have physical game cartridges to keep their beloved Pokemon, and Pokemon would have to be traded up through the generations to stick with the trainer.
That was until Pokebank was introduced during the 3DS generations which would allow players to store Pokemon in the cloud. This would later evolve into Pokemon HOME, the definitive way to store Pokemon from all generations.
However, despite HOME using the cloud, the games themselves still rely on local save files. This means that if a Switch is lost, broken, or stolen, the saves are gone as well.
NintendoPokemon fans desperately want cloud saves
The solution to this would be implementing cloud saves for Pokemon games. This means Pokemon games would save their data to the cloud linked to a Nintendo account rather than solely be on an SD card or cartridge.
Pokemon fans became very verbal about their want for cloud saves after a trainer shared a story of how their Nintendo Switch was stolen. “My switch got stolen from my car yesterday Nobody was hurt but I had 300 hours in Pokemon Sword and a good amount of pokemon I’ve been moving around for a long time,” wrote user Bkblaze555.
They stated that their Switch could be replaced, but the “2013 XY speed boost Cherish Ball Blaziken” could not. Some players value their Pokemon because of the bonds they’ve made, while others are truly rare specimens that could only be obtained during certain times.
Users took to the comments to voice their own concerns. Some players have rare mythical Pokemon or partners they’ve had since their first Pokemon games that could be gone forever if their Switch were to stop working.
It’s worth reiterating that Pokemon HOME is a cloud service, but only Pokemon stored in HOME are preserved. The comments on Bkblaze’s post were filled with requests for cloud saves so that heartbreaking moments like this can be avoided in the future.
Even though Nintendo Switch Online offers a Cloud Save platform, none of the Pokemon franchise is currently supported. Hopefully, that will change so players can confidently use their favorite Pokemon without fear of losing them.
