The launch of Animal Crossing: New Horizons creeps ever closer, and fans are absolutely gagging to set themselves up on Tom Nook's island and once again place themselves under the yoke of the tyrant raccoon and his Mini-Mes. It's gonna be amazing!

Yet despite a steady flow of new information bringing excitement at seeing old favourites return, there's also a second flow of info that's less welcome and consistently leaves me scratching my head. By this I mean the slow drip feed from the 'WTF' tap which sullies every announcement and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I want to preface this with the fact that I love Animal Crossing. I clocked up several hundred hours with Animal Crossing: Wild World, easily the best game on DS - I still have no idea how you monsters didn't vote it into our Top 50 DS games! Animal Crossing: New Leaf on 3DS got similar treatment from yours truly, and despite a slight disappointment that the upcoming Switch entry seems to play it very safe rather than using the power of the platform to push boundaries, I'm still itching to take Nook up on his offer of an island getaway. Animal Crossing has always been a refreshing tonic to help escape life's irritations and annoyances, and now and then we could all do with a drop of escapism.

Yet at every turn Nintendo seems to be complicating matters where things were once simple. We've known since last year that Nook's island in the upcoming game is a one-console, one-island deal. It doesn't matter if you've got multiple copies of the game, or kids that want an island each - multiple islands require multiple Switches. It's not ideal, but it forces people to play together and there's an argument that it's an endearing restriction that enforces empathetic, social play. Fine, we can get on board with that.

Still, it's hard to deny the negatives of some of the companies other decisions. Given the fact that Switch is a portable console and thus infinitely more liable to be dropped, lost or stolen than your Xbox One or PS4, the game's lack of cloud save compatibility is less easy to forgive. We've been here before, several times in fact. The list of games which aren't compatible with cloud saves isn't as short as it should be and contains several first-party titles including Pokémon Sword and Shield and Splatoon 2. Players invest huge amounts of time and effort in Animal Crossing - hundreds, even thousands of hours go into cultivating villages, into building collections and relationships. The idea that all that could be lost when Nintendo already has a system-wide cloud save system in place seems unthinkable - to the point where I often think I must have hit my head or misunderstood somehow. It's such a blindingly obvious, common sense feature.

There's more. Not only is switching save data between systems impossible for this game, but at present you won't be able to move your island to another Switch on a permanent basis via a system transfer either. Don't worry if it takes a while for that to sink in - as I type this I still can't quite believe it's true, but there you go. Fans build strong attachments to their AC villages, and based on previous games having to give mine up would genuinely force me to reconsider buying new hardware.

Today, however, it seems common sense may have prevailed and Nintendo is thinking about providing a way to back up your save data. New Horizons still won't be compatible with the Nintendo Switch Online cloud saves, but a suitably 'Nintendo-like solution' is under consideration according to the game's Japanese Q&A page. Google Translate gives the following answer to the question 'Can I back up my Save Data?' a characteristically quirky feel, but the details are clear enough:

This software does not support "Save Data Storage" of Nintendo Switch Online, but in case of failure, loss or theft of the Nintendo Switch [console], we are considering a function to back up save data. Use of this function is limited to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Correspondence time is undecided. We will inform you as soon as the time is decided.

So, from the sound of it a Super Mario Maker 2-style walk-back patch may be implemented at some stage that will let you retrieve your island should the worst happen. Bear in mind that this must involve some variety of online backup as confirmed by the 'failure, loss or theft' part of the above answer, and this potential solution would only be available to Switch Online users. Obviously the translation is far from perfect and implies a totally separate solution from Switch's already-running cloud save system. Presumably this would give Nintendo more control to monitor for nefarious data-duplication activity.

the inability to transfer your island to a new Switch [...] steps over a line from 'ah, Nintendo gonna Nintendo' into something that's consumer-unfriendly and, ultimately, damaging to the company's business.

All of these issues come down to the fact that Nintendo doesn't want people tinkering with clocks and gaming the system with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. That's understandable - duped islands, items and the rest have the potential to spoil the experience for some, but it has reached the tipping point for me where I really don't care. It's a game and I'll spend the majority of my time playing offline in handheld mode. Frankly, I couldn't care less if some cheater wants to dupe items, and it increasingly feels like fans who just want to breed flowers and sow turnips are suffering due to the platform holder's heavy-handed, old-fashioned approach to the modern internet and gaming in general.

For all its advances and social multiplayer features, New Horizons appears to be very much the same style of walled garden as the previous games. We're not getting blistering new MMO zones or bustling marketplaces or communal urban areas to visit and interact with strangers in - at least not unless Nintendo's been keeping the lid on some incredible new features. Every island will be its own self-contained pocket of paradise that you invite others into if you want. Given that context, draconian restrictions feel at odds with how the majority of players want to play the game, and out of step with other companies who solved these sorts of problems years ago.

Cumulatively, these constraints and blanket 'one-system, one-island' edicts start to feel wilfully, aggressively ignorant. Personally, the inability to transfer your New Horizons island to a new Switch if, say, I wanted to upgrade from a Switch Lite to the standard model steps over a line from 'ah, Nintendo gonna Nintendo' into something that's consumer-unfriendly and, ultimately, damaging to the company's business.

Imagine if your New Leaf village had been trapped on the first 3DS you played it on. That sure would have made me think twice about upgrading to a New 3DS.

Say, for example, my child has a Switch Lite and desperately wants the gorgeous new Animal Crossing-themed standard Switch. "Hold up Lil' Timmy," I might reasonably say, "that Switch Lite is barely six-months-old! No, no, you can have Animal Crossing for your birthday and if you're lucky maybe we'll think about another Switch for Christmas." Except as things stand Timmy would have to say goodbye to his animal friends and start over again on an entirely new island on another Switch. Both Daddy and Timmy would be understandably displeased in this scenario, and it's one we can imagine playing out across the world as Nintendo inevitably releases more themed Switches down the road. How many 3DS consoles did you go through? Imagine if your New Leaf village had been trapped on the first 3DS you played it on. That sure would have made me think twice about upgrading to a New 3DS.

The whole situation is confounding and needlessly complicated. Throw in Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions required for each player and all the other caveats of the software in a game designed to be shared between children, parents and gamers all over the world, and it starts to feel like more trouble than it's worth. Much like the online component of Mario Maker 2 which bafflingly didn't let you play with friends online at launch, or the fact that despite having access to a system-level friends list, that same game inexplicably uses a bespoke system, the approach to Animal Crossing on Switch displays plenty of the negative aspects of the 'Nintendo difference' I've discussed before.

It's enough to make an Animal Crossing fan - somebody with hundreds of hours logged in Wild World and New Leaf - consider not bothering at all, certainly not before the cloud save issue has been 'considered' and implemented. Life's busier than ever these days, and I was already wondering how I was going to squeeze New Horizons into my day.

Perhaps the most confounding thing is that Nintendo seems oblivious to how convoluted all of this is. It's like the devs never played a video game in the 21st century. Infuriating, obtuse, unfriendly - all adjectives that could justifiably be levelled at Nintendo's approach with Animal Crossing. Quirks like these might have been forgiven as naively charming in the past, but those times are gone. For all the company’s advances with Switch, it sometimes seems like Nintendo's got its head in the clouds. Just not the one we want.

And in spite of all the curmudgeonly thoughts above, I'm still excited for New Horizons. I just wish Nintendo would get out of its own way and stop tripping over self-imposed obstacles which appear to be total non-issues for other companies. It really needn't be this hard.

Everything will be all right in the end. What's your take on this confusing, calamitous clusterbomb? Does Nintendo's approach give you pause, or are you content with whatever solution (or non-solution) the company arrives at? Feel free to share your thoughts below.

Gavin loves a bit of couch co-op, especially when he gets to delegate roles, bark instructions and give much-appreciated performance feedback at the end. He lives in Spain (the plain-y bit where the rain mainly falls) and his love for Banjo-Kazooie borders on the unhealthy.

Let's wait for clarification. I hope Nintendo wouldn't prevent you from ever transferring your Switch data.

This reminded me I didn't think about when I upgrade to the Switch Pro and can't move my game to it. Ugh.

If their concern is item duplication or some other exploit and the game's mechanics can't be changed, why not just limit the cloud saving to once per day or something?

@RazumikhinPG If the 3DS and Wii U are any indication, they'll probably make a specific transferral program, in that scenario.

I think this is, like most things, blown out of proportion and very VERY few people will honestly be impacted by this.

Nintendo gonna Nintendo indeed... I mean, I love their games to death, and I value them as a company that has brought me much joy over the years, but in some ways they're so infuriatingly behind the times, that it's almost incomprehensible how it's not clearly obvious to themselves, or maybe they just don't WANT to go there, I honestly haven't got a clue.

On a side note: the whole thing about not being able to copy your save game is nothing new in regards to Animal Crossing. Anyone who still has his or her original GameCube version, that came with a special memory card, knows what I'm talking about.

The save game on there could not be moved or copied to another memory card either, unless you had a modded GameCube (or in the next generation a modded Wii) which offered some apps/tools for copying any and all save files to and from GameCube memory cards.

I get the impression that whilst your island will be tied to the Switch system, your characters will be able to move to another Switch.

So moving Switch, such as the situation with a new SKU in the future and migrating to it, you'll be able to move your character, but it'll be to a new island. You'll have to develop a new island but your character progress will remain.

@Yhdekskymmenen Sadly you are right. It feels like they are shooting themselves in the foot. That kind of madness could put off players from upgrading to a New Switch (I'm not calling it "pro")

Why people worry about this now even if this supported cloud saves they eventually are gonna disappear and you will lose all your progress on everything, so why people didn't ask for SD backups in the first place and just let Nintendo hold hostage of your own saves

This is definitely annoying. I also wish they would have made a bigger leap in terms of social interaction with this one. An MMO type area where you can see other players would be really cool. Maybe like a small City or something.

@Yhdekskymmenen another solution: don't but the game.

The sum of the info bits to date sounds like there will be online transfer but only for the emergency cases Nintendo will police on their own end. A bummer in comparison to how data transfer works even on Switch most of their time? Sure. Are we entitled to disappointment? Definitely. Is Nintendo entitled to their choice in spite of our disappointment? Likewise. And no one can have either part of the pie without the latter.

As usual, the sane, civil, human option for those who expect their experience and enjoyment to be irreparably limited by this design (regardless of how many consumerist fanmouths dismiss this common sense as "complacency") is to skip the game at all. Yes, you'll have to battle your inner fan ulcer and "the attachment to Animal Crossing" it has developed, but that's what our human selves are to do 24/7 anyway. How long and hard you have followed the franchise is nobody's business but yours at the end of the day, and if Nintendo never alters their policy on the topic, it will be safe to assume that "grown attached to their town" isn't an argument enough for them. Especially with execs like Furukawa himself publicly reiterating the acknowledgement that video games are not "life-essential products". We can live without Animal Crossing, Animal Crossing can live without us - new entry sales notwithstanding.

Nintendo knows how popular the Animal Crossing IP is, so they think they can get away with anything, while the fans are left behind. This is pure egregiousness. It's arrogance, and it reminds me of Sony's PS3 launch level of arrogance after coming off from a record-breaking PS2 sales.

Nintendo needs to sort out their shiitake mushrooms. This is my first Animal Crossing game. And I’m sure a hell of a lot of other people’s. GET IT RIGHT.

The most baffling thing about this is: This is Animal Crossing. ANIMAL CROSSING.

There is not a single possible reason to give a damn about any cheaters ever in this entire franchise. NOT A SINGLE.

Had it been a game where online interaction was a major aspect, or where there were competitive elements, sure. I'd get it, as long as progress was just backed up on Nintendo's servers. This? This ain't it.

Unfortunately, Nintendo has no reputation left to sink in regaurds to modern features, they’ve been bottomed-out there a long time. All we can do is be sad 😢

I certainly hope they'll figure something out. Before cloud saves were even a thing, I lost somewhere between 200-300 hours on Stardew Valley when my Switch had to go in for hardware repair. Which ended up being a hardware swap, and all progress lost on things like BoTW, Odyssey and whatever.

I'm still gonna buy the game, but this is astonishingly stupid. I have two Switches, and I do go between them, and the fact that I can’t with this game is just...why? What purpose does it serve? To keep people from cheating? What? It’s Animal Crossing! Who cares!? I try to give Nintendo the benefit of a doubt with this stuff, but come on! Why do they insist on shooting themselves in the foot like this all the time?

I think it's a reasonable thing to be concerned about. So I'm not gonna be entirely dismissive of the issue, even if I'm not overly worried about. I will say if Nintendo is working on a solution that benefits players and manages to keep some integrity in how the game is played, then just say you're working on a solution rather than have this ambiguous, confusing discussion going on that's distracting from how great of time this whole thing is supposed to be

While Nintendo of Japan's (NCL) old-style business executive culture has undoubtedly led to tremendous success, it has also led to the horrible condition of Nintendo's online services. What we often forget is that NoA and NoE are at the mercy of NCL, which means decisions that only make sense for Japanese consumers become the rule for everyone globally. Super Mario Maker 2's bizarre online functionality made sense to NCL because the local-only play community is supposedly stronger in Japan. This same concept is seen with the 3DS's StreetPass system, where Find Mii/StreetPass Quest are almost unplayable if you don't live in a highly-populated area where tons of people walk around with 3DS systems... such as Japan.

Even though we may consider Japan to be one of the epicenters of technological innovation, their culture has still not sailed into the fully-online, 21st century mentality that North America and Europe share. In fact, Japan is a land where flip phones are still wildly popular and 48.6% of its citizens still listen to CDs (links to articles at the bottom). While NCL has created a global business, they have not created a modern business by most standards. Nintendo has never been a company to chase trends, but the online issues started way back with the DS in 2004 but became especially apparent with the Wii in 2006. At this rate, they've had over 15 years to fix the issues, and they have stubbornly refused outside help and consultation to make it happen. Until the Japanese consumers of Nintendo products make more noise about these shortcomings, those of us in North America and Europe are just along for the ride.

Flip phone link: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190421/p2a/00m/0bu/004000c

CD link: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/05/08/national/japans-cd-album-output-fell-100-million-first-time-2018-industry-data-shows/#.XjwnkFVKios

@mantez "In fact, forget the cloud saves"

I've decided not to bother this time around but it's not because of save shenanigans. The game appears to be the Wii version set on an island. This isn't bad per se; I clocked over 400 hours on City Folk. But New Leaf is one of the greatest videogames ever created. The sheer amount of stuff to do and the time is takes to do it all means the game will last for years if played properly. And the number of features too. The QR sharing of fashion items was a great idea. How would that work on Switch?

The other thing is the ability to play it outdoors. Animal Crossing embraced it's home on DS and 3DS and my kids hog the Switch. I can't take it to work so why bother?

Maybe the save size for this game is very big like Dragon Quest Builder.

As usual, Nintendo's biggest wounds are self-inflicted.

At least it seems like Nintendo is working on some sort of backup system. You REALLY need it for this type of game. Just restrict how often the user can transfer it to a new console.

I'm still unhappy that I won't be able to switch between my OG Switch and my Lite, but it won't keep me from fully enjoying the game otherwise.

@Jayvir I really think this is worth talking about and not blown up.

What if you get a replacement Switch for your older one? What if its gets stolen? Then atleast you could download it from the cloud, the reason Nintendo introduced could saves to us right. Why is it so hard for Nintendo just to let people transfer you save files for a singleplayer (yes there is multiplayer) game. Is is not a game where you profit so well of it from cheating even if you did it.

If there is a new Switch coming out (Pro or normal variant) I could see myself buying it.

AFAIK, it's already possible to transfer your data to a new Switch. Plus they're already hinting at a transfer system. The game is still 6 weeks away. All this panic is ridiculous.

@RadioHedgeFund Couldn't you just out your foot down and set time aside for when you would like to play? If that means taking the Switch to work, then they'll just have to deal. My kids love hogging the TV. But when I really want to sit in my living room and watch a movie or television show at a reasonable hour, then the little gremlins just have to deal with it.

As for which game this is most like, I can't speak for that. My time with City Folks was limited. But I do agree with New Leaf being a fantastic experience and hoping New Horizons is more like that with some new and expanded features

@Jayvir Problem is you also don't know WHO is going to be impacted by this. If we knew in advance we can make plans, but this is just Nintendo spinning the "Hate to be you" wheel and you can only pray that you are not part of the one percent to get affected. I may not be one of the 1%, but I don't want to be spinning that wheel at all.

Not buying if there's no cloud saves so they better get it solved

YOU CAN'T TRANSFER YOUR SAVE DATA TO A NEW SWITCH!?

Alright Nintendo, I've been a massive fan for years but please stop screwing around. It's time to stop punishing your consumers over your wants and fears. Give this, Splatoon 2, and everything else support for cloud saves already.

So true, and it looks like Nintendo will have some cloud based solution for dead consoles, as this seems to be peoples biggest concern.

Even if they ultimately fix it, it's clear Nintendo have learnt nothing on this subject in the last few years.

And frankly I still don't get the problem. Why should I lose any functionality just because some people want to cheat? I don't care if they do, so why does Nintendo?

I think it's still too early to tar and feather the game over this. I don't foresee them not having an announcement before the game is released, so I'd like to think that these concerns could be addressed then. There's still a lot of details about the game that we don't know yet so it seems a bit too early to jump the gun.

With that said, I can understand this fueling hesitancy around pre-ordering the game so hopefully this gets fully addressed before they make it available as a download on the E-shop

Why does Nintendo care about people cheating at Animal Crossing? Dear god they’re backwards.

I’m going to throw this out there...has anyone stopped for two seconds to think that perhaps the issue doesn’t lie with cheating/time travelling/item duplication, but with the fact that the island will be tied to the console rather than a single account? The way I see it, Nintendo thought they would not offer backup and transfer options because this particular setup made things too complicated, fans complained, and the devs are now trying to find a workaround. Just saying.

What do you even do in animal crossing? Is it not boring? I don’t know anyone who has ever played it guess it’s just past me by. It’s maybe not that popular in the uk or something. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I’ll wait for reviews before I consider purchasing it.

Nintendo's problem is that they are trying to be "the good guys" of the game industry. And yeah, it is good that they are doing things like this, but it is actually hurting them and sales of games that don't offer cloud save. They need to stop. The Nintendo Switch has been out for nearly 3 years now. These problems need to stop.

@Jayvir However for those affected, it will be a big deal.

I think it’s safe to say that at this point I don’t actually understand what’s happening at all anymore 🙈.

Give us a direct already Nintendo and clear all this shizzle up please 😩

I think the problem arrises from the one switch one island thing they use in this game. You can't transfer your save file to another switch because it would clash with the (possible) island already there.

Normal cloud saves and save data transfers on Switch are tied to each user profile, while Animal Crossing's islands are tied to the Switch system itself, therefore making cloud saves and save data transfers incompatible. This new custom save data solution for Animal Crossing will presumably involve saving data across a system level rather than a user profile level.

Yes, things like these baffle me up to the point being annoyed too much to buy the game. The game should be fun, without a voice in the back of my head going ‘but it could have easily been a way better experience / less of a nuisance ‘

The lack of bluetooth for headphones, ok. The lack of a good friend system and communication system gets very now with more of my friends joining the switch infrastructure, the lack of an all-around online backup system is really unforgivable since I’m paying for that feature.

Let people that want to cheat cheat (or focus on those people with some anti-cheat system) without hurting the experience of the majority.

@westman98 that actually makes sense. But A work-around should still be possible, no?

Maybe Nintendo focusses too much on new hardware so the team that focusses on the Operating System / software side doesn’t have time to catch up...

Cheaters already have their switch hacked, so Nintendo approach is not only customer unfriendly, but useless.

I remembered even on ACNL Welcome Amiibo, Nintendo put a warning sign to not share your FC during playing on the Tortimer island. Ah, who cares. Peoples still keep sharing FC codes during in Tortimer Island by using smart way. They didn't literally say xxxx-xxxx-xxxx. Instead, they said in separated numbers like 2013 = two O one 3, etc.

Nintendo needs to stop freaking out with this game. By designing a lot of restrictions on this game (Time travel will make bad things happen, one save data for one player, unable to transfer data, villagers will moving out if we don't play it everyday, etc) peoples will not enjoying the game so much. Only for certain peoples, they will do anything to outsmart Nintendo decision by exploit their restrictions into something that enhance the gameplay experience.

It's clearly the Nintendo Switch vision : 1 Switch machine for 1 people only. Nintendo want to boost Switch sales by keep making the restriction 1 people 1 machine, it forced peoples have to buy another Switch to get another save data.

Couldn't agree more with this soapbox! I really hope Nintendo figures things out. I had a launch Switch that ended up breaking, the screen died on it. I had to get it replaced and do a system transfer. If that had happened after Animal Crossing had launched, I would have lost all the hours of gameplay I had sunk in to it, through no fault of my own (it was a hardware defect after all...not something caused by me). There needs to be a way to rescue the data in the event a Switch has to be replaced, or even if someone wants to upgrade their Switch. I'll definitely be waiting until I take delivery of my new Animal Crossing Switch system when it launches on March 13 in Canada before I pre-download off the eShop (not that I can do that now anyway as the NA eShop doesn't have pre-download ability for ACNH yet) just to be safe. I'll do my system transfer first, then pre-download the game if the eShop allows me.

I'm sure time travelling is not an issue when changing the internal clock was an official game feature in new Leaf. Item duping maybe, since that's why we can't back up Pokemon saves.

I hope they'll finde some way to at least allow people to transfer their data to a new Switch, or else that will be a dealbreaker for many people.

As a long time Nintendo fan you should know they make totally baffling decisions from time to time!

The entirity of cloud backups having "exceptions" is bizzarre and unthinkable. I could understand some backward compatibility issues with games like Splatoon that were designed before its existence and are online focused without cloud accounts storing the user data, but for any other game to prevent it is bizzarre and broken.

In the case of ACNH I'm glad to hear they sound like they are working on a way for NSO subscribers to get what they pay for - cloud backups. I don't understand why it's still NSO tied but doesn't use the existing cloud backup feature. I can't imagine what they're actually working on, but as long as it works and I can backup my AC files I'm happy. Lets hope for more details soon!!

@ThanosReXXX It's not even about being behind the times. They're with the times. They have the cloud save feature same as everyone. They actively go out of their way, proactively, to abandon the times they're already with out of some sense of making it "better". They build an elaborate paid subscription cloud backup system then go out of their way to ensure you can't actually use it. That's not backward, that's trolling.

" I wanted to upgrade from a Switch Lite to the standard model steps over a line from 'ah, Nintendo gonna Nintendo' into something that's consumer-unfriendly and, ultimately, damaging to the company's business."

Really well said. I wasn't even aware of the situation regarding being unable to transfer over to a new Switch. Nintendo are absolute experts at taking what should be common sense, and making it into some apparently insurmountable issue. Even better, if they actually acknowledge it as an issue, the "fix" is always something extremely obtuse and unintuitive.

@NEStalgia Well, it is behind the times in that they're trying to add things (read: bolt old crap onto) the newer part, which is cloud saving, because of reasons. Either because the aforementioned "Nintendo gonna Nintendo", or some misguided belief that they must indeed do things better or different than their competitors.

It could have been SO much simpler, but no....

As someone that abused multiple towns between save cards on Gamecube (along with just outright hacking it via a game shark type disc), took advantage of two DS's and carts for the sequel for similar purposes, and probably would have done the same with all the further sequels... I can somewhat understand them not wanting people like me spoiling what is supposed to be a slow burn title.

The other side of that is they are being a bit draconian on this, after at the end of the day it is a game.

Read this: https://www.siliconera.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-will-get-a-save-backup-feature-for-switch-online-members/

@sandman89 I'm with you! I never understood the obsession with Animal Crossing! Different strokes I suppose.

There needs to be some way to transfer your save when the Switch Pro comes out. I never would have upgraded to a New Nintendo 3DS if I'd needed to leave my Animal Crossing town behind to do it.

Makes perfect sense to me. We all have seen Mr.Resetti a bunch and a lot of the times it was from exploits. I dialed back the clock many many times to farm bells. This is a sure fire way to make gameplay fair. No multiple accounts trading into each other from one Switch. Smart on Nintendo’s part of this is going to be a very social online game.

Nintendo are doing a great job at putting people off this game! Possible cloud save? Not interested in a Nintendo online subscription and 1 Island per switch is a bit stupid. I will just dust off my 3ds

I am a bit perplexed why some of these games can’t be backed up to the cloud. It seems a bit silly with all of them at this point. Unless Nintendo has a really lousy partner for their cloud infrastructure.

Hey Nintendo Life...thank you. Absolutely great article. "'ah, Nintendo gonna Nintendo' into something that's consumer-unfriendly and, ultimately, damaging to the company's business" We're seeing that all across the board too. This isn't even a competitive game by the way...and the data management is even more strict than Splatoon 2?

I don’t like the Animal Crossing series but even I am irrationally angry about this. Can a fan of the series explain to me if the save game manipulation Nintendo is worried about is really a big deal? Seems no different to me playing Civ 6, not liking that an enemy Civ took my city and reloading an earlier save to avoid that.

@BarefootBowser Please try to make that voice heard. Lol call them or post on their youtube videos. Tweet them. Anything. I'm personally so tired of the caveats that I KNOW there will be one big THING for ever new game now that's weird, or "thrifty" feeling. Even their hardware. Their dang controllers and stuff keep just wearing out on me.

Nintendo must protect the world from evil players cropping apples on two islands. What kind of world would this be without Nintendo's protection?

More austerity measures from Nintendo this gen. Which I thought we would be over by now. Surely they’ve gotten back to better financial positions after the Wii U flop. The Switch has had enough success for two consoles.

I'm still confused as to why TMS#FE has no cloud saves ... it'll be a while before I have any mental load left to deal with any more cloudsave conundrums created by Nintendo for our ... pleasure.

As someone who actively uses all three platforms, but grew up on Nintendo, it has become a ritual of mine to feel disheartened by the way most of this stuff just ... works on Xbox (and PS as well though mostly not as good) and just ... does NOT work on any Nintendo system. I don't know. There are things, like the games itself for sure, that matter way more, but still, I'd be lying if I said, these were non-issues, esp. as I grow older I find myself increasingly irritated by Nintendo's insistence of throwing up roadblocks between me and my enjoyment left, right and center. It's just small things here and there, but they are freakingly consistent in doing so across the board and it does ... it does wear on me. I'll doubt it'll ever break me, but it makes their product and games a tad less exhiliarting than they should be. It's just a shame.

Having said that, Nintendo seems to be at least aware of this and the trend does strike me as somewhat positive. We are in for the long haul though ...

I've seen on the North American commercial that there is a "Save Data Settings" option, maybe that will be related to sharing save data on a bespoke way. But I disagree on something, this entry is not playing it safe at all, and we still haven't seen true NEW info (such as Harvey's role on that separate island, or the dodos).

Mark your calendars, 20th February.

@Ralek85 Those are exactly my thoughts. As I am growing older Nintendo has managed to disappoint me again and again, unnecessarily. Like they were reminding me how much they want to make things worse for me and how selfish and stingy they have become.

This game can't come soon eniugh, let's go Nintendo!

@idrawrobots Phew.... At least a good news from AC New Horizons. 😅

Nintendo gonna Nintendo. That’s all you need to know really.

Thanks for this Soapbox.. couldn't agree more - The main thing I just can't wrap my head around is how the heck you're supposed to upgrade your Switch to a Pro or Lite or special edition OG or whatever without losing your AC data..makes no sense at all..

I am really kinda shocked at how angry people are getting. If I hadn't seen these articles and comments I wouldn't have expected it to be such a big deal at all. But it's like we're hitting "dexit" levels of outrage here.

I get it that it would be horrible to have your Switch be stolen or break. It would be devastating to me too! I've put thousands of hours into my games on there! But this isn't a new concept or anything. If you lost your New Leaf cartridge you were screwed too. Same if you lost your Gamecube memory card or your copy of the DS game...

I get that for some people, putting everything in the cloud has just become the norm but I am shocked at how apparently reliant people are on it.

It this what Nintendolife has become? Now that Pokemon has come out and everyone's spent their MONTHS AND MONTHS raging about it (despite it selling like hot cakes and most of the rest of us enjoying it) now Animal Crossing is the next big thing to be angry about?

Nintendo being Nintendo. Every customer is a cheating devil so no game save fail save for you.

The thought of losing my Splatoon 2 save data makes me shudder. My ranking, my weapons, my gear, my progress in the single player campaign and DLC, I'd lose the lot if anything happened to my Switch. Splatoon 2 and Animal Crossing are the kind of games that need cloud saves the most.

@NPC411 having spent a number of years in Japan, this is all correct. Japanese culture is slow to change and just do their own thing (the rapid modernization after WWII was a rare exception, and more recently they’ve settled into their old ways) For most of the world, this is exactly why japan is interesting and even charming. In fact, it is more surprising how forward thinking Sony is. I’m still mad though. I wish nintendo would get their crap together. At the very least allow us to manage saves on cartridge or sd card for goodness sake. In this regard they have regressed.

@Heavyarms55 it’s not just for if system is lost or stolen. As many have said, they’ve changed systems or sent them for repair etc and in those cases you simply move your cartridge Or memory card to the new system and continue. That used to work just fine. Even without fancy cloud saves. Now Nintendo has gone backward. In the very old days you’d have to write down a pass code to continue a game. Then we got cartridge saves. Then memory cards. Now? It’s worse than any option previously available in gaming history.

The litmus test of Nintendo's no-backup plan is simply this: Is there an Animal Crossing player who is in favor of no backups? I suspect the answer is absolutely no. None. Zilch. And if that's the case, then why not create a system the majority will appreciate? I can border on being a Nintendo Fan-boy, but this is just plain stupid and an instance of Daddy Nintendo doing what he wants for his kid's life without considering what the kid wants. Ridiculous.

To not move data transfer to another system is bad. If one moves their account to another system that should include their save data as well when some update or swaps their Switch they still have only one unit. You have to transfer your data from one Switch to another if you want to restart your saved game that what I did from v1 to v2 to get my save data to move so I can start from where I last saved.

@konbinilife That's utterly ridiculous exaggeration! Worse than any other method? My goodness get grip dude! Or speak with your wallet, you're not obligated to buy the game, nor is Nintendo obligated to make it the way you think it should be.

For the overwhelming majority of us, when we're upset with something or don't like it, we just don't buy it.

@Friendly I suppose Nintendo "could" update their entire NSO cloud save system such that you can create saves that are tied to your Switch system rather than a specific user profile.

However, since Animal Crossing is literally the only game that creates save data tied to the Switch system rather than a user profile, Nintendo probably thinks reworking their current cloud save setup isn't worth the effort.

@Jayvir Yeah only very few people will be inpacted by this! /facepalm

Lets talk again when your switch breaks down and/or needs to be replaced in service! All your progress gone forever!

It's just completely ridiculous and shows how woefully behind times Nintendo really is!

Nor Sony Playstation, Microsoft XBox or PC (like Steam, etc) have this issue! You console or PC can break down, can easily be replaced. Just login to your account on your new console or PC, download the games again and resync your save games and voila! You up and running again where you left off.

Only games not offering this is Online games, which is obvious since they have their own servers that store your progress.

It's really just Nintendo that makes so much fuss about Online Saves and it just shows their incompetence in this regards.

@Jeronan I understand why people want it but once again, very few people actually need it. Console failure rates are often around 1-3% so it's not like the majority of people would ever need it. Those that would need it? Yeah, it kinda sucks. I've lost my GCN town because I couldn't transfer it from my old memory card before it died. I understand and I've had four RRoD with my 360s and lost an entire Gamertag and all digital items associated with it. But once again, that happens to very few people. You are asking for peace of mind rather than any actual need for the service, and that's valid, but don't disguise it

@Jayvir That is completely beside the point.

The fact is that every other platform out there has offered full unrestricted cloud saves for over a decade. Except Nintendo.

It's not just cloud saves either. Their whole approach to Online gaming is hilariously outdated and behind times. From friend lists, online communication, parent controls to online gaming in general. Just look a the latest Pokemon game as example. The whole online and multiplayer part of the game is a complete mess and a joke. Just like Nintendo's other Switch games.

They unwilling to learn and look at how all other platforms have done it the past 15-20 years and keep sticking their heads in the sand.

If Nintendo doesn't give us a backup solution, hackers will. It's just a matter of time.

@NPC411 this is the best explanation, I've seen on internet, ever!

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