Switch 2 owners warned against transferring Pokemon games as fan loses 20 years of play

Switch 2 owners are being warned against transferring their Pokemon games after a fan lost a whopping 20 years of play.

The new version of the Nintendo Switch is finally here and fans have been sharing their experiences of the device so far.

Up until now, the Pokemon franchise has enabled its users to import Pokemon they have already trained into other games.

This means that players have been able to use the same Pokemon now that they trained back when games were first released on the Game Boy Advance.

And while there might be a slight irrational fear that the game will somehow wipe your Pokemon, it unfortunately became a reality for one unlucky user.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is now available to buy (DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Taking to social media to warn others, one person wrote on Reddit: “I’m about to Cry. 1000+ hours and 20 years of Mons gone.”

The user explained that they had transferred their saved data from the Switch OLED to the Nintendo Switch 2.

And while everything seemed to be fine at first, they were shocked to discover that their data saved from Pokemon Scarlet had been wiped from both devices.

This prompted a reaction from other gamers in the comment section, with many sharing their own advice on what to do.

One user wrote: “I thought the same with my violet data, it booted into the language selection screen. I was gutted. Selected English and then it popped up with a previous save data found and if I'd like to load it or delete and start over.”

Another said: “Hey if you call Nintendo support they might have your save! I called them a while ago for something similar!”

Users have been transferring their Pokemon over to the new Nintendo Switch 2 (Pokemon)

A third person commented: “Before switch 2 came out, there were multiple posts of people encouraging everyone to put all of their mons in HOME. Nothing bad is supposed to happen but if anything does happen, it would happen during a system transfer. Please anyone else who still hasn’t planned to do this, OP’s story should be a reminder.”

And a fourth added: “I’m so sorry for your loss. This is exactly why I’m afraid to transfer my data to the Switch 2.”

While it’s not yet clear if the lost Pokemon will be salvageable, if you want to avoid facing the same issues, it might be wise to move them over to Home before transferring it over to the Switch 2.

That way, if anything does happen, they’ll be safe!