Switch 2 Owners Beware: The Cautionary Tale of a Pokemon Scarlet Player Losing 1000+ Hours of Playtime

Wow, okay, so here’s a wild ride for anyone who’s been hoarding Pokémon like they’re going out of style. Picture this: someone who’s been obsessed with Pokémon for, like, two decades decides it’s time to shuffle their beloved digital critters onto the shiny new Nintendo Switch 2. Sounds simple enough, right? Nope. Total chaos ensues. The kind of chaos that makes you question reality. Or at least, the stability of digital transfers.

So here’s what went down. Apparently, swapping Pokémon from Scarlet and Violet to the new Switch 2 isn’t usually a disaster. But for one unfortunate fan, it turned into a horror show — we’re talking over a thousand hours of gameplay vanished. Just like that. It’s almost funny, but mostly just tragic.

This isn’t a regular issue, mind you. But, hey, better safe than sorry. The Switch 2 launched on June 5, and people are loving it — 3.5 million boxes were gobbled up in four days. No joke. But even with no fresh Pokémon games on day one, there’s this Pokémon Legends: Z-A thing coming up in October. Fingers crossed it’s worth the wait.

Right, back to our unlucky hero. Imagine booting up your game and getting greeted by the dreaded language selection screen. That’s when you know something’s gone horribly wrong. The comforting presence of your Pokémon pals? Poof. No trace. The old “up, B, and X” trick didn’t work either. Geez.

Apparently, some folks managed to recover their lost data through some sort of glitchy miracle. Others had to turn to Nintendo’s customer service, who’s already dealing with a mountain of other Switch issues. Whoever thought transferring your game saves individually was a good idea might actually be onto something.

Thankfully, not all is lost for our Pokémon fan. They still have a handful of monsters stuck in the Pokémon Home cloud service. But here’s the kicker — they’ve lost their favorites, and honestly, who can blame them for not wanting to load up the game again?

By the way, no amount of “we’ll trade you new Pokémon” offers from the community can fix this heartbreak. Sometimes, you’ve just gotta sit back, let out a deep sigh, and maybe consider taking up knitting or something.

And then there’s the ever-present confusion of technology. It’s like the universe knew they needed a sign to maybe put down the console and pick up a book. Or literally do anything else.

Here’s to hoping they eventually find their digital pals or, at the very least, a new hobby.