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When using the Nintendo Switch 2, you can transfer the save data from your games even if you have not performed a full system transfer from your previous console, or even freely send your save data between different systems as needed using a few different methods.

Sending Save Data to a Nearby Console

The most straightforward method (and one that does not require an online subscription) is to transfer your save data to another console linked to the same Nintendo Account that is in close proximity. This can work in either direction, and is useful if you’ve recently ejected and loaded a Virtual Game Card on another system.

For this to work, make sure that the same user profile linked to the same Nintendo Account is on both consoles:

Enter the System Settings from the Home Menu.
Select Data Management, and then scroll down to select Transfer Your Save Data.
Perform this same selection on both the target console, and the console with the Save Data you want to transfer.
On the home console, select “Send Save Data to Another Console”.
On the target console, select the “Receive Save Data”.

Alternatively, if you only want to do this for a particular game, you can simply select that game on the Home Screen by pressing the + button, select Manage Software > Transfer Your Save Data

After following the prompts and ensuring both consoles can communicate via local wireless, you’ll be able to copy over the save data, and then start the game

Uploading Save Data Cloud

If you have subscribed to the Nintendo Online subscription service, you will automatically be able to make use of a Save Data Cloud System to back up your save data online, and download it whenever needed when playing on different systems.

Similar to the local save data transfers, you can find the options by navigating these menus:

Enter the System Settings from the Home Menu.
Select Data Management, and then scroll down to select Save Data Cloud

From here, you can view all games that you currently have save data for, and see the status of whether that save data has been backed up on Nintendo’s online servers.

This also includes options to see data not currently downloaded to the current console, and a settings menu to turn on or off automatic back-ups, and whether you want the newer save data to always download from the cloud onto your local save or not.If there is a game in particular you wish to change the settings of, you can either select it from the Save Data Cloud List, or you can select a game from your Home Menu by pressing the + button and selecting the Save Data Cloud, and then your user.

In this menu, you’ll be able to download Save Data from the cloud if your local data is out of date, or you can manually backup your Save Data to the cloud if you don’t have the automatic upload enabled. You’ll also be able to view the dates of both the local and cloud saves, making it easy to tell which one is the most recent.

Please note that Nintendo does not currently allow a way to back up your save data to external storage - you can only save it to the cloud, or transfer it to another console. However, by disabling automatic backing up of local data and downloading of cloud data, it is possible to choose when you want to overwrite the save data in each category.