Transferring games to new Switch question

[Bartsfam]

So..my daughter wants to bring the family Switch to college. There is about 12 games on it, 6 digital downloads and 6 cartridge. The system is linked to my account. 

I don't care that she takes it, but I have about 30 plus hours of Zelda; TOTK on it from a physical copy. 

I would like to buy a second Switch for me at home and transfer only TOTK to it. I have read instructions on how to do it. But, won't I need to register the new Switch to my account for the transfer, and then she will lose all of the digital downloads? Or, could I register the new Switch to a different email account and still do that 1 game transfer with all of the saves? 

 

Just curious on exactly the best way to do this..

 

 

[DavidD]

On 10/21/2023 at 7:08 AM, Bartsfam said:

So..my daughter wants to bring the family Switch to college. There is about 12 games on it, 6 digital downloads and 6 cartridge. The system is linked to my account. 

I don't care that she takes it, but I have about 30 plus hours of Zelda; TOTK on it from a physical copy. 

I would like to buy a second Switch for me at home and transfer only TOTK to it. I have read instructions on how to do it. But, won't I need to register the new Switch to my account for the transfer, and then she will lose all of the digital downloads? Or, could I register the new Switch to a different email account and still do that 1 game transfer with all of the saves? 

 

Just curious on exactly the best way to do this..

 

 

There are a few possibilities here...

 

1) It's possible to "share" downloads between two systems, with some small issues.  Essentially, if you leave the home console as your "primary" console for your account, she can access all games -- and you can access all games on your second system, if you log in with your account AND have an active internet connection.

2) If you have a "family plan" subscription ($35 a year), you can download your saves to -any- Switch system your account is logged into.

3) There IS a way to transfer save files between two systems without using a family plan account.  I've never tried it, though.

 

You should be able to buy a second Switch, log into it with your account, then transfer all your saves/etc. to the new Switch.  If you want your daughter to retain access to the save files, then point 1 comes into play.

• Buy new Switch. Log in with your primary account. Download your games (and transfer the save files via Local network -or- a Nintendo Online subscription.)
• Once you've downloaded everything, go to your daughter's (the old family) Switch, and LOG IN WITH YOUR ACCOUNT.  Enter the eShop and enter the settings menu.  Under the first option (with your name and icon), you'll find a PRIMARY CONSOLE option in the right hand menu.  Use this to make the OLD system the "
  primary system."
• The Old Family System, now your account's PRIMARY system, will let ANY OTHER ACCOUNT on that system play all games.
• The NEW System will let you play ANY game while LOGGED INTO THE PURCHASER'S ACCOUNT and you have network access.

I feel like I may have a details wrong here, but all of this really hinges on what your ultimate goal is.  You SHOULD be able to transfer your saves for Zelda to the second Switch and play them without problem.