Buying a second Switch, need some advice

[weekev]

I am about to buy a a second Switch, because my kids are 9 and 5, I travel a lot with work and I basically never get to play it unless it's playing their Mario Maker creations (which I love) or getting them unstuck.

Anyway I have some questions which I tried to Google but get conflicting answers so I came to the source of all good knowledge.....Resetera

Will I be able to transfer save files?
Will I be able to download digital games on my new switch that I already downloaded on the old one?
Are there any download play multiplayer games that we could do local play on or do I need 2 carts of the same game for most/all of them?

That is all, thanks in advance.

 

[Tailzo]

1. I guess with switch online? Not sure
2. Yes, set one of them as your primary console. The other one must be online to play
3. I think you need 2x copies of any game?

I'm guessing waiting for Switch lite or upgraded regular switch isn't an option?

 

[PlzUninstall]

As I understand it, save files transfer just fine.

You can download all games you own on any consoles you own, you just need to designate a primary. You'll need to load it from your account on all consoles too.

Anything that's "online" seems to lock out other consoles when you run it on one of your consoles. I assume that applies to local too. So, yeah, two games.

 

[weekev]

1. I guess with switch online? Not sure
2. Yes, set one of them as your primary console. The other one must be online to play
3. I think you need 2x copies of any game?

I'm guessing waiting for Switch lite or upgraded regular switch isn't an option?

Click to shrink...

Great thanks. So with number 2, if I set the new one as my primary console, i can play it in airports or on planes without the second one needing to be online? It's just if the non primary console wants to play one of the digital games?

 

[wrowa]

Great thanks. So with number 2, if I set the new one as my primary console, i can play it in airports or on planes without the second one needing to be online? It's just if the non primary console wants to play one of the digital games?

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You don't need to be online all the time, but merely every time you start a game and afterwards every 3 or 4 hours. So, if you can connect your Switch via a hotspot (your phone) to the internet every few hours you are fine even on a secondary console.

Why that's important? Because on a secondary console only your account has access to your games. All other profiles attached to the Switch can't play your games. I assume that your kids have their own accounts, though, so making your home Switch the secondary console would lock them out of playing games.

Otherwise it's smooth sailing. It's no problem to play games - even the same one - on a secondary and primary console at the same time either. Local multiplayer won't work if you use the same "digital copy", but online does.

 

[weekev]

You don't need to be online all the time, but merely every time you start a game and afterwards every 3 or 4 hours. So, if you can connect your Switch via a hotspot (your phone) to the internet every few hours you are fine even on a secondary console.

Why that's important? Because on a secondary console only your account has access to your games. All other profiles attached to the Switch can't play your games. I assume that your kids have their own accounts, though, so making your home Switch the secondary console would lock them out of playing games.

Otherwise it's smooth sailing. It's no problem to play games - even the same one - on a secondary and primary console at the same time either. Local multiplayer won't work if you use the same "digital copy", but online does.

Click to shrink...

Ok great thanks. So if I'm in an airport I should hotspot it and start playing so the folks at home can still play?

 

[ShadowFox08]

Whatever you do, wait for the switch revision that's replacing the OG model to come out next month and get that one. Way better battery life and potentially better performance.

Or you could buy lite and give it to them I guess and keep the OG

 

[Shoichi]

Cloud saving works just like PS4. One primary, all others non-primary. You can use the same account across multiple Switches. Downloading any game you bought on that account through eshop.

You can also transfer individual saves manually through the Save Data Transfer process even without NSO. Just be aware it deletes that save off the old device

 

[JershJopstin]

Ok great thanks. So if I'm in an airport I should hotspot it and start playing so the folks at home can still play?

Click to shrink...

Yes, just keep in mind this assumes you and your kids use separate accounts. If that's the case, than that's probably the best option, as it's the one that lets your kids access their own save data on their Switch.

I'll also echo that waiting a month could be worth it. Frequent flying/traveling is one of the use cases that most benefits from the improved battery life coming. Your call, though.

 

[weekev]

Yes, just keep in mind this assumes you and your kids use separate accounts. If that's the case, than that's probably the best option, as it's the one that lets your kids access their own save data on their Switch.

I'll also echo that waiting a month could be worth it. Frequent flying/traveling is one of the use cases that most benefits from the improved battery life coming. Your call, though.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I thought about waiting but that gives my wife a month to change her mind...lol

 

[cvxfreak]

So assuming I don't share my Switch with anyone else, I can get the Switch Lite, designate that as Primary and then my existing Switch as a secondary home unit and be able to share my save files in real time through NSO?

 

[JershJopstin]

Yeah I thought about waiting but that gives my wife a month to change her mind...lol

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Fair enough lol.

One last thing about digital game sharing - the secondary Switch can't play offline indefinitely. It'll suspend the game once you've been offline for I believe 3 hours; something to keep in mind if you plan to play on the actual plane.

 

[weekev]

Fair enough lol.

One last thing about digital game sharing - the secondary Switch can't play offline indefinitely. It'll suspend the game once you've been offline for I believe 3 hours; something to keep in mind if you plan to play on the actual plane.

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Its ok I live in the UK and it would be domestic flights only which are 90 mins max. If I was ever flying longer than that my kids would be with me cos we would be going on holiday.

 

[weekev]

So assuming I don't share my Switch with anyone else, I can get the Switch Lite, designate that as Primary and then my existing Switch as a secondary home unit and be able to share my save files in real time through NSO?

Click to shrink...

I believe so yeah, pretty neat.

 

[JershJopstin]

So assuming I don't share my Switch with anyone else, I can get the Switch Lite, designate that as Primary and then my existing Switch as a secondary home unit and be able to share my save files in real time through NSO?

Click to shrink...

Yes, for all but a few games listed here. The most notable ones are Splatoon, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, and oddly enough, Dark Souls. Otherwise just make sure automatic backups are turned on and you're good to go.

 

[LegendofLex]

Yes, for all but a few games listed here. The most notable ones are Splatoon, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, and oddly enough, Dark Souls. Otherwise just make sure automatic backups are turned on and you're good to go.

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Even for those few exceptions, you can still do save transfers a la carte. You just can't have backups available in the cloud across devices at once.

 

[JershJopstin]

Even for those few exceptions, you can still do safe transfers a la carte. You just can't have the backups available in the cloud across devices at once.

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Correct, it's just a hassle for those games, not a complete deal breaker. If I were to get that setup, I'd probably keep Splatoon on the home Switch and AC on the Lite 99% of the time, as they both lend themselves to specific styles anyway. Maybe one day I'll know enough people who play Splatoon to play local...