A new bug with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is deleting a player’s Pokemon save file. Here’s what we know about this bug and when it strikes.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet haven’t had the best reception since the game’s November 2022 launch. GameFreak has been working on a patch to address the game’s many issues—but the patch has introduced more problems. Fans on Reddit are complaining about their save data being deleted if they connect the game to Pokemon Go or download the DLC from the Nintendo eShop.
That first one can be avoided, but many people who are eager for new content won’t think twice about downloading the latest DLC content. Right now, it’s not really clear what’s causing save files to be deleted. Unfortunately, neither of the games use Nintendo’s cloud save system, so the data is tied to the Switch console itself. Once corrupted or deleted—it’s gone forever.
At least one person on Reddit reports that they connected to Pokemon Go to send postcards, bought the DLC and installed it, then played for a couple hours. After they came back to resume their game, their save file was corrupted. Some people are reporting no issues and have both connected to Pokemon Go and downloaded and played the DLCs. Others are reporting that their shiny inventory has been wiped out.
Can I recover my deleted Pokemon save file?
Right now it’s unclear if corrupted save files can be recovered. If you didn’t disable the autosave function, there may be a way to restore a third, hidden save. The game saves itself whenever you visit a Pokemon Center, or after plot-critical areas of the game. Sometimes it also saves randomly during exploration, but that’s not reliable.
You can automatically load a secret autosave in Pokemon Violet and Scarlet by hitting the Up arrow, X, and B in the main menu. This third save is completely different from the manual save and autosave options you see within the game’s menus. This function may help recover your corrupted or deleted save if you’re experiencing issues with the Pokemon Violet and Pokemon Scarlet DLC and Pokemon Go connection feature.
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