With Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch 2 Edition launching next week, you will want to know how to move your island and save in Animal Crossing: New Horizons from your original Nintendo Switch to your Nintendo Switch 2, since it does not use Nintendo Switch Online cloud save backups.
This Animal Crossing: New Horizons save transfer guide will cover how you can move your island to Switch 2 so it is ready for the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Switch 2 Edition next week.
When transferring your island to a new Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 console, the process requires the Island Transfer Tool available on the eShop for free. If you haven’t already transferred all your saves, this guide is for you.
Note: You can do a complete system transfer from your Nintendo Switch to Nintendo Switch 2 if you are buying a Switch 2 for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. This will also move your island from Animal Crossing: New Horizons over without needing to use the Island Transfer Tool.
How To Move Animal Crossing: New Horizons Save File Into Animal Crossing: New Horizons Switch 2 Edition
- Launch and update Animal Crossing: New Horizons on your original Nintendo Switch.
- Download Animal Crossing: New Horizons on your Nintendo Switch 2 if you own it digitally.
- Download the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Island Transfer Tool on both devices.
- Make sure that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is updated to the latest software version on both consoles.
- Download the Island Transfer Tool for Animal Crossing: New Horizons on your source console, if you haven’t already.
- Have each user link the Nintendo Account they used on the source console to the target console.
- If any users have save data for games other than Animal Crossing: New Horizons, transfer those users’ save data to the target console.
- Download the Island Transfer Tool for Animal Crossing: New Horizons on your target console, if you haven’t already.
- Open the Island Transfer Tool on each console.
- Follow the on-screen instructions and select Continue, then Let’s Begin.
- On the source console, select Source.
- Select Yes when the name of your island or your console nickname is displayed.
- On the target console, select Target.
- On the source console, select Continue. On the target console, select Proceed.
- When the target console is detected, select Transfer data on the source console.
- When the source console is detected, select Proceed on the target console. The transfer will begin.
- When the transfer is complete, a message will appear on both consoles. The save data is now deleted on the source console and present on the target console.
- Start Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the target console to continue playing on your island.
- Once you have confirmed your save file is loaded on Switch 2 and is in-game in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you can safely upgrade the game and update it next week when Animal Crossing: New Horizons Switch 2 Edition launches.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now available at retail and digitally on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch worldwide. Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch 2 Edition will be released for Nintendo Switch 2 worldwide on 15 January 2026. Those who already own Animal Crossing: New Horizons can buy the Upgrade Pack for £4.49 ($4.99).
