One of the most exciting announcements of 2021 for Nintendo Switch fans was the announcement of a brand new model of the popular console featuring a built-in OLED screen, offering clearer picture quality and brighter images. While the OLED model may not have been the 4K Switch fans were asking for, the announcement of the new model generated quite a bit of buzz among the Nintendo community. Now, with the console's release only a day away, Nintendo is encouraging fans of Animal Crossing: New Horizons to back up their saves before jumping to the new model.

The newest entry in Nintendo's long-running life simulation franchise, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, has been a massive success for Nintendo since its release in March of 2020. The game quickly became one of the fastest selling titles on the Nintendo Switch and has spawned countless pieces of creative and unique fan content. Passionate fans of Animal Crossing: New Horizons fans have built a thriving community around the title and, with the new Switch model on the horizon, Nintendo is encouraging fans to back up their data.

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The official Nintendo Europe Twitter account encouraged fans looking to take their Animal Crossing: New Horizons islands to the Switch's OLED model to back up their save data, linking to a Nintendo-written guide on backing up save data. The short guide instructs players on how to enable the creation of backups for a player's island, restore their island data on another console, and disabling the auto-creation of backups. It should be noted that a Nintendo Switch Online membership will be required to recover a player's island in case of the Switch being lost, stolen, or damaged.

Cloud saves and backup features have become an increasingly common aspect of the gaming industry today. The Nintendo Switch Online membership offers cloud storage for all of a player's saved games, allowing players to easily move between different Switch consoles without losing their progress. PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live also offer cloud saves to players along with their membership subscriptions and Steam offers cloud saves free for specific titles.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been a popular title both critically and amongst fans of the long-running franchise. The newest Animal Crossing title stands as the second best-selling Nintendo Switch game today with its almost 34 million sales, sitting behind only Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Nintendo has been consistently updating the title since its release with the company recently announcing an Animal Crossing-focused Nintendo Direct announced for October 15. With the developers committed to the game's updates, the future continues to look bright for Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for Nintendo Switch.

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