How to Back Up and Restore Game Saves with Checkpoint

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Checkpoint is a simple homebrew app for backing up and restoring game saves on your modded Switch. It’s one of the first tools you should learn to use. Losing a save file you’ve put hundreds of hours into is painful, and Checkpoint makes protecting them easy.

What Can You Do with Checkpoint?

  • Back up important save files to your SD card, then copy them to a computer or external drive for safekeeping
  • Transfer saves between SysMMC and EmuMMC – play on one, restore on the other
  • Manage multiple saves for the same game – great for Animal Crossing island juggling (back up your current island, delete the save in Atmosphère, start a new one, back that up too, and swap between them whenever you want)
  • Dump saves for editing on PC – use tools like PKHex for Pokemon, ACNH editors for Animal Crossing, or other game-specific save editors
  • Move saves to and from emulators – dump a save from your Switch and load it in an emulator, or bring an emulator save back to your Switch
  • Copy a save file to another Switch – back up on one console, transfer the file, and restore on the other

Important: SysMMC vs EmuMMC Saves

Saves are stored separately on SysMMC and EmuMMC. Which one Checkpoint accesses depends on how you boot:

  • To back up or restore EmuMMC saves – boot into CFW EmuMMC, then launch Checkpoint
  • To back up or restore SysMMC (OFW) saves – boot into CFW SysMMC, then launch Checkpoint

Checkpoint saves are stored on your SD card at:

SD:/switch/Checkpoint/saves/

You can browse this folder from your PC to copy saves off the card for safekeeping or editing.

How to Back Up a Save

1. Launch Checkpoint

Open the Homebrew Menu and select Checkpoint.

2. Select Your Game

Use the D-pad or touch screen to highlight the game you want to back up. Press A to select it.

3. Create a Backup

Press L to back up your save to the currently selected slot, or choose New.. to create a new backup slot.

4. Confirm

Select Yes when prompted.

5. Name Your Backup

Type a name for the backup (something descriptive like “pre-edit” or “island-backup-april”) and press + (Plus) to confirm.

Your save is now backed up to the SD card.

How to Restore a Save

1. Launch Checkpoint

Open the Homebrew Menu and select Checkpoint.

2. Select Your Game

Highlight the game and press A.

3. Choose Your Backup and Restore

Hover over the backup you would like to restore and press R

4. Confirm

Select Yes. The save will be written back to your NAND.

Tips

  • Always back up before editing – if a save edit goes wrong, you’ll want the original to fall back on
  • Name your backups clearly – Checkpoint lets you label each slot, so use dates or descriptions. “Pre-PKHex” is a lot more useful than “Backup 3” a month later
  • Back up before system updates – saves rarely get corrupted by updates, but it takes two seconds to be safe
  • Copy backups off your SD card – the SD:/switch/Checkpoint/saves/ folder can be copied to your PC. If your SD card ever dies, your saves survive

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