Can I trade with 1 game card and 2 Switches?

Question

I got a Switch Lite for Christmas, with the express purpose of being able to trade my legendaries from my alt accounts to my main. But I found out that you cannot have 2 of 1 game open at once, even on different Switches (since I used Virtual Game Card Share).

Is there any way I can trade with my accounts in any way on the Switch (1) and Lite? I have one game from literally every Pokemon series except BDSP - which I can get if needed.

I also have mobile Home, if that is needed, but I do not want to put Legendaries on the GTS as I am worried they will be taken by someone else.

P.S. I don't want trading enough to pay £50 for it, so only mention buying the opposite game if there is literally nothing else.

Comments

If you have Pokemon Home on your switch, can't you just use that to transfer your alts' Pokemon to your main account?

If you already moved accounts over to the Switch Lite, the only other way I can think of is linking two different accounts on both switches to the same email and using Pokemon Home to transfer them using that account. Note that I use physics cartridges so it may be different for you with virtual cartridges.

If you specifically have to trade, then I have nothing else and you may be out of luck.

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I'm interpreting that as if I link my alt's Nintendo Account to the same email address  as my main one, they share the same Home boxes. Is that right?

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Pretty much, yeah.

Answer 1

I hate to tell you that if trading Pokemon between your own games was the only purpose of a new switch for Christmas, it was completely unnecessary.

When you connect to Pokemon Home on your Switch, and click on the "Pokemon" section that gives you the interface of all your games, there is a button above your games that shows your account and profile picture. If you click on that button, you can switch to a different account that is on your Nintendo Switch, and when placing Pokemon in the default "Home" box, those Pokemon can be placed in any account's game of your choosing.

To answer your question, you cannot directly trade between 1 game card on two switches, as you need two game cartridges from the same pair to conduct trades. Forgive me if this is wrong, but I believe you could receive a Virtual Game Card from someone else who has the opposite game as you, trade your legendary Pokemon to that game, switch accounts, and trade them back.

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If you need more help, let me know and I will see what assistance I can bring.

Comments

I did also get it so I didn't have to share the Switch i already had, so I'm not that disappointed

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Yeah I don't have Pokemon Home I'm considering getting it though

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It's free to download, you get one box, still fully usable for transferring between games.

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Alright, thank you

My friends have told me that though my gut always says that there's some hidden cost like I'll set a Pokemon in and it'll say, "Spend 3 dollars to get your Pokemon back!" or something like that.

Answer 2

Sadly, no, you cannot trade with 2 Switches and 1 game card. The game card can only be in one Switch at a time, as you have probably seen. Virtual Game Card Share does not let you have the game on both Switches: it gives one Switch the game for 14 days. Gameshare allows 2 Switches to play together, but Gameshare is only compatible with certain games, all of them listed here: https://nintendoeverything.com/list-of-all-nintendo-switch-2-games-that-support-gameshare/. Plus, Switch Lite/Switch 1 cannot use Gameshare.
Here's a link to a basic guide of Virtual Game Cards: https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/67891/~/virtual-game-card-guide

I'm happy to help, but I don't have much experience when it comes to this stuff. Please forgive me if I misread the question, and let me know if I'm missing something in the comments!

Comments

I don't personally have Pokemon Home, so I can't determine if it will help