This article will explain step-by-step how to purchase digital games directly to your Nintendo Switch using the Nintendo e-shop store.
Nintendo created the Nintendo Switch, a gaming console that went on sale in the majority of countries on March 3, 2017. It is a hybrid console because the console is actually a tablet that can be docked to be used as a home console or carried around.
Nintendo Switch is only officially supported in a certain number of nations based on specific areas due to licensing. The system is still practically available everywhere there are gaming enthusiasts thanks to local sellers that import it from adjacent supported nations. I had been wanting a Nintendo Switch for a while, and last week I finally got my hands on one. I should have known better, but I set the country of residence for my account to be India, and when I used this account to connect into the Switch, I was unable to access Nintendo Switch Online or the Nintendo e-shop.
That is when it dawned on me that the fact that I had listed India as my country of residence despite my knowledge of the lack of support for Nintendo goods and services there must have been the cause of my inability to access the Nintendo Switch Online and the Nintendo e-shop. I started googling about it and reading about Nintendo’s worldwide support plan for Switch, just like anyone with an internet connection would do in this situation.
Which Countries and Regions are supported by Nintendo Switch Online and e-shop?
Countries | Region |
Argentina | The Americas |
Brazil | The Americas |
Canada | The Americas |
Chile | The Americas |
Colombia | The Americas |
Mexico | The Americas |
Peru | The Americas |
United States of America | The Americas |
Japan | Japan |
Austria | Europe |
Belgium | Europe |
Bulgaria | Europe |
Croatia | Europe |
Cyprus | Europe |
Czech Republic | Europe |
Denmark | Europe |
Estonia | Europe |
Finland | Europe |
France | Europe |
Germany | Europe |
Greece | Europe |
Hungary | Europe |
Ireland | Europe |
Italy | Europe |
Latvia | Europe |
Lithuania | Europe |
Luxembourg | Europe |
Malta | Europe |
Netherlands | Europe |
Norway | Europe |
Poland | Europe |
Portugal | Europe |
Romania | Europe |
Russia | Europe |
Slovakia | Europe |
Slovenia | Europe |
South Africa | Europe |
Spain | Europe |
Sweden | Europe |
Switzerland | Europe |
United Kingdom | Europe |
Australia | Australia/New Zealand |
New Zealand | Australia/New Zealand |
Hongkong | Hong Kong/Taiwan/South Korea |
Taiwan | Hong Kong/Taiwan/South Korea |
South Korea | Hong Kong/Taiwan/South Korea |
For anyone who is not staying in one of these countries, the best bet is to create an US Nintendo Account. Let’s discuss this in detail. If you have got a new Switch, I would suggest to follow the below steps before configuring it for the first time so that you can link the newly created Nintendo US Account will setting it up.
How to create a Nintendo US Account?
- Go to https://www.nintendo.com
- Click on Log in/ Sign Up
- Click on Sign Up
- Please enter Your Date of Birth
Enter the details in the form that comes next where you will be asked to enter your preferred user name, email, etc. At the bottom of the form, there is the most important field which will decide if you re able to access a Switch Online and Nintendo e-shop or not
Please make sure the Country/Region is selected as the United States. This will change the timezone to one of the available ones in the US and you can choose between them as this does not matter anymore. The rest of the steps are simple enough you will have your Nintendo US Account ready which can be logged in with the email id and the password mentioned during the time of the setup.
How to Setup Nintendo Switch for using this newly created Nintendo US Account?
Make sure to choose The Americas when asked to choose a region while setting up the Switch for the first time. Make sure you choose the United States of America if they ask for your Country. You will also be prompted to sign in with an existing Nintendo Account or create a new one. We can log in using the freshly generated Nintendo US Account as we previously made one above. That’s all there is to it. As long as you selected the United States or The Americas whenever a country or area was requested, you should be set to go.
By attempting to visit Nintendo Switch Online and the Nintendo e-shop, you may verify that this is functioning and check it out for yourself. You’re halfway there and are qualified to purchase any games from the Nintendo e-shop digitally, download them, and play them on the Switch without the requirement for a physical chip
How to Buy Games from Nintendo e-shop for Countries like India which are not supported?
If you’ve been following along, you now know that the Switch is now logged on with a specific Nintendo US Account and may access the e-shop. We still need to go over a few more steps in order to purchase a game from an online store because it is not as straightforward as the typical gaming ecommerce scene, like Steam on PC.
I’m from India, where cricket is one of the most played sports. It is more similar in some way to baseball in our culture. So, I wanted it to be my first ever purchased game from Nintendo. Now, even though the physical version of Big Ant Studios’ Cricket 22 is available on Amazon India, I wanted to try purchasing it through the Nintendo e-Shop that we’ve just established. I thus started looking into every payment option available online and using my Switch to directly purchase the game.
Let’s start by discussing the cost. I am unsure of what it would be for someone from another nation, but this is what I discovered when I contrasted the costs of Amazon India (physical edition) and Nintendo US e-Shop.
Price in Amazon India: 49.91 USD (3981 INR)
Price in Nintendo e-Shop: 49.99 USD (3987 INR) before Tax, 55.11 USD (4399 INR) after Tax
I’ll check and compare the costs of physical edition vs. digital edition again soon, but at least in the case of Cricket 22, I was ok to pay a little bit more than Amazon was asking for it from the e-shop.
I want to mention something before we continue that I strongly believe in but that others may not. In terms of resale value, purchasing the physical copy is always preferable because you can always trade it in or sell it to someone else. However, a digital copy is linked to your Nintendo account and cannot be purchased separately if you have one. The sole reason I spent the extra $5 to purchase it from the Nintendo e-shop was so that I could test the entire procedure and write a post about it.
With this out of the way, let’s go back to the main steps of actually buying this game from Nintendo e-Shop.
If it’s your first time, you’ll be prompted for a zip code when you click Proceed to Purchase in order to determine the tax. You may enter any legal US zip code; I chose one from Seattle because I adore that city. After that, it will display the price with tax (in my case 55.11 USD).
There are three options that are available right now for paying online on the Nintendo e-Shop
- Credit Card – A credit card from India worked perfectly for me. I used Citi Bank, although I’m not sure how well it integrates with Indian Nationalized Banks.
- Nintendo eShop Card – You can purchase e-shop codes from Amazon for a range of USD values, and then enter the code at the checkout.
- Paypal – Simply follow the instructions they send to your registered email address to link your Paypal account and your Nintendo e-Shop will begin accepting payments through Paypal
I used two separate payment options to purchase my two games. I purchased Cricket 22 for 55.11 USD (4399 INR) using my credit card and Nintendo Switch Sports for 41.33 USD (3987 INR) through PayPal.
A word of advice on the second payment option, the Nintendo eShop Prepaid Card: I evaluated the cost of these cards on Amazon and the dollar worth they offer, and I found that it was significantly higher than the exchange rate. Although I am aware that even using my credit cards will result in an additional % charge for currency exchange, the prepaid cards still proved to be the most expensive option for purchasing Switch games from India, even though those games are already worth a modest amount of gold.
Conclusion
After following the above instructions, I expect anyone from any of the Non-Supported Regions will be able to register a Nintendo Account, make online game purchases, and gain access to everything that a user from a Supported Country can. Since Nintendo Switch games are rather pricey, I believe it is much preferable to visit an online store and look for discounts than to make a straight purchase from Amazon. The only thing to keep in mind is that, unlike digital versions, physical editions of games may neither be resold nor swapped for other games.
This article can help you to be able to play some terrific Nintendo Switch games like Super Mario 3D, Legend of Zelda; Breath of the Wild, Metroid Prime, Pikmin 3, Mario Tennis, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, etc.