The Nintendo Store does not typically offer significant discounts on its flagship games, but it does allow us to take advantage of the difference in prices between regions.
In this article you will find a series of recommendations when changing countries so that you can avoid mistakes and choose the best region according to your preferences.
Catalog vs prices
To begin, keep in mind that not only is there a difference in prices between eShops, but their catalog can vary significantly.
For example, there are stores with very good prices like the one in Brazil, although with only 21% of the total catalog. On the other hand, there are very balanced stores such as the one in Mexico that includes almost the entire US catalog and also enters the top 5 for best prices.
The disadvantage of buying in Mexico is that they tend to reject many cards and even Paypal accounts. Many choose to top up their balance using gift cards, which can be purchased at This store
When opting for an eShop you should consider these points:
- Prices in relation to other countries
- Catalog variety
- Available payment methods
Buying in other regions of the eShop
Sites like eShop-Prices will guide you. This comparator allows you to check the price of each game by region, in addition to knowing the stores with the best offers and an average catalog.
You have two options when buying in other eShops: You can migrate your current account or create a different one for each region.
The first option may not be the most practical, since you are obliged to spend the entire balance in your account before you can change region. In addition, you will temporarily lose your gold points by being linked to the original region where you obtained them.
Alternatively, you can register an account for each country where you want to take advantage of offers. The fact that you have bought games in various regions with multi-accounts does not prevent you from being able to play them with your main account, similar to platforms such as PSN.
Logically, you must use a different email for each registration. But if you use Gmail there is a trick, which is to place a + before the @ to redirect emails to the same address. For instance [email protected] is the same as [email protected], which allows you to register 2 Nintendo accounts for each Gmail.
While not required, we recommend enabling 2-Step Verification to sign in. Nintendo has suffered attacks before that compromised accounts, so it is not a bad thing to increase our security.
When a game is not available in the language you are looking for within a region you have the option of installing a language pack, so don’t worry about it.
You should also not have conflicts if you have bought the base game in a region and then acquire its DLC’s from other eShops.
Limited eShops
Not all stores are available from the Nintendo Switch. Some Latin American countries have a limited version of the eShop, where you can only buy the codes through the Nintendo website and then claim them on your console. These download codes are typically received in less than 20 minutes, although they can rarely take up to 24 hours.
If you wish, you can give away one of these codes since as long as you do not claim them they are not associated with any account.
It is not possible to subscribe to the Nintendo Online membership from the limited stores.
Common mistakes when switching eShop
The system will not allow you to change eShop while you have a credit balance in the account. In order to continue you must spend it completely.
For previous generation users like 3DS and Wii U, having a linked Nintendo Network ID can cause conflicts. This previous system does not allow to change regions, so you must unlink it and try again.
If you get an error when checking out in a limited eShop make sure the country set in accounts.nintendo.com matches the country you are visiting.
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