Questions and answers

No. Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 consoles are not region-locked: a game bought in another country's eShop, or a game card from another country, plays on your console. Nintendo only adds that it has not tested every game with consoles from every region. Add-ons (DLC) are the exception, see below.

Publishers set a price for each region, in its own currency, and run sales on different days in different eShops. Exchange rates move too. That is why no country is cheapest for everything: check the game's own page before you buy.

The one of your Nintendo Account's country. Nintendo sets the eShop by the country in the account, not by where the console or you are, so a VPN changes nothing. To see another country's eShop you need an account set to that country: the two ways.

Often, not always. Each region's version can have its own languages. The game's page here lists the languages when we know them, and the "How to buy" window repeats them for that country; the eShop page of that country is the final word.

Publishers choose where they sell. Some games are only in one eShop (thousands only in Japan), some reach a country months later. If a game is sold in another eShop, an account for that country can buy it.

A second, free Nintendo Account set to that country, added to your console as another user. Your own account stays as it is (its money, Nintendo Switch Online, pre-orders) and you change eShop by changing user. Step by step: a second account.

Each Nintendo Account needs its own email address (child accounts aside), so a second account needs a second address. With Gmail that can be your usual address with a plus sign and a word added, for example name.surname+japan@gmail.com or name.surname+newzealand@gmail.com: Nintendo sees a new address, and the mail still arrives in your inbox. A console holds up to 8 accounts at once.

Yes, on your own console. Since 2025 each bought game is a "virtual game card" of the account that bought it; when it is loaded on a console, every user of that console can play it, with their own save data. An account can load its virtual game cards on up to two consoles; on any other console only the buyer can play the game, and only online. Loading and ejecting a card need an internet connection.

Yes, on the Nintendo Account website (User Info, Profile, Edit). Nintendo refuses the change while you have eShop money (in Europe, Australia and New Zealand you can agree to lose it instead), an auto-renewal (Nintendo Switch Online, Pokémon HOME and so on) or a pre-ordered add-on. You undo those every time you switch, which is why a second account is easier: changing country.

It does not move with you. In the Americas Nintendo refuses the change until the balance is spent to zero; in Europe you can change with money left, after agreeing to lose it. A second account avoids the question: each account keeps its own money.

No: the membership stays active in a country that has Nintendo Switch Online. You do have to switch off its auto-renewal before the change. Membership codes are sold per region and only work on accounts of that region.

Yes. Games stay with the Nintendo Account that bought them, whatever country it is set to later. Removing a user from your console does not delete the Nintendo Account or its games (they come back when you link the account to a user again), but it does delete that user's save data on the console. Deleting the Nintendo Account itself is different and final: its games and eShop money are deleted with it.

Nintendo calls the account's country your "country of residence", and its help pages describe changing it when you move to another country; its rules on cards and Nintendo eShop cards are built around buying where you live. Nintendo publishes no rule or penalty for an account set to a country you do not live in, and we know of no public statement from it, so we cannot tell you it is allowed; its account agreement lets it suspend an account that breaks the agreement. It is common. More on this.

Usually not. Nintendo only takes credit and debit cards issued for the eShop's own region (a US card works only in the North American eShop). Most people pay with that country's Nintendo eShop cards.

Prepaid codes (also called gift cards) for one eShop country or region. You add the money with "Redeem code" in that eShop. Shops abroad and online code sellers sell them; each country's page here links a search on Eneba and Play-Asia. Check the country on the listing before you pay: a card only works in the region it was sold for, and Nintendo will not exchange or refund one bought for the wrong region.

Some eShops accept PayPal. Whether yours works with an eShop of another country depends on PayPal and that country; if it fails, use a Nintendo eShop card.

It is the eShop's own price. Most eShops include VAT in it; Canada's shows prices before tax, so we add the 5% federal tax (provinces with HST or QST pay more at checkout), and US prices are before state sales tax, which is added at checkout. We convert it at the day's reference exchange rate. What it costs you depends on what you pay with: a Nintendo eShop card seller's price and fee, or your card's exchange rate. Check the total in the eShop before you pay.

It stays on the account you redeemed it on, in that country's currency, for your next game there. With a second account it does not get in the way of anything.

Buy them for the same region as the game. For Switch games Nintendo says DLC works only with the game of its own region; for Switch 2 games and Switch 2 Edition upgrade packs it says region compatibility "depends on the software". Simplest: buy the game and all its add-ons with the same account, and do not change that account's country in between. My Games here records which eShop you bought each game in, for exactly this.

The save data belongs to the user who plays, not to the account that bought the game. Play on your main user and your progress is there, with its cloud backups if that user has Nintendo Switch Online.

Online play needs a Nintendo Switch Online membership on the user who plays. Playing on your main user, your membership counts, wherever the game was bought.

Yes, inside a Nintendo Account family group: up to three virtual game cards at a time, each for up to 14 days on one console; a borrower has one borrowed game at a time and keeps their save data. Both consoles must be online and near each other, and some games, such as certain Nintendo Switch Online member exclusives, cannot be lent. A family group can hold accounts set to different countries. Switch 2 games cannot be lent to a Switch.

No. Switch 2 games and Switch 2 Editions can only be loaded on a Switch 2. Switch games play on both.

Whose prices you see. "All markets" shows each game at its cheapest price in any eShop; one country shows that eShop's games and prices; "My markets" shows the cheapest among the eShops you can buy in. It changes nothing at Nintendo. How markets work.

The eShops you can buy from, ticked on your account page (up to 12). Lists then show each game at the cheapest of those countries, with the flag of the country. Useful once you have accounts in a few countries.

Twice a day: every country overnight and again from midday, UK time. Sales sometimes start or end in between, so check the eShop before you buy.

The game page says when today's price is the lowest since we started tracking the game, and shows the lowest price so far with its country and date, plus a price history chart.

Yes: sign in, add games to your wishlist and switch on sale alerts. You get one mail after a price refresh, listing the wishlisted games that went on sale or got cheaper, at the prices of your own market and currency.

No. It is an independent site, not connected with Nintendo. Prices come from Nintendo's public eShop pages and can be late or wrong: check the price in the eShop before you buy.