You’ve just purchased or received a Nintendo Switch for a birthday gift or a holiday. You’re excited to receive your new Nintendo console, and can’t wait to explore the expansive world of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, or play Fortnite with your friends, but you’re unsure of where and how to buy games for your Nintendo Switch. Fear not, dear reader as we are here to help you with this guide on how to buy games for your Nintendo Switch, so you can start gaming in no time! Keep in mind, there are also many free games available to play on your Nintendo Switch.
The Nintendo eShop (Digital Games)
One of the easiest ways to purchase games for your Nintendo Switch is by visiting the Nintendo eShop directly from your Nintendo Switch console. When you start your console from sleep mode, you will see the many logos below where your current game library is showing. Find the icon with a shopping bag symbol, and the words “Nintendo eShop” below it. Next, you’ll be prompted to select who is using the Nintendo eShop, so be sure to select the appropriate user (there are multiple users if your console is shared by other members of the family). You should see an orange screen, and now you are in the Nintendo eShop and ready to search through Nintendo’s massive categories of games.
Categories of Games
There are a variety of game categories in the Nintendo eShop. You’ll first see the “featured” category, which lists many popular titles or upcoming games that just might pique your interest. A few other categories you’ll see are Great Deals – which list games that are listed on sale, and Best Sellers – which list games that have the highest sales volume and are popular among other Nintendo Switch owners. You can scroll through and view the different games, and if you click on a title you can read a brief description, and learn about the number of players, its genre, release date, languages, play modes, and more. You will also see the price, and there is a button to purchase the game if you’d like.
Purchasing Games Through The Nintendo eShop
For each purchase you make in the Nintendo eShop you’ll receive Gold Points. Gold Points are a reward system that Nintendo has set up, and these points can be used for future purchases. It does take a while to stack up enough reward points to pay for a regular price title, but you can use your points to at least take a small amount off of a game, so it’s a nice feature. You can also buy games digitally or purchase Nintendo eShop digital currency through retailers such as GameStop. It’s a nice way to give a gift to someone that doesn’t want to keep track of cartridges.
Buying Physical Games
You can purchase physical games from almost any retailer out there. Two of my favorite retailers to purchase games from are GameStop and Amazon. GameStop will have one of the largest selections of games, and you can even purchase pre-owned titles and accessories. The associates are also really good about letting you know about any upcoming releases that are available for pre-order. GameStop does have its own sales and promotions, and it’s one retailer I’d highly recommend checking out once you have purchased your Nintendo Switch.
When you purchase a physical game cartridge, you do not have to wait countless hours for a game to download (depending on the title). This can help you save time, and get you into the game much sooner. There are also really cool accessories you can purchase to keep all of your games safe and in one place.
From a performance and quality standpoint, I haven’t noticed any differences in a digital title versus a physical one, and it seems that most gamers prefer having physical copies. In some cases, games can be removed from the Nintendo eShop, so if you purchase a physical copy it can sort of become a collector’s item and even be resold for a higher value if Nintendo decides to remove the title from its eShop.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know and have an understanding of how to buy games for your Nintendo Switch, I’d like to leave you with a few game recommendations. The games listed below or some popular titles that either I’ve played or seen positive feedback from other Nintendo players:
- Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Thank you for taking the time to read our article, and I hope you found it helpful. Let us know if there are any Nintendo Switch games you have your eye on by leaving a comment below. We review many games on this site, and you can see these in our Video Game Reviews section. We rate games for you, give an explanation of the game’s story and let you know how fun we think the game is.
If you are looking for some free games to play on your Nintendo Switch, then check out our newly curated list for you here.
Thanks again for reading, and happy gaming.