Reminder: This Is Your Last Chance To Buy Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers (North America)

If you're dead set on getting a $60 game as soon as it comes out, it's a good deal. But. I can wait.

Random how it's limited time in the USA. Was it just not successful?

I ended up using my gold coins and getting 2 vouchers for $50 which wasn't a bad deal even though I prefer physical media. I have 1 voucher left so I guess I'll save it for Animal crossing. A game I know I'll play every day here and there for a long time.

I just don’t get why it’s ending in the US. Makes no sense to me but oh well.

@XBontendo Same, plus I can usually score a title for $50 or less on release day physical.

As a sort of classically atypical Nintendo way of doing things, I like the program.

Yeah, I think this is only a good deal in a very specific context: if there are 2 games that you absolutely want right away and know you will play for years off and on so they are good to have digital. I ordered one set because Mario Maker 2 (my son REALLY wanted it) and Animal Crossing both fit this description.

Aw cmon! I was gonna use this on Zelda awakening, Luigis mansion 3, and animal crossing! It makes no sense that its magically gone

Used this to get Mario Maker and will use the second on Link's Awakening if the reviews are good. I agree with those that say it's only a good deal if you're looking to make at least two day one purchases this year.

I'm getting Three Houses this weekend. I've really had my eyes on Mario Marker, as well. So, I guess it's a good idea all in all, but I'm still used to pacing out my big game purchases so I can actually give them the full attention they need. I also hate the sight of my checking account balance dropping by a 3 digit number.

@spoony_tech do you have the bestbuy gamers thing or whatever? Amazon stopped doing the 20 percent off at release.

I was going to use this but now's not a good time financially... oh well. Guess I'll have to console myself by spending $48 on physical copies...

@PBandSmelly You can buy vouchers now and just use them for those games though, can't you? the vouchers themselves aren't expiring for a year.

I bought a pair of tickets for SMM2 and AC. I probably won’t buy more. Link’s Awakening is essentially a 3DS game on Switch and should be $40. And I’ll probably get a physical copy of Luigi’s Mansion 3.

@DTfeartheBEARD Gotta go digital with Animal Crossing!

I’ve been stockpiling them. Gonna get 2 more before it’s too late.

@Robzilla yeah for the convenience and to be able to play it at midnight since I'll be to impatient to wait Haha. The physical collector in me will end up getting a physical copy also 😁.

@Moon The day these were announced, they also said “this limited time offer ends July 31st.” They didn’t even give it a chance to fail.

Looking to use mine on Link's Awakening and Pokemon Shield!

I don't really want to give Nintendo my money a day earlier than I need to. Maybe I'll just buy two vouchers. Zelda and Luigi. The rest I can wait on.

I bought a pair and got Mario Maker and Three houses. Honestly they are pretty cool, might pick up another before they go away for Astral Chain and Dragon Quest

The way I see it is this; if I'm set on purchasing evergreen titles (Zelda, Mario Odyssey etc.) then the vouchers are a bargain.

For series entries that tend to be replaced (Splatoon, Mario Kart), I would go physical so I can sell the previous game to fund the new one.

If you have a Costco membership, you get can $50 eshop cards for $45 each online. Get 2 of them for $90 then get the vouchers. Save $10 on the vouchers then save $10 on each $60 game you get. That's what I did

Wait this isn't permanent!? Any news if it's ending in the UK? I'd like some but was going to save my money until September or so....

I used it on SMM2 and Fire Emblem bc I know they'll get so much play I didn't want to have to swap carts out.

As an American myself, I have no idea why this is happening. But then again, it IS America, and we are notorious for doing things differently from the rest of the developed world, much to our detriment.

Got me mario maker 2 and fire emblem out of it. Worked out well.

@PBandSmelly You can buy the vouchers now and use them later. Matter of fact, you can use them to preorder any Nintendo game with a date

I bought my using my gold coins, so they cost me $20.00 less. I will buy Zelda A Link to the Past and Pokémon Shield when they come out.

I'm not convinced they'll go away. They aren't in other regions. NoA will bring them back

Glad to see nintendo is worried about losing $20 on two $60 digital titles. Figured this offer would be on forever since it really isn't all that special.

@cLock1358 And then you also get $5 back in gold coins for buying the $100 vouchers! Saving money on top of saving money!

@DTfeartheBEARD
Agreed! That's where it definitely started for me back in the days of the 3DS. I found it to be quite handy having games I played off and on regularly (Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem, etc) to be in a digital format.

at best it's not even a 17% discount and just cancels out the yearly membership

@Kimyonaakuma It was only introduced as limited time in NA so you should be fine for now.

I have one game voucher left, I already used my first one on Super Mario Maker 2. Not sure what game I should use my last voucher on at the moment (maybe I'll use it on Animal Crossing: New Horizons since I can just hop into my island without having to change cartridges). I'm not sure if I want another pair, as I have too many games in my backlog and they cost quite a bit.

I think Nintendo should have the game vouchers available periodically. Like, maybe offer them yearly? This was a pretty good perk for those of us who have access to NSO.

@imgrowinglegs remember they are usable for only one year so don’t buy more than you will use

@Tantani That’s a good reminder, but my Switch is completely digital games. I’ll definitely be using these.

@imgrowinglegs cool for you man (or woman)
The titles using it are still limited, but their are many amazing games so good luck choosing lol

@Lucarianzx I still do but It's almost up. I have 2.5 months left on it.

I thought they ended it. Huh.

Wow, that's really surprising. I thought this was going to be an on-going thing. I hope they have something good to replace it with, like member only discounts.

@Lucarianzx @Spoony_Tech

Also Walmart sells every standard Switch game for $50 or less if you go into a physical store.

I already used my first voucher on Fire Emblem Three Houses. I've bought a second pair now, so I have three that I guess I'll use on Link's Awakening, Dragon Quest XI, and probably either Sword or Shield (once I decide which one I'll buy).

@Tim_Vreeland That's also what I was referring to. If they continue to sell them at that price I will buy them from there.

did anyone buy them in the first place?

I used my 2 for Astral Chain and Daemon Ex Machina.

I have 3 left so far but one is taken for DQ 11. Hope I can spend one on Star Fox one day....

@cLock1358 I am going to look into that. I have a Costco membership.

For 1st party games which rarely drop price (ESPECIALLY digital) this is a fantastic deal.

It’s also the best day one discount I’ve ever seen for a digital game. Even more so when you factor in the $5 back in gold coins you get, and that you can buy the $100 eShop credit for $90 on certain sites.

It’s like paying $42.50/ea day one digital. In for 10 (literally, I ordered 10 of them, they capped me off when I hit 8, but I spent 2 and bought another set). That should cover every first party game from now until Animal Crossing.

I didn't end up doing it. Thought I would. Not a bad idea. They should just keep it available as a one time only thing. Maybe they'll bring it back when Pokemon drops

Where are these magical Wal-Marts you speak of? I dropped $60 on Tropical Freeze!

Well damn, didn't know there was a time limit. On well...

Really sad this promotion is ending, when its not ending in Europe only in North America. Hopefully they bring it back, because its a good deal for new games.

I used my first set of vouchers on MUA3 and Fire Emblem. I think I'll get another set for Astral Chain and Luigi's Mansion 3.

@CoastersPaul
I always see people saying that they can just pick up the physical version for a ridiculously low price but my Canadian Walmart never has such huge discounts on new or old games, they're always the regular $80. Amazon is the same, the only good deal I've got this year is the preorder of Cyberpunk for $60 instead of $80.

Thanks for the heads up, Nintendolife. I already bought one of these voucher sets when they came out and used them on Mario Maker 2 and Fire Emblem Three Houses. I forgot these expired so quickly and was planning to buy another set before Astral Chain came out. I'm going to buy another set now and use one voucher for Astral Chain and the other for either Pokemon Shield, or Link's Awakening for Switch. I'll probably end up going with Link's Awakening though since I am a Legend of Zelda fan first and foremost above all other franchises.

I tried it out because I didn't have the Nintendo Online subscription. I paid $30 CAD for online then bought the two vouchers which cost about $155 CAD. Two retail games in Canada are usually about $190 so in the end, I paid full retail for the games and got online for free. That works for me. I ended up choosing MM2 and DQB2 because of their replay ability. With that being said....I wont do it again. I prefer physical and now I wish I had physical copies of those two excellent games.

I've already bought and used 2 sets, but thanks for the reminder I might buy a 3rd set. There's a 60% chance I'll want Astral Chain and I'll probably want Luigi's Mansion or Link's Awakening

@PBandSmelly you could just get them and save them they dont expire till a year later.

@Tantani It’s pretty much all first party $60 games...and I want a whole bunch of those, haha. I’ll use these vouchers easily.

Skipped these, I usually go physical when I can and here lately even most first party releases are at Wal-Mart at $50. Snagged Mario Bros. U, Smash Bros, and Mario Maker 2 all for 50 each.

I would like to know if Mario vs sonic at the Olympics is going to qualify for a voucher before the promo ends

I bought into this before I realized that you're only saving $10. after the tax here in the US. And I made the mistake of buying F.E. on it missing out on my swag, which cost me even more. Not to mention I'm not impressed with the game at all so far.

Honestly this just isn't that big of a deal, I already got most of the games I have been looking forward to this year until we get some of the highlights at the very end of the year, and I have no idea how I might want to buy those games and it isn't worth jumping ahead when the savings aren't that big.

Darn, I had no idea this was a limited promotion. I figured it was a feature of Nintendo Online.
I basically subbed for a year just so I could grab these vouchers for FE and Astral Chain, plus down the road for more games like Zelda and Luigis Mansion. Disappointed to hear that this is not a permanent thing - as it made me sub in the first place. Any idea whether new games will still be added going forward or if the current list is it?
Had I known I'd might have gone for an EU account, my bad for not doing my due dilligence. Though I have to say after all Nintendo's progress , it's a still a sore point how poorly Nintendo communicates some things, esp. with the - region-lock or not - disparities between the US and the EU.
I'll pick up another one of these for Luigi and Zelda (or maybe Daemon X Machina instead) ...

Question: Are there more games going to be added to the list of "compatible" titles until the current ones expire a year from now? I'd really love to know that, thanks.

Just a heads up, you can sometimes get digital games cheaper on CD Keys. I got MM2 for £10 less than it would have cost me on the eShop! Well worth bearing in mind before buying these (IMO) rip off vouchers.

@YagaMaki You can actually get these cheaper by getting the credit on CDKeys at the moment during the Summer Sale first then using the credit to get the vouchers.

2 x £30 (£60) vouchers are £53.98, so using those towards an £84 voucher will give you two £50 games for £77.98

This kind of regional promotion difference is the ugly side of Nintendo for sure. To run a promotion as a limited time is normal. To run entirely different promotions in different regions is semi-normal. But to have an internationally advertised promotion that is primarily sold in the context of a permanent feature of a subscription service, but with a disclaimer that in one region it's only a 2 month deal while everyone else has it indefinitely is a giant smack in the face...which we're unfortunately getting used to getting the worst treatment from Nintendo here. This kind of regional sales model worked in the 1980s when nobody in the US had any idea of what was going on in Europe in Japan, but in the Internet era where all news is instantly global, it doesn't work. One group feels left out if treated differently. And for this promotion in particular, the fact that it has all kinds of built in OS-level support as a feature of the subscription only to be a limited time sale just makes it feel awkward. Worse, nothing on the Switch itself actually tells you the deal expires, because there's not an NoA specific version of the interface - so it looks indefinite if you just browse on your Switch, and don't check the website manually.

Not a bad, if slightly odd program, but in NoA area it's really a large middle finger saying "ha ha, the rest of the world gets this promotion from now on but you don't!" I don't know who thought that was a good idea. End it worldwide, or don't end it anywhere. But "BIG SALE (not for you)" doesn't sit well. It feels kind of slimy.

I get that they don't want to offend retailers here so they just try to offer nothing to upset their balance. I would have understood if the had a different promotion program entirely here for that reason. This feels kind of awkward as implemented though. Especially since internet searches will confuse things talking about a voucher program that existed but no longer existS, but only if you're in NA.

@Ralek85 AFAIK the program is (semi?)-permanent in the EU. It's just in the US we're getting completely shown the finger.

@pblive Ah, that's a great tip, thanks!

As a side note, when I got MM2, for some reason CD Keys sent me two fully working digital keys. Made my mates day!

@NEStalgia Maybe I missed it entirely, but was there any info about the short-lived nature of this promotion on the acual e-shop? It didn't even quite frankly occur to me, that this was a limited event and that I better had check online. It just looked like just a new feature to make Nintendo Online more enticing ... which it did I guess somewhere in the small print, there was probably some info on the fact that it was not going to last long (in the US) ...

@Ralek85 Nope, absolutely nowhere on the actual eShop does it mention it being time limited. And worse, all the verbiage suggests otherwise, because it's a single international interface, and since it's basically a permanent feature everywhere but NoA, the way it's built into the system, the way it's worded, it all looks like a permanent benefit of membership. The mention of new games being added periodically suggests permanence as well. The 1-year expiration warnings suggests holding off is a good plan as well.

The only way to find out that it is time limited is to go to the NoA website, go to the vouchers page - that page lists all the applicable games. It STILL does not tell you it's time limited. From there you have to scroll to the bottom and click "Learn More". From there it takes you to a vouchers program page where it says "Time Limited Offer" at the top, and only in there does it say "through July 31st."

The whole thing in NoA is a disaster. I suppose for the faithful that watch this stuff like a hawk it was nice that we got the program at all rather than simply never having it in NoA....but considering the majority other than us "core gamers" that are Nintendo customers, especially in the US are going to be looking mostly from November to December, it's as though the entire vouchers program never existed at all to most of their market. A 2 month or so program from late May to end of July, with the time limited deals burried 3 layers deep on the corporate web site, with zero mention of the deadline on the actual hardware, and lots of verbiage due to the rest of the world still having the promotion indicating it's not time limited......the whole thing was a poorly thought disaster. Not sure if it's Reggie, Bowser, or Kyoto deciding Americans don't need sales......but the policy and communication on this is pretty poor, even by Nintendo standards.

I was aware of the limitation only because I come here and caught the controversy early. If I wasn't a visitor here, I'd have never known. I'd definitely not have found the corporate website fine print.

@NEStalgia Glad it was not due my utter incompetence on missing the obvious though You know, I don't think this would really bother me if Nintendo Online was a better all-around service than what it currently is. I saw the voucher system and figured, considering that I easily buy 4-6 "$60 Games" on Switch at or around launch, Nintendo Online would not only pay for itself (which it still did with FE 3Houses and Astral Chain), but actually save me money and thus make sense. Plus, I'd get the safety of mind of cloud saving, and maybe the occasional Mario Kart online match (I barely play anything online on the Swtich, hence I was not actually bothered by the paywall as such).

Obviously though, as you say, it adds to the sting that this is not generally a limited offer, but a ... regionally limited offer, which ... yeah, is kinda odd, esp since I don't see what the US is getting instead. I'm EU myself, but due to the (kinda) weak dollar I always have been buying US systems/from US accounts since the WiiU/3DS era (and for those sweet Atlus releases of course in the region-locked days) and while this won't change any of that, I'm once more stuck with the clear feeling that Nintendo Online is currently the weakest part of the whole Switch ecosystem, which is a shame. Looking at something like gamepass, yeah, it's vastly more expenisve, but the value is still worlds and leagues better. Not to mention, that the whole integration of onlineplay and such is all-around superior on Xbox for instance (where you can link profiles and cloud-stored savegames to your controller for christ sakes...).

Then again, Nintendo was never really strong about this whole Online buisness and having a penchant to speak "directly" to the customer, and have a proper feedback-loop between concerns and adressing such concerns. Things improved, I feel, the last couple of years, but there are still wwwaaaayyyyysss to go. I'm frankly still more hung up on the whole messed up voice chat situation, even though I would rarely us it anyways - as things stand I NEVER use it and in turn, am less inclined to spend my online-time budget on the Switch than on PSN or XBOX. But yeah, that is water under the bridge, which nevertheless leaves me baffled as to how it is possible in 2019 for this to still be by large completely unadressed. Just ... yeah, baffling, not sure how else to describe it, despite my 30 years experience with Nintendo pulling stuff like that ... foolish me can still be baffled

@Ralek85 Ahh, I didn't know you bought on the US eShop....yeah that means you get the short end of the stick on this one with us!

Unfortunately I don't think we're getting anything instead (unless they announce some kind of Holiday promotion which I guess is possible.) I think this is purely about "don't upset the retailer network" (which is, admittedly, much more significant here than elsewhere.) For $20/yr we got 9 weeks of coupons. It's possible they'll bring it back, say, in January. Or maybe December 20th or so for "last minute gifts."

@NEStalgia Well, $60 beats 60€ every time Yeah, I guess that's the situation we find ourselves in. I mean, I think the US will get "something" for sure, but whether this will be worth a bother is a different story altogether.
With games like FE out and Astral Chain coming up, it's probably best to focus on the bright sights of the system though

@Ralek85 Yeah, I just got a 512GB card in both my Switches....FE, DxM, Astral Chain are going to eat some space. And then I have the slew of physical games through Sept/Oct on pre-order while I still have the Best Buy discount program until November. It's one of those rare loaded years for a Nintendo owner! DQB2 is next on my "recent" backlog.