You Can Now Pre-Load Super Mario Odyssey From The Switch eShop

Yes, but digital buyers don't get the Super Star lyrics on the inside cover of the box. Win some, lose some.

Already downloaded, took 50 minutes for some reason. Any other device would‘ve downloaded 5 GB in at least half of that. No idea why but my router having issues with my Switch is nothing new.

@Krull I do get it physically, too, because not having it physically would be a sore sight to me. Though I already know the lyrics by heart, listened to that song so often. It‘s also my ring tone!

@Krull That alone is enough reason to own the game physically to me. Plus I just love physical media.

Had originally planned on getting all my big games on cartridge but this game is quite a bit cheaper on Amazon digitally so have opted for that.
Plus I don't see myself ever selling this game. Roll on Friday!

I remember years ago I was able to register the CD keys for most of my retail PC games in Steam so they appeared as digital downloads in my library. The CDs and DVDs were then sent to the old retirement home in the loft.

It would be brilliant if Nintendo would allow owners of a physical cart to also download their game from the eShop. Would be a nice gesture for the customers, and if you are away from home without a particular cart you would have the option to download.

Personally I'm okay as I haven't filled the slots in the case yet, but one day a tough choice will have to be made

Anyway, it feels like the day before Christmas Eve for me right now...

Edit: The physical copy is also £42 on Amazon IIRC

Ordered a digital code from amazon for £39.99. Thought I would be able to preload but apparently not.

I go for the physical copy whenever I can with the switch.
Same problems remain with digital copies:

• Usually more expensive
• Extremely limited storage on the switch
• Can't lend or sell a digital copy.

@BustedUpBiker Nintendo would need to be careful with that, as some people would buy the physical game, get the free download version and then send the physical game back for a refund or sell it on second hand.

Yeah, because this is a game that won't keep/increase its value(!)

@Rhaoulos indeed the pricing is pants for Digital generally, why the hell they cost more is anyone's guess, but this has been an issue for digital games across all formats for ages. Unless you go to an alternative store or wait for a sale, digital almost always seems to cost more. I have some Digital games in my collection, but this is limited mostly to games that have only been released digitally. With the one notable exception being Bomberman, which i have in both formats lol.
Maybe my dedication will convince Konami to gift us with PES / Castlevania / Metal Gear Solid

@BustedUpBiker I was dreaming about being able to register physical also, but as they have missed the trick of including keys in the boxes, i'm not sure how they would do it. We can but dream...

@FragRed True, some people would.

I would speculate that the second hand buyer wouldn't be able to redeem the gold coins for My Nintendo, and the same protection could well apply to the digital download to help prevent a chain reaction of people exploiting it.

Or possibly if the cart is loaded into another system with a different Nintendo account then it would disable the original download, until the cart is used to verify it again on the system with the original account. Steam library sharing works in a similar way - I can share almost any game with a family member but once I launch it myself on the original system the other party gets kicked after a 5 minute warning.

Buying the bundle on Friday which comes with a code, so pre-downloading isnt an option. 😢

Hopefully all the rest of you take advantage so my DL doesn't take ages on Nintendo servers. Not being able to DL from Amazon is kinda stupid, but I'd say that's worth the $10 savings.

I actually like physical copies better.

They need to offer this service for EVERY game they release, at the very least, every game that’s first party. I’m a person that’s going all-digital-everything this gen as I feel it’s slowly transitioning to the standard, so this would help me out a ton.

Boxed.... Always boxed......Admittedly I'll generally never trade in or sell a Mario game so if ever there was a game I'd be tempted to download this would be it.

However I always prefer the option to lend the game to a friend or relative if necessary

So where do you access pre-loading? I haven't found a link anywhere.

@hiptanaka It should be right there on Odyssey‘s eShop page. Have you closed and re-opened the eShop already?

Haha so this just now became available? What a coincidence that before seeing this article I checked the eShop after work and happened to see it available for pre-load!

Digital all the way. I don't like keeping track of a bunch of carts and prefer the convenience.

Always physical. Especially midnight launches. Plus get the game a tad earlier

The fact that the pre-load function can distinguish between games bought in the eShop and codes bought elsewhere suggests to me that the database regards the latter as somehow ancillary to the main list of stuff registered to your account. This makes me nervous about whether stuff bought with codes will survive in my account in some future migration years down the line. Definitely nervous enough to spend an extra eight quid, anyway.

That sucks you can't pre-load if you've bought a download code from Amazon. Oh well, assuming Amazon get the download code to me in good time I can start it downloading before work on Friday so it's ready when I get back.

If anyone wants to gift Shop credit to a loved one/friend then Paypalgifts is actually really useful! you can go USA , Canada, UK etc. You get the Credit code immediately and you just enter it into the shop to instantly unlock your credit.
https://www.paypal-gifts.com/uk/nintendo-eshop-cards.html

@GoldenGamer88 I see. I thought it was done on the web. Will do it tonight, then.

Wish I could buy the physical copy, but to me there's just no way. It's more expensive and the shipping here costs a fortune. Cheapest option would take almost a month until delivery. And I want this game right now. Not to mention having to avoid spoilers. Have to go digital on this one.

Got my physical copy ordered for £37, so I'm good.

Just received my order from SimplyGames! Can't wait to get stuck in!

My sister lives in London so I let her purchase the download code from Amazon for me. I’m living in Germany and the price here is 59€ so I saved 15€ total.

Mario is one of those games I will never want to sell. It’s also always nice to have on your system so the cartridge would actually be bothersome. I wish I had downloaded Zelda too instead of buying the physical, but so far it’s my only physical game so there is no swapping yet.

I have 3 switches in the house hold, so digital is not the why to go for me. Only downside is my sons fighting over who gets to play which game and the fact I will have to wait until they are in bed before I can get a go.

Pre-ordered the cartridge on Amazon Prime for a discount several months ago.

My body is ready...

Don't forget that if you buy it from Nintendo UK store you also get a "Cappy" hat for the same price, so you might wait a bit longer to play but you get a nice little extra as well.

@Switchcraft its 48€ in germany right now

@Bustacap Really? Damn! Well in that case I saved 3€ 😂

Hard copy all the way. Plus it was cheaper then digital.

@BustedUpBiker

The thing you describe there on Steam, where others get kicked off, is called online license control.

This is something you do not have on a Nintendo console, and I am also not sure that this is something that we actually want? It's doesn't really fit a portable console, to require some kind of online access all the time, to check you licenses for your games.

Nice! Thanks for the heads up. Will set it up tonight then.

@dres Fair enough man, I'm just thinking out loud.

I wasn't really talking about always online originally. More along the lines of registering your cart to your Nintendo account (similar to redeeming gold coins to your account) which would then allow you, and only you, to get a key (also tied to your account) to redeem the game online and have a download option as well as physical.

@BustedUpBiker

Yeah.. it would be really great. But it will just never happen on a game console. It would be way to easy to cheat, and just sell your game afterwords. Nintendo would never allow for this to happen.
It's disappointing, but I totally understand why.

Is there a logical reason why you can't pre-download using a digital code?

Always physical

@BlueOcean My guess is money.

I definitely see this as a tactic for first party retailers to win out. I often wondered why people would go direct eshop when they could get a discounted download code. Now you can play it 1 hour earlier than everyone else. I could easily see this blooming into 1 day or 1 week earlier for pay to win style games.

I feel bad for Gamestop who's way to entice people to buy physical in store instead of for less money on Amazon is to literally give out Mario shaped air fresheners with this game.

With the Amazon discount to $50, plus the resale value someday, I can't figure out why anyone (at least those that have Amazon Prime) would even consider a digital copy. So many reasons not to go digital these days.

What, no US users can do this? Lame. Besides, digital only isn't that great on Nintendo's systems, if your console is stolen/damaged, etc, it's a royal pain to get it back.

Preordered my physical copy from BestBuy! It comes with a collectable Cappy Coin!

I ordered the bundle today on Amazon. 40€ less than at my lokal gamestop. Still I would like to sell my dl code and get the retail version....
But I have to admit I went the digital road for the 3ds and wiiu. And if the esophagus versions of new games would be cheaper than the card version, I would go digital

Bought and downloaded! Friday can't come soon enough!

Siiiigh... Won't be able to pick up my copy until Saturday, since I'll be going on a trekking on Friday with some friends.
The agony will be real!

Getting my boxed copy with a cappy hat too.

My copy just finished downloading I'm so freakin pumped for this game. This will be hands down the best Mario game ever made and I have played all of them.

It's just sitting there in the dock.... come on nintendo... just let us play it.

@mikegamer

Why?!? That is not the case anymore.

The Switch digital content is now bound to your Nintendo account, not your console, like with the Wii U or 3ds.

Right now you just have to call Nintendo, and say you have a new Active console, if your other console is lost. Then you can download everything again. You do not have to send anything in anymore.

If you still have your old Switch, you can do all the deactivation yourself.

Perhaps Nintendo will also make activation/deactivation through a website possible in the future. Like Sony does. Would be a nice thing. But to call them is not a big deal either.

We really only need a good solution for our save game backup, but this will come soon. But with the 4.0 Switch update, you can actually now transfer your saves and content to a new Active Switch console. Doesn't help with a broken or stolen Switch though, but it's a step in the right direction.

But right now, your Save games are just lost, if you loose your console. And that is actually the case, no matter if you are using physical or digital games.

I have pre downloaded last night and obviously tried to open it. Game says it goes to the internet to verify if I can play already. No surprise , of course I can’t. But does anyone know what time zone is applied when it checks if it’s the 27th ? Is is the same time for all , or does it depend on the country your store is located in ?

@TheFiddlerSIN mostly when game releases are fixed to a date it is 3pm local time, which sucks because half of the day is already over by then but if you got a job you dont really care much...

@Zefirka got to leave work early tomorrow then

@TheFiddlerSIN I’m pretty sure it’s 12 eastern in the US across the board. So I’m fully anticipating playing this today at 11 pm central time. I could be wrong but that’s what all signs were pointing to as I was clicking around Nintendo’s website yesterday.

@TheFiddlerSIN
http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12968

Thanks for all the answers. Just checked , 6:30 am Singapore time , and it’s working