The Nintendo Switch Is Officially Launching In Brazil

Nintendo, please expand the branch on Indonesia.
Nintendo have used Indonesian cultures on their games such as Super Mario Odyssey (The Lost Kingdom theme), K.K. Marathon on Animal Crossing (Balinese theme)

Onward to worldwide domination. Let's a-go!

Well, that took a while. I thought it was bad here in Argentina.

Still, us South American folk always find ways to get our videogames. It's like a videogame onto itself.

I hope this means a SEGA Master System collection is coming to Switch, then.

Is the free market in Brazil still corrupt? Aren't the prices for stuff like this insane?

More Nintendo presence here in Brazil is always a good thing. Unfortunately the current exchange rates for our local currency are terrible, so it will come at a very high price.

At least on the local eShop it is possible to get digital 1st party titles at a decent price.

As a brazilian this makes me real happy, now i will be able to buy my physical games a little cheaper.

South America prices for Consoles and games are insane

This is a first, right? I remember Brazilian gamers always saying how incredibly expensive it is to buy games and consoles there. Good move. Better late than never.

Good, now I won't have to be Canadian anymore.

It they could partner with Sega and add Master System games to their Switch Online games, they'll make more money than Nintendo could have ever dreamed! XD

yeeee viva Nintendo in my home-country (even if i dont live there anymore, im happy for them)!!

All right, Brazilians. Get Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild first, and then get:

Cuphead
Dragon's Dogma
Axiom Verge
The Witcher III
Oniken
Astral Chain
New Super Mario Bros U
Blazing Chrome
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze
Panzer Paladin
Ashen
Shovel Knight
Valkyria Chronicles IV
Odallus
Divinity: Original Sin II

That isn't just my list - it's the official, objective list of best Switch games.

and it's also good to see many Brazilians comment here!! pra cima deles!! hihihi

Bunda bunda!

orbrigado!

@TheWingedAvenger "That isn't just my list - it's the official, objective list of best Switch games"

Needs Splatoon 2 and Sonic Mania!

@Borshi I wouldn’t hold my breath for that..
Wii U was released officially in Brazil on December 2013.. and to this day, eShop never showed up!

Unless they sell the console at a loss it won't really matter. Currency exchange, import policies and stupid taxes make pretty much everything expensive as **** over here.

@Sinton that’ll probably be part of their online bundle...

Today i learned that Switch still wasn't available in Brazil.

@Clyde_Radcliffe It's kind of a tradition here to re-re-re-re-re-release sega games/consoles/bundles over and over again due to an old partnership with brazilian company TecToy.

Better late than never. Happy for our friends in Brazil. Those import prices are insane.

@TG16_IS_BAE it is. No sarcasm, I cant imagine this console for less than US$600 here. And we may celebrate on the internet if, who knows, it gets as low as 500.

Great, now I’m hopeful for Arabic countries

In 10 or 20 years.

A few more units to sell then. Wii target is gonna get passed...

Wow I didn’t know it wasn’t available yet. Glad for Brazilian gamers, but something should be done in that country to reduce those insane import taxes

Glad they finally made it happen, those import price were crazy expensive. Hopefully Nintendo gave them a better launch lineup than the Chinese 1 game launch.

FYI to some people unaware, a lot of people already have the Switch in Brazil, lol. It's not like we're just finding out about it xD Great news, btw! Hopefully this is a great restart and eventually prices go down. I don't expect good prices now, since our currency (Real) is in record low, but good news nonetheless!

@TG16_IS_BAE Considerating what you guys pay, yes, yet insanelly high prices.
The console is not the important part if this news. What can be good is more option to brazilian e-shop. This is what do this news interesting.

@TheWingedAvenger Do you think Brazilians don't already have switches there? Nintendo is not officially selling the Switch in my country, but you can easily get the console here anyway (even easier than it is in the US). Also wtf is that list?? The official, objective list of best Switch games?!?!!? don't make me laugh.

Alex Kidd DX is going to sell very well, I can guarantee.

@Borshi HAHAHAHA ME TOO

Nice, i keep hearing that SNK is popular in South America, so this might lead to some additional sales for Samurai Shodown, Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection and the upcoming King of Fighters XV and Metal Slug 8.

That's great news!

Good for my countrymen! Although I would certainly appreciate if Nintendo released translated games in Portuguese.

Although, I must say, without that I had all the motivation I needed to learn English. I had to understand why Zero was so amazing and Mega Man X just blue.

Wow, being available in Peru for some years now, it surprises me that Brazil was switch-less, specially with Brazil size and such big potential customers.

@Sinton
What does that have to do with Switch’s Brazil release?

@thiagoauler

True, but the WiiU was a commercial failure. They probably just gave up setting up shop here. Maybe it'll be another story with the switch.

@daniruy

Back then I've spent a long time thinking zero was a girl lol

@TG16_IS_BAE if you read the comment from @Bobb right below yours, this is about the government SUPPRESSING the free market through excessive taxation. This is the very thing socialists want to do in America. @Bobb states that the "government taxes about 110% of imported unessential tech goods" in Brazil. "Resellers are forced to ask over double the actual pricing, with little profit." Just wanted to point this out. People who make free market capitalism out to be the bad guy don't realize that the programs that Bernie Sanders and AOC support are the same programs that have destroyed economies across the globe. Free market capitalism has lifted billions out of poverty. But, Bernie, AOC and Biden keep telling America that the reason all those other countries' economies are destroyed is because they didn't do socialism "right." Venezuela, by the way, was the most prosperous Latin American country a few decades ago. Then socialism showed up. Also, the Nordic countries that people point to as "socialism done right" aren't socialist. The Prime Minister of Denmark pointed that out himself. They have huge government programs, but they are free market capitalists.

Excellent news! The life of the Brazilian Nintendo fans was hard in these almost 6 years without official representation. I hope that 1) the console will be less expensive than the imported one, 2) the price of games on physical media will be fairer and 3) there will be more games (and more sales) in the national eShop.

@georgesdandre As weird as it seems, it´s the third time!

We had official assembled NES, SNES and N64´s back in the 90´s with a company named Playtronic (now defunct). They ceased operations due to high tax costs.

Then in early 2010´s we had another company distributing Wii and 3DS with official status, named Gaming do Brasil (also defunct now). They ceased operations for the same reason and logistics difficulties.

I wonder which company will be representing Nintendo here this time

they ignore the switch in favor of the sega master system

Yours for the low low price of £500.

I am Brazilian. First of all, thank Arceus, Nintendo and all the envolved. But we're waiting for Portuguese subs (some of you don't know but we talk in portuguese, not in brazilian or spanish).

Nintendo listened to the meme, they’re going to Brazil

As a Brazilian, this does put a smile on my face!
Just hope prices won't be as abusive as we are used to...

That's one thing that I enjoy here in France: I can buy stuff. It's not nice when a Collector's Edition is more than one quarter of the minimum wage, what happens in Brazil.

IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!!

They should make Portuguese subtitles, at least. Nintendo community can be a lot bigger here in Brazil, but they don’t make a lot of effort. Even our Nintendo shop is just a page to put a download code, we don’t have anything to browse and find other stuff... but, this means a good start, I guess.

This comes right after the digital-only Brazilian eShop adjusted it's prices for the most recent first party titles (Paper Mario and the upcoming Pikmin 3).... "Adjusted" means it's still cheaper than a direct Dollar to Real conversion, but saw basically and increase of $10 in our local currency, which is... a lot. Physical imported games are around $70 still, and that is too much in our current economy. I wonder how will this official distribution handle game prices.

Finally!
I'm in need of a new joycon for quite some time and they are ridiculously expensive now. I think they are like half the price I paid on my Switch + Mario Odyssey a couple of years ago. Saudades do dólar a dois reais i.i

Worst moment ever, due the currency exchange. USD almost double the price from Mar/17 to now.

And here almost anyone import from ourselves, there is a "gray market" with people who have the means to get (travel buy themselves, our know anyone to send) and resell here. It happens with almost everything (Smartphones, laptops, other brands' consoles), but in Nintendo's case there is no official market to limit the profit of this people (people should pay less in these case cus costs of being it officially, almost double the price)

@TG16_IS_BAE here we have tons of ways to buy switch related stuff, some are 100% legal, but most are not. Due to the pandemic, our currency lost value and the main gray market route is closed (wich is our border with Paraguay) so the prices are insanely high right now.

Nintendo “left” the country in 2015. I even went to a very interesting WiiU launch event in 2013. Although it is no longer officially in the country, it maintained, for example, official technical assistance in the city where I live (Sao Paulo). I recently bought a new battery for my WiiUgamepad. I was happy with the news. I have been an avid collector of the company since 1989!

@Lugazz Not only that! But you can actually on launch day, walk to a store and purchase a copy there. This is just not possible here on Brazil (for Nintendo games). Luckily the eShop gets the games at a reasonable exchange rate and I can purchase that way.

@dux Yep, that was a bummer! But at least the price raise just affected Paper Mario (and Pikmin 3 now). Older games are still with the old price tag, which is a good thing.

I helped someone from Brazil in the forum with their new Switch & eshop. It turned out Brazil doesn't have an eshop. Or doesn't have a regular eshop. They can't shop games. So, maybe Brazil will get a proper eshop now?

@abdias That’s what I thought, and it’s sad to hear it’s still like that. I hope things open up for you, it sucks that you sometimes have to resort to less than legal means to obtain a Switch, but I don’t judge. It’s not your fault things are corrupt.

@travisrusko Ah, maybe my terminology was too vague. I’m not talking about socialism, which I am against as it leads to starvation and government over-controlling. I just meant “the market that is free to the public to use,” sorry if my wording was too vague.

@FlashBoomerang That’s good to hear, I hope it opens up fair access with fair prices.

@aristofeles That’s what I was afraid of. Hopefully it’s not the case, and hopefully other means open up for acquisition.

@Roger_Brazil Hey, did you see this story? Maybe Brazil will get a proper eshop? I don't get my hopes up too high waiting for Nintendo changes, but I thought this story looked interesting (because you're in brasil)

@Tulio517 that true one of my cousin travelled to Usa in novembre close to Black Friday last year and bought my red box Switch and my Super Mario Odyssey, Brazil taxes is isane, you pay taxes for pratically everything you buy in Brazil.

@WoomyNNYes Brazilian don't have a proper eShop like others countries, maybe with Nintendo returning to Brazil she gonna do a proper eShop do Brazilains like me, Braziliains that have Switch have to resort to others eShop or a site that Nintendo have make for the lack of a Brazilains eShop.

@Bl4ckb100d yes me and my cousin are a proven that we have Switch here, i got my red box Switch and Super Mario Odyssey when one of my cousin travelled to Usa in novembre close to Black Friday last year, and my cousin got his Switch in late 2017, i have Super Mario Odyssey, Luigi Mansion 3 and Animal Crossing New Horizons.

@Don The SEGA Master System was quite popular in Brazil. Many games were launched exclusively for the Brazilian market (as the rest of the world had moved on to 16 and 32 bit systems by that point), and legend has it that the Master System kept selling since launch in the late 1980s until the early 2010s.

that wonderful news that now very soon many people that are unable to buy Switch, thank to Brazil highest taxes, since Brazil have taxes for pratically everything you buy in Brazil, can soon buy a Switch and games in Brazil, Nintendo should take the 5 years absence out of Brazil and do something that improve this aspect, like producing in the Manaus industrial polo, making Switch and future Nintendo console more fair to people to buy it, i'm a Brazilain and i know how hard is to buy our favorite consoles like Switch, since Brazil have one of the worst taxes of the world, me for example only got my red box Switch and my Super Mario Odyssey, because one of my cousin travelled to Usa in novembre close to Black Friday last year and bought my red box Switch and my Super Mario Odyssey there.

@Sinton A majority of the later hardware and software were either clone console of the SMS or are just homebrew games or Game Gear ports to the SMS. Sega had stop support of SMS in Brazil a long time ago, nowaday they just let Tectoy handle all the clone hardware using their brand.

I’m not talking about socialism, which I am against as it leads to starvation and government over-controlling.

@TG16_IS_BAE You guys really fascinate me. You have your filthy socialist public libraries, public roads (free of tolls), public land (free of use to campers, hikers, paddlers), but... sure, "socialism" is a disaster, despite the example of... how many other first world countries? And all those charming stories from my American friends about refusing to call an ambulance even after literally breaking a leg... but, hey, you know what? If you're happy with things in the USA, who am I to judge? The current president of Brazil, after all, is clearly a socialist. But - live and let live, I guess.

@Borshi Hahahha, you have to be yourself, of course. But if I had to choose, I'd rather be chased by a polar bear across open Canadian tundra rather than watch the trees and rivers nervously for anacondas...

@SPL64 @TioRogerio I haven't been to Brazil yet, but I've spoken to a number of your countrymen. I get the impression that Nintendo and many other companies (example: Square Enix) would like to do more business in Brazil, but they only ever dip their toes in to test the water. Is this your impression as well?

Still, out of the BRIC countries, this still leaves India completely unrepresented...

Agora sim, espero que os preços dos jogos não sejam tão caros... do console eu tenho minhas dúvidas pq a Nintendo é careira.

Yeah, I hope the game prices are not that expensive ... the console I believe will still be expensive.

I can't believe this is finally happening !!, I hope I can finally play Mario, Zelda or Pokémon in Portuguese, who knows they might be able to launch the Switch here at prices compatible with our market.

@Borshi hahaha. Don’t blame you. What a game. My favourite rental every Friday after school.

This is a great comments section. Lots of positivity. And although unrelated, I loved reading about the deep connection of Brazil with the Sega Master System. Very interesting piece of gaming history which I was unaware of.

You're going to Brazil, Nintendo Switch.

@COVIDberry Not sure what crawled up your butt, but I'm not really open to discussing it when you're being so vitriolic. You're usually nice, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but please back off.

@TheWingedAvenger brainrot play xenoblade chronicles

If I was a NintendoLife reporter I would try to find out what has changed in Brazil and made Nintendo Switch possible to be released there. That would make an informative, quality article. But.... I am not a NintendoLife reporter.

Finally!!! Carnival!! Soccer!! Ronaldo!! Pelé!!

@Cosats They heard brazilians were paying 700US$ for a Nintendo Switch and realized they can sell for 500US$.

"O Pai ta On!! É Noiz!"

I'm Switch owner since 2018, and still playing my Wii U sometimes, it's great to see Nintendo open your eyes again to our country, lot of Nintenlovers Here!

Abraço Galera!

Interesting to see Nintendo even attempt to officially launch their hardware in one of their secondary territories in this current climate.

It’s the ninth largest economy in the world.

As Nintendo operates in more than nine countries, kind of shocked they haven’t got there yet.

@daniruy

That long blond hair and those green breast plates fooled me just right lol

Sure is a great game and also boasts that amazing soundtrack to boot. Still my favorite series ever to this day. Hoping to see X9 someday, now that the franchise had it's revival with Mega 11.

@COVIDberry

Hard choice between those two hehe but nothing against Canada, if anything I'm most grateful to be able to use the eshop there and get my game on. I'm a proud eshop Canadian since the WiiU days.

@Sinton Or Virtual Console with Ronaldinho Soccer 64. C'mon, Konami.

@travisrusko
You are talking absolute rubbish. Proof is you included Biden in your scenario. Biden is in no way, shape, or form a socialist. Learn the difference between a socialist and a democratic socialist.

Care to discuss the "leader" who believes tariffs are paid by the exporting country?

What took so long?

I actually never knew about the late Brazil release. I'm surprised Nintendo turned to releasing the Switch in China before Brazil, considering Brazil seems to have a higher demand in console gaming (whereas in China, it's more PC gaming).

@Bobb The main problem is not really local taxes, its IMPORT taxes and lack of official support/representation. Otherwise PS4 and Xbox One titles would suffer from the same problem, which is NOT true.

By the way, if Nintendo really wants to pratice prices at last on par with its competitors, then it should be a good move. Otherwise it would make no sense at all.

@Cosats the reason is not in Brazil, but in Nintendo itself. The economy is worst, the dollar is higher and the taxes are the same. The main reason is when Nintendo left here it's product (Wii U) were not selling and the need to retract. Now Nintendo has a really successful product (Switch) and need to expand again. They began slowly (they launch a web base eshop), they come in a National event and bring a non released game to people test (Luigi's Mansion 3), and they saw the reception (with a "brazilian direct" made by local developers and online campaigns asking for the return) and saw here a new opportunity to expand the market... But they need to come with competitive prices (Sony and Microsoft have official representations here) and localized products (at least subtitles). People are eager to buy Nintendo's products, but it's need to be competitive

@WoomyNNYes our eShop doesn't work in the system, we have to buy through a web browser (can be a mobile phone), with the options of using a credit card or an invoice barcode, and then either typing the download code in the Switch or clicking in the email we receive and it automatically downloads in the system. It's cumbersome but viable and much cheaper than physical game imports. Here is the address: loja.nintendo.com.br

@TG16_IS_BAE
That isn't due to corruption, it's due to the high costs imposed for electronics that aren't produced (to some extent) in Brazilian.

@malcire Oh, ok. I hear different things from different people so thanks for clarifying.

@Anti-Matter as a fellow indonesian, i agree

@k8sMum, Biden is extraordinarily left wing and socialist. He was in the administration that brought us Obama "care". One the the architects of Obama "care" openly admitted it was meant as a stepping stone to a single payer system. Answer this question since you brought it up. What IS the difference between a democratic socialist and a socialist? Please enlighten me. Side note: I don't support tariffs. Not when Trump supports them and not when Obama did either.

I didn't realize it wasn't in Brazil. That's a big market to ignore. How strange.

@WoomyNNYes goodmorning everyone. Hi, buddy, yeap, very good news that they are coming back, since 2015 when Nintendo decided leave Brazil.
I hope you are fine. Many thanks for this information.

@TheWingedAvenger
Great list! If I may add my 2 cents, I would replace "New Super Mario Bros U" with "Super Mario Maker 2" as it's a much better and more complete game.

Care to discuss the "leader" who believes tariffs are paid by the exporting country?

@k8sMum Hahahahahhaha, thank you. Look, I understand that different countries and different peoples will have their viewpoints, but the person you're responding to is one of those who is just abusing terminology in the cheapest way. I'm sure s/he thinks the UK and France are equivalent to Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge because of "socialism".

@COVIDberry
Certainly it is. And this is not just about videogames. There are a couple of other famous worldwide brands in other fields that are yet to open business or bring their products to the country with official representation, like Mazda, Land Rover (cars), Vans (sportswear), Arby´s, Tim Horton´s (fast food) etc. while others tried and closed for good, like Fnac (books), HSBC and Citibank (banking), Kirin (beverages) etc.
In the case of videogames, Sony and Microsoft have official presence here, but those companies were already stablished in the country very long before even starting their videogame business and even so, they took a loooong time to launch their products here: The PS3 was the first Sony console to get an official release, and that was four years after its original international launch. Same with the Xbox360.
Imports tariffs and taxes for eletronics are very high in Brazil, and the country has a low average income, what makes the current generation of videogames kind of a luxury here.It´s understandable how tricky it is for Nintendo to make business here without a partner.
This is the third time, let´s hope this time it is for a long time.

Wonder what will be the operation model, if they're just going to centralize imports and provide with maintenance.

Seems prohibitive for nintendo to operate in a country without a manufacturing footprint and the tax structure Brazil has

Congrats Brazil!!!

@Borshi I would play that in a heartbeat.