Oh man, where to start? So, there’s this guy, dmanthey, right? He’s all hyped ’cause he snagged himself a Nintendo Switch 2. Fresh outta the box and everything. But he didn’t just wanna play whatever new games he had; oh no, he goes on a bargain hunt for some used Switch 1 games on Facebook Marketplace. Four of them, to be exact. Classic move, right? Anyway, he pops ’em into his shiny new console, updates them, and probably thinks he’s living the dream. Then next day — bam! — the thing’s practically throwing a tantrum, blocking him from Nintendo’s online services. Turns out, he can’t even re-download whatever games he’d already paid good cash for.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. dmanthey, instead of chucking the thing outta frustration, heads over to the Nintendo Support site. And guess what? He talks to an actual human. I know, right? Doesn’t happen every day. Turns out, Nintendo slapped a ban on his console for what they thought was piracy ’cause of those used games. But dmanthey, clever as he is, pulls up his receipts — shows them the Facebook listing and pics of those cartridges. And voila! Nintendo lifts the ban. He even says it was smoother than dealing with Microsoft or Sony. Not sure how they’d feel hearing that. But hey, he got out of it, which is more than some folks can say.
This whole thing? It’s like an exposé on the dark side of buying second-hand games. Like, you never know if you’re getting a copy or the real deal. Some sellers — sneaky ones — just rip the game onto a microSD card and sell the original as still good. It clones everything, right down to the ID number. If Nintendo’s system catches those copied games being used at the same time elsewhere, boom, instant ban for whoever’s got that cloned game.
Now, Nintendo’s got this reputation of being a bit iron-fisted about their stuff. They really don’t mess around. I heard people even get a boot for using their own ROMs. It doesn’t brick the console completely, but yeah, no online play kinda sucks the fun outta it.
At least they seem to cut some slack to folks who can prove they got scammed, lifting bans if you flash the right kind of evidence. But still, no word if those used cartridges are safe to play after all this drama, which is nerve-wracking — what if you get banned again?
Anyway, follow Tom’s Hardware — it’s like getting the lowdown on all this tech drama without actually getting involved in it. Hit that Follow button though, especially if you enjoy these wild rides.
