Possibly stupid question re buying a game in the Nintendo eshop

[NamasteTheHellAway]

I know nothing. So talk to me like I'm an idiot, please.

DS has a Switch and there's a game he wants that's £80+ from the eshop. So completely unaffordable. A couple of times a year, it's on offer and is very cheap. I'd like to buy it if it's on offer again before Christmas, but I don't want to download it onto his Switch or for him to know about it until Christmas.

Is this possible? Can I buy a game in the eshop without it auto-appearing on his Switch?

The account used to sign in to his Switch is mine btw, linked to my email, and I can access the settings and eshop via the parental controls app. Does that make any difference?

Once you buy it in the e-shop it will download onto the switch.
So in short, there is no way to buy it now to keep it a surprise for Xmas.

Thanks. So there's nothing in the parental controls for example that would let me block access to or hide that title for the time being?

The only way I can think it might be possible were if you bought it, downloaded it and then deleted it from downloads. It should remain in a library for you to redownload since you've bought it. I'd check it with a really cheap game though first.

That would only work if he's not likely to sniff too far into things or look at the store and see you already on it, just switches it on and plays.

He can't access the store unless I put a passcode in first, so that might work, thank you!

Have you checked to see if the game has a physical cart release? Just type the game name into Amazon and if it exists it should be on there. You can then shop around and see where it's sold cheapest. Most of the more expensive games tend to get cart releases.

Even if you delete the game it may still show up in his library and he'd be able to see and redownload it which would ruin the surprise.

There is a physical version but the downloadable version comes with a bunch of expansion packs and extra content that you can't buy separately.

I think I've worked out a way though. I can set the age rating for the account to be 7, then individually whitelist all his existing games that are rated above 7. The new game then won't appear on the switch until I whitelist it after hes gone to bed on Christmas Eve, or at least that's what I think will happen... Will this work, anyone more knowledgeable than me?

I'll test it out for you, give me 15 mins or so. What is the game btw? Usually you can buy the DLC packs separately from the shop with a cart version

Looking at my switch now. A bunch of games show up on the homepage but only the most recently played 12 games. If you click the 4 square icon on the far right side it takes you to your library page. The game shouldn't show up here if it's deleted but there is a big button at the bottom of the page that lets you go to a page to redownload anything deleted. I don't know if this button requires a password as I don't have one on my system. Test that before doing the delete method.

As for age rating, I turned it on for my system and I can still see all available games I just get blocked when I try and start one up so that wont work.

That's extremely kind of you, thank you so much for helping this technophobe out!! It's the Dungeons & Dragons: Beamdog Bundle - usually £80+ but it seems to go on sale for £20ish a few times a year. I only know what he has told me about not being able to get the same bundle as physical game cards btw but a very very brief search seems to back up what he's said.

Oh wow that's a throwback. I played those games when I was a teenager myself and I'm mid thirties now!

So the pack contains Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 + DLCS, then Neverwinter nights, planescape torment, and icewind dale + all their DLCS too.

These games are rated 16 btw just in case your son is quite young. They are very old games but are still quite fun

You can get them separately on carts but it involves buying a ton of carts and will cost you way more than £20 so it looks like buying and deleting is the way to go.

He's 14 and a keen DnD player, but autistic/ADHD (hence me having control of his account and restricting access to the eshop).

He originally wanted Baldurs Gate 3 but I've been advised that one is mainly boobs and dragons 😂 so it's not been allowed, but apparently these older versions are much tamer!?

Yeah they are tamer and the graphics are much less detailed too. BG3 is amazing but very much an adult game. But this pack should keep him busy for a very long time as each of the 5 games can be played for 100 hours each easily.

I was about 14/15 when I played them for the first time myself and nothing in them bothered me.