Do you remember Captain Toad Treasure Tracker? One of the many Wii U exclusives to have been ported to Nintendo Switch, a very pleasant puzzle game, had been rather well received by critics and players. Well, know that this title is currently the subject of an equally nice temporary promotion since Nintendo is currently offering it to Switch Online subscribers, until January 20. You therefore still have 3 days to try this title at no additional cost if you are already subscribed to the Japanese manufacturer’s online gaming service. Only, this offer is reserved for US account holders; rest assured however, it is quite possible to have access to it without spending a penny more. Let’s see how to do it!
A Nintendo Switch Online membership will be required regardless of region.
Apart from our readership in Quebec and/or expatriates in the rest of the American continent, an offer reserved for American Nintendo accounts is a priori unlikely to interest you. However, each element of the American catalog is perfectly usable on a European Switch, and even better, an exclusivity of the American Nintendo Switch Online will work with a French account! So don’t panic, just because this free offer seems out of reach doesn’t mean you won’t be able to access it, or that you’ll need to pay for another subscription, even a short one. Indeed, a Switch Online subscription is sufficient, regardless of region, to take advantage of this offer. We will now explain the procedure to follow to recover it.
Rest assured, the method is very simple, and it can be used again for other offers of this type in the future. First of all, make sure you have a Switch Online subscription on your European account, and that your Switch is your “main console” (do not hesitate to consult our data transfer tutorial to know how to proceed). Next, go to the settings of your console then to “Users” and “Add a user.” Then follow the procedure until the console asks you to associate a Nintendo account with this new user. You will therefore need to create an American Nintendo account (if you already have one, you can skip this step of the tutorial) by going to this official website link of the manufacturer. To do this, nothing could be simpler: create your account by filling in the information you want, but choose “United States of America in the “Country” drop-down menu. It doesn’t matter if your IP address is European.
Once the account is created, continue the process on your Switch, and associate it with the user you just created on the console. Next, go to the eShop from the main menu, by selecting the user you have associated with your US Nintendo Account. The latter will be displayed in English by default, will then suggest that you systematically enter your password each time you connect: enter it again (this will be necessary at least the first time; select “Skip Password” if you don’t feel it is useful for future use) and you will access the American eShop, an absolute French clone but in English and with prices in dollars.
Amazing thing, the Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker free trial offer is not highlighted, and this in none of the categories proposed in the left column. You will therefore have to go through the eShop search engine to get to the game page. Go to the game line (priced at $39.99) then click on “Download” to validate the download of the trial version. If you are not asked to associate any payment method, you have followed the procedure correctly! The download of your trial version will start immediately, and you can play it until January 20, the time to progress badly or even decide to buy it.
Captain Toad’s first quest will be to find him on the eShop, which does not feature him.
Unfortunately, as you will have understood with the icon of the application, this trial version will no longer be playable after the deadline. The application will however remain available, but Nintendo will invite you to switch to its paid version, marketed on the eShop. We recall again that this offer requires an active Switch Online subscription, it doesn’t matter which account you use, and that the user associated with this subscription must use this Switch as the “main console” in order to benefit other users (like your US account). Don’t forget, finally, that it is possible to pay less for your Switch Online, and perfectly legal!
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker: our complete solution
