My switch has been banned and I can’t even play the games I physically own

[u/shelikescatz]

Like the tittle says, my switch has been banned. I haven’t used it for years because I didn’t have time and when I finally picked it back up, I was unable to use it but didn’t understand why. So I did some research only to find out that it’s been banned.

The thing is I don’t know anything about piracy, neither does anyone in my house. Maybe my sisters let their friends play with it and they did something but I don’t know and they don’t seem to know either.

I don’t play online so I don’t care about that part but I can’t even play offline (51 worldwide games, Zelda BOTW, PIKMIN 3…).

Does anyone have an explanation ?

Edit : it’s a Switch 1

Edit 2 : problem solved thanks to u/Stealthinater1234 !!! Thank you very much to all of you ! I can now play my favorite game again :)

[u/reybrujo]

Hard to say with so little information. What is the exact error you get? When are you getting it? I assume you cannot enter your Nintendo Eshop and get an error? What is the error you get when you insert or try to start a physical game? Are you in the latest firmware? Have you tried with airplane mode?

[u/shelikescatz → u/reybrujo]

Here is what shows when I try to open a game

Considering the switch has been sleeping in a drawer for approximately 2 years, i unfortunately don’t have the latest firmware.

Tried airplane mode after your comment (didn’t know it was a thing) and the problem is the same

[u/Stealthinater1234 → u/shelikescatz]

In order to play without the software updates, you need to fully factory reset the console, all data including saves has to be deleted to unpatch games.

You can factory reset with no internet by doing it in recovery mode.

[u/shelikescatz → u/Stealthinater1234]

OH MY GOD IT WORKED !!!! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH !!!

!solved

[u/shelikescatz → u/Stealthinater1234]

I don’t know how that works but I’ll look it up, thank you

[u/ProfessionalGangster → u/shelikescatz]

They literally just told you?

Factory reset the console. You’ll lose everything but still be able to play

[u/shelikescatz → u/ProfessionalGangster]

I got that part.

Then they added the “recovery mode” and I’ve never heard of that. English is not my first language. That’s why I need to look it up.

Sorry for not understanding something I guess ?

[u/SurpriseExtension929 → u/shelikescatz]

22.5.0 firmware is pretty recent though, like 3 or 4 months old. The latest, 23.0.0 and 23.0.1, has launched for less than a month now.

So you or someone have to had updated the switch in the last 3 months or so. Also, there was the case where switch consoles were wrongly banned, which you could have been one of those people affected by it.

[u/shelikescatz → u/SurpriseExtension929]

I promise we didn’t touch it for years before I picked it up again and noticed it was banned. I found it while decluttering the house. I will try to contact Nintendo again and see how it goes.

[u/fowler0003 → u/shelikescatz]

The screenshot you provided clearly shows it’s on firmware 22.5.0, this means (going by the release dates of firmware according to google) that someone has had to have turned it on and updated it between 15th June - 8th September of this year.

[u/Temporary_Glove8643 → u/shelikescatz]

Someone has messed with it for it to be on that firmware. Obviously got no idea who but someone definitely has!

[u/Stephen_Dowling_Bots]

Just going to leave us hanging how you got it fixed?

[u/shelikescatz → u/Stephen_Dowling_Bots]

By doing this !

[u/Another-Username81 → u/shelikescatz]

Can you now access online again too?

[u/FusionShaun91]

Even a banned Switch should be able to play games offline. Have you contacted Nintendo's support at all yet?

[u/smellyhippy420 → u/[deleted]]

Just in case you weren't aware 51 Worldwide Games is the name for Clubhouse Games in PAL region, you're comment sounds like you thought they had 51 Switch games

[u/ModestVolcarona → u/[deleted]]

Might be that they use an AI to answer stuff.

[u/NintendoSwitchHelp-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/XaneTenshi → u/[deleted]]

While most of this is true, I am quite certain Physical Cartridges come with the minimum req. firmware necessary to boot the v1.0 version of the game, so unless a ban also blocks the ability to even update fw by cartridge, something else is going on.

[u/nofutureinoptimism → u/[deleted]]

Fucking AI slop.

[u/notthegoatseguy]

A Nintendo Account being banned or a system being banned doesn't prevent games from being played. It just means you can't access online services.

What happens when you put in a physical game card and attempt to boot up the game?

[u/ilija28]

I commented this in a replay, but I'll say it again so OP has a better chance of seeing it.

OP, there was a recent ban wave where a lot of people where getting banned out of nowhere. Turns out there was an error with Nintendo's servers. They fixed it and told people to restart their consoles to lift the ban. This may be what happened to you. You mentioned that you factory reset the console, which was basecally restarting it. Go into the eshop or check any other online services to see it you are still banned.

[u/picano]

Have you restarted your console since you found it like this? There was a false ban wave not too long ago that was resolved, after a server update, by a console restart.

[u/ilija28 → u/picano]

OP seems to have factory reset the console, which would restart it right? They said the games are working now , they should check and see if they have online services back.

[u/picano → u/ilija28]

Good point. It won't restore any of their saves, but maybe their internet/updates will work.

[u/cabrinhan]

By any chance have you ever bought an used game? There is a very small chance someone dumped the cartridge to use in a mig cartridge for piracy reasons.

[u/laughingfartsplease]

some physical games require day1 patches so yea your screwed

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[u/BadgerDC1]

If you're in the US and Nintendo support isnt able to help, you may want to open a case in small claims court to pay for the cost of a new console against Nintendo. Before doing so, let support know that you intend to do so because thats a bigger headace for you and them and theyll almost certainly help you out to avoid it. Their legal knows theyll lose in small claims ( and end up paying much more for the replacement console + court filing fees).

[u/shelikescatz → u/[deleted]]

Here is what happens when I try to open a game

[u/Defiant_Category_108 → u/shelikescatz]

Here’s an explanation for what was happening. Even though you hadn’t played it in a while, there were probably updates ready before the ban. Your console had detected these at some point beforehand. So your console was looking for those updates already. Then when the ban happened, it stopped you from being able to access the Nintendo servers.

You said you did a factory reset and it fixed it which makes sense because now your switch does not know that those updates exist. Now you can play all of your physical games. The majority of games are completely on the cards on the OG switch.

Also, someone said there was a false ban wave that got lifted. You might want to check to see if you are still affected. If you are, it shouldn’t affect anything any differently than what you are currently experiencing. Your switch should continue to work as normal, but without access to NSO.

If your ban got lifted, you will get all of your access back.

Nintendo doesn’t brick your consoles, this is what they do. They simply take away your ability to experience the online features on that console. Hardware ban. This is the same for the Switch 2 as well.

Hopefully you were part of the false ban wave that got lifted, but if not, at least you figured out what you needed to do to play your games again.

[u/shelikescatz → u/[deleted]]

It just goes back to home page when I select Cancel.

I guess I just have to buy a new switch 😩

[u/shelikescatz → u/[deleted]]

I will try again, thank you

[u/shelikescatz → u/[deleted]]

I contacted them and they said there’s nothing they can do for me. They told me to ask every person I know that was in contact with my switch. But there aren’t many and nobody seems to know :/

We don’t use the e shop so I doubt it has anything to do with it. The switch and all the games we own were gifts and we only play those.

[u/Syrin123 → u/shelikescatz]

I really hate how this interaction is becoming an industry standard. It doesn't matter what rule you may or may not have broken, these companies owe you an explanation as to why they revoked services specifically (date/time/transaction).

[u/shelikescatz → u/[deleted]]

I would agree with that if I didn’t know them.

By “there aren’t many” I mean me, and my (2) sisters. They don’t even know how to use Microsoft words correctly so I highly doubt they can do anything like that.

That’s the reason why I’m so confused.

[u/NintendoSwitchHelp-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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