Home > My Nintendo Gold Coins can Now be Used on the Switch eShop
Originally published on Nintendo Castle.
Remember My Nintendo? It's Nintendo's reward program that gives back to loyal fans in the form of rewards, games, and discounts on software. You probably haven't heard much about it recently because for the past year, despite being able to redeem Switch games for Gold Coins, there have been no Switch rewards to spend the coins on. In fact, if you purchased games at launch, your Gold Coins even expire this month.
Thankfully, after a year of waiting, Switch owners can finally use their Gold Coins for something. As of March 5, 1 gold coin equates to 1¢ that can be used towards purchases on the eShop. You've probably already accumulated some Gold Coins from software purchases, but the whole system has been reworked and you'll now earn a little more for redeeming your software. For digital purchases, you'll earn 5% back in the form of Gold Coins; for physical purchases you'll earn 1%. A $59.99 digital purchase will net you 300 Gold Coins and a $59.99 physical purchase will net you 60.
Digital purchases will reward coins automatically after a purchase (no coins are rewarded for redeeming codes), but you'll need to register physical cartridges by pressing + (options menu) while hovering over a game and navigating to "My Nintendo Rewards Program". Note that the cartridge must currently be in your Switch to redeem for Gold Coins.
For those of us that remember Club Nintendo, 60¢ back on a $60 purchase seems like a slap in the face. Buy 100 games, get 1 free! However, it's a little better than no rewards program at all and is a welcome addition after the complete lack of program for the Switch over the past year. If you've been waiting to redeem your physical games to get more coins, feel free to do so now, you'll get the full 1%. Remember that you've got one year from the original release date of a game to claim your coins, and you've got 1 year (to the month) after claiming your coins before they expire.
