You might have a Nintendo Account. You might have a Nintendo Network ID (NNID). If you’ve just started using the Nintendo Switch or you need to transfer data from another Nintendo console, you might find that you don’t have both accounts linked together. There are a few reasons why connecting your Nintendo Account to your NNID could benefit your gaming experience, like being able to combine your eShop funds across devices. Here’s how to link your NNID with your Nintendo Account.
How to link you Nintendo ID with your Nintendo Account
What’s the difference between a Nintendo Network ID and a Nintendo Account?
The short answer is that an NNID is used to make purchases on the Wii U and 3DS, while a Nintendo Account is used to make purchases on the Switch.
To expand on that a little more, if you have a Wii U or a 3DS, you probably created an NNID to use the eShop or to access multiplayer functions and other system-wide interactions.
When Nintendo launched Miitomo, it brought with it a new type of registration called a Nintendo Account. This account lets you connect to Facebook and Twitter to find friends and keeps track of rewards you earn and friends you’ve made. It was later implemented into Super Mario Run with similar features, and again when Fire Emblem: Heroes launched.
With the Switch, the company has used the Nintendo Account as your means of making purchases and finding friends. Again, when you sign in with your Nintendo Account, you will see suggested friends you already have on Miitomo, Mario Run, and Fire Emblem: Heroes.
The main reason to link your NNID with your Nintendo Account is to merge your eShop funds. If you’ve got $10 or $100 left on NNID account for your Wii U or your 3DS (or both, since you can merge Wii U and 3DS), you can merge those funds with your Nintendo Account and use the money across all devices.
Another advantage of combining your accounts are for the My Nintendo rewards. You earn points for completing achievements in games connected to your Nintendo Account. Those points can be redeemed for rewards that can be used across all your Nintendo devices. I redeemed my points for a sweet Zelda 30th Anniversary theme for my 3DS, even though I had earned those points by playing Nintendo games on my iPhone.
How to link your Nintendo Network ID to your Nintendo Account
If you have an NNID and want to link it to your Nintendo Account, you can do so by visiting accounts.nintendo.com from a web browser.
You’ll need the username and password for both your Nintendo Account and your NNID, so be sure to have them handy.
- Navigate to accounts.nintendo.com from a web browser.
- Enter the email address and password associated with your Nintendo Account.
- Select User info from the menu on the left side.
- Scroll down and select Edit next to Linked accounts.
- Tick the box next to Nintendo Network ID.
- Enter the User name and password associated with your NNID if prompted.
Now, you can head over to the eShop on your Switch and merge your funds, so you can buy games across all your Nintendo devices (well, three of them, at least) using the same account.
How to unlink your Nintendo Network ID from your Nintendo Account
I can’t imagine any reason you’d want to unlink your two accounts once you’ve linked them, but that is an option.
Note: If you unlink your NNID account from your Nintendo Account, all funds will transfer to your Nintendo Account. You can re-merge your funds again if you re-link your accounts in the future.
- Navigate to accounts.nintendo.com from a web browser.
- Enter the email address and password associated with your Nintendo Account.
- Select User info from the menu on the left side.
- Scroll down and select Edit next to Linked accounts.
- Untick the box next to the linked Nintendo Network ID.
- Now you know how to link or unlink your Nintendo ID with your Nintendo Account. This will help with transferring any data from one console to another like when bringing data from your Nintendo 3DS to your Nintendo Switch.
