Nintendo is cracking down hard on game piracy, but this is accidentally affecting people who own legitimate, secondhand Switch 1 game cartridges. So if you bought a secondhand cartridge, even from GameStop, you might want to read this before you put it on your Switch.

The main issue isn’t just about obvious illegal copies: it’s buying official, secondhand Switch 1 cartridges that Nintendo made. You can get a console ban if the previous owner of your game has “ripped” the game’s data for use on another system. You wouldn’t even know before it happened, but you’d be blamed.

This troubling situation was revealed by a Reddit user who posted that their Switch 2 was banned after they bought Switch 1 games from a popular online marketplace. The buyer saw an error message, specifically error code 0x1F727C — 2124-4025, which blocked them from accessing the eShop and all online services on their console.

The main issue is how Nintendo detects these problems. The console checks the unique key inside each game cartridge. If the same unique key is found playing on multiple consoles, it suggests the game might have been copied, leading to bans for everyone involved, even if they had no idea.

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In the reported case, it’s believed that the seller of the used games, or someone else who previously had the cartridge, had “dumped” the game’s data. This dumping process is usually done to make a digital copy of the game, often for use with devices like the MiG flashcard on a Switch 1 console. Essentially, they took the data to pirate it.

The new, legitimate owner then inserted these previously “dumped” cartridges into their Switch 2, downloaded necessary updates, and later got their console banned. The system flagged the legitimate cartridge as suspicious because its unique key had been copied elsewhere.

This is awful for anyone buying secondhand games, a practice that’s been around since video games were first sold. The company has always been hard on piracy, but this new rule hurts legitimate owners who likely did nothing wrong. Nintendo’s approach seems to treat customers as guilty until proven innocent, putting the responsibility on the consumer to prove their purchase was legitimate.

Luckily, the Redditor who was banned managed to get it reversed, but only after talking directly to Nintendo’s customer service. The process involved contacting Nintendo of America’s support page and speaking with a real person.

To convince Nintendo to unban the console, the buyer had to provide photos of the legitimately bought cartridges and proof of purchase, in this case, from the online marketplace. To be fair, this process sounds incredibly easy and Nintendo seemed to be really on top of things when it came to fixing the issue.

Apparently, the Redditor kept chat logs with the seller, which helped support the claim that the buyer had no ill intent. This proves Nintendo is willing to undo bans for legitimate Switch 2 owners, but only if they can provide enough evidence. So it’s time to keep receipts and chat logs when you buy secondhand, because Nintendo may need to be a party to these purchases.

Source: Reddit, Nintendo Life