Nintendo 3DS eShop Prepaid Cards Now In Some Best Buys

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Nintendo promised at launch that the Nintendo 3DS eShop was coming in May. Now, it’s coming in June 9^th, around E3 time. Despite the delay that Nintendo isn’t addressing, the prepaid points cards for the 3DS eShop have started surfacing in various Best Buy stores across the United States. You can’t use them yet, but heck, why not stock up early? (That was sarcasm).

The Nintendo DSi brought the DS family into the digital distribution era when it introduced allowing players to download games, demos and things from the DSi eShop. Not all of the stuff on there is great, but there are a few gems, and it’s probably good that Nintendo is trying this stuff. A lot of people (myself included) were shocked when Nintendo launched the 3DS without an eShop. Not only were gamers not getting new 3DS games via the eShop, but Nintendo had promised that you’d be able to import most DSi games to the 3DS, and you can’t do that until the eShop is up.

So, no eShop for now, but, the prepaid cards are out there. A user on the message board reddit posted pictures of a 3DS prepaid eShop card in his Merced, California Best Buy. Gaming blog Joystiq was told by that store’s management that yes – cards are out there, but only the $20 cards. It is also being reported that Best Buys in Manhattan and Connecticut had the prepaid cards out in the store, while Best Buys contacted by Joystiq in West Virginia and Oklahoma had no idea about the cards. So, some stores have them, others don’t (or aren’t putting them out yet).

Nintendo has apparently considered the possibility of these cards being out before the eShop, because the cards very clearly say “FOR USE ONLY AFTER Nintendo eShop IS AVAILABLE”. No idea why they’d put them out beforehand, maybe for distribution purposes. If you want them, they may be out there. They should start showing up in Walmarts and GameStops soon too.