Here’s how to play Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Early

The release of Game Freak‘s latest installment of the critically acclaimed Pokémon series draws near. Launching November 18th at 12AM local time, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet promises to be the first open world RPG in the series. Fans of the 26 year old global phenomenon have been looking for every possible way to get their hands on the game early. Thankfully, much like other platforms and consoles, making your way to the Paldea region ahead of schedule can be achieved. Here’s how to play Pokémon Scarlet and Violet early.

How to play Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Early

The process of unlocking Pokémon Scarlet and Violet early may take a bit of digital country hopping. Because the game releases at a local time for every region, swapping regions on a Nintendo account will unlock the game early. In order to do this players will need to do one of two things. They can either change their country of residence on a current Nintendo account, or create a new Nintendo account in a different region.

Changing your region on a current Nintendo account can provide a bit more issues than the latter choice. To do so, people must make their way over to Nintendo’s website. Log in to your current Nintendo account and go over to the account settings. Once there, there will be an option to edit your profile, including your country of residence. If there are any funds in your Nintendo wallet before you change regions, those funds will be removed from your account once changing regions. This can cause some problems for people who have money in their accounts currently and don’t have anything to spend it on.

How to create a Nintendo Account in a different region

Creating a new account can bypass all of the aforementioned issues. This process starts the same as the first with you making your way to Nintendo’s website. After loading the website select ‘Create a Nintendo Account‘. Fill in your date of birth along with any other needed information like email, and password. Make sure to select the country/region of residence that you would like. If you’re in the U.S., countries such as Japan or Australia will be the best choice for receiving the game as early as possible.

When purchasing games on your new Nintendo account, normal means of payment such as a credit card will most likely not work on an account in a different region than your own. Players will need to ascertain Nintendo E-Shop gift cards matching the region of the Nintendo account. Doing so for a Japan account can be as simple as going over to a website like PlayAsia. For people who chose Australia or other regions might need to do some searching around for legitimate gift cards.

Using this method to play Pokémon Scarlet and Violet early will give players a chance to experience the new generation of Pokémon sooner rather than later. Players using this method in California will still get the game a bit earlier than someone in New York, but both will still unlock the game before everyone else.

People wanting to find out the new gym types or the new starter evolutions should check out our other great articles only on Gamer Journalist.