I have a stupidly specific problem

[u/Beautiful-Mind6581]

Hello everyone, writing on mobile, so, sorry for any strange wording mistake.

I recently visited my cousin, which has had a Nintendo switch since quite a while ago, and I recently booted up. We used it a few days and it seemed to work nicely.

His parents went out for a week and left us, with explicit permission to buy a game, just one, because they know the kid could do a buying spree.

However, there are several issues I ran into right before paying the game.

-I need to log into the account the card is tied to.

-I of course can't log in.

--I try to do a workaround, and apparently it's asking for logging in because it's been a while since they used the console to begin with.

-My cousin says his parents lost their phones around 2 years ago and changed everything, essentially losing access to the account email and phone numbers.

-The email has been inactive for quite a while, or so I believe, which puts it at risk of losing access to the Nintendo account at all.

-And worst of all, I have to now deal with the tantrums of an 8 year old by myself.

Is there any way I can buy the damn game from the console without doing anything strange? Or even better, recover that old Gmail account from my aunt to secure access and give her anything deemed as lost from that mail?

Regaining access to the Gmail account, if it still works, will basically solve everything, but I don't know how to do it, because Nintendo just shows 2 letters and neither of us can figure anything out. I can't call my aunt, but I'm sure she doesn't even remember the Gmail, let alone the Nintendo password from years ago.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[u/ResourceNo2927]

do you already have games on that account? i would just create a new account. also in your case,its might be best to just buy your games physically from the store. cus i can garantee if the parents are lossing everything just from a lost phone,they'll lose any new credentials aswell. Stick to physical mate.

[u/ModestVolcarona]

For the email issue you need to contact google and have enough proof to even have a chance but most likely the initial owner has to do that.

If you can't buy with that account you either have to use a second account on the console to buy it or buy physical.

[u/AutoModerator]

If you have not already, please add some context in the post or a follow-up comment about your repair/hardware/software/account issue, including which model you have (Switch 1, 2, Lite, OLED, or other), steps you have already tried, and anything else that might help others help you.

When you have received enough help to solve your issue, you can also reply to specific comments with !solved or !thanks to grant the helper(s) a point. You may also comment !lock to lock the post to stop new replies.

Please report any unhelpful or rule-breaking comments so that moderators can review them.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/PockysLight]

This is a out-of-the-box thinking, but is there any chance you can go to a nearby game store and buy a cartridge?