A while ago I posted about how my 3DS was stolen, and got some good feedback. I purchased a 3DS XL and it is set to arrive tomorrow (Friday), but today, a friend of mine linked me to this Reddit post about how this guy was able to get his digital goods back, and it got me curious. Could the same happen to me? Before you answer, there's a lot you need to know.

I never registered anything with Club Nintendo. Foolish, I know, but until now, I didn't think it was crucial to Nintendo's confusing online process. It wasn't like PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. I still have the box to my stolen 3DS, and with it, literally registered the system with a freshly-made Club Nintendo account today.

I realize that a call to Nintendo's customer service will be required. To get my digital purchases back, would I have had to register each one of them with Club Nintendo when I purchased them? Or is the simple act of me registering my 3DS enough?

I don't know exactly what you have to do, but good luck. I have basically accepted the fact that whenever my 3DS bites the dust or gets stolen, I'm SOL on everything I bought.

Nintendo introducing Network IDs without some kind of purchase linking is still mind boggling.

I don't know, do you have a police report? I feel like Club Nintendo would only be a further reassurance to Nintendo that you definitely bought the stuff, but it's not proof that your 3DS was stolen. Did you have a lot of stuff on it? Unfortunately, I don't think you can simply re-register your new one and have all your games unlocked as Nintendo is stellar about online service and games are locked to each individual 3DS, not your ID or anything like that. At least not yet. (Hopefully) That would be something to discuss with customer service. Best of luck man, I'm curious to see how this turns out.

@strainedeyes: I've heard that I'll need a police report, fortunately I dealt with this kind of thing a couple months back. Hoping for the best!

@phazon: I don't think Club Nintendo is required for anything really (except the free stuff they'll send you). They've got a record of what games were bought for your system but this list of eShop purchases is technically separate from Club Nintendo (though you can "link" them to earn club coins for downloadable games).

Anyway, I don't have personal experience with this but since you've got the police report you should be good. Maybe they'll want a photo of the original box too or something like that. TBH it would look more suspicious than not (to me) that you registered the system on Club Nintendo after it was stolen, but it probably won't matter given the police report. The few times I had to deal with Nintendo customer service (broken DS hinge; Wii graphics glitches) they were really good about taking care of my problem and sending me a new system with everything where it should be: good luck!

A Nintendo 3DS user recently contacted Nintendo of America’s customer service, and asked about whether digital Nintendo 3DSgames could be recovered, if the handheld console was stolen or misplaced. A customer service representative for the company replied by reiterating that all digital content on the Nintendo 3DS is tied to the system itself, and, therefore, lost or stolen digital games and applications purchased from the Nintendo eShop cannot be retrieved.

… I was wondering, should I lose or have my 3DS stolen, is there any way to retrieve the games that I’ve purchased on the eshop? I am curious about your policy on this, and especially when so many young kids play 3DS and could potentially lose them. I know on the iphone and PSP, you are tied to an account to which you can retrieve your games. How does it work for Nintendo? Should I be worried about buying my little nephew eshop points?

Nintendo of America customer service representative: Thank you for writing. I’ll be happy to answer your questions regarding virtual content on the Nintendo 3DS. All virtual content downloaded on the Nintendo 3DS is tied to the system itself. As our warranty doesn’t cover lost or stolen game cards and systems, if this were to happen regardless of your games being virtual or you owning the physical copies, they would not be covered for replacement. …

From: http://mynintendonews.com/2013/04/22/nintendo-reitterates-it-wont-replace-lost-or-stolen-digital-3ds-games/

Same here. Holding on for dear life.

From what I've heard on the net only one person was lucky enough to get his shit replaced and that's cause he was a high up at a game company and knew some nintendo people who were willing to help'em out. Anyways good luck man, I'd be pissed if I couldn't get my shit replaced.

@i_stay_puft said:

This is a very important point. As far as policy goes, they've not chosen to make any promises (which is why many of us are curious how everything will turn out for @phazon). This reminds me of Steam's return policy, where officially all purchases are final but they have been known to refund things on a case-by-case basis (and I guess a few extraordinary blanket refunds lately). Hopefully Nintendo will be cool and take care of him (from other anecdotes, there doesn't seem to be any technical barrier on their side in this kind of situation).

Well I'll hope for the best. Honestly I was expecting to be SOL until literally today, so we'll see.

@phazon: Any news?