If the Nintendo eShop drives you a little crazy, good news: there’s a fan-made alternative that comes packed with some serious quality improvements. Introducing Better eShop, built by the website Nintendo Life. Don’t worry, it’s not something you enter banking information into; it’s a browser plug-in that streamlines your experience while using the eShop with content filters. All purchases are still made through Nintendo’s official website.
The Nintendo eShop has long been a thorn in fan’s sides. Between the closing of old eShops and the number of changes fans have requested, it has never been the best experience to navigate. The existing filters are already pretty useful, too. All but one filter is enabled by default, but the one carrying the most weight is the Shovelware filter with 6,106 games. Browsing the store is a much more enjoyable time when you can tell at a glance that the games shown are quality titles.
Other features include the ability to submit reviews for games and read those others have left, browse ongoing sales right from the front page, and even check the best selling games per region. If you prefer dark mode, that can be enabled with the click of a button, and unmuting the store plays the iconic Wii Shop Channel tune for an added dose of nostalgia. The team behind Better eShop plans to add more functionality in the future, including the ability to mute specific publishers, add screenshots, and create your own wishlist.
Better eShop is free to use and available for the moment, but the site is aware of Nintendo’s stance on emulation and anything that infringes on its copyright. It’s possible the site could be shut down soon, and on it’s about page, Better eShop says “Data has been collected from various sources and is updated daily. It’s quite possible that Nintendo will start blocking us from gathering the data — but until then, we will continue to build and improve the Better eShop.”
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Unfortunately, this is only for use on browsers. It’s unlikely to come to the Nintendo Switch console unless Nintendo takes the hint and updates the interface. Whether it will still be compatible after the Nintendo Switch 2 launches isn’t clear, but until then, it’s a tool that’s worth a look.