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Nintendo Switch Online in a pfSense network

Nintendo Switch online gaming with a pfsense router (How to achieve NAT Type B e.g. for Animal Crossing!)

nook-nsense

This info may be outdated as I've done this few years ago on pfsense 2.4.5 for the purpose of visiting friends' islands in Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the Nintendo Switch. It's been a while since I've played, but I imagine this still works.

Status > DHCP Leases

  • Find the MAC address of your Switch
  • Click the Add static mapping button add_static_mapping
  • Give it an IP Address in the subnet your interface is on, and a Description like "Nintendo Switch"
    Save

Firewall > NAT > Outbound

  • Add a mapping with the Nintendo Switch IP and Static Port checked under the Translation > Port or Range section

outbound_rules

We want to achieve NAT Type B to be able to traverse islands in AC:NH (and probably other games with online features), and by default, my Switch was on NAT Type D while connected to my network. After hours of playing around, I finally found that the above steps worked.