How to use GameShare in Pokémon Pokopia

Pokémon Pokopia‘s GameShare feature lets you play with one other player locally by streaming from your Nintendo Switch 2 to another Switch (even an original Nintendo Switch, if you’re playing locally). However, GameShare is limited to just one area in Pokopia, and the visiting player’s role is rather limited as well.

Below, we break down how to get started using GameShare in Pokémon Pokopia and what you can do with it.

How to start GameShare in Pokémon Pokopia

GameShare in Pokopia only works in Palette Town, which you unlock shortly after starting the game.

After you learn Rock Smash from Hitmonchan:

1. Travel to the west of the Pokémon Center.
2. Use Rock Smash to clear a path between the cliffs.
3. Continue walking west, and you’ll see a bridge (the Cycling Road).
4. Use some blocks to bridge the gap between the path you’re on and the Cycling Road.

Depending on how much progress you’ve made, the game may warn you that it’s best not to visit the area beyond the road until you’ve completed more tasks. You’re fine to ignore that and continue on your merry way.

Image: Koei Tecmo, Game Freak/Nintendo, The Pokémon Company via Polygon

After a loading screen, you’ll wind up in Palette Town, get a bunch of tutorial screens, and meet Eevee. After that’s all done, you’re free to start the GameShare session.

1. Interact with the PC once you regain control of your Ditto.
2. Choose “Link Play.”
3. Pick “Invite others to visit.”
4. Select “GameShare.”
5. If you’re playing locally, select “with nearby players.” This will prompt a local GameShare session that Nintendo Switch players can join. If you’re playing via the internet, select “Via GameChat.” This will prompt you to start a GameChat session. Follow the instructions on screen to make a session and invite who you want to play with.
6. Once the players join your invitations, start the game.

If you’re playing locally (including if you’re on an original Nintendo Switch), you’ll need to do the following.

1. Select “GameShare” from the home menu.
2. Choose “join” once the system recognizes the nearby Switch 2.

If you’re receiving the invite on a Nintendo Switch 2 via internet, you’ll need to do the following:

1. Accept the GameChat invitation.
2. Accept the GameShare invitation.

You’ll land in the other player’s game world after a few moments as a pre-designed Ditto.

What can you do with GameShare in Pokémon Pokopia?

Image: Koei Tecmo, Game Freak/Nintendo, The Pokémon Company via Polygon

Not much, admittedly. The player being shared with is faced with several limits on what they can do and how they can interact with the world. The GameShare feature does not allow co-op story progression and you can’t hang out on the main islands together at all.

The visiting player can:

• Use Ditto’s abilities (whichever ones the host player has learned), except Magnet Rise
• Interact with trees and other materials like stone and leaves
• Collect items already placed in the world, such as blueprints and treasure
• Drop soil blocks and pick up soil blocks the host player drops
• Eat food dropped by the player to power up Ditto abilities

The visiting player can’t:

• Craft or open the crafting table
• Interact with Pokémon traces
• Change their appearances

The visiting player’s items will end up in the host player’s lost and found box after the session closes.

The visiting player’s role is just slightly more active than that of a spectator in Pokopia‘s other multiplayer modes, since you can build with blocks and create habitats for Pokémon. That’s about it, though.

​If you’re starting out in Pokémon Pokopia, we have guides to help you spruce up your island. We have both a Pokédex and Habitat Dex to assist in figuring out what can spawn where, and what you need to build to summon your favorite creatures. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you can also check out our beginner’s guide for some early tips and tricks to help smooth out your journey.

We also have walkthroughs for the important requests that progress the story: “Yawn up a Storm!,” “Brighten Things Up!,” “Time to Party!,” and “Build the Huge Building!”