News: How to Play Nintendo 3DS Games from Any Region through RegionThree Page 1

How to Play Nintendo 3DS Games from Any Region through RegionThree

A new project from Nintendo 3DS homebrewers, RegionThree, allows players to load games from any region on the handheld.

Compared to the universal Nintendo DS, the 3DS has been plagued by the inability to play games irrespective of the region they were bought from. Those in PAL regions are unable to play NTSC games, and vice-versa.

All that's needed for players to access this ability is to pop a file onto an SD card, run Download Play and access an exploit page on the Web Browser. Internet access is required to run the RegionThree exploit each time, however.

The file does not allow players to run homebrew applications or illegally downloaded content, just physical titles from other regions. Firmware versions 9-0 to 9.4 are supported, but New Nintendo 3DS consoles aren't. Creator smealum isn't planning on supporting the newer hardware models, but the code is available for someone else to give it a crack.

For details on RegionThree and to download, be sure to visit the project page on GitHub.

Have you tried out the RegionThree exploit?

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jb 17.01.2015#1

Always intrigues me how much work these guys go into breaking, finding exploits, then releasing their efforts to the world - most without accepting any donations. Really, great stuff.

As for the region locking, Nintendo really shouldn't have done it from the start - it was one of the real appeals of the (original) DS line.

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DeltaBladeX 17.01.2015#2

Sounds useful for PAL gamers. Still, unless Dragon Quest VII finally comes out in English and remains in the US like the original version, I can't think of any games I'd want this for.

The region locking on Nintendo handhelds started with the DSi systems, which also includes any DSi enhanced games, an imported copy of say, Pokemon Black, won't work on a local DSi, despite being fine on any DS Lite or original.

It really is a shame.

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Sandy Wilson 17.01.2015#3

It's a shame Nintendo don't just patch it out I mean it can't be hard and it's a super old system to stick to.

They had a chance with the NEW 3DS to fix this but instead they keep sorting the software so that fans who want to can't buy games from elsewhere.

I own all the consoles, ask me anything

DeltaBladeX 18.01.2015#4

Sadly, it won't change. Importing is all great for customers, but companies have little incentive to offer it. Say you go and buy the newest high profile from a Japanese import site. You get the game, probably save some cash, but the local companies that hold the rights to the items don't get the cut they consider themselves deserving of. This is why many companies want to enforce regional locks.

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Flynnie 18.01.2015#5

Although I thought Iwata came out a few months ago saying something about reversing region locking in the future? So maybe not all hope is lost?

Darkflame 18.01.2015#6

Region locking gains nothing overall - it just shunts sales around. Some gains in some regions, some loses in another. Net the same.
It thus makes no sense for Nintendo published titles to have it.
3rd partys sort of make sense - if they are different publishers gaining/losing money in each area. But not when its the same company.

( Edited 18.01.2015 23:20 by Darkflame )

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DeltaBladeX 19.01.2015#7

With region lock, certain companies that would push for it are more likely to create games for the system. Some companies won't care, while others do. Atlus had titles region locked for the PS3, two of the few games that used it there. All to prevent people importing from a country with cheaper prices. Valve also put a total lock on cross region Steam trading from Russia, South America and South East Asia to put a stop to people getting the games cheaper from those countries.

The news that there might be plans to remove it would be nice though. I imagine its more for the original systems, depending on how many new releases require the additional hardware of the New model systems. If its mostly old games effected, it won't matter so much since the profit from those has already dropped.

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RudyC3 19.01.2015#8

DeltaBladeX said:
With region lock, certain companies that would push for it are more likely to create games for the system. Some companies won't care, while others do. Atlus had titles region locked for the PS3, two of the few games that used it there. All to prevent people importing from a country with cheaper prices.

That implies that it is to prevent people like Europe from importing from the US where it would be cheaper than the European release, but in those cases, players don't really care that the game is region free or not, since they can play it in their own region. It's not an issue when the game is released everywhere, but it is when the game for instance releases in Japan, North America, but not Europe. For instance, I would have liked to own a physical copy of Shin Megami Tensei IV but I can't, because of region lock.

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