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As with a large amount of commercial media, Nintendo games have different regional formats to discourage importing and to fit the corresponding region's video formats. These restrictions can be bypassed however with a variety of exploits, though at the user's own risk.

Older consoles which took cartridges simply had cartridges of different shapes. For example, Japanese Famicom cartridges were much smaller and had fewer pins than American NES carts, though convertors were made, not to mention older NES carts with convertor boards in them were used to adapt games.

Disc based media starting with the GameCube has been made with different region codes based on the country's video format and region, similar to DVD/Blu-Ray region codes. Circumvention of these regional barriers was slightly easier due to devices such as the Action Replay and Freeloader which simply disabled the lockout on the GameCubes made importation favorable to some. A region code disabler through the Homebrew Channel is available on the Wii for playing import games.

Handheld consoles are not dependent on the analogue TV standards' limitation (NTSC/PAL/SECAM), however, the 3DS system software is designed to ignore a game if it does not correspond to the same region as the console (with the Chinese iQue 3DS being a special exception).

List of Video Game Regions (Wii, Wii U, DSi, 3DS)[]

Depending on the selected country, a state/province/subregion and/or time zone list may appear. The list of time zones on the 3DS and Wii U devices can only be accessed through NNID Settings > Profile Settings.[1]

NTSC Territories[]

Japan (NTSC-J)[]

JP

  • Japan
    • Aichi
    • Akita
    • Aomori
    • Chiba
    • Ehime
    • Fukui
    • Fukuoka
    • Fukushima
    • Gufy
    • Gunma
    • Hiroshima
    • Hokkaido
    • Hyogo
    • Ibaraki
    • Ishikawa
    • Iwate
    • Kagawa
    • Kagoshima
    • Kanagawa
    • Kochi
    • Kumamoto
    • Kyoto
    • Mie
    • Miyagi
    • Miyazaki
    • Nagano
    • Nagasaki
    • Nara
    • Niigata
    • Oita
    • Okayama
    • Okinawa
    • Osaka
    • Saga
    • Saitama
    • Shiga
    • Shimane
    • Shizuoka
    • Tochigi
    • Tokushima
    • Tokyo
    • Tottori
    • Toyama
    • Wakayama
    • Yamagata
    • Yamaguchi
    • Yamanashi

Note: These games will usually work perfectly on American consoles and vice versa without conversion issues using a lockout disabler due to both video formats being identical (NTSC).

Games of Japanese origin and systems are usually released here first.

North America (NTSC-U)[]

NA

  • Canada*
    • Alberta (AB)
    • British Columbia (BC)
    • Manitoba (MB)
    • New Brunswick (NB)
    • Newfoundland & Labrador (NL)
    • Northwest Territories (NT)
    • Nova Scotia (NS)
    • Nunavut (NU)
    • Ontario (ON)
    • Prince Edward Island (PE)
    • Quebec (QC)
    • Saskatchewan (SK)
    • Yukon (YT)
  • Mexico*
    • Aguascalientes (AG)
    • Baja California (BN)
    • Baja California Sur (BS)
    • Campeche (CP)
    • Chiapas (CS)
    • Chihuahua (CI)
    • Coahuila de Zaragoza (CH)
    • Colima (CL)
    • Distrito Federal (DF)
    • Durango (DG)
    • Guanajuato (GJ)
    • Guerrero (GE)
    • Hidalgo (HD)
    • Jalisco (JA)
    • México (MX)
    • Michoacán de Ocampo (MC)
    • Morelos (MR)
    • Nayarit (NA)
    • Nuevo León (NL)
    • Oaxaca (OA)
    • Puebla (PU)
    • Querétaro de Arteaga (QE)
    • Quintana Roo (QI)
    • San Luis Potosí (SL)
    • Sinaloa (SI)
    • Sonora (SO)
    • Tabasco (TB)
    • Tamaulipas (TA)
    • Tlaxcala (TL)
    • Veracruz-Llave (VC)
    • Yucatán (YU)
    • Zacatecas (ZA)
  • United States
    • Alabama (AL)
    • Alaska (AK)
    • Arizona (AZ)
    • Arkansas (AR)
    • California (CA)
    • Colorado (CO)
    • Connecticut (CT)
    • Delaware (DE)
    • District of Columbia (DC)
    • Florida (FL)
    • Georgia (GA)
    • Hawaii (HI)
    • Idaho (ID)
    • Illinois (IL)
    • Indiana (IN)
    • Iowa (IA)
    • Kansas (KS)
    • Kentucky (KY)
    • Louisiana (LA)
    • Maine (ME)
    • Maryland (MD)
    • Massachusetts (MA)
    • Michigan (MI)
    • Minnesota (MN)
    • Mississippi (MS)
    • Missouri (MO)
    • Montana (MT)
    • Nebraska (NE)
    • Nevada (NV)
    • New Hampshire (NH)
    • New Jersey (NJ)
    • New Mexico (NM)
    • New York (NY)
    • North Carolina (NC)
    • North Dakota (ND)
    • Ohio (OH)
    • Oklahoma (OK)
    • Oregon (OR)
    • Pennsylvania (PA)
    • Puerto Rico (PR)
    • Rhode Island (RI)
    • South Carolina (SC)
    • South Dakota (SD)
    • Tennessee (TN)
    • Texas (TX)
    • Utah (UT)
    • Vermont (VT)
    • Virginia (VA)
    • Washington (WA)
    • West Virginia (WV)
    • Wisconsin (WI)
    • Wyoming (WY)

* Note that these countries sometimes have games made exclusively for them, usually in French (NTSC-C) and Spanish (NTSC-M) respectively, these games however will still work in the other countries of this region without any modifications or lockout disabling devices. As officially listed in the 3DS Region Settings, The U region works as the Americas/Asia region, specifically in these countries:

  • Anguilla
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Argentina
  • Aruba
  • Bahamas
  • Bahrain
  • Barbados
  • Belize
  • Bolivia
  • Brazil
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Canada
  • Cayman Islands
  • Chile
  • Colombia
  • Costa Rica
  • Dominica
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • El Salvador
  • French Guiana
  • Grenada
  • Guadeloupe
  • Guatemala
  • Guyana
  • Haiti
  • Honduras
  • Indonesia
  • Jamaica
  • Kuwait
  • Malaysia
  • Martinique
  • Mexico
  • Montserrat
  • Netherlands Antilles
  • Nicaragua
  • Oman
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Singapore
  • St. Kitts and Nevis
  • St. Lucia
  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Suriname
  • Thailand
  • Timor-Leste
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Turks and Caicos Islands
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United States
  • Uruguay
  • US Virgin Islands
  • Venezuela

Note that games of Japanese origin as well as systems are usually released in this region second, with American origin games being released in this region first.

Nintendo DS Games
DSiWare
Wii Games
WiiWare
Wii Virtual Console
3DS Games
3DSWare
3DS Virtual Console

PAL Territories[]

Europe[]

EU

  • Albania
  • Andorra
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Bulgaria
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Greece
  • Germany
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Kosovo
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lichtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malta
  • Monaco
  • Montenegro
  • Netherlands
  • North Macedonia
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • San Marino
  • Serbia
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey
  • United Kingdom
  • Vatican City

Other territories with games released in this area include the following:

  • Azerbaijan
  • Faroe Islands
  • Gibraltar
  • Greenland
  • Guernsey
  • Isle of Man
  • Israel
  • Jersey
  • Lesotho
  • South Africa
  • St. Helena

Games can be imported into NTSC territories, but will have conversion issues when using a convertor and lockout disabler due to the different video formats.

Games and systems usually debut in this area third.

Australia[]

AU

  • Australia
  • New Zealand

Games from this area will work in European systems and vice versa.

Other Territories[]

  • China (C)
  • South Korea (K)
  • Hong Kong and Taiwan (T)

These countries also get releases of select Nintendo products.


List of regions (Switch)[]

The Nintendo Switch does not have region locking. However, there is still a region setting option. Unlike the Wii, DSi, 3DS, and Wii U, there is no option to select the exact country.

Japan[]

  • Japan

The Americas[]

Countries below Peru do not support the Nintendo eShop.

  • United States
  • Canada
  • Mexico
  • Brazil
  • Colombia
  • Argentina
  • Chile
  • Peru
  • Anguilla
  • Antigua & Barbuda
  • Aruba
  • Bahamas
  • Barbados
  • Belize
  • Bermuda
  • Bolivia
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Cayman Islands
  • Costa Rica
  • Dominica
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • El Salvador
  • Grenada
  • Guatemala
  • Guyana
  • Haiti
  • Honduras
  • Jamaica
  • Montserrat
  • Nicaragua
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • St. Kitts & Nevis
  • St. Lucia
  • St. Vincent & Grenadines
  • Suriname
  • Trinidad & Tobago
  • Turks & Caicos Islands
  • U.S. Virgin Islands
  • Uruguay
  • Venezuela

Europe (EMEA)[1][]

Countries below United Kingdom do not support the Nintendo eShop at this time.

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malta
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • South Africa
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom
  • Albania
  • Angola
  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Belarus
  • Benin
  • Bosnia & Herzegovina
  • Botswana
  • Burkina Faso
  • Cameroon
  • Cape Verde
  • Congo
  • Côte d'Ivoire
  • Egypt
  • Gabon
  • Gambia
  • Ghana
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • Iceland
  • Israel
  • Liechtenstein
  • Morocco
  • North Macedonia
  • Serbia
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine
  • Yemen
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

Oceania[]

Countries below New Zealand do not support the Nintendo eShop.

  • Australia
  • New Zealand
  • Fiji
  • Micronesia
  • Palau
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Solomon Islands

Asia Pacific[]

This option was made available in the 8.0.0 update for the Nintendo Switch. Any Asian countries that were placed in other regions have been moved here.

Countries below Thailand do not support the Nintendo eShop.

  • Hong Kong
  • Taiwan
  • South Korea
  • Singapore
  • Thailand
  • Malaysia
  • Philippines
  • Bangladesh
  • Brunei Darussalam
  • Cambodia
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Laos
  • Macao
  • Nepal
  • Sri Lanka
  • Vietnam

China[]

This option is only available for Tencent Switch users.

  • China mainland

All Regions[]

  • United Arab Emirates
  • Bahrain
  • Bhutan
  • Jordan
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Kuwait
  • Kazakhstan
  • Lebanon
  • Liberia
  • Moldova (Republic of)
  • Madagascar
  • Mali
  • Mongolia
  • Mauritania
  • Mauritius
  • Malawi
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Niger
  • Nigeria
  • Oman
  • Pakistan
  • Qatar
  • Rwanda
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Seychelles
  • Sierra Leone
  • Senegal
  • São Tomé and Príncipe
  • Eswatini
  • Chad
  • Togo
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkmenistan
  • Tunisia
  • Tanzania (United Republic of)
  • Uganda
  • Uzbekistan



In progress...

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