Hardware Just to confirm - a NA Switch console can run Japanese games in Japanese and buy from (J) shop, yes?

[Hanafuda]

My daughter has a Switch which I've played on a bit, but except for Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart, I personally haven't been that into the system or felt like buying one for myself. So I'm not all that familiar. But I remember back around launch reading that it was pretty much region free. My wife is Japanese and she's an Animal Crossing (Doubutsu no Mori) addict. She wants to buy a Switch Lite and the game in March. Before she plops down the money, just want to make sure ... she can get on the Japanese shop, get the Japanese version of the game, and play it in Japanese, yes? Any special things we need to know to do this, for example does she need to tell the Switch she's in Japan, will there be any issues with playing the game online, etc?

 

[Agilato]

There is no such thing as Region lock on modern consoles.
This days companies manage prices for digital copies of games in online stores based on registration location of the user account.
Here is Full manual by Nintendo: https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/22283/~/regional-compatibility-faq

 

[godreborn]

it's my understanding that you need a Japanese account to buy from the Japanese shop. afaik, accounts only have access to one region's content. I don't know if this is correct, but I remember not being able to redeem coins for a different region's game.

edit: not sure if that's confusing, but what I mean is the system is region free, so it will play Japanese games. however, your account is tied to a certain region's eshop (I think).

 

[Shadow#1]

it's my understanding that you need a Japanese account to buy from the Japanese shop. afaik, accounts only have access to one region's content. I don't know if this is correct, but I remember not being able to redeem coins for a different region's game.

edit: not sure if that's confusing, but what I mean is the system is region free, so it will play Japanese games. however, your account is tied to a certain region's eshop (I think).

Should of made a JPN account to redeem thoes points

 

[godreborn]

I don't know what region the game was from. it said usa on it, but I think it was some sort of bootleg. it won't tell you the region either in system settings or even when you get the coin error message.

 

[Cyberniki]

Here is how I did it:
1) Made new account(used just for jap eShop) using my computer (accounts.nintendo.com) and set my country of residence to Japan/my time zone to (UTC+09:00) Asia/Tokyo
2) After verification go on your switch>system settings>user>add user
3) Pick 'Sign In and Link'
4) Enter the Japanese account credentials
Now if you open eShop it should ask for a user. If you pick the Japanese account you should see Japanese eShop, if you pick local you'll see your local one.
Special things you might need to look for:
Some credit/debit cards will be straight out refused if you want to buy a game form different region but you can buy Nintendo eShop cards if you have problems with your bank/card etc.
Hopefully someone will find it useful. Don't kill me for my English it's not my native language.

 

[Shadow#1]

I don't know what region the game was from. it said usa on it, but I think it was some sort of bootleg. it won't tell you the region either in system settings or even when you get the coin error message.

There is no such thing as a "bootleg" switch game cart

 

[Hanafuda]

Here is how I did it:
1) Made new account(used just for jap eShop) using my computer (accounts.nintendo.com) and set my country of residence to Japan/my time zone to (UTC+09:00) Asia/Tokyo
2) After verification go on your switch>system settings>user>add user
3) Pick 'Sign In and Link'
4) Enter the Japanese account credentials
Now if you open eShop it should ask for a user. If you pick the Japanese account you should see Japanese eShop, if you pick local you'll see your local one.
Special things you might need to look for:
Some credit/debit cards will be straight out refused if you want to buy a game form different region but you can buy Nintendo eShop cards if you have problems with your bank/card etc.
Hopefully someone will find it useful. Don't kill me for my English it's not my native language.

Very helpful. Thank you.

 

[godreborn]

I had forgotten about possible credit card issues. I have a Japanese account on my ps4 to redeem a voucher. all of my other systems have just one account on them.

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There is no such thing as a "bootleg" switch game cart

then, what do you call this?

it says usa like the rest, but it's not the usa version.

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there's also this:

two poi games with different ids, yet same region

 

[Shadow#1]

I had forgotten about possible credit card issues. I have a Japanese account on my ps4 to redeem a voucher. all of my other systems have just one account on them.

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then, what do you call this?

it says usa like the rest, but it's not the usa version.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

there's also this:

two poi games with different ids, yet same region

That's not a bootleg

 

[godreborn]

I don't know what else to call it. it's the only game I have that registers different, and the guy I bought it from said that he bought it in the usa.

 

[MichaelShawJr]

I don't know what else to call it. it's the only game I have that registers different, and the guy I bought it from said that he bought it in the usa.

The switch does this if the games are from different regions

 

[godreborn]

that's what doesn't make sense. I bought the game again on the eshop, so I effectively have two usa versions of the game. they must have different title ids.

 

[ZachyCatGames]

that's what doesn't make sense. I bought the game again on the eshop, so I effectively have two usa versions of the game. they must have different title ids.

Dump them both and check