Change Locale Setting to China, Japan, or South Korea on any 3DS with Luma CFW/Homebrew

NOTE: This is not a guide to region change your 3DS. This only changes your locale setting in System Settings > Other Settings > Profile. See Plailect's Region Changing Guide if you want to change your device's region.

I saw this trick on an old YouTube video a while ago, but since it was deleted I thought I would share it here. It's how to change your locale setting to China, Japan, or South Korea regardless of what region your 3DS is! All you need is access to the Homebrew Launcher or Luma CFW. It's kind of useless (unless you want to play with a specific region in an online game like Animal Crossing or something, which is obsoleted by RyDog's Animal Crossing NTR Plugin anyway), but hey, it looks cool!

Please note that this doesn't work for any other regions you select using the apps in this guide (TWN, EUR etc.) because CHN, JPN, and KOR are the only regions which automatically write their default locale region to your profile upon launching System Settings before the app crashes (all the other regions don't have this functionality and System Settings will just crash without changing anything)

For Homebrew Users:
1. Ensure that you have HANS on your SD card in the /3ds folder (it's included in the Homebrew Starter Kit that can be downloaded here)
2. Launch the Homebrew Launcher.
3. Select "HANS" as the homebrew you want to launch.
4. When prompted to select an app, scroll using the left/right D-Pad until you see "System Settings".
5. Press A
6. Set the HANS configuration to the following:

Region: CHN (for China), JPN (for Japan) or KOR (for South Korea)
Language: --
FW Version Spoof: NO
N3DS CPU Clock: 268Mhz
Code -> SD: NO
Romfs -> SD: NO

*Use left/right D-Pad to select options and down/up D-Pad to scroll down menu

7: Highlight "OK" and press A
8: A glitched screen will appear. Force shutdown your 3DS by holding down the Power Button until the power LED turns off.
9: Turn on your 3DS again.
10. Launch System Settings.
11. Go to Other Settings > Profile and if successful your locale setting should be changed :)

For Luma Users:
1. Ensure that you have Luma Locale Switcher by Possum installed on your 3DS (CIA file download here)
2. Launch Luma Locale Switcher.
3. Select "Titles"
4. Press Y to show NAND titles.
5. Scroll down the menu until you see "System Settings". Highlight it and press A
6. Select "Change Region"
7. Select CHN (for China), JPN (for Japan) or KOR (for South Korea)
8. Press any button.
9. Press B two times, and then press the START button
10. Turn off your 3DS
11. Turn on your 3DS while holding the SELECT button. This should launch the Luma configuration screen.
12. Ensure that you have "Enable game patching" turned on.
13. Press the START button
14. Launch "System Settings"
15. This will cause an exception handler screen (or "An error has occurred" pop-up)
16. Turn off your 3DS
17. Turn on your 3DS again while holding the SELECT button. This should launch the Luma configuration screen (again).
18. Turn "Enable game patching" off.
19. Press the START button
20. Launch System Settings.
21. Go to Other Settings > Profile and if successful your locale setting should be changed :)

NOTE: If you want game patching to be enabled but also want to use System Settings without it crashing, repeat steps 2 to 5, but instead of selecting "Change Region", select "Use System Default". This will not change the locale setting on your profile.

Haven't tested the Homebrew method on firmware 11.9.0 yet, but I'm 99% sure it still works since the method has worked for a few years now without a problem. Thank y'all!

Finished Result: https://imgur.com/a/fEyG2k2
 

ThoD

GBATemp Addict (apparently), but more like "bored"
Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2017
Messages
3,631
Trophies
1
Age
27
XP
3,049
Country
Greece
Guide is proper and all, but I gotta ask, what is even the point with this when we have region free patching from Luma, EULA setter for online play with out-of-region games and so on without any hassle? Just curious a bit:unsure:
 
  • Like
Reactions: QCLasky and Hmed

PigeonPigeon

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
Messages
18
Trophies
0
XP
138
Country
Canada
Guide is proper and all, but I gotta ask, what is even the point with this when we have region free patching from Luma, EULA setter for online play with out-of-region games and so on without any hassle? Just curious a bit:unsure:
Because it looks swag B-)
 
  • Like
Reactions: ThoD

lynbutnot

Member
Newcomer
Joined
Feb 22, 2020
Messages
12
Trophies
0
XP
56
Country
United States
Is there a way to change it back? Stupidly not knowing about the ACNL country spoofer, I did this, and now I can't open Flipnote (error code 0xc8804471, it has something to do with an incorrect region I think) and Homebrew is in Japanese. Flipnote's the major problem, I can read Japanese okay, but it would be nice to have them both back the way they're supposed to be. Can I fix this at all?
 
Last edited by lynbutnot,

lone_wolf323

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 27, 2011
Messages
5,455
Trophies
2
XP
4,871
Country
Canada
Is there a way to change it back? Stupidly not knowing about the ACNL country spoofer, I did this, and now I can't open Flipnote (error code 0xc8804471, it has something to do with an incorrect region I think) and Homebrew is in Japanese. Flipnote's the major problem, I can read Japanese okay, but it would be nice to have them both back the way they're supposed to be. Can I fix this at all?
Did you make a nand backup with the console in us before switching to jp?
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy: *teleports behind you* "Nothing personnel, kiddo" +1