Homebrew Japanese Consoles, Region Change, SOAP Transfer, System Transfer, & Pokémon Bank… A Fact-Finding Mission

[AbolishIPLaws]

I am looking to upgrade from my OLD 3DS to one of those glorious New2DS LL’s being sold online for way cheaper than US/EU versions. But I do not want to lose the ability to use Pokémon Bank. I’d like to have a better understanding of all the options, the risks and benefits of each, and hear from you about your experience attempting each method, so I can make a guide for everyone to use for future reference.

As far as I’ve been able to understand it, I have 3 options:

Option 1: “Just Learn Japanese, Bro lol”​

1. Buy Japaneses device
2. mod it
3. Use Luma Locale Switcher for US games that don’t like being played on a Japanese device.
4. ???
5. Profit

Pros:

• Low likelihood of screwing anything up
• Can transfer Pokémon via Bank via the moving key

Cons:

• Still gotta see Kanji. How often? How annoying is it?
• Gotta set everything up from scratch since we’re not doing a system transfer.

Option 2: “bye bye Butterfree X a million”​

AKA: ‘Blow Up the Bank’

1. Buy Japaneses device
2. Mod it
3. Do a Region Change
4. Do a system transfer, then put old SD card in new system & use faketik to get your games back. full instructions here

• I also found these other guides but I’m not sure what circumstances they’d be relevant.

Pros

• Everything’s in English
• Saves all your games’ data

Cons

• Cannot use any online services, including Pokémon Bank

Option 3: SOAP Transfer​

SOAP stands for “Simple Object Access Protocol,” a communication method used for accessing services over HTTP. It makes it so you can still access online services even after doing a region change. This explains how to do it but it’s best to leave it to the professionals. The procedure is thus:

1. Buy Japaneses device
2. mod it
3. Do a Region Change
4. Join the Homebrew Discord Server here
5. Go to #3ds-assistance-1, and explain that your eShop isn't working after a region change and that you need someone to help you with a SOAP transfer to fix it.
6. Wait a bit, and those with donor consoles will help you out. The staff will create a private channel for you and the helper where you will upload your otp.bin to complete the SOAP process.
7. Nintendo will put a one week cooldown on system transfers. After a week, do a system transfer, then put old SD card in new system & use faketik to get your games back. full instructions here
8. If everything goes right, you should now be on your regions NNID, with all your games, AND still have access to online services like Pokémon Bank.
9. I also found these other guides but I’m not sure what circumstances they’d be relevant.

Pros

• You get everything you’ve ever wanted and saved like $50-$100.

Cons

• Apparently SOAP Transfers don’t always work? I’ve asked the Discord and they made it seem like it wouldn’t be a problem, but I read elsewhere that they can fail
• You’re putting your trust and sending files to people you don’t know on the internet who may or may not be able to help you.
• Takes more time than other methods. Up to a week?

I’d like to know if there’s anything I’m missing here, any steps I don’t have listed, any pros or cons not mentioned. I’d love to hear from others about their experiences following either of these 3 methods, or if you went down a different route.



Thanks!

 

[J-Will]

This is what I needed! Thank you!