Software region

Software regions are regions used for the purposes of and digital content distribution by Nintendo for some of their consoles. Region-locking is used in all systems in the Nintendo DSi family and the Nintendo 3DS family, and all Nintendo home consoles prior to the Nintendo Switch.
Most markets only retail one region of system and games, to prevent consumers accidentally purchasing games that are not compatible with their own system. However, in some locations, notably the Middle East and Southeast Asia, multiple different regions of system are retailed.
Software regions are used to prevent physical copies of games being played on systems of a different region. This means that, for example, a Japanese region copy of Pokémon X cannot be played on an American region Nintendo 3DS system (without modifications to the 3DS).
==Game Boy and Game Boy Color==
The Game Boy and Game Boy Color families are not region-locked. However, Japanese Pokémon games for these consoles cannot properly communicate with games in any other languages; attempting to do so can cause corruption on both ends of the link.
Special event distributions for the Generation I and games are only restricted by the inability of Japanese events to be received by games in other languages, and events in other languages cannot be received by Japanese games.
==Game Boy Advance==
The Game Boy Advance family is not region-locked.
Special event distributions for the Generation III games are restricted by language, rather than region.
==Nintendo DS and DSi==
The Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite are not region-locked, with the exception of the DS, which can play Nintendo DS games, but its games cannot be played on other region systems.
There are five regions for the Nintendo DSi family, as well as one for the iQue DSi (the equivalent of the Nintendo DSi in mainland China). Each region has an associated letter used to represent it, which can be found at the end of the Nintendo DSi firmware version number. The regions do not have publicly known official names, so the names used for the regions on Bulbapedia are purely descriptive.
Region-locking does not apply to Nintendo DS games, which can be played regardless of region, but does apply to Nintendo DSi-enhanced and DSi-exclusive games. It also does not apply to DSi-enhanced games when played on an original Nintendo DS, because region-locking on the Nintendo DSi is merely a software restriction and not a technical one.
Regions are also used to restrict the list of countries that can selected from when choosing the country for the Nintendo DSi Shop. This means that American region systems cannot select Japan as their home country.
===Regions===
Code	Name 	Primary markets
JPN 	Japanese region 	Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong
USA 	American region 	The Americas
EUR 	European region 	Europe, South Africa, Russia
AUS 	Australian region	Australia, New Zealand
KOR 	Korean region 	South Korea
CHN 	Chinese region 	Mainland China
===Games===
Due to region-locking, some Nintendo DSi-enhanced and DSi-exclusive games cannot be played on all Nintendo DSi systems. The Japanese, American, European and Australian regions dominate the other regions in the number of available games.
Below is a list of Nintendo DSi-enhanced Pokémon games, indicating whether they were released for each market of Nintendo DSi.
Certain versions of Nintendo DSi-enhanced Pokémon games can be played with hardware from other markets, however.
At minimum, the English versions of Pokémon Black, White, Black 2, and White 2 can be played on hardware from many markets, and the American and Australian versions of Pokémon Conquest are compatible with hardware from each other's market.
First release 	Game 	J	U	E	A	K	C
September 18, 2010	 	 	 	 	 	 	
March 17, 2012 	Pokémon Conquest	 	 	 	 	 	
June 23, 2012 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
===Distributions===
Special event distributions for the Generation IV and games are restricted by language, rather than region.
==Nintendo 3DS==
There are five regions for the Nintendo 3DS family, as well as one for the 3DS XL (the equivalent of the Nintendo 3DS XL in mainland China). Each region has an associated letter used to represent it, which can be found at the end of the Nintendo 3DS firmware version number. The regions do not have publicly known official names, so the names used for the regions on Bulbapedia are purely descriptive.
Region-locking does not apply to backwards compatibility with Nintendo DS games, but does apply to Nintendo DSi-enhanced and DSi-exclusive games. Since the European and Australian regions were recombined, PAL region European / Australian 3DS consoles may support more games than DSi consoles from the same market. Region-locking is merely a software restriction and not a technical one, as fans have created hacks that allow region-locking to be bypassed.
Regions are also used to restrict the list of countries that can selected from when choosing the country for the Nintendo eShop. This means that American region systems cannot select Japan as their home country.
The Nintendo 3DS Theme Shop and its contents are also restricted by region. Only Japanese, American, and PAL region systems have access to the Theme Shop (other regions do not have changeable themes at all).
===Regions===
Code	Name 	Primary markets
JPN 	Japanese region 	Japan
USA 	American region 	The Americas, U.A.E, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Singapore
EUR 	PAL region 	Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia
KOR 	Korean region 	South Korea
TWN 	Taiwanese region	Taiwan, Hong Kong
CHN 	Chinese region 	Mainland China
===Games===
Due to region-locking, some Nintendo 3DS games cannot be played on all Nintendo 3DS systems due to not being released for some regions. The Japanese, American and European regions dominate the other regions in the number of available games. However, despite region-locking, other features may still access games of any region (even if they cannot be played on that system). For main series games this includes communicating with Pokémon Bank, reading the game's manual, and transferring save data with the Save Data Transfer Tool.
 released for the Taiwanese region that also support Simplified Chinese are also compatible with Chinese region consoles.
Below is a list of Nintendo 3DS Pokémon games, indicating whether they can be played on each region of Nintendo 3DS. Games marked with a gray boxĀ were not released in Mainland China, but can be played using physical cartridges from the Taiwanese region.
First release 	Game 	J	U	E	K	T	C
June 6, 2011 	Pokédex 3D 	 	 	 	 	 	
August 11, 2011 	Pokémon Rumble Blast 	 	 	 	 	 	
June 23, 2012 	Pokémon Dream Radar 	 	 	 	 	 	
July 14, 2012 	Pokédex 3D Pro 	 	 	 	 	 	
November 23, 2012 	Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity 	 	 	 	 	 	
October 12, 2013 	Pokémon X and Y 	 	 	 	 	 	
December 25, 2013 	Pokémon Bank 	 	 	 	 	 	
December 25, 2013 	Poké Transporter 	 	 	 	 	 	
March 12, 2014 	Pokémon Battle Trozei 	 	 	 	 	 	
June 5, 2014 	The Thieves and the 1000 Pokémon 	 	 	 	 	 	
June 19, 2014 	Pokémon Art Academy 	 	 	 	 	 	
September 13, 2014	Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS 	 	 	 	 	 	
October 15, 2014 	Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire Special Demo Version	 	 	 	 	 	
November 21, 2014 	Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire 	 	 	 	 	 	
February 18, 2015 	Pokémon Shuffle 	 	 	 	 	 	
April 8, 2015 	Pokémon Rumble World 	 	 	 	 	 	
September 17, 2015	Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon 	 	 	 	 	 	
December 2, 2015 	Pokémon Picross 	 	 	 	 	 	
February 3, 2016 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
October 18, 2016 	Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon Special Demo Version 	 	 	 	 	 	
November 18, 2016 	Pokémon Sun and Moon 	 	 	 	 	 	
November 17, 2017 	Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon 	 	 	 	 	 	
====Virtual Console====
First release 	Game 	J	U	E	K	T	C
July 10, 2014 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
November 6, 2014 	Pokémon Puzzle Challenge	 	 	 	 	 	
February 27, 2016 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
February 27, 2016 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
February 27, 2016 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
February 27, 2016 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
September 22, 2017	 	 	 	 	 	 	
January 26, 2018 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
===Distributions===
Special event distributions for the Generation VI and games are restricted by region for Nintendo Zone, serial code, and Nintendo Network distributions. Local wireless and infrared distributions are not region-locked.
Events in Hong Kong and Taiwan are generally made available for Taiwanese, Japanese, and PAL region systems.
==Super Nintendo Entertainment System==
There are three regions for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The regions do not have publicly known official names, so the names used for the regions on Bulbapedia are purely descriptive.
Region-locking on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System between NTSC regions is merely a physical restriction and not a technical one. It is possible to remove plastic tabs from an American region system so that it can play both Japanese and American region games; however, because American region game cartridges are larger than Japanese region ones, they do not fit in the Japanese region Super Famicom and so cannot be played on it without removing the console's top shell.
Conversely, due to PAL and NTSC games using different video standards, PAL games cannot be played on NTSC systems due to technical limitations, and vice versa.
===Regions===
Code	Name 	Primary markets 	Television system
JPN 	Japanese region	Japan 	NTSC
USA 	American region	The Americas 	NTSC
EUR 	PAL region 	Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia	PAL
===Games===
Due to region-locking, some SNES games cannot be played on all SNES systems due to not being released for some regions.
Below is a list of SNES Pokémon games, indicating whether they can be played on each region of SNES.
First release 	Game 	J	U	E
June 14, 1994 	Super Game Boy 	 	 	
January 30, 1998	Super Game Boy 2 	 	 	
April 1998 	Monthly Coin Toss: Pokémon Card Magazine	 	 	
April 1, 1999 	Picross NP Vol. 1 	 	 	
==Nintendo 64==
There are three regions for the Nintendo 64, as well as one for the Player (the equivalent of the Nintendo 64 in mainland China). The regions do not have publicly known official names, so the names used for the regions on Bulbapedia are purely descriptive.
Region-locking on the Nintendo 64 between NTSC regions is merely a physical restriction and not a technical one; the difference is the position of tabs on the back of cartridges and the corresponding game port on the console itself. It is possible to remove plastic tabs from an NTSC system so that it can play NTSC games from both regions. However, due to PAL and NTSC games using different video standards, PAL games cannot be played on NTSC systems due to technical limitations, and vice versa.
===Regions===
Code	Name 	Primary markets 	Television system
JPN 	Japanese region	Japan 	NTSC
USA 	American region	The Americas 	NTSC
EUR 	PAL region 	Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia	PAL
CHN 	Chinese region 	Mainland China 	PAL
===Games===
Due to region-locking, some Nintendo 64 games cannot be played on all Nintendo 64 systems due to not being released for some regions.
Below is a list of Nintendo 64 Pokémon games, indicating whether they can be played on each region of Nintendo 64.
First release 	Game 	J	U	E	C
August 1, 1998 	Pokémon Stadium (Japanese)	 	 	 	
January 21, 1999 	Hey You, Pikachu! 	 	 	 	
January 21, 1999 	Super Smash Bros. 	 	 	 	
March 21, 1999 	Pokémon Snap 	 	 	 	
April 30, 1999 	Pokémon Stadium 	 	 	 	
September 25, 2000	Pokémon Puzzle League 	 	 	 	
December 14, 2000 	Pokémon Stadium 2 	 	 	 	
 
==Nintendo GameCube==
There are three regions for the Nintendo GameCube. The regions do not have publicly known official names, so the names used for the regions on Bulbapedia are purely descriptive.
Region-locking on the Nintendo GameCube is merely a software restriction and not a technical one, as fans have created hacks that allow region-locking to be bypassed.
===Regions===
Code	Name 	Primary markets 	Television system
JPN 	Japanese region	Japan 	NTSC
USA 	American region	The Americas 	NTSC
EUR 	PAL region 	Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia	PAL
===Games===
Due to region-locking, some Nintendo GameCube games cannot be played on all Nintendo GameCube systems due to not being released for some regions. However, all Nintendo GameCube Pokémon games can be played on each region.
==Wii==
There are four regions for the Wii. Each region has an associated letter used to represent it, which can be found at the end of the Wii firmware version number. The regions do not have publicly known official names, so the names used for the regions on Bulbapedia are purely descriptive.
Regions are also used to restrict the list of countries that can selected from when choosing the country for the Wii Shop Channel. This means that American region systems cannot select Japan as their home country.
Region-locking on the Wii is merely a software restriction and not a technical one, as fans have created hacks that allow region-locking to be bypassed.
===Regions===
Code	Name 	Primary markets
JPN 	Japanese region	Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong
USA 	American region	The Americas
EUR 	PAL region 	Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia
KOR 	Korean region 	South Korea
===Games===
Due to region-locking, some Wii games cannot be played on all Wii systems due to not being released for some regions. The Japanese, American and European regions dominate the other regions in the number of available games.
Below is a list of Wii Pokémon games, indicating whether they can be played on each region of Wii.
First release 	Game 	J	U	E	K
December 14, 2006	Pokémon Battle Revolution 	 	 	 	
January 31, 2008 	Super Smash Bros. Brawl 	 	 	 	
March 25, 2008 	My Pokémon Ranch 	 	 	 	
June 16, 2009 	Pokémon Rumble 	 	 	 	
August 4, 2009 	Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (WiiWare)	 	 	 	
December 5, 2009 	PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure	 	 	 	
November 12, 2011	PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond 	 	 	 	
====Virtual Console====
First release 	Game 	J	U	E	K
December 4, 2007	Pokémon Snap 	 	 	 	
March 30, 2008 	Pokémon Puzzle League	 	 	 	
January 20, 2009	Super Smash Bros. 	 	 	 	
==Wii U==
There are three regions for the Wii U. Each region has an associated letter used to represent it, which can be found at the end of the Wii U firmware version number. The regions do not have publicly known official names, so the names used for the regions on Bulbapedia are purely descriptive.
Regions are also used to restrict the list of countries that can selected from when choosing the country for the Nintendo eShop. This means that American region systems cannot select Japan as their home country.
Region-locking on the Wii U is merely a software restriction and not a technical one, as fans have created hacks that allow region-locking to be bypassed.
===Regions===
Code	Name 	Primary markets
JPN 	Japanese region	Japan
USA 	American region	The Americas
EUR 	PAL region 	Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia
===Games===
Due to region-locking, some Wii U games cannot be played on all Wii U systems due to not being released for that region. However, all Wii U Pokémon games can be played on each region.
==Nintendo Switch==
Outside of , the Nintendo Switch is not region-locked; however, there are five regions for the Nintendo Switch that can be changed freely in the System Settings menu. The Hong Kong / Taiwan / South Korea region was added in version 8.0.0. The Nintendo eShop uses the country of the associated Nintendo Account.
The region cannot be changed on Nintendo Switch consoles distributed by in Mainland China. Although all physical cartridges can still be played on these consoles regardless of region, only the Mainland Chinese Nintendo eShop is accessible. The Mainland Chinese Nintendo eShop cannot be accessed nor can physical cartridges distributed in Mainland China be played on Nintendo Switch consoles from other regions.
Region-locking on the Nintendo Switch is merely a software restriction and not a technical one, as fans have created hacks that allow region-locking to be bypassed.
===Regions===
Code 	Product region	Name 	Primary markets
JPN 	Japan 	Japan 	Japan
USA 	USA 	The Americas 	The Americas
EUR 	Europe 	Europe 	Europe, South Africa, Russia
AUS 	Europe 	Australia / New Zealand 	Australia, New Zealand
CHTKORASI	Asia 	Hong Kong / Taiwan / South Korea	Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea
CHN 	China 	— 	Mainland China
===Games===
Due to region-locking, some Nintendo Switch games cannot be played on all Nintendo Switch systems due to not being released for some regions. This only affects games without physical releases that have not been released in Mainland China (as a Mainland Chinese Nintendo Switch cannot access the eShop to purchase them) and games released exclusively in Mainland China (as Nintendo Switch consoles from other regions cannot access the mainland China eShop to purchase them and physical cartridges cannot be read).
Below is a list of Nintendo Switch Pokémon games, indicating whether they can be played on each region of the Nintendo Switch. Games marked with a gray box have not been released in Mainland China and no announcement has been made on if they will be, but they can be played using physical cartridges from other regions.
First release 	Game 	I	C
September 22, 2017	Pokkén Tournament DX 	 	
May 30, 2018 	Pokémon Quest 	 	
November 16, 2018 	Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!	 	
December 7, 2018 	Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 	 	
November 15, 2019 	Pokémon Sword and Shield 	 	
February 12, 2020 	Pokémon HOME 	 	
March 6, 2020 	Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX 	 	
June 24, 2020 	Pokémon Café ReMix 	 	
April 30, 2021 	New Pokémon Snap 	 	
July 21, 2021 	Pokémon UNITE 	 	
November 19, 2021 	Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl 	 	
January 28, 2022 	Pokémon Legends: Arceus 	 	
November 18, 2022 	Pokémon Scarlet and Violet 	 	
Some games do not support all languages in all regions, meaning that, for example, a copy of purchased physically in Japan or digitally on the Japanese eShop can only be played in Japanese, despite being released in other languages elsewhere. This also applies to DLC, which for some games must be purchased from the same region eShop as the game. Only copies released in Mainland China have this restriction for Pokémon games, as they can only be played in Simplified Chinese. Players from other regions can access DLC and select any language regardless of where they purchased the cartridge.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the region determines whether American English, Canadian French, and Latin American Spanish or British English, European French, and Castilian Spanish translations are used.
===Distributions===
Special event distributions for Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! are only restricted by region between the international versions and the mainland Chinese versions. However, the in the Poké Ball Plus is not region-locked, and can be freely redeemed in either version.
Category:Game mechanics
it:Codici regionali