Topic: 3DL XL bought outside of Europe

Hello everyone,
i wanted to buy myself a 3DS XL game console for Christmas...i am living in Europe but on December i will be travelling to Asia (Hong Kong) and i was thinking of buying it from there. I know that if i buy it from Asia due to the region lock i won't be able to buy games from European shops but how about the e-shop? Will i be able to download games from the European e-shop? How about the language of the game console? Will i be able to change the settings to English?

Thank you in advance and
best regards,
Panos.

@pmamatsis Make sure the system is for the PAL region (Europe). I'm not sure what region Hong Kong falls into these days, but I did buy games from Hong Kong in the past, but that must've been 10-15 years ago. Of course, it's easier if you buy a console where you live, then you're sure. Definitely check the box when you're in Hong Kong, but I believe PAL includes Hong Kong as well.

edit: Just to clarify, I don't know anything about the regions mainland China or any other Asian country fall into, I just know that Hong Kong is (used to be?) a bit of an exception.

You would be able to buy games from the eshop, but the eshop is also region locked. So it would be the eshop tied to whatever region Hong Kong belongs to.

Assuming that region supports the eshop, at all.

Thank you so much to both @Octane and @Meowpheel for your quick replies. As you put it out it seems a bit messy so yes...maybe you are correct...the best thing is if i buy from my country. One more question i have but it's a bit more towards games related...3DS XL can also use games from the previous Nintendo portable game consoles? (I am a huge fan of the classics like Mario, Zelda etc.).

Best regards,
Panos.

The 3DS family of consoles is compatible with 3DS and DS cartridges.

You can also download digital versions of several games from the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Gear, NES and SNES ("new" models only) systems.

@pmamatsis Yeah, it's backwards compatible with the DS. You can also buy digital GameBoy, GBC, NES and SNES games on the eShop.

Hi @Meowpheel thank you for your quick answer. Wow!!! These old NES titles i used to play i can get from the Intendo e-shop???

Thank you so much for your quick replies guys !

@pmamatsis depends on which games you used to play! Those you mentioned earlier? Sure.

The virtual console mostly focuses on big name and first party games. Most licenced titles like DuckTales and Tetris are not available.

You can check the full list of available games here or on wikipedia.

Here's a link