Hello, unfortunately, I will have to start this little question as a bit of a ranting space, just felt like I need to vent as this is a problem that is giving me a really hard time. If you want to skip the story-time just don't read the next paragraph.
I wanna start by saying that I love Nintendo and while I haven't been following them for as long as most of you guys, I've never ever been let down by them, however, when it comes to the region lock I just can't help but feel somewhat discriminated, it's just awful how just because I'm from Argentina I can't even use Nintendo store (For those who aren't aware of how it works in here when you try to access it, all it allows you to do is type the code of the product you already bought and download it, you literally can't even look at the games they have in store.) and while that is something I've had to reluctantly accept in hopes of it getting better sometime soon, today it has really gone past what I can take.
After hearing the news of the new addition to pokemon SW and SH I hopped back into my game and saw that little pop-up window in the menu that talks about the new additions and decided to check it up to see just what information was available to us already but ended up just getting a message saying that the product wasn't available in my country. I always thought the whole region lock thing was stupid but didn't complain, however, when I log into my game and see publicity for a new fun-looking addition just for it once again remind me that I seem to be less important of a customer just really feels off.
With that 'little' rant over, time to go into the actual question. Can I make a new account using a different county? (Obviously referring to a North-American/European one.) And if that is the case, will I be able to use my old games as well as my current billing direction and credit card information? Or is the console itself just region locked? Also is there any way for us South-Americans to get past those issues?
EDIT: Now, regarding Pokemon SW & SH, new games don't always roll out the same day for every region. It could be you just need to wait until the new content rolls out for your region. Sometimes its a day, sometimes a week difference between regions. Plenty of people don't like waiting, and you can change your region, but read on for that info. There are caveats or things you need to know before you change regions.
(original msg:)
Good news @nicoz113 ! This time around, the Switch is not region locked! So, there should be a way to resolve this. One important piece of the puzzle, your eshop region/currency is dictated by the region you select on your Nintendo account on Nintendo's website (the settings on the Switch console have no effect on eShop, even though you will see settings on your switch.) Here in the North America we make our Nintendo accounts on https://accounts.nintendo.com. You can set your region to whatever region you want, but it will only accept that region's currency. Example, set your region to UK, and that eshop will only accept UK currency, pounds. Now, don't go rushing to change your account region, yet. If you have unspent money on your eShop, changing your region can lose that money.
Because of the possiblity of losing money on eshop, if you have unspent money there, I think you really want Nintendo level help. So, I recommend you call Nintendo customer support. Nintendo has good support. There is likely a bit more to solve your issue, which is also why I suggest Nintendo's help line.
Can you get help here on the forum? sure. Can I guarantee accurate answers and help, no. (since NIntendo Life is a news/fan site). Someone else here may know this topic very well, but I don't know who will chime in next. And I need to eat lunch here. But I at least wanted to let you know there's a solution, and to get you started. I'll check back in a bit to see if there's any more I can add.
EDIT: Here's a 5 minute Nintendo Life youtube on changing region to buy games from Japan. Even if you don't want japan, you'll see how the region system works.
@nicoz113
Also Cartridges are region free. So you can buy from anywhere. Just make sure it supports the langage you want. When you put the game in your console, it will default to whatever your region language is. In some cases, you may have to go on the eshop to download the language pack, if it's available. Some language packs are released after the cartridges are produced (or didn't fit on the cartridge) and are available on the game's eshop page.
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Topic: Help with the region lock(And venting).
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