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OP
Just to clear things up
I know there are guides on this already. Why do you want another one. Well, maybe this will be more visually stimulating, maybe more helpful. Either way, it doesn't matter. I made this to help those like me who are wondering what is the big deal.
Table of Contents
I know there are guides on this already. Why do you want another one. Well, maybe this will be more visually stimulating, maybe more helpful. Either way, it doesn't matter. I made this to help those like me who are wondering what is the big deal.
Table of Contents
- What is "Region-Rotation"?
- What can I get out of "Region-Rotation"?
- Warnings
- How to "Region-Rotate" your switch
- Pros/Cons of these methods
- Personal Suggestion
- FAQS
What is "Region-Rotation"?
Before I answer this question, I just want to clarify that Region-Rotation is a term made-up by me. I created it in lack of better terms. Region swapping/switching is a term used in the hacking scene to completely change the system region. For the 3ds, this would happen by completely replacing your emuNAND with a different regions firmware. This was useful to download/play out-of-region games without installing CIAs from piracy sites.Nintendo played it smart when they made the Switch region free. This took away one of the major motives of homebrew. You can purchase Japanese, European, and North American games and play them all on the same console. The only thing they didn't do was allow this same strategy to hit the eShop. Each region's eshop can only be accessed by the corresponding My Nintendo account.
Region-Rotation is the concept of being able to access every eshop from the same console, without hacking.
What can I get out of "Region-Rotation"?
The end user who just wants to play games can't really get a whole lot out of Region-Rotation. However, those gamers who want to get outside of their comfort zone can easily gain a lot from Region-Rotation.There are already certain games that have come out in Japan that haven't hit the U.S. or European eShop's yet (I believe one of them being the complete PuyoPuyo Tetris game). These games are obviously going to be a struggle to read unless they have a language option which you can read. There will be games like this in the future regarding European releases and sometimes even North American releases.
In conclusion, if you want to have access to whatever game you want that has come out in at least one region, you can play it.
Warnings
- You can only purchase out of region games either with a credit-card from that region, or a Nintendo Eshop card code from that region. Obtain these however you like, without using theft.
- Your account will be drained of all funds if you have any left. Obviously, you shouldn't care if you have $0.50 in there but if you have the max of $200 you should wait until you have spent all of it. I do not recommend doing this all at once.
- I am not responsible for any settings you change without looking at your region. If you somehow manage to brick your entire system because you decided to press buttons that were in Japanese, that is not my fault.
How to "Region-Rotate" your Switch
Now that your interest has been piqued, you may be wondering, "How can I do this?". Lucky for you, I wrote this guide so you wouldn't have to do it yourself:
[Method 1] Using an external internet browser:
- If you haven't installed Google Chrome, (A) Why are you even browsing this forum? (B) I used it for this guide so it is safe to say it is in your best interest to use it for completing this. Download Google Chrome here
- The first thing you should do is create a new folder. I recommend doing this in an area that doesn't get frequent file purges. E.g. Personally, I would not want this in my downloads or my desktop. I would put it in my Documents folder because I never purge that.
- If you haven't already made a My Nintendo account, create one and link it to your Switch. There are probably guides for this all over the place, so go find one on google.
- After you have gone through the My Nintendo rewards tutorial, go to this page.
- The first box should be titled "Profile" or whatever that translates to in your language. Click the [Edit] button to the right of the word "Profile"
- Right click anywhere on the page and click [Save As]
- Remember that folder you created earlier? Save this as [The region your account is currently].html. Make sure that the "Save as Type:" drop down box says "Webpage, complete".
- If you aren't sure what timezone your My Nintendo profile is and should be once this is over, right it down or screenshot it. We don't want you to forget that.
- Now it is time to change your region. I am going to do Japan first, since that is the one I am most interested in. Don't worry, I will do Europe as well. Change your Country/region of residence to Japan. There is only one timezone so don't worry about changing that.
- Press the big green button that says "Save Changes". It will then ask for confirmation that you know you are changing your region. Select I agree.
- Congratulations! You have successfully changed your region. In order to test this, try and enter the Switch's eShop from the Region-changed account. If you get a message that says this, then you did it correctly.
- Now its time to go spend some yen on the Japanese esh- Wait! We forgot about Europe.
- Again, navigate here. Click [Edit] to the right of the word "Profile" once again.
- Before changing any settings, right click anywhere on the page and select [Save As].
- Once again, go back to the folder that was made what seems like an eternity ago. Make sure the "Save as Type:" drop down box says "Webpage, complete". Save as [new region].html. You may notice a new folder we didn't create. Whatever it says, don't delete it. It is important and don't ever delete it. This is why you didn't do this in a place that gets file purges.
- Now, edit your Country/Region of residence to any place in Europe. I chose Finland because I know it will be in English and its currency is similar in value to the USA's. (1 USD = 0.94 Euros).
- Once again, choose "Save Changes" and then "I Agree"
- Congratulations! You just changed your region a second time! If you signed into your Nintendo Account on your Switch after the first region change, go back and do it again to check if your region was actually changed.
- The last thing we need to do is to save our European settings. So, go here.
- Press [Edit] to the right of the word "Profile".
- Don't edit anything. Right click anywhere on the page, click [Save As]. Save it as a "Webpage, complete" and save it as [New region].html.
- Exit the webpage without reverting back to your old region. Do you remember that folder you have been saving to? Go there. By now it should look like this.
- Open the HTML document for whatever your old region was in Google Chrome. It should look like this.
- If yours doesn't open the file, but rather a web address, redo the process. Your nickname should be blank and if you are living in an area with multiple time zones, chances are your Time Zone will be incorrect as well.
- Enter your nickname and the correct time zone. Then press "Save As" and then "I agree"
- This should change your region. Try doing the eShop method again.
- If it works, Congratulations! You have completed this method of Region-Rotation. If you want to go ahead and do the next method, it won't hurt you at all.
[Method 2] Different Accounts:
- If you have a switch, chances are that you already have created a My Nintendo account and linked it to your Switch. Well Nintendo's brilliant decision to add more profiles gives us the chance to make profiles with different regions. So, go here.
- Whatever your original email is, make a new account using it as follows.
- Replace the "xxx" with whatever region code you want. E.g. [email protected]
- This just gives the program an idea that you are using a real email but it reroutes back to your actual email (for me [email protected])
- Once you have created and logged in to that account, go here
- Change your country/region of residence to whatever country you want as long as it falls under the NA, EUR, or JPN categories.
- Make a new User on your switch and link it to that Nintendo account. Now you can log in to the eshop as that user and access the corresponding eshop.
- Repeat steps 2-7 again but with the other missing region and you are done with this method.
Pros/Cons of Each Method:
Method 1
Pros:Method 1
- Doesn't take up multiple accounts
- All purchases go to one account. If you are like me and actually want to use the My Nintendo rewards, this is a great thing.
- Doesn't require more than one email address or even access to one.
- Very long process to set up
- It takes longer to switch between eShops
- Very unappealing to read
- Very appealing to look at. Both on the console and the guide.
- Very little time to switch between eShops.
- Hardly any setup time
- Multiple accounts
- Purchases are seperate
- Requires access to an email address
I personally have both of these methods completed. Let me explain why.
I personally am a huge fan of My Nintendo. I can't wait until they post their switch offers so that I can apply my points that I earned to my Switch library. I abhor that the multiple accounts method pushes the rewards into different My Nintendo accounts. As far as I know, there is know way to gift these rewards points, so they are stuck until they expire.
I use the multiple accounts method to browse the eshop. If I find something that catches my eye, I will use the external browser method to switch my main account's region so I can add up my rewards points.
You can do what you want, but this is how I do things, and I recommend it to everybody who decides to use Region-Rotation.
FAQ's
None as of now. If a question gets asked 5 or more times then I will add it to the FAQ's.
Credits: Irdk who to add here
