<story><title>The best Nintendo Switch feature is its lack of region-locking</title><url>https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/9/14867076/nintendo-switch-no-region-locking-awesome</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>CM30</author><text>The lack of region locking was also one of the best things about most of the handheld consoles Nintendo released beforehand. The original Game Boy, the Game Boy Colour, the GBA and the Nintendo DS were all region free as well, and it likely helped their popularity a ton, especially given how it meant you could travel with the system and be sure any games you bought while away would work with it.&lt;p&gt;Those systems may not have had an eShop, but in the days before it, I suspect not having region locking was as helpful there too.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>AdmiralAsshat</author><text>I remember the lack of region lock being a boon for the GBA and DS. The game &amp;quot;Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan&amp;quot; was popular in Japan, but Nintendo refused to localize it. It became an import favorite in the West, driving up prices on eBay and the like. Nintendo took notice and eventually made Elite Beat Agents as a Western-tailored sequel &amp;#x2F; successor to it.&lt;p&gt;Additionally, when Phoenix Wright first got localized for the DS, the print run was very small. Someone realized that the English script was already embedded into the Japanese version of the game--you simply had to go to the language options and toggle a button to switch it to English. This made importing a popular option for people who couldn&amp;#x27;t find--or didn&amp;#x27;t want to wait--for the Stateside version. I remember vividly discussing with my brothers whether we wanted to &amp;quot;risk&amp;quot; waiting for the US edition and not being able to find one, or importing and having to deal with toggling the language at every startup.</text></comment>
<story><title>The best Nintendo Switch feature is its lack of region-locking</title><url>https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/9/14867076/nintendo-switch-no-region-locking-awesome</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>CM30</author><text>The lack of region locking was also one of the best things about most of the handheld consoles Nintendo released beforehand. The original Game Boy, the Game Boy Colour, the GBA and the Nintendo DS were all region free as well, and it likely helped their popularity a ton, especially given how it meant you could travel with the system and be sure any games you bought while away would work with it.&lt;p&gt;Those systems may not have had an eShop, but in the days before it, I suspect not having region locking was as helpful there too.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>laumars</author><text>Originally region locking was more a byproduct of TV&amp;#x27;s having different output standards (NTSC vs PAL). But we&amp;#x27;re talking back in the 8bit era (and to a lesser degree, 16bit as well).&lt;p&gt;Which might explain why most handhelds were never region locked.</text></comment>