Things have been brewing in the realm of the 3DS. People are upset about the New 3DS situation, since North Americans will only be receiving the New 3DS XL. It’s understandable. Every other region is getting that model, and it’s the only one with delightful faceplates. Not to mention, some people prefer a smaller model system. It’s only reasonable for people to feel let down because they aren’t at least getting the option to choose a model. Fortunately, there’s potential for an easy fix. All Nintendo would have to do is release a firmware patch that eliminates the 3DS region lock.
Yes, it really would be that easy. People may have thought that the 3DS region lock was something ingrained with the system and difficult to remove. However, a hacker named Smealum has shown that it isn’t. A mod allows anyone to play games from any region on a 2DS or 3DS, simply by adding a launcher.dat file to a SD card and following a few easy steps. It isn’t illegal. It doesn’t require custom firmware or flashcarts. Just a small piece of data and a little work around.
Which proves that it should be as easy for Nintendo to bypass the 3DS region lock and make all 2DS, 3DS, and New 3DS systems region-free. I mean, if a hacker can do it, then people with inside and official access should have no problem getting rid of the pesky inhibitor. Removing the restriction, which is outdated and limited to the DSi and 3DS generations of Nintendo handhelds anyway, will allow people the luxury of choice. If the region lock was removed, people who wanted a New 3DS instead of a New 3DS XL would only have to import. While it wouldn’t be Nintendo of America getting the money, at least an official branch of Nintendo would.
It would also make 3DS fans in general happy. There are many 3DS games that haven’t been released outside of Japan. In the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and DS generations, this was a nonissue. It’s only this handheld generation that a problem arose. Which meant if someone wanted a game like Puyo Puyo Tetris or Taiko Drum Master , they would have had to import a Japanese system. (Like I did, last year.) The Smealum mod allows this, so long as someone doesn’t perform the inevitable firmware update that will naturally end up removing the exploit. An official update would show that Nintendo noticed the demand for region free and make the company something of a hero.
Plus, it would alleviate concerns about piracy. One of the reasons why a flashcart is in demand for the 3DS generation is due to a desire by fans to play games they can’t access. People want to play the games that aren’t released in their region, or perhaps play games abroad when traveling, and region free would let them do so without resorting to drastic measures to make that possible. Of course, that isn’t a problem at the moment, thanks to the aforementioned 2DS and 3DS bypass, but that workaround won’t be viable forever. Nintendo doesn’t allow exploits to exist. Which is unfortunate, since it does so much good.
The real point is, Nintendo is on the receiving end of some bad publicity. The company doesn’t need that, especially given the Wii U’s past performance. It doesn’t need more bad press with a new iteration of the 3DS coming out. Officially coming out and banishing the 3DS region lock would be the best possible move for the company. Especially since it’s been proven to be painless. Of course, there’s little chance of it actually happening, but it would be the best solution of it did.