The Difference Between Region Free and Region Locked
All 3DS XLs are region-locked. Japanese games and European games do not work properly on a North American 3DS XL, if at all. This restriction applies to all versions of the Nintendo 3DS XL and its games. Japanese games do not work on a European Nintendo 3DS XL, North American games do not work on a Japanese Nintendo 3DS XL, and so on. Systems that are capable of communicating with compatible games regardless of the territory they’re manufactured in are referred to as “region free,” which the 3DS XL is not.
Why Nintendo Region Locks the 3DS XL
Nintendo has come under a lot of fire for region-locking its hardware, but the company defended its decision in a VG247 article published in 2011: There are hacks that allow you to remove Nintendo 3DS XL region-locking, but they’re often quickly overridden by hardware updates. They can also be unstable, so use them at your own risk.
