Nintendo DS Region Free?

[Dave Baumann]

Sorry if this has been answered before, but I introduced the idea of an NDS to a work college as a XMas pressy for his son and having looked at it he's really keen, however they are not available over here until Feb '05. Does anyone know if NDS will be region free such that a US version can be purchased and used over here?

 

[Magnum PI]

i read there and there that DS is region free

http://www.cube-europe.com/news.php?nid=7086

 

[Tysan]

Yup region free, the language its also configurable.

 

[thop]

Yes. If this guys son has a GBA SP already (he probably does), he can even use the GBA recharger to charge the DS, else you'd have to buy a 110V/220V converter.

 

[cthellis42]

It's supposed to be, but I don't think I've seen anyone testing it yet to see if there are any problems.

 

[CeiserSöze]

Play-Asia has received their JPN DSs and had this to say:

No region encoding - play games from any region on any system
Once again as announced before, we would again confirm that Nintendo DSâ„¢ consoles as well as software titles have no region protection. You are able to play your American DS games on Japanese consoles and vice versa. The same compatibility has been announced for the upcoming Asian as well as European DS models and games.

Wireless link compatibility
We have tested linking up a Japanese Nintendo DSâ„¢ along with a US Nintendo DSâ„¢ model with positive results. Despite earlier rumours, you can link consoles from different regions without any problems. We have tested this feature using the Pictochat application as well as the Mario 64 DS mini game download function.

Sounds good

 

[Dave Baumann]

Cheers guys

 

[jvd]

Dave be carefull. 90% of the games work but my friend has the new pokemon from london (where she lives) and it wont work on my ds .All my jap tittles work though.

 

[StefanS]

Dave,
Nintendo themselves said that games from all regions could be played. However, they did advise against using peripherals from different region as problems could occur.

 

[Dave Baumann]

OK, they went ahead and got one - it arrived this morning (looks pretty neat from the brief look I had). However, the instructions for changing the language to English were pretty vague, has anyone got any more insights as to how to do this?

 

[PC-Engine]

OK, they went ahead and got one - it arrived this morning (looks pretty neat from the brief look I had). However, the instructions for changing the language to English were pretty vague, has anyone got any more insights as to how to do this?

In the options menu select the little square icon on the bottom center of the screen. That will bring you to the submenu. From there select the wrench icon then globe icon. English should be the first rectangle on the left. After you select it keep pressing B until you get to the screen with a question. The question asks if you want to shutdown so press A.

Edit: Do the above selections with the stylus, it's more interesting.

 

[London Geezer]

The question asks if you want to shutdown so press A.

Reboot?
My god, i'm too used to the old school Gameboy... Now there's rebooting business on portables...
I'm so old.

 

[Dave Baumann]

OK, they went ahead and got one - it arrived this morning (looks pretty neat from the brief look I had). However, the instructions for changing the language to English were pretty vague, has anyone got any more insights as to how to do this?

In the options menu select the little square icon on the bottom center of the screen. That will bring you to the submenu. From there select the wrench icon then globe icon. English should be the first rectangle on the left. After you select it keep pressing B until you get to the screen with a question. The question asks if you want to shutdown so press A.

Edit: Do the above selections with the stylus, it's more interesting.

From what I could see, upon boot up the lower screen ould display a keyboard with Japanese characters, pressing the A/1 button on the screen changed that to english charactacers on the keyboard, however what we couldn't see what how to then navigate to the options. How do you go frme there to the options?

 

[PC-Engine]

Oh ok upon first boot you have to pick a username, DOB, etc so just pick anything and hit enter (you can change it later). Once you've entered all of the info then proceed to the options mention I described above. I don't remember the exact first boot procedure as mine is already setup so I can't go back and reset it to factory.

 

[Dave Baumann]

OK, great. Thanks for that.

 

[Kalin]

I now officially hate you all! I want one too
When was the release date in Europe again? I bet it's not around NY, the only time I'm going to have the chance to get one in the following months...

Edit: End of March 2005... oh well, I hope the list of launch titles will be worth the wait.