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I have just bought a Switch and on startup it asks which region I am in:

  • The Americas
  • Europe
  • Australia/New Zealand
  • Japan

What difference will it make choosing one region over another, and will I be stuck with that region one I choose it?

I live in Australia, but sometimes live in Europe. But I would likely source my games from all over the place. Which region should I choose?

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The region affects visual changes in some games and the choice is reversible as many times as you want.

You can change the region and language settings as many times as you want. The location of this setting is...

HOME Menu > System Settings (Gear Icon) > System > Region

  • Note that this requires a restart of the Switch.

This can affect aesthetic changes in many games if they are set up to take data from the console. For example in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild the temperature could be listed as either °F (when set to the US) or °C (when set to Australia). Changing this may also affect the language choices available.

As a personal anecdote; I have bought a Nintendo Switch in Japan with a Japanese The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild game (physical copy). Changing the locale settings to Australia and the language to English has made the games text, dialogue and startup images change from Japanese to English and the displayed temperature appear as Celsius.

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  • Does changing console region allow you access to a different eShop? Or do you need to create a new account in different region?
    – Schneider
    Commented Apr 4, 2017 at 5:20
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    @Schneider Your account is region locked to that regions' e-Shop, so yes, you will need to create a separate account for each regions' e-Shop you wish to purchase from (up to a limit of 8 accounts per console from memory). Games purchased on any account on the Switch can be played by any other account however, as game progress is also tied to each account, bear in mind that progress on <insert game name> for account A will not carry over to account B (and can not currently, officially be transferred/copied). I can confirm that DLC follows the same formula.
    – The Wandering Coder
    Commented Apr 4, 2017 at 6:23
  • I'm not sure about that. I could switch to the US, JP and back to the EU store just fine, however the only requirement is that you empty your balance in the current region's store. The store contents do indeed vary by region.
    – rctgamer3
    Commented Apr 8, 2017 at 19:48

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