Region-Free or Region-Locked?
A lot of our inventory comes from Japan, and the first question is always the same: “will it play my games?” Here’s the honest answer, console by console.
Plays retail games from any region on completely stock hardware. A Japanese unit plays US games out of the box — nothing has been modified.
Only plays games from its own region as sold. If one of these plays imports, hardware has been modified — and if it’s ours, the listing says so plainly.
Somewhere in between — cross-region play works for some games or regions but not others. Check the notes for the specifics.
nintendo.regions()
| Console | Imports? | The fine print |
|---|---|---|
| Game Boy / Pocket / Color | Region-free | Fully region-free. Japanese carts play on US consoles and vice versa — only the on-cart language differs. |
| Game Boy Advance / SP / Micro | Region-free | Fully region-free, including the SP and Micro. Japanese GBA games run on any GBA. |
| Game Boy (original DMG) | Region-free | Fully region-free — any Game Boy cart from any region plays. |
| Nintendo 3DS / 2DS family | Region-locked | Region-locked. A Japanese 3DS only plays Japanese 3DS games (original DS carts remain region-free on it). |
| Nintendo DSi / DSi XL | Partial | Regular DS carts are region-free. DSi-exclusive carts and DSiWare are region-locked. |
| Nintendo DS / DS Lite | Region-free | Region-free for all standard DS and Game Boy Advance carts. A Japanese DS Lite plays US games out of the box — no modification needed. |
| Switch / Switch 2 | Region-free | Fully region-free — cartridges and (with a matching-region account) digital stores from any region work. |
| GameCube | Region-locked | Region-locked. Playing another region’s discs requires a hardware modification (e.g. a region switch) or a boot disc. |
| Wii U | Region-locked | Region-locked for both discs and the eShop. |
| Wii | Region-locked | Region-locked. Cross-region play requires a software or hardware modification. |
| NES / Famicom | Region-locked | Region-locked by lockout chip, and Famicom carts are a different shape entirely — adapters or modification required. |
| SNES / Super Famicom | Partial | US and Japanese carts are electrically compatible (the cart slot shape is the only barrier between them), but PAL is chip-locked. |
| Nintendo 64 | Partial | US and Japanese carts are electrically compatible behind different cart-shell shapes; PAL is locked. |
sony.regions()
| Console | Imports? | The fine print |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation 5 | Region-free | Region-free for disc games. |
| PlayStation 4 | Region-free | Region-free for disc games. DLC must match the region the game disc was published in. |
| PlayStation 3 | Region-free | PS3 discs are region-free. PS1/PS2 discs played on backward-compatible models are still region-locked. |
| PlayStation 2 | Region-locked | Region-locked. Cross-region play requires a modchip or swap tricks. |
| PS Vita | Region-free | Game cards are region-free. The digital store follows your account region (one account per memory card). |
| PSP | Region-free | UMD games are region-free (UMD movies are not). Japanese games play on US systems out of the box. |
| PlayStation (PS1) | Region-locked | Region-locked. Cross-region play requires a modchip. |
sega.regions()
| Console | Imports? | The fine print |
|---|---|---|
| Game Gear | Region-free | Region-free — carts from any region play. |
| Genesis / Mega Drive | Partial | Many games run cross-region (cart shell shape aside), but some titles check the region and refuse to boot. |
| Master System | Partial | US and European games are interchangeable. The Japanese Mark III uses a different cart format. |
| Saturn | Region-locked | Region-locked. Cross-region play requires a modification or a cart-slot bypass. |
| Dreamcast | Region-locked | Region-locked. Cross-region play requires a boot disc or a modification (e.g. GDEMU). |
microsoft.regions()
| Console | Imports? | The fine print |
|---|---|---|
| Xbox Series X|S | Region-free | Region-free for disc games. |
| Xbox One | Region-free | Region-free for disc games. |
| Xbox 360 | Partial | Region locking was the publisher’s choice — many games are locked, some aren’t. Check per title. |
| Xbox (original) | Region-locked | Region-locked. Cross-region play requires a modification. |
other.regions()
| Console | Imports? | The fine print |
|---|---|---|
| TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine | Region-locked | Region-locked — US and Japanese cards are physically keyed and pin-scrambled. Adapters or modification required. |
| Neo Geo AES | Region-free | Carts are region-free — the console region only sets the display language. |
What “modified” means in our shop
When a region-locked console in our inventory plays imports, that isn’t luck — it has been physically modified (a region switch, a modchip, an optical drive emulator). We flag those listings with a modified-hardware notice, describe exactly what was changed, and never include games or copyrighted software with any console.
And when a Japanese console is region-free by design — like a DS Lite or a PSP — saying “plays US games” is simply how the hardware works. Nothing was modified, and the listing won’t pretend otherwise in either direction.
One more thing for CRT-era hardware: region locks aside, NTSC (US/Japan) and PAL (Europe) are different video standards. A Japanese and a US console are both NTSC, so they pair naturally — PAL equipment may need a compatible display regardless of region locks.