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Japanese 3ds owners?

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Yep, curious how many of you actually have a Japanese 3ds console of any model here? Either because you actually live there or wanted that snazzy LE model or games that will never be released here (or was never done before).

I got mine in the mail last week; the Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Velvet Model one, old 3ds XL/LL. Aside from the OST, game and that cool pouch they also sent me an extra stylus and a protective case. Bought mine off Japanese yahoo/Yahouku! auctions through a shopping service. Yes I know this one was released in the US but it's one of my favorite models (along with Monster Hunter 3G white/red one).

Mainly got it for Pok?mon Sun (and Moon) and its events and well, my younger self had a dream of having one due to region locks for Pok?mon events and whatnot games.

Have to admit some parts were a bit tricky to set-up (such as some Mii Plaza commands.. accidentally stuffed a game into the vault when I shouldn't have lol).. But I like it soo much more than those boring EU ones I had before imo. There are good guides out there though if you need help (let me know and I can find em I think). But as long as you can read some hiragana and katakana you should be alright, and since the menus are the same on eu/us ones shouldn't be too hard.

1mIdUK8.png


Here is mine inside that pouch and with the case one (my bf has one of these as well, although it's the US region one).
 
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I currently own 3 Japanese 3DS models. One of which is a Ice White vanilla 3DS, one is a 30th Luigi Anniversary 3DS LL, and the last one is the regular white New 3DS model.

What made me gotten into getting a foreign 3DS in first place was the games that might never come in North America. Unfortunately, that selling point is becoming more and more a moot one, due on how much easier getting a Japan-only game out to worldwide has gotten nowadays. And that dampened a lot of my interest on continuing playing with my Japanese 3DSes.


The first game I purchased was a Game Boy game called Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru (translated into "For Frog the Bell Tolls"). Its engine being the basis for the critically-acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was what compelled me to try this one out. I still managed to enjoy the game with the assistance of a walkthrough, despite lacking fundamentals in Japanese.

Around late October 2012, I started to realize that I had the opportunity to play Animal Crossing: New Leaf before 90% of the Animal Crossing community would. Launched on November 7th 2012 in Japan, I ended up downloading the game two days later and then posted bits and bobs that weren't mentioned anywhere else in the English communities. Being one of the few non-Japanese players before the game launching 7 months later was such an one-of-a-kind exhilarating experience. Thanks to my sheer amount of determination and motivation, I ended up memorizing pretty much all of those hiraganas and katakanas and acknowledged some grammar as a result.

I also did the same with Tomodachi Life to a lesser extent, thinking it would never come outside of Japan. You wouldn't be surprised to hear that I grew bored of the game pretty quickly afterwards and wouldn't touch it again. There are differences between this version and the international ones, which mostly pertain to cultural differences between those regions. If you've already experienced Tomodachi Life, then the Japanese version of it wouldn't be likely changing your mind.

I also bought E.X. Troopers, which is a 2012 Japan-exclusive title that was released on PS3 and 3DS. I never played much of it, but from what I've seen so far, the gameplay reminds me of the cancelled Mega Man Legends 3. This Lost Plant spinoff is a pretty straightforward third-person action shooter game with more emphasis on combat and cooperation to some extent. The objectives are often clearly laid out without needing much Japanese know-how, and navigating through the menus isn't even a Herculean task. I really need to get on it someday, but for some reason I kept being sidetracked by many other games.
 
Cool you have 3 of them though, don't think I'd go that hardcore unless I would be very hardcore with Pok?mon again :p And, well not a lot of Japan games make it here (or they take years to even translate and get here if at all they only do like eshop crap..) I wouldn't say that would make me lose interest, rather the opposite and actually import one Japanese region due to that.. and Pok?mon exclusives and other games.

And yeah I tried the Welcome version of TL, I can say it was pretty meh since it was just some free, emptier version and I already play Miitomo which is enough since you don't have to look after your Mii in the same way and it's pretty fun to waste money on to play sometimes.

Yeah, I had several Japanese gameboy games and I think I had that Daigassou Band Brothers in Japanese for the regular DS console as well. :3 Not too hard to navigate as long as you basic phrases :p

I must say I am impressed with the amount of 3ds themes Japan has though, from that Gudetama egg thing to pop idols and stuff we also got here in the west. And stuff we don't get of course.
 
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