I have 20+ hours of flying coming up, thinking a Nintendo Switch might be a good investment. But I have never been in the Nintendo ecosystem and have no clue how their region locking works. I know if I buy a Japanese switch I can play western games, but can I create some account (from… I guess there is some Nintendo store?) with a Japanese credit card? Does Nintendo restrict accounts via some form of geolocation (as is the case with many things I have tried to sign up for, account gets rejected when the credit card address returns a Japanese address)?
Basically I only want to play breath of the wild in English on a Japanese switch. What do I need to do starting from zero with only Japanese credit cards? Do I need to buy a physical English version and get it shipped?
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The best thing about the Switch is that it is not region locked and games are not sold in only one language. I have a Switch bought in Japan, and my copy of Breath of the Wild was also bought in Japan, but as long as my language settings on the Switch is English, the game plays in English.
Some games like Animal Crossing ask you to choose the language at the beginning of starting a game, and you’re locked in that language. BOTW on the other hand plays in whatever language your system settings are currently in.
I have both a JP and USA account on my JP Switch. I created the USA account while in JP to take advantage of an online sale on Amazon US. Every game I have has the option for English or Japanese. I bought BotW in JP and played it in English. All games I have were bought in JP so I don’t know how USA games would work, but I assume there would be no problems.
I have around 20 switch games for my Japanese switch. As long as the software has an English release alongside the Japanese one, your system settings should default to the game’s language.
The major games usually have multiple languages, but some games that are sold here are only in Japanese, even if there’s an English version sold elsewhere. Botw has an English option.
You can do that! My switch is a Japanese switch, but I play BOTW in English. When you get a switch, make your profile language English and as long as the game has an English release, you can play it in English.
Check in japan’s store for the game and look for the language. If it includes english you can buy the physical copy and it will also be in english.
BotW is 100% English if your language is set to English, even the Japanese version.
Nice thing about the Switch is you can keep multiple accounts for multiple regions and all users can play them. So if you need a say EU exclusive, make an EU account and buy your game. All profiles can use it.
In my experience Nintendo are definitely better than PlayStation regarding this, but you still need to be careful.
My digital copy of RE4 on Switch is Japanese only even though the audio is English.
Games like Kingdom Hearts or Yakuza have separate versions that were released in Japan first, so you need to be careful there also.
Make an account abroad (where u are from)
Buy games online. Can also use Amazon vouchers
As others have said, the vast majority of games are not locked to a specific language. *But some are.* At least in the sense that the cartridge and/or download will only work for the language it was purchased in.
For these few games, you can still just buy the English version and play it on your bought-in-Japan Switch, but you do need to make sure you don’t accidentally buy the wrong version.
Off the top of my head, two common games that work this way are Splatoon and Xenoblade Chronicles.
You can use one Nintendo account for both regions if you have a credit card from Japan and another of your home country. Just switch the region on your account and the eshop will change.
Secondly unless it’s a Japanese release only most switch games have multiple languages
Nintendo Language Guide is a website specifically to check which Japanese Switch games have support in other languages. Absolutely check this site before you buy any physical games–it will save you a lot of trouble.
Switch is not region locked but some games may not have certain language supported so you must always check the support language before buying a certain game. Ask online before buying or buy from English eshop servers, etc.
The majority of games automatically load in English if your device language is English, or you can choose the language in the menus. The major exception is I believe Splatoon. You can try to check on the internet before buying a game whether it’s available in English or not.