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I guess it was just hearsay then. I'm not much of a gamer but my friends never seemed to have any complaints and I do recall mixing and matching now and again (though on what systems I'm going to be second guessing from now on). Apparently the Gamecube had region protection as well.

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Nintendo's home consoles have always been region-locked, via intentional hardware differences on the NES/Famicom, SNES, and n64, and via software means on everything newer. The Game Boy line and original DS (including DS Lite) are not region-locked at all. The DSi is regioned for DSi-enabled software, including DS/DSi hybrid software like Pokémon Black and White. The 3DS is region-locked in software.

Portable systems (Gamebox, GBA, DS) used to have no region locking.

Nor should they.

Up to the 3DS, I could play games from anywhere (I like Japanese games a lot). I have happily purchased three different generations of Nintendo portable machines and the software to go with them.

I have not purchased the 3DS.

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