4th Gen Clearing up the Confusion on Regions - Regional Differences in Pokémon Games

[wakachamo]

Clearing up the Confusion on Regions - Regional Differences in Pokémon Games

Note: OK I'd just like to say first of all that I'm basing this off pure speculation and logic, including some past experiences. Do also note that this post is in constant evolution, and whenever there's something new, I'll report it here.

Right, so I've noticed a recent hassle in these boards due to misunderstanding of how regional differences on the DS work - I live in Europe, should I buy Diamond in the US? Will it work? Will the online feature work? How about trading? What about somebody with a Japanese game? etc.

I'm here to clear that up.

OK, so first of all, DS games are not region-restricted. For example, you buy Elite Beat Agents for your European DS; everything will work fine.

This advantage has led many people to think about importing.
I will talk about the compatibility to the different-regioned games (US, EUR, and JP) and whether or not they can interact with each other under various circumstances. Let's start with local wireless.

Local Wireless

So far, no problem whatsoever has been encountered when it comes to Local Wireless. If you have a US game and your friend owns a Japanese one, everything will work fine, including battles, trades, making poffins/contests together etc. - The local wireless feature shouldn't in any way be affected by the region in which the game has been bought in.
When it comes to compatibility with European games, however, we can only speculate that the same thing will happen to them: no problems at all. However, we're not very sure whether or not Nintendo of Europe will decide to imply a regional blocking in local wireless. Worry not, however, since this is very unlikely to happen, especially with a game that supports online gameplay.
Mystery Gift also works between different regioned-games.

Wi-Fi

• Battles and Trades/Battle Tower Wi-Fi Room

  
  Don't worry about Wi-Fi, because everything works absolutely fine. If you have a friend overseas, and has your friend code registered, and you have his friend code etc., you'll be able to trade just like you were in front of each other. Voice chat will work, etc.
  The same thing goes to the Battle Tower Wi-Fi room. You'll be able to go on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, download a team and battle it. Even if you've imported the game, Wi-Fi will work. Hence, no problems on this side.

• Global Trade Station

  I've decided to add this to this post not because of the GTS itself. The GTS works fine, even if you imported, like I said in the paragraph above, but there's one little thing that can detract the experience:
  You'll notice that in the GTS building itself, there's a little globe called the GeoNet, which displays the location of players that you've battled/traded with in the past. The reason why it shows this is because the players themselves have specified the location in which they're in. But that's not the problem.
  If you live in Europe and imported the game from the US, how can you be so sure that the game contains the location name of which you're in? Since it's an American game, it's likely to have only the states of the US, right?
  Turns out that no. You'll still be able to choose whether you live in Bradford or Paris, etc.

So, in brief, everything works fine when it comes to Wi-Fi.

Pal Park

A little bit of confusion has risen about Pal Park. The question is, will you be able to get Pokémon off a European GBA game into a US D/P? The answer is yes, but under very special circumstances.

You CAN import Pokémon from your European GBA game, as long as it's English. If the game is French/Spanish/etc. then you won't be able to to get them off the game. You'd have to trade them onto an English GBA game and then do the importing from there.
The reason as to why this needs to be done is because Diamond and Pearl and instructed to respons to a GBA game's language. Even though GBA games DO feature region coding (a demographic location code contained within most games), that doesn't affect Diamond/Pearl.

Compatibility with Pokémon Battle Revolution, and PBR Itself

Pokémon Battle Revolution has been available in Japan since December 16th 2006, and is scheduled to release in the US June 25th of this year. This is why I'd like to give out one big warning to our European gamers out there:
Do not import Pokémon Battle Revolution if you bought your Wii in Europe. The reason for this is that Wii games are actually region-locked, and will not work in any way if they're inserted on a Wii of a region that does not match that of the game's. Sorry guys, but it looks like you'll actually haev to wait for the European release date for playing online in full 3D.

When it comes to compatibility between D/P, intially everything SHOULD work fine, regardless of regions. However, I can't guarantee this, and as soon as I get a chance of actually proving this and getting more details about this situation, I'll post it here as soon as possible. Stay tuned.

(Many thanks to Hiroshi Sotomura for the help on compiling facts for this list)

 

[Red1530]

I think you have cleared it up for our European friends about importing.

 

[Paranoia]

2nd Example.

• You have a DS. You buy an American version of Diamond. You want to battle with your friends, who own a European version of it. Will it work?
  The answer is no. Why? Because if you have an American game, trying to connect wirelessly to a European one, that won't work. The reason? Nintendo of Europe likes screwing up with local wireless capabilities, so, let's say, the encoding of the European game isn't quite the same as the American one, so they actually can't detect each other. Troublesome, I know.

Hmmm, Sorry to say but this isn't entirely true. I tested this with Tetris DS, a European version and a USA version, And they connected perfectly, I could play 2 player tetris.

Although I don't know if it will be similar with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. But as far as tetris goes, (It is made by Nintendo) it works.

 

[Ichida]

And why would they allow two different-region games to be compatible over Wi-Fi and not over local wireless?

 

[Samson]

you're using logic, waka, but we'll have to wait and see how things turn out.

 

[Ayano Katagiri]

Interesting ideas, and logically sound. But you never know, Nintendo may just let this one off and form an all round compatible game.

 

[ss5vegeta]

Will my american GBA pokemon games work on a european revolution?

 

[wakachamo]

Hmmm, Sorry to say but this isn't entirely true. I tested this with Tetris DS, a European version and a USA version, And they connected perfectly, I could play 2 player tetris.

Although I don't know if it will be similar with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. But as far as tetris goes, (It is made by Nintendo) it works.

Eh? Really? Well thanks for that. This might just turn the tables on this whole situation. Personally I'm gonna wait until I get my American version of Diamond, but thanks once again.

And why would they allow two different-region games to be compatible over Wi-Fi and not over local wireless?

Because Wi-Fi's supposed to work with all regions, and local wireless obviously shouldn't be like that.

you're using logic, waka, but we'll have to wait and see how things turn out.

Thanks, but you're right. I can't directly prove this until I get my hands on the actual game.

Interesting ideas, and logically sound. But you never know, Nintendo may just let this one off and form an all round compatible game.

That is possible, but very, very unlikely, seeing as in late 2006, Nintendo completely discouraged importing when Diamond/Pearl's details were first set off.

Will my american GBA pokemon games work on a european revolution?

WTF?

 

[Forci Stikane]

Will my american GBA pokemon games work on a european revolution?

For the...FIFTH time, NO.

WTF?

Seconded. Some people just don't get the message...

I applaud you for actually using logic in your argument, though.

 

[wakachamo]

^It's what I do. =P Thanks for the comment though. I can't really be too sure about the second example listed because I've yet to test this, but note my word - I'll be sure to give a certain opinion and update on this as soon as it's possible to be clarified for me.

 

[Virtual Headache]

What about Pal Park?
It's never been clear, whether US D/P would work with an English game.

I know it doesn't with different language games, but what about games from the same language but different regions?

IIRC I read somewhere, that Pal Park is a little bit special concerning regions.

 

[Paranoia]

What about Pal Park?
It's never been clear, whether US D/P would work with an English game.

I know it doesn't with different language games, but what about games from the same language but different regions?

IIRC I read somewhere, that Pal Park is a little bit special concerning regions.

I guess you'll just have to wait until there out, I'll test it though when they do come out, just to "Clear up the Confusion"

 

[wakachamo]

What about Pal Park?
It's never been clear, whether US D/P would work with an English game.

I know it doesn't with different language games, but what about games from the same language but different regions?

IIRC I read somewhere, that Pal Park is a little bit special concerning regions.

Y'know, different languages might work. There's no need of translation involved between the two games because each message has an ID, and that ID has already been translated. Hence, it might work.

...aaand I don't believe you on that Pal Park thing, since GBA games are seriously just not region-restricted. They're just not. However I'll keep a lookout for that one as well, so thanks.

I guess you'll just have to wait until there out, I'll test it though when they do come out, just to "Clear up the Confusion"

...XDD me too.

 

[Virtual Headache]

Y'know, different languages might work. There's no need of translation involved between the two games because each message has an ID, and that ID has already been translated. Hence, it might work.

...aaand I don't believe you on that Pal Park thing, since GBA games are seriously just not region-restricted. They're just not. However I'll keep a lookout for that one as well, so thanks.

Pal Park doesn't work with different language games, if that's what you mean.
Otherwise, I would have had a lot of fun transferring^^

Some (not me) said that Pal Park is region restricted, I might look for the post.
He meant Pal Park itself, not the GBA game.

 

[wakachamo]

Pal Park doesn't work with different language games, if that's what you mean.
Otherwise, I would have had a lot of fun transferring^^

Some (not me) said that Pal Park is region restricted, I might look for the post.
He meant Pal Park itself, not the GBA game.

For the first part of your post, it might work with different language games. The Pokémon remain the same, the data in the game remains the same.

As for the second part, how can Pal Park be region-restricted if it can't detect the region of GBA games? Like I said before, the fact that GBA games don't have a region affects the fact that Pal Park is region-restricted. If games don't have a region, then its accessory can't be region-restricted.

Also, languages don't play a role in this. Languages are just changes in text and images. That won't affect anything. I've traded a Zapdos from my Japanese LeafGreen to my English FireRed and everything worked out just fine. Why, it even kept its Japanese nick I gave it! XD

 

[Virtual Headache]

I doesn't work with different language games, I already stated that...
My Diamond doesn't recognise my German Sapphire and I'm not the only one with that problem.

 

[wakachamo]

^Eh? Really? Ah, well sorry about that. Maybe it is restricted to regions. Ah well, I'm gonna have to check that out.

 

[ss5vegeta]

Serebii.net stated that D/P wouldent work with games of a diffrent language, but said nothing about the same.

So my American GBA games will be able to transfer and trigger wild pokemon to appear in any D/P because they don't use Wi Fi.

But nothing official has been stated about using an American D/P on a PAL region Battle Revoultion as long as the Wii is using the same Wi Fi network as the ountry your in so your DS should be able to sense that.

And im not sure but if I put my GBA game cartridge in my DS could I use that team on Battle Revolution without having to trade to D/P? Becuase the GBA games arent region locked in any way.

So I geuss ill wit until they come out and try them, if they don't ill just buy 'em again.

 

[wakachamo]

Serebii.net stated that D/P wouldent work with games of a diffrent language, but said nothing about the same.

So my American GBA games will be able to transfer and trigger wild pokemon to appear in any D/P because they don't use Wi Fi.

But nothing official has been stated about using an American D/P on a PAL region Battle Revoultion as long as the Wii is using the same Wi Fi network as the ountry your in so your DS should be able to sense that.

And im not sure but if I put my GBA game cartridge in my DS could I use that team on Battle Revolution without having to trade to D/P? Becuase the GBA games arent region locked in any way.

So I geuss ill wit until they come out and try them, if they don't ill just buy 'em again.

I didn't understand your 1st sentence, you're right about the 2nd sentence, the Wii needs to have the same network encoding as the DS's (apparently) on regard to your 3rd, so yeah, you're right on that one, but it doesn't need to be the same one as your country's. o_O

As fopr your 4th, you won't be able to use your GBA team on Battle Revolution, because there's no way Battle Revolution can communicate with the GBA. End of story. You'll need to use the Pal Park to get your team on the DS.

 

[ss5vegeta]

Well now I no that, I dont need to buy a new emerald and Sapphire!!

I could buy D or P from America and a prima guide complete it. then when they come out in England ill buy both and link to battle revolution and probably sell my 1st D/P.

Well it's not 100% that it wont connect to Battle rev, so ill just wait until it comes out.

So the plan is buy Diamond (better colour) and the guide (I love looking at the pokedex's) of the internet.