Region and localization
In the context of the Splatoon series, region refers to an internal setting present in each game which is tied to each player's assumed general geographical location in real life. The region system aims to match on a worldwide scale with players located on the same continent as often as possible to maximize gameplay stability. This system is also sometimes used to define localization-exclusive content, such as pieces of gear or Splatfest events.
In Splatoon and Splatoon 2, the available region options are tied to the broadly defined real-life geographical location the copies of the games were bought from approved vendors, as Nintendo distributes different versions of both games in different continents. In those games, the region setting cannot be changed. In Splatoon 3, players are prompted to choose their initial region setting, allowing for mismatched real-life and in-game region choices. Players may subsequently change the setting with cooldown restrictions preventing repeated region changes. Different versions of Splatoon and Splatoon 2 per region feature varying degrees of region-lock restrictions, while Splatoon 3 does not.
Localization refers to the individual different languages that games in the Splatoon series are available in; the term in general refers to how content is altered to suit its geographically different target demographic in a marketing sense, usually accompanied by translation. For Splatoon and Splatoon 2, the region system heavily affects which localization options are available.
List of localizations
| Localization | Games | Other | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Official social media | |
 Chinese (Simplified)
|
✓ | |||
 German
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ As of Splatoon |
 English (United Kingdom)
|
✓ | ✓[note 1] | ✓[note 1] | ✓ As of Splatoon |
 Spanish (Europe)
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ As of Splatoon | |
 French (Europe)
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ As of Splatoon |
 Italian
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ As of Splatoon |
 Dutch
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ As of Splatoon | |
 Russian
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ As of Splatoon 2[note 2] | |
 Japanese
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ As of Splatoon |
 Korean
|
✓ | ✓ As of Splatoon 3 | ||
 Chinese (Traditional)
|
✓ | ✓ As of Splatoon 3 | ||
 Spanish (Latin America)
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
 English (United States)
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ As of Splatoon |
 French (Canada)
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
 Portuguese (Portugal)
|
✓ As of Splatoon 3? | |||
To change between localizations in all three games, players must change their system's internal language and/or region setting. Splatoon and Splatoon 2's available localizations highly depend on which type of cartridge the player is using; setting one's system language to German but using an NTSC (Americas) cartridge rather than a PAL (Europe) cartridge of Splatoon 2 will result in exclusively English text displaying in-game. This is not the case for Splatoon 3, where all available localizations are accessible in any version of the game.
Official social media includes Nintendo-owned Youtube, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook accounts, several of which cover more than one language at a time, which at any point has covered Splatoon media. Certain social media accounts post localized content despite the lack of in-game equivalent (e.g. the Russian social media posts for Splatoon 2, and Portuguese social media posts for Splatoon 3).
Splatoon regions
Both the Wii U system and its game discs were region-locked. The Wii U system can only run games with regions that match its internal region setting; the different regional copies of consoles and games were distributed according to their real-life geographical region. Mismatched region-locked hardware and software are not compatible. For example, a Wii U bought in Japan (NTSC-J) will not run a copy of Splatoon bought in the United States (NTSC-U).
The Wii U's internal region setting nor its region-lock restrictions may not be changed without the use of hacking.
| Region code[note 3] | Equivalent real-life region |
|---|---|
| NTSC-J | Asia |
| NTSC-U | Americas |
| PAL | Europe, Oceania, Africa, Middle East |
Different localizations are present depending on which type of Splatoon disc the player uses; certain gear and Splatfest events were exclusive to certain regions.
| Region name | In-game region | Available localizations |
|---|---|---|
| JPN (NTSC-J) | Asia region | Japanese
|
| USA (NTSC-U) | Americas region | English (United States), Spanish (Latin America), French (Canada)
|
| EU (PAL) | Europe, Oceania region | English (United Kingdom), French (France), German, Italian
|
List of region-locked content in Splatoon
The following Splatfests were only available in certain regions:
Splatfest notes
Splatoon 2 regions
The Nintendo Switch system removed the region-locked restrictions present in the Wii U (except Nintendo Switch systems officially sold in Mainland China); as such, any Switch game cartridge or eShop purchase is compatible with any Switch system.
The system's region setting may be freely changed in its settings, though this does not affect Splatoon 2 regions.
Despite the removal of region-lock restrictions, individual cartridges of certain games contain region-lock information; Splatoon 2 is one of the affected titles. Unlike the Wii U's region-lock system, Splatoon 2 mismatched region-locked hardware and software are compatible; the region-lock restriction serves to limit the amount of localization data available to the player per regional copy of the game. As such, certain gear and Splatfest events were locked per region, similar to Splatoon's system.
Oceania was notably "moved" to be a part of the Americas region.
| Region name | In-game region | Available localizations |
|---|---|---|
| JPN (NTSC-J) | Asia region | Japanese
|
| USA (NTSC-U) | Americas, Oceania region | English (United States), Spanish (Latin America), French (Canada)
|
| EU (PAL) | Europe region | English (United Kingdom), Spanish (Spain), French (France), German, Italian, Dutch, Russian
|
List of region-locked content in Splatoon 2
Splatfest notes
The following pieces of gear were only available on Japanese copies of the game:
Koshien Bandana
Mecha Head - HTR
Mecha Body - AKM
Mecha Legs - LBS
Eminence Cuff
Milky Eminence Jacket
Milky Enperrials
Octo Support Hoodie
Sennyu Bon Bon Beanie
Sennyu Goggles
Sennyu Headphones
Sennyu Specs
Sennyu Suit
Sennyu Inksoles
In all versions of the game, players can view other players wearing this gear as well as localized names of the gear, but the codes required to unlock and receive them are incompatible with all but JPN region cartridges.
Splatoon 3 regions
Splatoon 3 removes the region-lock restrictions present in the previous games, but still contains two sets of region options.
All localization options are available in any copy of the game, regardless of region option. In instances of region-exclusive Splatfests, if there is ever missing text, it is typically replaced with the other region's text by default.
Oceania was notably "moved" once again, but only during the Splatoon 3 Splatfest World Premiere, likely for timing reasons (the full game has it grouped with the Americas just as in Splatoon 2).
Splatfest regions
Referred to as "Splatfest regions", the regions are split into:
- Japan
- The Americas, Australia, New Zealand
- Europe
- Hong Kong, S. Korea
During the Splatfest World Premiere demo, the regions were instead split into:
- Japan
- The Americas
- Europe
- Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, S. Korea
This regional choice affects the posts they will see and which Splatfest themes they will participate in.[1] Players choose their region either upon the game's initial startup before the tutorial (if a Nintendo Switch Online membership is active), or upon entering the lobby for the first time. There is a cooldown period of 60 days before the player is allowed to change the region again; this cooldown restarts every time the player votes on a Splatfest or change the region selection.[2] The player's choice of region may be changed via the Lobby Terminal as long as this cooldown period is not active.
X Battle divisions
X Battle offers a separate region choice, referred to as "divisions":
Takoroka Division covering players from Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand
Tentatek Division covering players from the United States, South America, and Europe
This regional choice affects which regional players the player is more likely to get matched with exclusively in X Battle. X Battle scores are measured separately between the two divisions, and as such different sets of badges become available depending on the player's division choice. Players choose their division the first time they play X Battles in a given season, and are unable to change the division until the next season.[3]
List of region-locked content in Splatoon 3
Splatoon 3's Splatfest region system allows for separate per-region Splatfest themes, similar to Splatoon and Splatoon 2's equivalent Splatfest systems; all but three Splatfest events have thus far not utilized this feature, as they were global Splatfests.
During a region-locked Splatfest, the title, team names, and Anarchy Splatcast dialogues may not be available in all languages. In case of a Splatfest outside of the Japan region, if the system language is set to Japanese, the English Splatfest-specific text will be used and mixed in with the Japanese interface.
In case of a Japan-exclusive Splatfest, the Japanese Splatfest-specific text will be used and mix in with the current game language, except for Chinese and Korean. If the system language is set to Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, or Korean, since the game is unable to use the fonts required for these languages at the same time as the Japanese font, the game is forced to reload into Japanese for the entire Splatfest while connected to the Internet, from the Splatfest Sneak Peek all the way until getting the final results announcement and receiving Super Sea Snails, after which the game automatically reloads back into the system language.
The three Splatfests to utilize this feature comprise region-locked content:
| The Americas, Australia, New Zealand/Europe/Hong Kong, South Korea region theme | Japan region theme | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Handshake vs. Fist Bump vs. Hug | Kaiten-yaki vs. Ōban-yaki vs. Imagawa-yaki | Both events occurred concurrently; event text was separate and exclusive to the two region groups; team colors were shared |
| Friday vs. Saturday vs. Sunday | Red Bean Paste vs. Custard vs. Whipped Cream | Both events occurred concurrently; event text was separate and exclusive to the two region groups; team colors were not shared |
| Drums vs. Guitar vs. Keyboard | Lightly Salted vs. Consommé vs. Salted Seaweed | Both events occurred concurrently; event text was separate and exclusive to the two region groups; team colors were not shared |
Gallery
Splatoon 3
-
The region select screen if prompted to first select when entering the lobby for the first time.
-
The region select screen when swapping region.
-
An example of mixed-region text seen when participating in a Splatfest which does not match the player's set language.
Trivia
- The Oceania region comprising Australia and New Zealand has been moved four times.
- In Splatoon, it is paired with the Europe region.
- In Splatoon 2, it is paired with the Americas region.
- During the Splatoon 3 Splatfest World Premiere demo, it was paired with the Hong Kong and South Korea region.
- In Splatoon 3, it is paired with the Americas region.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Has no dedicated translation, uses North American translation
- ↑ The Russian language official social media accounts documented Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3 related information until February 2022.
- ↑ The region codes "NTSC" and "PAL" originally referred to technical differences in real-life television encoding systems which typically differed per continent, but within the context of video games over time evolved to primarily refer to per-continent release variants.
