The Japanese government has further cracked down on the use of flash cartridges in the country by banning all imports.

According to 47 News (translated by Kotaku), the importing of 3DS/DS flash cartridges is now illegal. Prior to this import ban selling the cartridges at retail had been outlawed meaning that importing was the only option.

The flash devices are used for loading custom firmware on Nintendo’s handhelds which Homebrew users use to create apps etc, however the cartridges are predominantly used for pirating software.