@Joekun : I don't understand why they have made it so inefficient and convoluted. On Wii, 3DS, and Wii U, we had the option to choose from the highest allowable rating in accordance with local legislation/regulation.

While the Parental Controls give you the option to choose which jurisdiction to adhere to, it only gives you the option to block software in accordance with an age number. Now, this is a problem in Australia for multiple reasons...

While the G, PG, and M ratings are unrestricted in Australia (meaning that anybody can buy/view content with these classifications unsupervised), Nintendo has applied the PG and M ratings very stupidly, that is, in accordance with how the PG and M classifications were officially worded prior to May 2005, being that the PG classification indicates that "Parental guidance recommended for persons under 15 years" and the M rating (previously known as M15+) as "Recommended for mature audiences 15 years and over". Now, we also have a legally restricted MA15+ category (worded as "Not suitable for under 15s; under 15s must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian), however, the PG, M, and MA15+ categories are all locked to "Content suitable for ages 15+" option under the Switch's Parental Controls. To add further confusion, up until May 2005, the PG rating was previously known as G8+, indicating that the content was suitable for persons aged 8 years and over (no legal restriction applied), and so perhaps the PG rating should have been suitable for persons aged 8+ and over as opposed to 15+. I would consider M-rated content generally to be suitable for persons aged 12/13 and over, however, due to our M rating being generally more permissive than the MPAA's PG-13 and BBFC's 12 ratings (particularly concerning coarse language, sexual content, and nudity), I would advise parents to exercise discretion.

The fact that we had both M15+ (unrestricted) and MA15+ (legally restricted) ratings had caused a lot of confusion among consumers/audiences prior to 2005, hence why the government dropped the "15+" from the M15+ rating upon the refreshing of the guidelines and labeling standards post May 2005.

@penamiguel92 : I understand that, but it's stupid that the U.S. has adult ratings for both games (AO) and film (NC-17) that almost never get used, and are not even sold in stores.

It's also ridiculous that Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies has the same rating as horror games with explicit violence and overt sexual content in games such as Mortal Kombat and GTA V. The latter games ideally should receive AO ratings, but perhaps the MPAA and ESRB can introduce X ratings for pornographic material so that the adult ratings don't go unused for more extreme violent/sexual content that keep getting a free pass at the M/R ratings. Incidentally, Australia has an X18+ rating for pornographic films, as well as the BBFC (called R18), however, this does not necessarily preclude unsimulated sexual activity from the standard adult ratings.

What is also hypocritical about the MPAA is that home video releases don't get rated at all, so you never know what you're buying for your family unless it has already been released in theatres or broadcast on television, but that doesn't factor the presence of "unrated" cuts and special features, which often contain stronger material than what was originally broadcast, and is not assessed for content at all. "Unrated" films can very well contain explicit sexual intercourse, but as long as an NC-17 rating is not displayed on the packaging, it's fine to sell in stores. So much for integrity. If "unrated" content is okay to sell, then so should NC-17 content. At least with NC-17 content, you know what you're buying into. With unrated content, consumers have absolutely no idea.

The fact that home video classifications are nonexistent in the U.S. is also particularly problematic because children's films can contain adult material that parents may not expect to be present. For example, the Blu-ray version of Cars 3 was originally rated M in Australia for "Coarse language". That means that there were F-bombs in the original submission! Australia's M rating is comparable to the MPAA's PG-13 or a low-end R rating (there is no set limit on the use of the F-word under the Australian M rating). Fortunately our Classification Board called out the coarse language on the Cars 3 Blu-ray, and I can only assume that Disney had removed it across all markets as a later submission was classified G (the M rated version has never been released, and would have undoubtedly attracted undesirable media attention). Had this gone unnoticed, you can bet that the content would have been present on the U.S. disc and unsuspecting parents would have bought it for their children assuming that the content would have been appropriate for family-viewing (I assume that the M rating applied only to special features, such as an interview or audio commentary). Apart from cinema releases, the MPAA is redundant considering that there are virtually no restrictions on the purchasing of home video, and "unrated" videos can contain content that would ordinarily necessitate an NC-17 rating, which I consider to be very problematic, as this undermines any credibility and relevance of the U.S.'s classification bodies.