Opinion: “Stargate 3DS” marketing highlights a major flaw with the scene

wololo

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89 Responses

  1. Dinckelman says:

    I can’t imagine who this 100$ cart is for

    • Poppy says:

      Yeah, considering you can hack the 3DS on any firm now, and just install a CIA the only reason for a FlashCart is to play DS games, and run the exploit that hacks the console which in that case just buy a $15 cart, and stay the heck away from this one

      • ZeroSbr says:

        I had no idea every firmware is hackable. How would I hack my 3DS? Is the N2DSXL hackable too? I’ve searched, but can’t find any coherent way to hack it. The 3DS scene seems incredibly disorganized compared to the Vita/PSP scene.

        • khalaan says:

          Dsiware game injection works fantastically. My N3DS Mario Edition: Black gladly gave up its NNID for my shiny new N2DSXL and now they are in happy sync state with each other for home brew loaded on their 128gb cards. 3ds.guide

        • satan89 says:

          https://3ds.guide
          Did you really search?

          • ZeroSbr says:

            I did. That guide isn’t helpful. It claims that I need 2 devices, or I’d need to mess around with the innards of my system (soldering), or I’d need to buy a flash cart. The PSP/Vita scene isn’t this messy. You don’t need 2 devices to install CFW on either of them, nor do you need to solder, nor do you need a flashcart or any other dongle. It’s a program that you run, so long as you’re on the right FW. I only have a N2DS XL, which means that the lowest possible firmware I can have is 11.4, which (according to that same guide) seems to leave me with using a flash cart or soldering. No thanks, I’ll wait until the 3DS scene matures a bit.

            If it never becomes possible to install CFW as easy as on PSP, I’ll just use my Vita I guess.

          • dragonkid6 says:

            @ZeroSbr your just lazy bud, a DS flashcard and a *** magnet. This is modding genius. DS flashcarts are 8-20 dollars.

          • Nightwish says:

            You’re just completely wrong. Henkaku is not going to help you on a patched VITA either.
            As to the PSP… lol, you just weren’t there at the time. You had to hack a battery without it exploding on you, until you could buy a safe chinese device to do it with.
            Then you had to keep up with all the different CFW versions there were and the pains of switching between them while making sure to not update OFW. Sure, now it’s easy since all the keys have been found, good luck on that happening on any other console. Not even the PS3.

          • ZeroSbr says:

            No, I’m evidently not completely wrong. I have installed Henkaku on my 3.60 Vita, and it didn’t take any hardware mods to achieve it. All I had to do was keep my Vita on 3.60, and then run a program. With the N2DS XL, this seems to not be the case. It ships with 11.4, and so it doesn’t matter what I do: I will need to alter it in some way or buy I game I probably don’t want in order to install CFW. That, to me, is not worth it. Thus, I’m completely right.

            Whether or not the PSP was always as easy to hack as it is now is irrelevant. Right now, it’s a very streamlined, simple process. That’s my point. It doesn’t matter if I wasn’t involved with the scene back when it was new. That’s not relevant. The PSP scene is streamlined, the 3DS scene isn’t.

          • Favna says:

            @ZeroSbr Did you ever realize Nintendo and Sony are different companies? Did you ever realize the PSP/Vita and 3DS are completely different devices with completely different hardware, security measures, frameworks, system OS, security researchers and basically everything different? Probably not.

          • TheDarkNerd says:

            The 3DS scene is actually extremely streamlined. It’s just unfortunate that you are on a firmware that does not have a free method of exploiting. The $15 flashcart solution is pretty straightforward, though admittedly I don’t know if you can easily make the flashcart usable again as a DS flashcart if you didn’t back up the cart (using an already exploited system) before turning it into an exploit cart.

            Just think of it like this: would you make the same argument about Henkaku for the Vita being non-streamlined if they came out with a variety of methods, none of which were free or easy, to install downgrades for systems that were already updated past 3.60?

          • ZeroSbr says:

            Is there a way to downgrade for either the 3DS or Vita, though? I thought it was expressly said that there wasn’t yet. And sure, for the people who have a regular N3DS or a N3DS XL I guess the 3DS scene could be considered streamlined. Definitely not for anyone who only has a N2DS XL, though.

          • Dinckelman says:

            You don’t need to downgrade the 3DS anymore to get exploits running, since the hardware itself has a flaw that you abuse with the NTRBoot exploit. For the Vita, we all know how it is

          • ZeroSbr says:

            Flaw is in the hardware…does your method require soldering or other hardware modding?

          • Dinckelman says:

            Nope, that’s the key. With NTRBoot you don’t mess with the actual hardware at all. You use a bootrom flaw to flash custom firmware

        • TheTechDoc says:

          You will need to use NTRboot hax with a certain flash card that’s flashed, go to 3ds.guide and follow the guide for NTRboot hax

          • ZeroSbr says:

            Except I even said (before you posted this) that buying a flash cart to install CFW is not something I’m willing to do. I’m sure there will eventually be a method that does not require an end-user to buy a flash cart, solder, or buy a game they likely don’t even want. I’ll wait for that to happen.

        • Severdnerv says:

          Yeah I hacked my 2DSXL took bout hour but u needed an already hacked 3ds to help with the game injection.. but yeah it’s a great time to get a 3ds/2ds

    • jm8080 says:

      It was sold out in the first few hours of the pre-order phase, yeah…….who is it for indeed…….

  2. Jomoko says:

    Capitalism rules

  3. Almeric says:

    I think that there is a market for everything and for everyone. Some people will pay just for the convenience of having the cart doing all the work. Others will spend a bit of time and do it themselves.
    What I think that is wrong is when you have misleading information and promises and try to take advantage. The 3ds scene is well documented and there are lots of step-by-step manuals on how to hack your device.
    So if Stargate wants to pack all these tools and sell it, let them be is not like they are lying or promising stuff that is not true. You pay for your own convenience.

  4. K22 says:

    Hardware solutions are usually the easiest routes to choose at times, but are always pricier in the end. This new world of software hacks are excellent because they always bring with them a community that builds and supports it (look at the Wii, PS2/PS3, 3DS for examples of this), yet it can be harder to get into because of the wall of text that scares people away for installs…..yet even then the community holds hands to get users through this.

    I have been hacking since the 8-bit days (my first copier was a Happy disk copier) and it’s refreshing to see software/community take over because it offers more than just piracy and the support doesn’t dry up and blow away like it does for hardware when the retailers are no longer selling it. You want support for a software memory card mod for your PS2? There are many places out there with people ready to help you get started and find success if you are willing to work for it. Need support for that old PS2 mod chip….good luck.

    Some hardware solutions make sense (like the current wave of laser replacements boards in older systems), but you will pay a greater price to access it. Even these avenues are software run and have communities supporting them.

    So if you don’t want to learn and don’t mind spending the cash you can take the hardware route, but never forget it’s limitations with support and software.

  5. Xenon Hacks says:

    How hard is to to follow the https://3ds.guide/

    • darkdenizen says:

      I have an N3DS at the current available firmware. The question isn’t “how hard is it to follow X guide”, it’s the fact that apparently in order to get CFW on it, I’m going to have to have access to another 3DS with CFW preinstalled. So the “free” solution is buy another 3DS…?

      • Rei says:

        Sigh, you need to read more.. You can get a Hax Homebrew Entrypoint absolutely for free, and…the methods you are talking about can be done with a regular DS which at least one of your friends has packed up in a box or their children/siblings already own. Read just a little bit more. And a regular DS is super cheap these days anyways, you could just return it immediately after using it and it will only take about three minutes!

        • Rei says:

          What you need:
          Source System: NDS (don’t get a DSi)
          Target System: Your 3DS system
          Flashcart: Acekard or R4i Gold 3DS RTS – and since you didn’t state that you didn’t have a flashcart then I am assuming that you own one.

        • Nah says:

          Sigh – you’re current firmware has no free entry points, and you do indeed need a DS cart, which isn’t free, or a not free game, which, isn’t free, a friend, which isn’t free, and at least beginner level internet skills to download and extract files and put them on an SD card…

          I agree we are in the realm of software solutions. But that doesn’t mean a flashcard will sell 0 copies, or even that it shouldn’t be an option.

          A new flashcard hits the market… the audience for it is small but who are we to tell someone they can’t try and sell a product. If you dont want/need it.. dont buy it. Its not hurting anyone to have an option for those who want it.

      • Nightwish says:

        Or know some who does. If that’s what exists, that’s what exists, the same way henkaku isn’t going to help you on a 3.65 Vita.

    • Renn says:

      “…two consoles…”

      And I’m out.

  6. anonymous says:

    It doesn’t get any easier than this. For free.
    https://youtu.be/jWtMH6HDNn8

    • Localhorst86 says:

      Youtube tutorial are bad. They get outdated very quickly and never get updated. There are thousands of outdated tutorials on youtube causing confusion for people trying to get into modding their 3DS. Better just link to http://3ds.guide instead.

  7. TheTechDoc says:

    most people who want CFW dont, know how to install it and usually end up giving the device to someone to mod (such as myself) this is usually parents trying to save a few bucks for their kids consoles, or 20 somethings that have no clue what the heck they are doing and just want the new pokemon, in my opinion, its these people who the device appeals to, a plug and play solution thats as easy as using a DS flash cart on a DS Lite back in the day,

    however knowing what the 3ds is like, its very possible that the setup for this device (namely adding roms to it) is still too complicated for (forgive my rudeness) stupid end users like I mentioned above, and chances are they will still bring this product to someone like me to set up for them.

  8. Badi says:

    I can just appreciate more the job that Molecule team did when designing Henkaku.
    3DS hacking might be easy but to outsiders it doesn’t look like that. The moment I decided to hack my vita I was like “just like this? Isn’t there anything else I have to do?” literally just a URL and some taps on the screen.

    • TheDarkNerd says:

      The big issues for me were upgrading my system to 3.60 when 3.61 was the latest firmware, and transferring files between my PC and my Vita. Neither of those were nearly as friendly as the step of, “enter this URL”.

    • StickBrush says:

      Eh… Do you know how easy it is to hack a 3DS in FW 11.3 or below?

      If we keep it to homebrew, such as Henkaku… You just put a few files in your SD card and open a song in 3DS Sound. Nothing else.

      But, if you want CFW such as Henkaku Enso…
      Put some files in the SD card.
      Open a song in 3DS Sound app.
      Execute two programs.
      Done.

      Sure, it looks hard to outsiders because if you have updated your system, you require another device or a flashcart, or soldering. But hey, let’s see what can you do what an updated Vita…
      Oh wait. Nothing at all.

      Sure, 3DS hacking was hard in the old times, when you needed to hardmod your console. Even when you had to downgrade. But now, it’s easy as heck.

    • andoryuu3 says:

      You can say that again. A ntrboothax/magnetpwn compatible flashcart is a literal fraction of the price: $20.

  9. Altemecya says:

    100$ means nothing for some people. And this kind of people will buy it without a second thought. This reminds me the first time I softmoded my wii, so many prepartion to make so many tutorial to read, to be short its such a pain in the ***. So far vita’s henkaku hack is the simplest hack I ever done on console/handheld, awesome work molecule team.

  10. Tro says:

    Naaaaa No Money … 3ds.guide or a friend who has an Hacked 3ds already, + maybe you can lern nice things from @ll the free source codes (more worth as money)

  11. Adrien says:

    What’s wrong with these people ? Paying for someone else to do the cool stuff ?
    I have more fun today breaking through the “Homebrew;Gate” by myself than playing games once it is achieved (Million thanks to the true hackers by the way). But I may be a friggin tech nerd after all…

    French engineers may just be weird stuff…N’est-ce pas Wololo ?

    Portez-vous bien et merci pour votre travail !

    • lol says:

      Many including my sister has no interest in learning how to hack 3ds, nor does she even think its cool. She just wants free games. I understand why some prefer to pay instead….but $100…..these guys are just pure greed

      • BenoitRen says:

        Not wanting to pay for the hard work that developers put into their games is also greedy.

        • Adrien says:

          Hacking doesn’t essentially mean that you know ?
          If PSOne or Megadrive legacies were available on the VITA store, I would never have been interested in Wololo in the first place.

          I own my very copy of every game I play on the VITA, it is just not meant to be playable on it 🙂

        • ZeroSbr says:

          You’re assuming they put “hard work” into their games, and you’re also assuming the amount of work they put into their games are worth the asking price. Just because a company is selling something for $60 USD does not mean it’s worth $60 USD. The price of something is determined by the buyer, not the seller. Prices of things increase or decrease depending on buyer demand, hence why I say that price (and therefore worth) is determined by the buyer.

        • yes but... says:

          BenoitRen, but this is different, these developers of this flashcart know many will want it and they have put a premium price on it instead of a reasonable price, which was my point.

        • Tim says:

          Welcome to the world outside the 3ds hacking scene, where most members don’t pretend like there’s any other reason lol

      • ZeroSbr says:

        That’s how Capitalism works. If someone will pay $100 for a flash cart, that flash cart is worth $100. If no one buys it, maybe the devs will be inclined to lower the price.

        • yea says:

          yup disgusting but true and of course we all know there will be many buying it. Oh well their choice, B9S ftw!

      • alpmaster says:

        Your insane it has so many features $100 for a huge library of games is nothing my friend. 2 Pokemon games value $80 alone. This card says it plays SNES and NES,3DS and NDS all on latest firmware that’s insane and totally worth the money if it is true.

        • Snappy G says:

          You can play Snes, Nes, GB, GBA, 3DS, Scumm, Homebrew, Mods and a lot more for free on CFW.
          And the DS games you can just play with an $8 flash cart which you probable got anyways to hack the 3DS.

        • HideousTroll says:

          So, you are telling us that it can literally do less than a hacked 3DS. Interesting. With a hacked 3DS you can play those systems plus many others such as Gba, GBC, and many more.

      • Thomas says:

        Bet she thinks getting free games is cool. She sounds like a little unappreciative *** to me. Its the “I just want this” attitude that hurts the scene more than anything. You want to steal games from hard working people either get your lazy *** up and put in the work or pay money for it to be done and dont *** about the price. You’re and your sister are pathetic.

    • MoRiKuRt says:

      I am the same way, I get way more excited going through the process then actually having the completed product. Ill hack a console up, fill it full of games, set up new themes and stuff. Then usually shelf it haha.

  12. Glen says:

    Why not post an article on ntrboot being released and what that means instead. As that is likely what this cart uses under the hood anyway

  13. BenoitRen says:

    Personally I like that there’s no easy route to hacking the 3DS for piracy. Piracy should not be too easy to achieve. If people want to spend $100 to save money on games, let them.

    • StickBrush says:

      …Except there is. You can hack a console under 11.3 just by putting some files in the SD, playing a song and executing two programs.
      Above 11.3, you need to use a magnet and a $20 flashcart. And it’s even easier since it’s just powering the console on holding a few buttons.

  14. Zeek says:

    Why are you surprised look how many people buy iphones lmao

  15. lolol says:

    no thanks, i’ll play citra on pc

  16. W1267 says:

    Piracy-enabling devices such are these aren’t part of the scene. The scene should be for hacking, homebrew, experimentation. The scene should not have to cater to the lazy by providing them with easy-to-install piracy enablers. I think the main focus of any scene should be the scene itself. I do not consider pirates with no interest in hacking or development to be part of the scene.

    • alpmaster says:

      It’s because of hackers that we have cool things like GBA VC and other features that companies do not provide for if they don’t think it is profitable enough to release to the public. Game Dictators that decide what games work and don’t work on the next gens.

  17. andoryuu3 says:

    As a newbie to the 3DS CFW scene, I agree. It is extremely disorganized and no where near as straight forward as a henkaku enabled Vita. I do think that there IS a market for this new flashcart, but unfortunately a system update could ultimately render the device useless… Which was the biggest flaw with the Gateway 3DS, which I used to swear by.

    As you can obviously see, I’m torn. I appreciate the convenience of these flashcarts, but CFW is undoubtedly the superior solution. Just unfortunate it’s such a messy scene.

    And for the record, .CIA homebrews are far more convenient than anything loaded via the Homebrew Launcher. I wish more homebrew was released in the .CIA format.

    • asdf says:

      3ds hacking is pretty easy now. if you’re on 11.3 or lower it’s done in like 15 minutes. anything higher and you need a 20$ flashcart, and it’s done even faster.

      homebrew isnt released in .cia format anymore because of that ban wave that happened a while ago. instead, you can run .3dsx homebrew under one of the crappy titles like the health and safety one to avoid sending invalid titleIDs to nintendo.

    • Glen says:

      There is no way for a system update to disable this if it uses the b9 exploit along with ntrboot which it likely does.
      It would require a new HW revision

      • andoryuu3 says:

        If it does, then that seems to tell me that it would require use of a magnet to set it up initially. I would hope it would only require that once, as the button combo used with the magnet is a bit of a pain.

        If it doesn’t, then I don’t know what they’re thinking.

  18. Icedcream says:

    If theres a market out there for something then someone will exploit it. I prefer the ‘free’ methods!

  19. Hmmm $100 lol, I have a mail in hardmod service and CFW only service on GBAtemp…. for far cheaper than this thing ever will be.

  20. DSpider says:

    Problem is, hardware solutions (Gateway, Sky3DS, and even actual real game cartridges) draw a bit more power than straight up .cia installed on the internal microSD card. Around 4-10% more power.

    So no, thanks.

  21. noah says:

    this article seems to ignore the fact that all you need to hack a 3ds is elementary school reading level, a $20 DS flashcard and 30 minutes of your time to follow https://www.3ds.guide. ***, most of the process is now automated since Godmode9 got scripting support. It’s too easy now.

  22. Demian says:

    This kind of devices are useful only to people not willing to spend time learning. And hacking a console is not a matter of any kind of magic or whatsoever. Most people brick their console because they are not interested on following directions, not even assuming that (at least on the 3DS scene), there exists a single guide that resumes all the knowledge necessary for achieving a 3DS (any Old and New) with a CFW, capable of doing everything and much more than an overpriced flashcart. That on the side of the user.

    Now speaking of the flashcart side, I have an R4 (a clone actually, as there doesn’t exist anymore any original one as the original team has been raided long ago). I use it for playing NDS games on my NDSi XL, and it works great. It barely cost me about ~$6 USD. Now about the GW famliy, I’m not willing to pay for any overpriced device, even one that as the “Stargate 3DS” promises me to be my AIO solution. First, because I don’t like throwing my money away, and second an most importantly, because a like to learn how things work. That’s why I modified my 3DS XL and now I enjoy -for free-, Luma CFW, and can do everything I can imagine that a flashcart can’t allow me to do, as dumping a cart I own and keep it safe. If the GW flashcart gets damaged by a firmware update, the GW team won’t send me a replacement for free, no way! And there would go my $100 USD to the garbage bin.

    In the end, it al boils to our own needs and expectations, some have very basic and low ones, others have very specific and very high ones. I’m one of the second type.

  23. Persona1 says:

    Don’t support the the mr.smiths of the game scene. Those cheap chinatown carts first off shouldn’t cost anywhere near the price of a console. 10 dollars at max due it having you buy a sd for it just like sd2vita. Also don’t support these sloppy ugly online trolls offering a so called “service” to fill up your hdd or sd card filled with emulators with roms or any backup dumps of games to any console when it’s available online free. Same goes for console hacks don’t charge anyone as the devs clearly state your not allowed to because they made it for all the public to use freely.

  24. Rocksas says:

    What the BS this is totally a sky3ds ripoff

    • Carlos says:

      I bet it will be the same pcb board and circuitry as the sky3ds+, this people are shameless.

  25. BADMAN says:

    I have b9s on all of my consoles but I still want this

  26. Psxplay says:

    I would agree if it wasn’t for 3ds.guide, the process is so much simpler now. I think this device has appeared a little too late for $100 maybe $20-$30…

  27. Ukl says:

    Flashcarts are fine even if some of them use free software and make huge profit out of it like Stargate/Gateway because:

    Look at GBATemp and these kind of forum: its a TOTAL MESS, there are threads EVERYWHERE, 100 sub forums, 1 000 different solutions, many outdated one so if you are a total noob you can be scared pretty easily. Sure it’s super easy to find what you need when you spend time on these forums or follow scene news but again for the noob it’s impossible without spending HOURS. Even these “noob friendly” thread have so many external links and offer different solutions, thats not what noobs want.
    These forums are so well made that you always see the same question asked… Sure some people are lazy but so many times it’s because it’s not very clear for a noob (like my english, sorry)

    Few Months ago a website was created with a “noob friendly” approach – 3dsguide- step by step guide, only ONE solution, everything at the same place you need to play your backups, this is the way people should do or highlight.

    ViTA Scene reminds me of the PSP scene: it was super easy to “hack” your console. They did the same with ViTA with a “go to this website > click link > done”. When i wanted to hack my PSP back in the days all i had to do is go on a website, download 1 package > copy > start PSP and install, that’s it. When i tried to hack my 3DS at start i was spammed by wall of text with “hardmod” “sysNAND” “EMUNAND” (DAFUK are all these words) etc… it’s like reading a dictionary when knowing very few words: one lead to another, you spend your day reading definitions and in the end you forget what you were looking for. i was so *** off because i had other stuff to do irl/business so i kept playing with my original games until 3dsguide was “released”. 3DS hack is not my life like many others.

    Most of the people just want to play their backups, they don’t want to search for hours and hours, browsing so many threads (because so many are oudated) and stay in touch with the scene to understand what’s going on, what’s better, etc… 3DS scene reminds me of the late PS2 scene, total mess to find a near “plug & play” solution.

    70-100$, people say it’s expensive, but “expensive” doesn’t mean anything. Some people have the money and between “click & drag .3ds files > play” or install a custom firmware (before 3dsguide or even with 3dsguide) theres absolutely no choice, you go for the flashcart.

    “Time is money”, don’t forget that too. For many people spending like 3-5 hours or more will earn you way more than spending 100$ into a flashcart.

    Scene seems to forget that the 3DS community has like 95%+ of people that are young, parents, noob, have job so no time to search for hours, etc… all they want to do is play their backup. We are not all students that have time for this kind of business.

    Sure they can do whatever they want but AT LEAST websites like GBATemp should have a super friendly thread/guide like 3dsguide. For so long it was a complete mess and i understand why people bought a sky3ds or any 3DS linker.

    If there are so many linkers it’s because there’s a huge demand aka a huge problem how the 3ds scene is designed. Take example to what the ViTA does.

    I can easily understand why people go to CFW, i like that solution but theres millions of reason to go for a linker too, maybe not in your case but we are all different (job, age, time,…), be open minded. When i was a student i would have easily go to the “omg they are stupid to pay 100$ when CFW are better and free”…

    In the end it’s just the same as every other domain irl: you have a problem with your car ? Most people will just go to a garage, sure you could do it for “free” when going to a forum, reading books etc… Some people build their own house too, it takes a lot of time, others just grab them “ready to use”, none of them are stupid.

    Linkers only exist because of MANY flaws in the 3DS scene AND like any other irl domain people NEED it. Many people don’t pay 100$ for an usb port, a sd card reader, a pcb, etc… we all know a linker is super cheap to make, they just buy it to save TiME.

  28. gunblade says:

    Is this modchip worth getting. Or should I get gateway.

  29. ikebelmont22 says:

    You can already play ds games on a r4 card using the right filrs and installing apache loader cia and ttds cia on both emu and sys nanda,I already did it and can play ds games using an r4 4.1 with ttds launcher and ys menu and they work this card is unnecesary.

  30. Kelloe says:

    If it is around 80 dollars, do you think should I buy or not? I see this price in 3ds-flashcard site.

  31. AlbedoAtoned says:

    This article has gotten quite a lot of flak. Did the author do any real amount of research on the 3ds scene? Look, reality is that somebody that can’t follow simple instructions is going to have a hard time no matter what when hacking something, and this flash cart won’t make it any easier. All it can do is come with ntrboothax installed to the flash cart, but that’s only the first step! You would still need to follow the rest of the guide.

    It’s possible it won’t even come preinstalled, and the user will have to flash it like any other flash cart, albeit maybe with tools provided by the stargate 3ds team, but I wouldn’t expect these tools to be anything more than rebranded versions of what is out now. The actual flash cart capabilities may have some use for piracy, but it’s still a lot of money for something you can do quite easily if you only know how to read.

    Somebody who can’t get past that is going to have a bad time since they will need to make sure that their 3ds headers aren’t public ones. To do that, they will need to get a header from one of their own cartridges and to do that they will need to either hack their 3ds, get somebody who hacked theirs to get the header, or get it using an action replay power saves.

    It doesn’t save money either since you can flash a ds flash cart with the a ds (original or ds lite and for some flash carts a dsi can be used) or a hacked 3ds. A method using AR powersaves is supposedly in the works as well. Some flash carts can be flashed on stock firmwares, even up to the newest as of this post.

    And as compatibility with more flash carts increases, the chances that somebody can install ntrboothax on their flash cart from their stock 3ds in order to install boot9strap using that flash cart, figuratively pulling themselves up by the bootstraps, will become far more likely. Many people still have old flash carts lying around and they’re still pretty cheap to get..

    • DingDongBingBong says:

      In which case somebody like me will not buy a cart nor crack their Nintendo 3DS. I quit using cracks and hacks years ago because I was sick to death of all of the extra work I had to put in just to play the latest games.

      I always preferred it when I had a modchip or cartridge, the process of getting started and keeping up was easier than having to exploit an operating system, download five different pieces of software, install 20 different modules – yeah *** that I’d rather pay for my game instead of wasting 5 hours just to be able to play it.

  32. This is a very informative post.

  33. Jobu says:

    I got a R4i SDHC 3DS RTS with a N2DS XL from eBay. Could I do it with that cart?

    Also, I’m totally new to this. After you finish the hack, would the operating files and roms/games just be on the micro SD that goes directly into the system (replace the ‘original in the Nintendo’ 4gb with one like a Sandisk 128 gb?), and you load them from the 3ds/2ds menu? Or do you need a cart with a micro SD slot that goes into the ‘normal’ game slot, and loads from there?

    Sorry again for noob questions, this N2DS XL is my very first system I’m trying to hack.

  34. Mally says:

    I have been seeing NOTHING but “meh maybe it’s ok” on one side and utter flaming on the other.
    I would love some clarification because i’d be happy to hack my 3ds from scratch like 3ds.info says, but it references carts that only do ds/3ds games (very few games of which i’m interested in) and the process mentions i need an already hacked ds, which is a recursive problem! Or a magnet which i can get ahold of, fine, but still, it has to keep up with versions and i don’t feel like piecing together 15 articles without clear defined benefits to not get the desired result or to find i’ve bought the wrong 20$card or bricked my 3ds because I read this article, went for help, and got flamed for not reading THAT article instead. Like this post says it’s too inconsistent around the internet and the “support” or “Documentation” is in more ways than one, “Not user-friendly”
    I just want to be able to pop a cart into the new 3ds with all my GB/GBA/SNES/etc Roms and go….and when i’m done, remove it and resume playing the games i bought.
    This thing may be 80-100$ but if it keeps up with updates and doesn’t get broken by version changes…and if it can play older games like GBA games, (Which the R4iGold3ds does not claim to do at all. ) Then i see a very clear user market for this. It’s NOT just the same as software modding…
    It’s for people who want all their *** on a cart that they can pull out and put on anyone else’s stock 3DS or if they break theirs and get a new one, they won’t have to go through the process again. A simple, removable slice of homebrew. And for people who don’t want to hardmod or hack their 3ds and risk either an account ban or a brick on a 250$ machine.
    It may be “simple to do” with the right tools, a little patience and some elbow grease. But the risk is still there and the documentation simply isn’t trustworthy if you need specific enough information (And god forbid you ASK anyone for help!)

    But why not just have one cart where i can put in different MicroSD cards as needed without taking a console apart, that keep all my retro games on it to play on the one system? (This cart claims to be able to do so.)

    Can i do that without this particular product? Because that’s the experience i want! Seriously, if i can do this with software hacks, i’d rather do it, but so far on the walkthroughs and products i’ve been recommended by this community as an “alternative” none of them do this, and it’s a lot of learning for a skill i can’t use to play the games i actually want to play. (Because they all claim to do DS/3DS but nothing else)

    TL;DR: documentation on methods suggested by “community” do not allow for older games i want to play using 3DS. Stargate3DS does, more convenient, less risky, less effort, and if it allows me to avoid dealing with being talked down to by one of the most rude communities i’ve ever been a part of for simply asking a question not covered in the various, lengthy, and hard to find articles, then it’s worth the 100$