An introduction to running homebrews on your 3DS
You just bought your 3DS and you are lost. You keep hearing about flashcarts, DS mode, web exploits, custom firmwares and so on. Here i will try to simplify the things for you a bit to help you for getting the most out of your 3DS.
For hacking your 3ds with Gateway or Sky3ds (and its numerous clones) you have to buy the flashcarts. For Ninjhax you have to own a retail cartridge of Cubic Ninja from your region. The Japanese e-shop version of Cubic Ninja also works if you are one of the lucky ones who got it before it got pulled. Custom firmware doesn’t need any additional hardware/game. It used to need a DS flashcart before but with the web based exploits, an internet connection for one time is enough to install the needed DS profile exploit. Though i don’t advise to use CFW as it is hard to setup up, hard to start and it is generally buggy. Game support is so-so, generally old games work. Worst part is, it is abandoned by its creators as it was leaked. Regionthree is aimed at loading retail cartridges from other regions. It can even run them in your language if possible.
3DS Homebrews and backups exist in a variety of formats that were all introduced through the lifespan of the hacks and flashcarts: .cia, .3ds, .3dz, .3dsx.
.3dz is a format Gateway uses which has an online enabled header added to the .3ds file for online play of “backups”, and is not used for homebrews. Additionally, I don’t recommend to go online with a flashcart or a modded system as i mentioned it here.
.3dsx is the recommended 3ds homebrew file format and it has advantages over other formats (.cia, .3ds). So it would be wise to use .3dsx instead of .3ds and .cia for homebrews if you have the chance. Using homebrew in .3ds format isn’t recommended at all as it will disable sound in your homebrew.
In the table below 3DS stands for 3DS/3DS XL/3DS LL where new 3DS stands for new 3DS/new 3DS XL/new 3DS LL. Sky3DS stands for Sky3DS and all its clones. Also it is possible to use some of the below in combinations, like booting ninjhax through Gateway or using regionthree in combination with sky3ds etc. to unlock additional features. But i will not go into these kinds of details as this article’s purpose is to give you basic info. These are what you get out of the box (or with some simple effort).
| Homebrew | Region Free | Supported Models | Supported Firmwares | |
| Gateway | .3ds, .cia | yes | 3DS, 2DS * | 4.1-9.2 |
| Sky3DS | no | no | 3DS, 2DS, new 3DS | Up to and including 9.5 |
| Ninjhax | .3dsx | no | 3DS, 2DS, new 3DS** | 4.0-9.2*** |
| CFW**** | .cia | no | 3DS | Only 4.x firmwares |
| regionthree | no | yes | 3DS, 2DS | 4.0-9.5 |
*Gateway promised new 3ds support. It is not out as at the time of writing this article.
**New 3DS doesn’t have sound in homebrews. Ninjhax uses browser privileges and new 3ds browser uses DSP where old 3ds browser uses CSND . As the current homebrews use CSND for audio output, homebrew will be without audio on New 3ds until DSP is reverse engineered.
*** For new 3ds, required firmware for Ninjhax is 9.0-9.2
****CFW supports games which need firmwares up to 4.x. Some new games can be firmware spoofed but it is hit&miss.
I hope this will help you make your decision about hacking your 3DS. As it is impossible to include every detail here, I advise to read from different sources thoroughly. At the time of writing this article, 9.5 is the latest available firmware for all 3DS models.
I have the Gateway card pretty easy to use, wouldn’t mind having a New 3DS with the sky card. Just wondering if it will work for the New 3DS games coming out.
Nice little sum up. I may add: There is kernel access through ninjhax WIP, which could enable homebrew launching with kernel permissions.
And Gateway on N3DS support is Soon(tm)
Yup, KARL3DS is aimed to have kernel access. I am keeping a close eye on this project. Also, yeah, I explained Gateway’s promise for new 3ds support under the table. It is the first asterisk. I couldn’t use the word soon as it is trademarked.
It is hurting Gateway in some cases by not releasing Support for the N3DS. As it stands, the Sky3DS is the only Card that runs on it. Most people who wish to run their Backups will turn to Sky until GW finally decides to release Support for it. I already have a GW, but I would like to be able to use my N3DS instead of it being a Paperweight.
Not to mention it is very disappointing to those who purchased a other Region N3DS due to at the time of the Gateway Video released back in November, no one knew when the NA/EU Regions would get the N3DS nor if it would be compatible with Gateway. But now, Sky is the only one running on it, but there are those who have (for example) a Aus/PAL N3DS, but have NA Games and the Backups of them. Or there are those who purchased a N3DS and a GW Card that read over and over again that N3DS support will be released, “In the coming Days”, or Soon as they have TM. LOL. Now some of those more than likely are feeling a bit ripped off as Gateway has not been heard from for some time now.
Finally, Gateway not releasing New support is hurting Developers of Homebrew/Emulators. A lot of them I have kept my eye on for some time have not seen any Updates on their GitHub Pages in quite a while. Some have not been looked at in as much as 2-3 Months. If Gateway were to release the Support, then more and more Developers would be able to take advantage of the N3DS’s better GPU, CPU, RAM, and more available Buttons and C Nub further expanding the possibilities of this Device. Quite possibly, no promises, we could even see N64 Emulation and better MAME (later Builds instead of 0.37b Versions as some are) being run on it.
Also there’s a neat trick to allow running homebrew in .3dsx format on Sky3DS and CFW. You can put the rom of Cubic Ninja on the Sky3DS’s SD card or install Cubic Ninja as .cia on CFW. The rest is the same as with the retail cartridge. I’ve tested this only with the CFW (ripped my Cubic Ninja cartridge with GateWay launcher – without an actual GateWay card, decrypted and converted the .3ds to .cia), but several users confirmed it works with Sky3DS, too. This way I can use my copy of Cubic Ninja on 2 consoles at once (4.5 CFW 3DS, 9.2 OFW 3DS XL). 🙂
I know you folks don’t like to discuss piracy in this place, but the 3ds scene is full of deceit.
So I appreciate the topics and articles about the current state of affairs. It’s so easy to get ripped off. I really want a flash card that can play my DS AND 3DS games so I can stop swapping the cart out on bumpy train rides. Anyway, keep up the good work, Reprep!
You answered a lot of questions i had, thank you.
Will there be a way in the future to play other region games on the New 3DS on the latest firmware?
Ugh I HATE region locking. Makes me want to pirate
Really useful, just got Cubic Ninja last night so will be setting up and start to write my own homebrews!
I hope you didn’t buy the cubic ninja retail cart.. You don’t need a retail cart, rom will work fine.
Retail Cart? I had to buy a retail cart. I have an N3DS XL running 9.2. Gateway doesn’t have any option for N3DS as of yet, so i bought the cart. When they release support then I will dump this cart and use it as a rom instead ^-^
If he don’t have sky3ds he can’t use a rom…
Actually, I was able to run the Ninja trick on my 3DS using the Rom Backup. It was on my Gateway. Only problem is, getting it to work is VERY tricky. Have to get the right QR Code for your System. If running EmuNAND, have to get the matching QR Code.
When attempting to run it, it must be correct. Have to follow the Instructions to the letter. Was only able to get it running once myself. It is very touchy.
I wish that regionthree could work with new 3ds and then I’ll probably buy one or if the fU@King Nintendo didn’t put the region lock I guess i stick with my old standard 3ds I hate the small screen, but that time the xl wasn’t announced yet but what’s the point of buy the xl when there’s a new version ***