Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo

Portable Game Console - Lifespan: 2011 - 2020

Information

Emulators

  • azahar

  • libretro-azahar

  • mandarine

  • citra

  • bizhawk: encore

Games Location

📁 roms \ 📂 3ds

File extensions

.3ds .3dsx .z3dsx .cia .zcia .elf .axf .cci .zcci .cxi .zcxi .app .m3u .zip .7z .squashfs

System Features

Retroachievements
Netplay
Controller autoconfig

NO

NO

Azahar: YES lr-azahar: YES Mandarine: YES Citra: YES BizHawk: YES

BIOS

No BIOS required.

Controls

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The 3DS has a touchpad that is difficult to emulate, the best way to use it is with a mouse connected.

With some emulators, it is possible to use the right joystick for the touchpad screen.

Standard control layout

The following option can be used to invert face buttons to match XBOX button names:

Touchscreen Management:

Depending on the emulator and options selected in RetroBat, mouse or rightstick can be used to simulate touchscreen movement.

Azahar, Mandarine and Citra also allow to select dedicated Touch Profiles that can be created within the emulator:

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You need to remember the name of the created profile and enter it in RetroBat.

Additional button layouts

Additional button layouts are available for some emulators, they can be accessed from the advanced settings > controls menu:

Option
Control layout

Right-Stick as Touchscreen Pointer

Libretro-Azahar Bizhawk

Right-Stick as Touchscreen Pointer (inverted)

Libretro-Azahar Bizhawk

Right-Stick as C-Stick & Touchscreen Pointer Libretro-Azahar Bizhawk

Right-Stick as C-Stick & Touchscreen Pointer (inverted) Libretro-Azahar Bizhawk

Specific System Information

Files location

Data
Path (relative to retrobat root path)

nand path

saves\3ds\<emulator>\nand

sdmc path

saves\3ds\<emulator>\sdmc

config file

emulators\<emulator>\user\config\qt-config.ini

Running installed apps

It is possible to use a .m3u file to run games that have been installed to the console NAND, the .m3u file must contain the full path to the .app file of the game.

Example of a game installed in the console NAND:

Create a shortcut to the desktop for the installed game (right-click):

On the windows desktop, right-click on the the shortcut to copy its path and paste it in a .txt file (only keep the last part which is the path to the installed app, without the ""):

Save the text file with the .m3u extension and place it in the roms\3ds folder:

Custom Textures

It is possible to launch Custom Texture packs with the Citra standalone Emulator and Lime3DS.

The texture pack needs to be placed in the \emulators\<emulator>\User\Load\Textures\<gameID> folder, example for Super Mario 3D Land:

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When using the libretro core, textures must be placed in:

\saves\3ds\citra\Load\Textures\<gameID>

The name of the custom texture folder can be found by right-clicking on the game in the emulator and selecting "Open Custom Texture Location".

Once the custom texture pack is correctly named and placed, activate the CUSTOM TEXTURES setting.

Go to the View Options from the Citra System

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