Your Nintendo 3DS is quite a powerful game system. Powerful enough to enable you to play your classic NES games. While emulators for classic game systems have become the norm for your PC, your Nintendo 3DS can do it just as well as any computer, and you'll have the added benefit of being able to take your NES games with you.
Steps
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First things first. You'll need to get your hands on an R4i Gold card for the Nintendo 3DS. There are several cards out there that claim to work on the new Nintendo 3DS system, but only a couple actually do work. You'll want to make sure you are getting an original R4i Gold, and not a clone card with a sticker that claims it's an R4i Gold card.
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Once you've received your R4i Gold card, and have your micro sd card in hand, head over to the official website for the r4i gold. In their downloads section you'll see a list of all of the different versions of the firmware. Download the newest or latest version. They are listed from newest to oldest, therefore, the first link in the downloads section will be the newest version of the firmware.Advertisement
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Download the firmware to your PC, and make sure to note where you have saved the file. If you're using Firefox, your firmware file would be saved in your downloads folder by default - unless you have it set to allow you select your download location. In any event, make sure you jot down where the file is, you'll see why in the following steps.
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Download a free / shareware version of a compression software. Once you have it downloaded, install it on your PC. The compression software will be associated with all .zip and .rar files after the installation is complete. You won't have to reboot your PC after the installation, so you can immediately go right to the folder where you saved your downloaded firmware file.
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Double click on the firmware .rar file and it will open for you're in the compression software. You want to select the extract option to extract the contents of the archive to your PC. The compression software should, by default, extract the files into a folder that is named exactly the same as the archive you're extracting it from. The firmware is important because without it, your R4i Gold card won't be recognized when you power up your Nintendo 3DS. The firmware is what tells the Nintendo 3DS that you have a card inserted, and it also runs the menu system or file manager for the r4i card itself. Think of it like the OS for a cell phone. Without the OS on the phone, the phone itself won't power up, will not have any menus or any applications. The firmware does the same thing on your R4i.
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The NES emulator for the Nintendo 3DS is called NesDS. It's a freeware / homebrew program that works much like emulators on the PC work. You can find it by doing a google search for "download NesDS". There are numerous web sites from which you can download it. Pick any of the sites in the results. There's no risk of any virus or malware infecting your Nintendo 3DS or your PC.
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Once you have both your firmware downloaded, as well as the NesDS emulator, it's time to put it all on your micro sd card. In order to do so, you'll need to use the micro SD card reader / writer that came with your R4i card. Plug the micro SD card into the USB dongle, and use any free USB port on your computer. The micro sd card will show up as a removable disk drive.
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Now it's time to put the firmware on to the micro sd card. The firmware is your menu system, and this is what you'll need in order for your R4i Gold so that it can be recognized by your Nintendo 3DS in order to load your NES emulator and games. Go to the folder that was created when you extracted the files. You'll have to copy these files to the micro SD card. It is however very important that you do not copy over the folder that contains all of the firmware files. You'll want to double click the firmware folder, and inside you will see several folder and files. This is what you want to copy. Select all of the folders and files and copy them over to the root of your micro SD card. The root of the micro SD card is what you see when you double click on the drive letter that was assigned to your micro SD when you plugged it into your PC. There should be no folders at all.
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Your next step is to do the same with NesDS. Simply copy the nesds.nds file from your downloads directory to the root of the micro SD card. Both the firmware files and the emulator itself have to be located in the root of your micro sd. If you put NesDS into a folder, you will not be able to load it. If you have the NES games you want on your Nintendo 3DS ready, you can copy them over to the micro SD card as well. While you don't have to, it is recommended that you create a folder on your micro sd card called NES or games and copy your NES games into that specific folder. It will help you keep your NES games organized.
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Once your firmware, NesDS and your games are on the micro SD card, it's time to take the micro SD card out of the USB Reader and plug it into your R4i Gold card. It's impossible to put it in the wrong way, the micro SD can only be inserted properly into the r4i.
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Plug the R4i Gold into your Nintendo 3DS just as you would any regular 3DS game card. Turn on your Nintendo 3DS and wait for main 3DS menu to show up. There, you'll see your R4i Gold card as one of the selections. Press the A button or use your finger on the touch screen to select it. It will instantly load up into the R4i menu, where you'll select the game option. You'll see the NesDS file, select it with your touch screen or by pressing A and the NesDS emulator will load up.
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This is your final step before you're playing your favorite NES games on your Nintendo 3DS. If you made either the NES or games folder, it will be listed. Press A and you'll see a list of the contents in the folder. All of the NES games you put on your card will be there for you to load and play on your new Nintendo 3DS.Advertisement
Community Q&A
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QuestionCouldn't I just download the files for the games like I was using an emulator instead of having to buy them?Community AnswerThe 3DS can't read files like that. In order to play NES games on your 3DS, you'll need to buy them through the eShop.
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QuestionCan I play Undertale with this?JesseCommunity AnswerUndertale is not an NES game; it is for computer only. NES games were made from 1985 to 1994, and Undertale was released in 2015.
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Tips
- Make sure you do not remove the Micro SD card while you are putting the firmware on the cardThanks
- Always download the latest / newest firmware. Older R4i Gold firmware will not work on the Nintendo 3DSThanks
- Depending on the R4 3DS card you have, you will need to make sure that you download the correct firmware. More often than not, users install the incorrect firmware for the R4 3DS cards and as a result, believe that their card is broken or not working. Always check your actual card sticker, and make sure that the firmware kernel you are downloading matches with the card you have.Thanks
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