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===Emulation issues===
|emulated = {{~}}
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The Nintendo 3DS is the latest an eighth-generation handheld game console by Nintendo, released on March 27, 2011 for $249 ($280.84 in 20112018 money). It had a Dual-Core ARM11 MPCore at 268 MHz and a single-core ARM9. It had 128MB of RAM and 6MB of VRAM. It has a DMP PICA200 GPU. The most notable feature of this console is the use of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autostereoscopy autostereoscopic] (i.e. without glasses) 3D, which can be configured using a slider.
__TOC__
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[libretro|Libretro Core]]! scope="col"|[[Recommended emulatorsEmulators|Recommended]]
|-
|[[Citra]]
|Windows, Linux, macOS, Linux
|[https://citra-emu.org/download/ Nightly]
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|Windows, Linux
|[https://github.com/plutooo/3dmoo/ Git]
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|[[TronDS]]
|Windows, Linux
|[http://trondsemu.byethost15.com/downloads.html 1.0.0.5]
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|LemonLime
|Windows, Linux, macOS, Linux
|[https://github.com/Cyuubi/LemonLime/ Git]
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[Citra]] <small>(Unofficial)</small>
|[[Android emulators|Android]]|[https://github.com/SachinVin/citra_android Frontend/releases v0.5.1-alpha] <small>(WIP)</small>
|{{✓}}
|{{✗✓}}|{{✓}}†
|-
|}
†Only recommended because it's the only one for Android
===Comparisons===
;[[Citra]]:An early in development open-source Nintendo 3DS emulator made by experienced emulator developers. It is considered experimental, and it runs homebrew applications with a decent degree of compatibility. Though it can play many most commercial games to some extent, the emulator has various graphical and sound issues with most some games, and requires a very powerful CPU for most games to be playable. Citra is being regularly worked on, and progress in it is faster than expected for most emulators. However, there's still no telling how long it will be before it is suitable for playing games to completion.;[[3dmoo]]:Another open-source Nintendo 3DS emulator, made by experienced developers in the DS hacking scene. It was released shortly after Citra and received similar progress for a few months, but was eventually aborted by its authors after a while.;[[TronDS]]:A closed-source Nintendo 3DS emulator, presumably made by the iDeaS author. Little is known about it other than that it can run simple homebrew. It cannot be used for playing games.
'''The Nintendo 3DS currently has no emulators that play all games with all features intact.''' This is mainly because for a long time the hardware was documented only sparingly, and homebrew code execution was hard to achieve. Nowadays, the hardware is better known and homebrew is being developed. Many games boot now, with a few even having no noticeable graphical issues. However, sound has not fully been implemented. This, along with other various issues, exist that make 3DS emulation not ready for prime time just yet.
==Game Images==
===3DS vs. CIA===
<!--this section is pretty inaccurate-->There's are two big types of 3DS game images currently:
;NCSD-type: Includes '''.CCI''' (Citra Cart Image), aka '''.3DS''' - data on physical carts, can be executed right off the bat, not used much since no one bothered to develop a CFW solution to load them yet (besides converting them to CIA) and only overpriced flashcarts (Gateway/Sky3DS) can load them.
;NCCH-type: Includes '''.CIA''' (Citra Importable Archive) and '''.CXI''' - installers that unpack game data to the SD card or the 3DS NAND memory (if you have a ticket proving ownership of that game, but tickets can be shared and even fool Nintendo's servers into letting you download the game, using tools like FreeShop or Wii U USB Helper if on a PC). Some homebrew apps (FBI, DevMenu) can install CIA files on 3DS systems with CFW installed. Digital only games will use this format internallyare often distributed as CIAs.
*Note that Citrus, Citra , or CTR is are the internal code name names for the 3DS.
Due to one format being so far restricted to overpriced flashcarts and the very slow Citra development (meaning playing on a real 3DS is still the preferred way to go), the CIA format is preferred in many sharing websites, downloader tools and even tools to dump your own games.
The game changer was the sighax exploit, allowing to dump the 3DS bootrom which includes these encryption keys. This file can be downloaded from the [[Emulator Files#Nintendo 3DS|Emulator Files]] page. You can then use a program like '''[https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-extract-decrypt-games-nand-backups-and-sd-contents-with-fuse-3ds.499994/ fuse-3ds]''' to decrypt games using this file. Simply place boot9.bin in the same folder, run the program, mount the encrypted .cia or .3ds, and find the '''decrypted.cxi''' file inside (usually in the first folder). Citra should be able to load this file without issues.
{{Nintendo}}
