Updates

This is a page for half-baked or brief blog posts that aren't interesting enough for the weblog but took up too much space or I wanted to be more permanent than a social-media post or a Now: update.

• 12.07.24: You Should Hack Your 3DS

12.07.24

You Should Hack Your 3DS

I don't know who this post is really for, because it seems like almost everyone who still owns a 3DS has modded it by now. But if you have one sitting in a closet since the eShop shut down, I am urging you to spend the 40 minutes it takes to install custom firmware.

I know the word "firmware" makes this sound like I'm asking you to switch to Linux or root your phone or whatever, but I was genuinely amazed by how easy and straightforward it is. The first step is the only mildly tricky part, and everything after that is just downloading files to an SD card. There's a clear, concise and complete website guide to the whole process that you just have to follow step-by-step, and even though they warn you that there's a non-zero chance of bricking it's pretty safe if you keep backups.

Visit the 3DS Hacks Guide →

Once you have your system running custom firmware you can install homebrew games & apps to the home menu. You can rip any physical cartridges you have, including save data. You can sideload ROMs off the SD card. You can (this made me do a full evil laugh when I realized it's possible) use the 3DS's WiFi connection to put files on it over FTP without even touching it.

I think most of the thrill I've derived from this process comes from knowing it's the result of a dedicated community working really hard for years on software that's all totally free. It's the kind of love-of-the-game stuff you just don't see in a lot of spaces, especially spaces where it's possible to monetize at all. I don't know anything about real programming, far less writing raw assembly for a device not designed to let you do that. But lots of people just enjoy the challenge. The Homebrew Launcher is full of tech-demo type stuff (a pi calculator, an MP4 decoder) that seem to have just been made to prove their possibility, the same way people make crazy demos for other old consoles. And they're all generous enough to let unskilled chumps like myself use their work to improve my life. My 2DSXL was a paperweight before I decided to pull the trigger on CFW and now I've got a new battery on the way and will probably keep it around for years.

This specific project intersects with my personal principles pretty heavily. For one, I am trying to look at my phone less by replacing it with other, nicer screens. A choice between spending a bus ride scrolling through posts designed to make me go insane and spending a bus ride playing Peggle: Dual Shot is pretty easy.

Second, I love to rescue a device from getting thrown away. Even if the device isn't very sleek or powerful by current standards, if it works, why chuck it? And if it can become useful again by being modified beyond the original manufacturer's intent, the original manufacturer can eat it, in my opinion. A company wanting you to buy their new thing doesn't mean you're required to throw the old thing away just because it lacks “official support.” Why whould you give up (there are loads of emulators a jailbroken 3DS can run) hundreds of games that'll never be legally available again?

“Videogames are built on, and kept alive by, acts of crime.”
 — myfriendpokey