All 3ds Roms ★ Ad-Free

Short version:

Nintendo’s stance:
Aggressive. They sued the ROM site RomUniverse for $2.1M, shut down LoveROMS, and routinely issue DMCA takedowns for 3DS ROMs.

Preservation reality:
The 3DS eShop closed in March 2023. Over 500 digital-only titles (e.g., Attack of the Friday Monsters, Crimson Shroud, Dillon’s Rolling Western) are no longer legally downloadable. Archivists argue that ROM preservation is now the only way to prevent these games from disappearing. all 3ds roms

When enthusiasts search for "all 3DS roms," they are usually looking for one of three things:

The scale of the library: Between 2011 and 2020, Nintendo released approximately 1,800 - 2,000 retail titles worldwide (depending on how you count variants). Including eShop exclusives, Virtual Console titles, and DSiWare backwards compatibility, the total number of unique ROM files exceeds 3,500. Short version:

For years, Citra was the king of 3DS emulation. In March 2024, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the developers of Yuzu (Switch emulator), and Citra was taken down as a collateral settlement. However, the source code lives on.

| File Type | Purpose | Tool to handle | |-----------|---------|----------------| | .3ds | Raw cartridge dump | Citra, GodMode9 (convert to .cia) | | .cia | Installable package | FBI (on 3DS), GodMode9 (dump to .cia) | | .cci | Citra container image | Citra only | | .3dsx | Homebrew executable | HBL | | .app / .tmd | eShop title parts | 3DNUS (download from Nintendo servers – now mostly dead) | Nintendo’s stance: Aggressive

Essential tools for managing ROMs:

Assuming you have legally obtained your ROM files, how do you play them?