6 Best Nintendo 3DS Emulators for PC
Before choosing an emulator, check its system requirements
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Key notes
- The Nintendo 3D Emulators for PC replicate the 3D gaming environment, provide high-resolution graphics, customizable controls, save state options, and more.
- There are a few working emulators that are actively in development; keep reading to know all about them.
Nintendo 3DS emulators for PC are a great way to play your favorite handheld console games on a larger screen with improved features.
In this comprehensive guide, we will discuss some of the best Nintendo 3D emulators for PC and delve into their features and performance to help you make an informed decision.
What features should you look for in an emulator?
- Compatibility – Make sure you choose an emulator that supports a wide range of Nintendo 3DS games.
- Performance, graphics, and resolution – Ensure the emulator comes with high-resolution graphics options for visual enhancements and offers good performance on your PC.
- Customizable controls – Should allow you to map keys or have support for a wide range of controllers for a personalized gaming experience.
- Developer support and updates – Make sure the emulator is actively supported by developers and should get regular updates to address bugs, and issues.
- Simple interface & multiplayer functionality – Should have a user-friendly & easy-to-navigate interface and support online or local multiplayer features.
What are the best Nintendo 3DS emulators for PC?
Citra emulator – Comes with a lot of features
Citra is the best freeware open-source Nintendo 3DS emulator for Windows computers, which is written in C++ with portability in mind.
It also works on macOS, Linux, and Android and can efficiently run homebrew and commercial games.
To run this emulator successfully, you need a computer with Windows 10 (64-bit) or higher, macOS Big Sur or higher, with graphics hardware OpenGL 4.3, or Vulkan 1.1.
It works with 100% efficiency, supports high-resolution rendering, and you can play at 60fps and 400*200 resolution. The wide range of features includes hardware controller support, save state, and in-built cheat support.
The only downside of this emulator is that it uses decrypted ROMs, therefore you can’t use the backups in 3DS or 3DZ format.
More features of Citra
- Easy to use and actively under development
- Has an active & supportive community, including forums and Discord channels
- Provides real-time debugging tools
- Helps you organize the library of 3DS titles
NO$GBA – Even works on older versions of Windows
No$GBA, aka No Cash GBA, is another efficient 3DS emulator that works on Windows 10, XP, and even MS-DOS. You can use it as a Game Boy Advance emulator for Windows.
It comes with a wide range of customization options, including save types and multiple cartridge readings.
This freeware Nintendo DS emulator comes with multiplayer support and can load multiple NDS ROM files for linking games.
It is capable of running both commercial and homebrew Nintendo DS games, like Pokemon Diamond without any glitches in graphics.
The only downside of using this emulator is that it is relatively complex and has a less user-friendly interface.
More features of No$GBA
- Comes with debugging tools that can be valuable for developers or users
- Supports external controllers
- Allows users to save and load game states at any point
- Actively under development and receives regular updates
RetroArch – Can also be installed on Android phones
RetroArch is an open-source, cross-platform frontend Nintendo 3DS emulator, which can be installed in Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.
This emulator for PC is fast, doesn’t hog your system resources, and doesn’t need any additional resources to run. It can run on Windows 7 with Pentium 4, 32 MB RAM, and any compliant OpenGL 2.x.
RetroArch allows you to run classic games on various computers and consoles and has an intuitive user interface.
This emulator has advanced features like shaders, rewinding, machine translation, next-frame response times, and blind accessibility.
However, the availability of excessive options may overwhelm a user and can also be seen as a drawback of this emulator.
More about RetroArch:
- Comes with a Recording/Streaming option via Twitch.tv, YouTube, or Discord
- Easily customizable and has multiple controller support
- Is available for free and is in active development
- Available in popular stores like Google Play, Amazon App, Steam, & Samsung Galaxy Store
R4 3DS Emulator – Comes with a flash card support
R4 3DS Emulator is a freeware open-source emulator for Windows that has no restrictions on usage and provides an authentic 3D experience.
This flashcard emulator can run smoothly on Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11 on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems.
R4 3DS Emulator can support a variety of controllers and also lets you play with other players in online battles.
With smooth and fast gameplay, this emulator allows you to store game data on the cloud and lets you customize settings and profiles.
The only downside of this emulator is that it can run custom applications, which can, unfortunately, be used for piracy.
More about R4 3DS Emulator:
- Used to play homebrew games
- Can run custom applications
- Provides preview of DS games on R4 3DS Flash Cards
- Simple to use and has a short learning curve
3DMOO – Huge catalog of games
3DMOO is a 3DS emulator that lets you play a wide variety of games for the Nintendo 3DS portable console on your PC.
It is an open-source 3DS emulator that can also be installed on Linux and is only used for running simple homebrew games at low speeds.
You can run this software on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 & 11, and it uses special algorithms and graphics acceleration to unlock the computing power.
The additional features of the tool let you change the output resolution and other visual parameters to enhance the image quality.
The disadvantage of using this 3DMOO 3DS emulator is that it needs original ROM files to run the console games.
More about 3DMOO:
- Free to use and comes with support for cheat codes
- Can be used as an experimental Nintendo 3DS emulator
- Lets you change graphics settings
- Saves the list of frequently used games
TronDS – Works best for homebrew
TronDS is a Nintendo 3DS emulator for Windows that is written in C# and can only be used to play run homebrew games.
It is a simple and lightweight emulator that doesn’t take up much space on your hard drive; however, you will have to download the games on your own.
This emulator comes with HLE support of the base 3DS operating system to help support userland applications.
It can be used from a USB stick or external hard drive; therefore, it doesn’t require any prior installation.
The downside of this software is that it can’t run commercial 3DS games yet and has not gotten any updates for a while.
More about TronDS
- Basic framebuffer rendering
- A ARM11 debugger
- ARM9/ARM11 interpreter for the 3DS app core
To sum up, these are some of the best Nintendo 3DS emulators available for your Windows computer, and each of them has its own strengths.
Whether you choose a feature-rich Citra or the reliable No$GBA, the goal remains the same, i.e, recreating the magic of Nintendo games on your computer.
Choosing the Nintendo 3DS emulator for your PC depends on your preferences, system specifications, and the gaming experience you want. However, remember to check the official website for an emulator before making an informed decision.
As we are talking about emulators, you should check out our guide on making emulators run faster on Windows PCs.
If you are looking for emulators for other Nintendo versions, like Nintendo Switch emulators, we have a guide for you.
Or in case you are looking for multiple options in a single software, consider using an all-in-one emulator.
Which one is your favorite Nintendo 3DS emulator? Tell us your thoughts and experience using it in the comments section below.
