Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 2: Method R4
• Method 2 of 2: Using Nintendo eShop
• Tips

Your Nintendo 3DS is a powerful gaming platform. Powerful enough to let you play your favorite games from your NES console. While emulators of classic games are becoming more and more popular on PCs, your Nintendo 3DS also supports similar software with the added bonus of being compatible with NES games.

Steps

Method 1 of 2: Method R4

1. 1 So, let's begin. You will need an R4i Gold Card for Nintendo 3DS. There are cards whose manufacturers claim to be compatible with the new Nintendo 3DS systems, but only a few of them actually work. To guarantee you a working card, make sure you get the original R4 Goldi card, not a clone with a sticker that says it's a real card. Maybe you should check out www.r43ds.org
2. 2 Once you receive your R4i Gold card, grab your SD card and head to the R4i Gold official website. In the download directory, you will see a list of all available firmware versions. Download the latest version. Links on the site are arranged in order, starting with new ones and ending with old ones, so the link you need will be in the first position.
3. 3 Download the software to your PC and remember where you saved the file. If you are using the Firefox browser, by default, files are saved to the Downloads folder, unless, of course, you have changed this setting. In any case, make sure you know where the file is saved, then you will see why it is needed.
4. 4 Download the free or trial version of the archiver (archiving software). Once you've downloaded it, install the program on your computer. The archiver will allow you to work with files with the .zip and .rar extensions. You don't need to restart your PC after installation, so go straight to the folder where you saved the software earlier.
5. 5 Double click the left mouse button on the icon of the file with the .rar extension and it will open using the archiver. You should select the "Extract from archive" option to copy the contents of the archive to your PC. By default, the archiver will extract files from the archive into a folder with the same name as the archive itself. This software is required as without it, your R4i Gold card will not be recognized when you turn on your Nintendo 3DS.The software you download will “tell” Nintendo 3DS that you have inserted the card, and will also run through the menu system or file manager on the card itself. Imagine that your software runs like an operating system on a smartphone. Without an operating system, the smartphone will not turn on, will not be able to give access to the menus and applications. The R4i software works the same way with your card.
6. 6 The NES emulator for the Nintendo 3DS is called NesDS. It is a freeware program written by enthusiasts that works just like emulators on a PC. You can find it by searching on google.com with the keywords "download NesDS". There are many websites from which you can download the emulator. Choose any of the ones offered on the site. There is no risk of infecting your computer or Nintendo 3DS.
7. 7 Once you've downloaded the software and emulator, copy them to the micro SD card. To do this, you need a micro SD card reader / writer that comes with your R4i card. Insert the micro SD card into the USB adapter, and use any available USB port on your computer. The micro SD card will appear as a portable disk on the PC screen.
8. 8 Time to transfer the software to the micro SD card. The software is a menu system. Here's what you need to do to get your R4i Gold card recognized by the Nintendo 3DS, and to download the NES emulator and games. Navigate to the folder where you extracted the files from the archive. You need to copy these files to the micro SD card. It is very important to make sure that you have not moved the folder where the software files are located. You should open the software folder, which contains several files and folders. Select all folders and files and copy them to the root directory of the micro SD card. The root directory is the file space that you see when you double-click the letter assigned.
9. 9 The next step is to do the same with NesDS. Just copy the nesds.nds file from the Downloads directory to the root directory of the micro SD card. The software and emulator files must be located in the root directory of the SD card. If you put NesDS in a folder, it won't load. Also you can copy NES games. It is recommended that you create a separate folder for games on your SD card to help organize your files.
10. 10 Once you've transferred all the files to SD media, insert it into the R4i Gold card.
11. 11 Plug the R4i Gold into your Nintendo 3DS just like any 3DS game card. Turn on the set-top box and wait for the menu to load. In it, you will see R4i Gold among the options. Press button A or touch an icon on the touch screen with your finger to select it. After that, in the menu that appears R4i, select the "game" option. When you see the NesDS file, click on it on the touchscreen or press the A button and the emulator will boot up.
12. 12 The final step to playing your favorite NES games on Nintendo 3DS. If you created a NES or Games folder, they will appear in the list. Press the A button and the contents of the folder will appear. All games will be available on Nintendo 3DS.

Method 2 of 2: Using Nintendo eShop

1. 1 Check if free NES games are available to you.
   • If you visited the eShop before August 11, 2011, you have been granted the title of Nintendo Ambassador, which gives you access to 10 free NES games and GameBoy Advance. They can be downloaded using the "Your Downloads" menu in the eShop.
   • Those who pre-ordered Kid Icarus: Uprising will receive a free code for the classic 3DS version of Kid Icarus. Enter this code into the eShop.
2. 2 If you are not granted the title of Ambassador, some 3D Classic NES games are available for purchase. But first, it's worth collecting Nintendo points.
3. 3 Once you have earned your points, go to the 3DS Virtual Console games catalog and find the 3DS Classics games you would like to buy.
4. 4 Download games and enjoy!

Tips

• Make sure the micro SD card is in the computer during the software copying process
• Always download the latest software. Early versions won't work on Nintendo 3DS
• Make sure to download the correct software version for the R4 3DS card. Often, users download the wrong version of the program, but believe that the problem lies with a problem with the card.Always check the sticker on the card and the version of the downloaded software.