3DS:GBA games

The Nintendo 3DS can play GBA games through several methods, both natively and through emulation.

Comparison of methods

In order of most to least recommended.

open_agb_firm

Main page: 3DS:open_agb_firm

• Runs natively, not via emulation (high compatibility, but no cheats, fast-forward, etc)
  • Supports real-time clock for Pokemon, but no camera or accelerometer
• Must be booted from chainloader (by holding START on boot), like GodMode9
  • This does allow faster launching than injects if your system is powered off.
• Has a file manager that allows you to select a ROM
• Supports button remapping (including circle pad and touchscreen, but not New 3DS L2/R2)
• Brightness can be adjusted in-game
• Automatic ROM patching is supported
• Streaming, 3DS HOME Menu, etc. are inaccessible while a game is running
• Saves are stored on SD card and easy to manage
• Lacks a user interface for configuring settings (a text editor must be used to change the config file)
• Still under active development

Virtual Console (VC) injects

Main page: 3DS:Virtual Console

• Run natively, not via emulation (same caveats as above)
• Must manually be created using a PC program (Windows-only, closed-source and abandoned by dev)
• Each game has its own separate icon on the HOME Menu
• No button remapping
• No adjustable brightness
• No automatic ROM patching
• Streaming, 3DS HOME Menu, etc. are inaccessible while a game is running
• Saves are stored in NAND and are difficult to backup and restore (requires GodMode9 and multiple reboots for each save)

mGBA

• A full emulator, which means that it has fast-forward, cheats, save states
• Performance isn't perfect, especially on old 3DS
• Not compatible with all games, but may have higher compatibility with ROM hacks that are not designed to run on actual GBA hardware
• Runs in 3DS mode, so you can stream it or use the HOME Menu while it's running
• Supports button remapping
• Has a ROM picker
• Saves are stored on SD card and easy to manage
• Supports additional hardware features, such as accelerometer (for WarioWare: Twisted!) and camera (for Game Boy Camera)

GBARunner2

• A middle-ground between emulation and native
  • it's basically the worst of both worlds, still no emulator features, but some games are incompatible or have issues
• Included with TWiLightMenu++
• Has a ROM picker
• Streaming, 3DS HOME Menu, etc. are inaccessible while a game is running
• Saves are stored on SD card and easy to manage

Overview table

Feature	open_agb_firm	VC Injects	mGBA	GBARunner2
Games run natively	✓	✓	✗	△
Runs full speed on Old3DS	✓	✓	✗	✓
Retail game compatibility	✓	✓	△	△
Homebrew/ROM hack compatibility (For things not intended to run on official hardware)	△	△	✓	△
Runs from HOME Menu	✗	✓	✓	✓
Drag-and-drop / ROM picker	✓	✗	✓	✓
Cheats, fast-forwarding, save states	✗	✗	✓	✗
Motion sensor support	✗	✗	✓	✗
Easy save file access from SD	✓	✗	✓	✓
Wireless streaming via NTR (New3DS only)	✗	✗	✓	✗
Under active development	✓	✗	✓	?