3DS:GBA games
From Hacks Guide Wiki
More actions
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
- Runs natively, without 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 ZL/ZR)
- 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 is needed to modify the config file)
- Still under active development
Virtual Console (VC) injects
- Run natively, without emulation (high compatibility, but no cheats, fast-forward, etc)
- 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 streaming or using the HOME Menu is possible
- 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 the Game Boy Camera)
GBARunner2
- A middle-ground between emulation and native
- it's basically the worst of both worlds, with no emulator features, while some games are incompatible or have issues
- Included with TWiLightMenu++
- Has a ROM picker
- Streaming or using the HOME Menu is not possible
- 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 Old 3DS | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Retail game compatibility | ✓ | ✓ | △ | △ |
| Homebrew/ROM hack compatibility
(For software not intended to run on real hardware) |
△ | △ | ✓ | △ |
| Runs from the HOME Menu | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Drag-and-drop / ROM picker | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cheats, fast-forwarding, save states | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Motion sensor support | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Easy save file access from SD | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
[[3DS:Wireless streaming
(New 3DS only) |
✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Under active development | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ? |