R4 3DS .org

Many people don't think of the Nintendo 3DS or the Nintendo 3DS XL as a classic gaming console.  Understandably so.  We associate our 3DS and DS systems with Mario and Luigi, Metroid, countless other amazing games and gaming herous.  There are however dozens of 3DS emulators that run a lot of the old classic games, by way of emulating the old school game systems.  Most people don't realize the hundreds and hundred of homebrew games and applications that are available for their 3DS or 3DS XL system once they get a 3DS Flashcard like the R4 3DS or R4i Gold 3DS cards.

People usually associate emulators and emulation of old school classic game systems with their PC or MAC computer.  The truth though is that the 3DS and 3DS XL make the ultimate retro game system, with the right emulators for the classic systems you grew up with, you'll have them all in portable form.  Play your retro games on the couch, on the bus to school or train to work - wherever and whenever you want to.

We have our favourites here of course, as every retro gamer does.  And today we're going to list our Top 3 Emulators for the Nintendo 3DS system, in no particular order.  Retro gaming can be a lot of fun.  It takes us back to a time when we played some of the best games ever made.  They didn't have the 3D graphics of todays games, or the online play capabilities, but what they did have however was some of the best gameplay ever.  We often say that they 8-bit and 16-bit era of gaming was where most of the innovation came from in video games.  Some of the best gameplay, despite the pixelated graphics, can be found on those old classic systems.  It's hard to believe that systems like the NES / Famicom are now over 30 years old.

Those pixelated graphics have had a huge come back in many of today's new games from truly talented indie developers.  But there's still nothing like playing all of our old favorites on the best hand held system available today!

NES Games on The Nintendo 3DS

Our emulator of choice for our good old 8-bit NES games is NesDS.  It has the best game compatibility of the 3 different NES emulators out there for the 3DS, and it still receives updates from the developer behind it.  We've tested it with close to 100 of our favorite retro games, and haven't found a single one that doesn't work and play at full speed with all of the features available.  The size and resolution of the 3DS screen is also perfectly suited for NES gaming.  Unlike large monitors where you play games in full screen, but they seem washed out because of the size of the screen and the pixels, NesDS on the 3DS makes for a truly enjoyable experience, and the games are crisp, clear and sharp.  NesDS is one of the rare emulators that has since the start, offering a whole lot of features and great compatibility, and truly made playing old school NES games on the DS, DSi and Nintendo 3DS possible.

Neo Geo Games On The Nintendo 3DS

Oh yes.  One of THE best systems to come out of the 90's, the Neo Geo AES home system was the only console to bring ACTUAL arcade games in to our living rooms.  Rather than making or selling ports of their amazing arcade games, SNK had the actual arcade games themselves, in a different styled cartridge, for gamers to be able to play the true arcade games at home.  The Neo Geo has a huge following to this day, and despite the cost of the console both when it was new, and now, for collectors, there are still plenty of them being bought and sold.  

NeoDS is the only available Neo Geo emulator available for the Nintendo 3DS, but that's okay, because the emulator is absolutely perfect!  It runs virtually every single Neo Geo game available, and has enough options to ensure that most of the games, if not all of them, run nearly identical to how they would be played on a console.  With the recent release of the Neo Geo X portable system, it has been said that neoDS on the Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL actually offers up a better game play experience for Neo Geo than the Neo Geo X does.  We don't know, nor have we compared.  We just know that NeoDS is one hell of a good Neo Geo Emulator.  Bringing some of the best Arcade games from the 90's and putting them in your pocket, on your Nintendo 3DS hand held system.

Play ZX Spectrum Games On Your Nintendo 3DS 

We just had to add an old school computer in here.  We weren't huge ZX Spectrum fans when it was first available, but have since gained a whole lot of respect for the little 48k Sinclair computer that could.  And a lot of the later releases, in the form of homebrew games and indie games have really shown just how powerful of a system that ZX Spectrum was, had it been used to its full potential back in the days when it was king of the hill.

ZXDS is one of 3 different Speccy emulators available for the R4 3DS cards and the Nintendo 3DS, and it is arguably the best of the bunch.  It was just recently updated some months ago, which shows the dedication of the developer behind this project. It loads and play virtually every single ZX Spectrum game out there today.  It doesn't just emulator the ZX Spectrum 48K either, it runs even the newer 128k games, and offers full support for them all.  The build in control pad on the 3DS makes for an excellent controller to play back some of the amazing Speccy games.

If you're looking for some newer (and truly amazing) ZX Spectrum games to play on your Nintendo 3DS, we highly recommend anything by the Mojon twins, who seem to be putting our new indie and homebrew games all the time for the ZX Spectrum computer.

You can find all of these amazing emulators right in our 3DS homebrew downloads section.  While you're there, also make sure to take a look at some really amazing classic game remakes and brand new games released by homebrew developers on a regular basis for the DS, DSi and Nintendo 3DS systems.