****The Nintendo 3DS Thread****

Just picked up a Modded 3DS XL. Anyone else still rocking one these days?

I modded my 2DS XL over the covid days. But all the games I still play are my original carts.

But reason was to dump my Pokemon save file as the game randomly doesn't boot anymore. Didnt work :(
 
I heard due to the chip tech used on these things (and Switch games as well) if theyre not periodically powered up in a console, these chips can degrade over time, not the same as a battery, but due to a lack of voltage in the chips they can essentially bit swap if I remember correctly, as they're essentially rewriteable NAND, rather than ROM chips. The chips refresh themselves periodically/error correctly, when powered up and there are ways to sometimes restore a game using 3rd party tools, but not something everyone, even someone tech savvy, will always have access to.

I was planning to go through and open up all the games ive got sooner or later (as realistically even the sealed ones we got to play), and leave them running for 5 or so minutes each and just check theyre all fine.

That's going to happen rather naturally with the Switch games now Im wanting to play everything on Switch 2, but the 3DS doesnt get played as often (and when it does sometimes im using DS games or my R4) and dont want to leave it a few years and find some of the older cartridges have died due to lack of power up.

Sounds like maybe that is what has happened to your Pokemon :(
 
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The 3D feature does work well, especially on the N3DS/N3DS XL. It worked on the OG too, but the sweet spot was easy to lose, the N3DS was vastly better with the eye tracking.
Favourite game(s) wise, Tales of the Abyss was really good on the system, sunk a TON of time into Animal Crossing New Leaf (more content than New Horizons imo), Bravely Default and Fantasy Life were great - although sequels/remasters just came out on Switch 2, Zelda OOT/MM 3D are just...great, Metroid Samus Returns is amazing if you like Metroid, Pokemon is decent... there's a massive library, and that's before you even think about DS games which are also back compat on the machine.

Well worth a look at:

And just look through the most highly rated games. Many of them are utterly fantastic.

Got my N3DS XL out right now charging, as running through the cartridges/opening/testing everything is my plan for this evening, if nothing else comes up. Really want to give the cartridges a chance to refresh a little, and make sure they're all still working OK; as if any of them have died, I'd rather know now when I might be able to find a replacement.
 
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I heard due to the chip tech used on these things (and Switch games as well) if theyre not periodically powered up in a console, these chips can degrade over time, not the same as a battery, but due to a lack of voltage in the chips they can essentially bit swap if I remember correctly, as they're essentially rewriteable NAND, rather than ROM chips. The chips refresh themselves periodically/error correctly, when powered up and there are ways to sometimes restore a game using 3rd party tools, but not something everyone, even someone tech savvy, will always have access to.

I was planning to go through and open up all the games ive got sooner or later (as realistically even the sealed ones we got to play), and leave them running for 5 or so minutes each and just check theyre all fine.

That's going to happen rather naturally with the Switch games now Im wanting to play everything on Switch 2, but the 3DS doesnt get played as often (and when it does sometimes im using DS games or my R4) and dont want to leave it a few years and find some of the older cartridges have died due to lack of power up.

Sounds like maybe that is what has happened to your Pokemon :(

It's only been confirmed to affect few games (persona Q and pokemon moon) because some 3DS game cartridges were manufactured cheaply and are more prone to degradation then others.
 
It was due to the Macronix nand iirc but reading into it, it sounds like although not confirmed, it sounds like all of the carts are susceptible, just some nand/carts are MORE susceptible.

I actually just ordered Persona Q so that'll be getting opened immediately!!

Edit: Ugh - the more I read into it, the more it appears a wider range of cartridges and games can be affected by NAND failure or solder failure. Given this, I will definitely test my entire collection and give them about 5 mins each with the system on, combination of idling on the desktop and a load etc.

Only downside is this is gonna take a while with around 80 games hahah

Worth it though if it avoids finding a dead cartridge later.

Edit 2: And I just found a random Mario Kart DS floating in my Samus Returns case. Metroid was also there, but WTF did that come from, I dont even remember lol
 
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Yeah, once the N3DS came along, the real potential of the machine was there, as the auto face tracking makes such a difference to using the 3D for longer stretches, or when in a vehicle for example IMO.
Although I was still blown away the day it came out even on the OG, I picked up Tom Clancy Shadow Recon as my release day titles, and when I switched 3D on, it felt like looking into a window or a diorama, its something that 2D graphics cant really replicate, and I'm not sure we'll see again, outside of VR headsets.
 
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