Over the past months we've kept track of some of the major developments in the 3DS hacking community, as they illustrate just how determined some are to access ROMS and / or homebrew, and likewise reinforces Nintendo's effectiveness at shutting down piracy through its security firmware.
Hacks to date have varied in their intent, with some focused on homebrew or making the portable region free, and others that are simply designed for old-fashioned ROM piracy. The latest development falls into the latter category, as it's now possible to load a tool to run ROMS without the need for a flashcard. This effectively bypasses two primary flashcard 3DS providers, though users still need a copy of Cubic Ninja, which is common across some of these exploits.
From our understanding the key benefits of this a latest workaround are the fact that it negates the need to use a flashcard, and it also runs Game Boy Advance ROMS. With that said, like all of these exploits this is very niche, as it only works on offline 3DS systems with out of date firmware, both the New models and originals.
Nintendo is unlikely to act on this as, effectively, it already has - the latest system firmware isn't supported by this exploit. It's another indication of the diverse desires of the modding community, too - some exploits simply want region free or homebrew, while others have less reasonable goals of allowing ROM piracy.
It's all very different from the open-season nature of flashcards on the DS, at least.
We encourage reasonable debate on this topic, but please be sure to observe our Community Rules. As per our policy we won't link to the relevant external forums in this article, either.
With thanks to Undead_terror for the tip.
Comments 45
It definitely seemed like an inevitability.
From what I understand there actually already existed such an exploit on older 4.5 firmware systems which enabled piracy, but only up to a certain selection of games.
This new exploit means nearly all current games could be pirated. It probably makes homebrew installation possible as well.
ROM piracy should not be promoted like this. It hurts the industry and in the end it hurts Nintendo fans
More of that patented Stability(TM) on its way.
Pasta CFW.
@ECMIM Read article - Already patched...
It was discovered in October 2014 and patched in October 2014, not really sure why this is being reported on?
Nintendo removed this game from sale several months ago, and I'm pretty sure the game is no longer in circulation.
sighs
Piracy is a toxic form of gaming that hopefully the young ones will look back on after they've had their fun and realize it didn't benefit them. I guess the only potentially good thing here is that flashcard sales may take a hit and close up shop. Wishful thinking, though.
Nintendo could help curb piracy if they released VC games more frequently. GBA games should be on the 3DS by now but they aren't and so some people who would have bought the, instead go out and pirate them.
I still have my Cubic Ninja game, and I noticed at the local games store, used copies are more expensive than the game originally was at release (€39.99 instead of the original €29.99).
But yeah, I stopped collecting games but still prefer original copies. I do however have a modded GC, Wii and an R4 card. But mostly use those for hard to find/expensive retro games, expensive import-only titles I only want to try (they're all region free now), or fan translations. And the Wii has some emulators on it. That's how I played Mother 3 (which I now have on a GBA cartridge patched, and also the original), Sweet Home, Nanashi No Geemu/Nameless Game, Project Zero 4 (original copy though),...).
So only for games I couldn't play otherwise due to publishers and/or region lock, weren't even translated officially, and are too old to be available new and too expensive used to pay for.
So I'm absolutely NOT opposed to piracy to bypass these issues. Other uses... Well, when games are released at retail prices of €10/hour of single player campaign, and download versions at the same price or even higher WITHOUT the possibility of returning it when it's garbage or just finished and not worthy of keeping (for higher download prices I'm looking at you, PSN) by all means, pirate that game. If it's a work of love with plenty of value at a decent price, with a nice physical version, just buy it or wait for a sale or used copy - if the prices don't go up that is.
Condemning piracy is just ignoring the elephant in the room. We all know why these people love to hack nintendo hardware. The more restrictions Nintendo places on the consumer the more they are likely to rise and take a stand.
@SanderEvers Those all sound like complete non-issues to me. Besides the whole Save state thing is kinda silly. It makes sense for older games on the NES since they had no actual save function of their own but for newer games this can't really be a issue. As for the wi-fi and streetpass , it is a shame but it is what it is. Doubt it would bother consumers too much anyway.
@Megumi
Yes, go ahead and sigh. This must make your life so miserable.
No amount of Nintendo news can eliminate the sorrow that is My Grandad passing away. We got the phone call from India about An hour ago…
It is really depressing and as such, this will be the last post from myself for a while. See you then guys......
Give the people what they want and there will be no hacking
@DarkmarkUnited Thank you for your support at this grim time. Hearing about this, gave me depressing flashbacks of 2009, when my Grandma, my Mom's Mom, passed away. I was there when see died, I was there when her funeral was taking place. It is a wound that has been reopened.
@Yorumi Nintendo has stated they want VC games to run PERFECTLY if they are to offer them in the eshop, and ambassadors have complained about many tiny faults in the GBA games. Even ROMs don't often run perfectly on PC emulators, even if the fault is minor. Example, I've heard complaints that speedruns with a Super Mario Bros ROM aren't legit because of a 2% speed decrease which runners take advantage of.
The idea of emulating ANY game (even the old gameboy) on e.g. a 3DS cant be ever "perfect" cause the hardware simply cant emulate a gameboy 100%, its too weak. Even for a full emulation of SNES games on the pc, you would need some serious hardware (Quadcore CPUs wouldnt even be able at the moment). The people dont get that emulating 100% is not the same as playing a game appearing to be "perfect". There are many discussions in the emulating scene about this and yes, for your eyes it looks 100%, for your brain as well, but the idea of "perfect emulation" is far from it. So Nintendo doesnt do any different than all the regular emulators when using software to emulate an old game. Its a whole different story when the hardware is compatible with the old games, e.g. like Wii on Wii u or DS on 3DS. Regarding the GBA ambassador titles, there werent any issues with the games, they were running fine, no slowdowns or whatever but there were no extra options that you usually have when running a VC game. So, a GBA game was running outside of the 3DS enviroment, you werent able to go to miiverse or other gimmicks. Having said that, Nintendo surely could have also improved on it (fans of emulation manage to do it now but the 5 billion $ cooperation called Nintendo doesnt manage? nahh)...at the end of the day its a business decision by Nintendo and of course they will state whatever fits their current mood.
@SanderEvers
Thats not really correct. The DS has two different cpus - one ARM9 and one ARM7 (if I remember right) and the ARM7 is used for the GBA. The DSi and 3DS dont have the ARM7 hence its still emulated.
I do agree with the second comment Not a chance .. its all about business.
@Takerkaneanite6 I'm feeling so sorry to hear that.
Strength and love from me.
This heart will give you strength
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@linklore Clicks (And ad impressions) are more important sadly.
@AlexMurphy http://3dbrew.org/wiki/FIRM This seems to imply the Arm7 is still present. (I don't know enough to test either way).
@mr12calvin Thank you so much. I told my Dad to stay strong, for my Grandma when he goes to India Tomorrow. I to will attempt to stay strong, everybody else in the family will have to pull through and get through this tough time, together, as one unit...
@unrandomsam
There is no ARM7 cpu in the 3DS - the logic is that the more powerful ARM9 CPU can be underclocked to behave like an ARM7 (the link of yours refers to it but in a technical way) and on this point actually the previous poster was correct - now that I think of it. The 3DS, through this underclocking, is able to behave like a GBA and run the game on the hardware. The downside is that, when running the game, its a GBA in your hands with no functions of the 3DS so no extra features possible.
One solution for Nintendo would have been to recompile GBA games for the different instruction set of the ARM9 and offer it through the Eshop, but I guess the costs would have been too high. Another would have been to keep on developing an actual emulator (like they have for GB,NES,GENESIS). They didnt but could have.... anyway, Sanderevers was right with the Ambassador games, these were run through an underclocked ARM9 and thus like on an actual GBA. If it all you could say they emulated the cpu...
Lol Cubic Ninja... YET AGAIN!
Waiting for another stability update, Nintendo!
Was playing gba roms on the 3ds ages ago thanks to a certain ds flash cart
Have a 3ds to buy and play games and have a 3ds to mod if that's your thing, it's as simple as that
Yes, because Cubic Ninja is soo available and worth the money for something that'll get patched next week.
@APHughes Just like how they could curb piracy of new games by releasing them...oh wait
1. Piracy is Attempting to sell or resell the downloaded material. So do not feel so bad for these big wig meanies. They do not love nore could careless if you were born or alive. Nintendo/Microsoft/SONY/SEGA would rather your mother not even want to bring you into this world and then have your parents send them all the money they plan to spend on their first children. THEY DO NOT LOVE YOU. IT IS ALL AN BIG GAME TO THEM. THE GAME IS TO DRAIN THE MONEY AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT PIGEON. Like that episode on South Park
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VhtWcIuGWg
3. Most people who download stuff WILL BUY THE MERCHANDISE OR MIGHT EVEN BE ENCOURAGED TO PURCHASE THE ACTUAL SYSTEM. I JUST DISCOVERED AN USE FOR THE PSP YESTERDAY AND NOW I MIGHT END UP BUYING ONE. IN RETURN THAT PERSON WILL BUY AN 3DS.
4. The point is that this is not news at all. The ultimate problem of this is because of CD-ROM. The problem with CD-ROM is when you put music on an disc and then have an computer at home that can read it, sending it over 56K is not really an problem.
Back then in the early 1990's they had all kinds of sharing going on via telephone wire and you would just pay an long-distance call to another computer. Simple as that.
In fact you can still send and receive things via long-distance calls using your computer as well; without any real web browser or Navigator.
7. People are emulating game systems on their phones right now.
Reality check time.
Smartphones already emulate out the wazoo. Deal with it.
Nintendo's own Virtual Console support is pitiful. Deal with that.
Not all people who enjoy exploits run games they don't own. Some enjoy the ability to play everything they love on one device, a luxury Nintendo has yet to provide.
Reporting on this doesn't imply Nintendolife encourages piracy, only that they encourage NEWS.
And hopping up and down about how angry you are pirates exist won't earn you any fan points from Nintendo. It really just makes it look like you leap at every possible opportunity to appear holier than thou.
@RegalSin I have no clue what your point is. CD-ROMS and 56k modems.....uhm....yeah I have no idea. And you go from 1 to 3 to 4 to 7.....I'm at a loss for words.
More proof that the 3DS is more than capable of playing GBA games. Ugh.
This sounds more like endorsing downloading illegal copies of games rather than news about Nintendo products.
@AlexMurphy I know that is possible. (Reason for using an ARM11 or Cortex A7 supporting both abi's). What I don't understand is why 3dbrew says otherwise on that page. Given that nearly all the working exploits have been developed by those guys and that is their site.
We want 3DS game controllers for WiiU games.
Make it happen for Splatoon.
so how do I pirate older 3DS firmware and cubic ninja so I can do all this cool stuff without spending a dime?
but really ummm pirates will do anything for free booty i guess.
@sleepinglion
Thank you for being the one to point it out. My exact thoughts on the subject are quite similar, though you can put them into words far more eloquently than I could (and also a whole lot nicer).
I've been searching for a while and can't come up with any confirmation of Ninjhax being able to run 3ds or GBA roms. I don't need a direct link, but what can I even google to get more info about this? I'm starting to think it's a hoax, or that Nintendo Life was misled.
If I remember correctly, the PSP can equip emulators for: NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, GBA, DS, PS1, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis/Megadrive, Game Gear, and a used one doesn't cost very much these days. Oops.
Seems like an aweful amount of trouble just to save some money. I would rather keep my system up to date and running by paying and making sure the future of the system is intact and doesn't suffer a death like the Dreamcast did. One of my favorite systems died way before its time due to the piracy **sadface**
@AlexMurphy Actually, the DSi has an ARM7 in it, because DS/i games use the ARM7 for handling input, WiFi, audio, etc. If it were just for GBA games on the DS, then it wouldn't have been clocked at 33Mhz instead of the 16Mhz the GBA is set at.
Now, I'd imagine the 3DS doesn't have an ARM7 because, for my understanding, the ARM11 is capable of executing ARM7 code natively (which the ARM9, which is included in the 3DS, cannot).
@AlexMurphy You have no clue what you are talking about.... the 3ds can run GBA games natively because it has built in firmware to do so (AGB_FIRM). It doesn't matter if it is ARM7/9/11 (especially as ARM11 is backwars compatible with ARM7, not sure 'bout 9), Nintendo are masters at utilizing their own hardware and this is no exception.
@warvad another name for noodles CFW. (Think: Italy)
I simply understand less and less what is the goal of NL. Do they want to inform the community about Nintendo related stuff or they just want to fill up the homepage with pointless articles just to give the impression they have too much work? Their ethics also seem to be quite f**k'd up with stuff like this. They didn't put this article when it worked because of piracy but then again, what is the point of putting it now that no one can use anymore (unless you live in a cave, have no internet and yet you do have a 3DS)?
There is no need for the staff of NL to fill up the space with pointless or irrelevant articles, there are enough real news to cover and it's not like they have to fill a page quota or a 30-minute time slot.
@dronesplitter Together with piracy is homebrew, and I don't mean original homebrew which actually injected some life to the industry in the mid-2000's, the ones I'm referring to are homebrew games that use sprites from other games, music, voices or even characters and stories and the "developers" still have the nerve to start crowdfundings or ask for money for a full version or physical versions and don't get me started on those who make other kind of goods with little to no creativity like putting a logo or a sprite print on a shirt or a towel without the proper licensing. NL promotes those a lot.
@AshFoxX There is no need for proof, if even a Dreamcast was capable of emulating several systems (I think there was some work on the GBA as well, albeit, very slow), a 3DS is capable of even more. The problem is that there is no market for Virtual Console. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people, including myself, want many of those games, the thing is that most of those who may want that kind of games may already have the original real items or could get such items and are probably people in their 30s. From those, the cheap ones will obviously go to ROM and emulator DLs. Most of the user base of Wii, WiiU and 3DS are kids, kids who don't know a thing about those games and if you give them those so they can play them, they'll probably won't like them because they are "blocky", not in 3D, don't have online multiplayer, are hard and challenging and so on and on. On the Wii, the VC was more a liability than an asset for Nintendo, on WiiU and 3DS they've gone slowly to avoid too much loss, so they only release sure hits instead of good obscure games like they did on the Wii. Be glad that we have what we have, it could be worse, much worse.
Nintendo just begs for this to happen. Why do they region lock their consoles in 2015? And why their system to account for games is a one way street that favors only them? The biggest gripe my kids had with nintendo is locking digital eshop games to the person who bought it. Makes ZERO sense and hope the hackers change the views of upper management of nintendo to get with the current times.
I don't supoort piracy but if good comes out of it to benefit consumers I am for it in the end. A small price to pay to have a better next gen nintendo console is all that matters now. Hopefully the next update will unlock region free and then we don't have to jump through hoops to use browser exploits and such.
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