The Nintendo 3DS is one of the many handheld systems released by Nintendo. It followed the Nintendo DS, and the 3DS was released back in 2011. The system was only discontinued in September 2020.
This means that no new 3DS will be in production, so you’re out of luck if you can’t find one. However, there are some 3DS emulators that you can use and the best one is the Citra 3DS Emulator.
Also read: Best GBA Emulators for Pokemon Gaming
That’s right, if you’re having a hard time buying a 3DS because there’s no stock or you don’t have the resources to buy one, then using an emulator is fine. We’ll give some nice and reliable emulators that you can use for your PC.
Update: In May 2023, Citra’s development was temporarily stopped on GitHub due to legal issues from Nintendo’s actions against emulators. However, the emulator itself was not removed. The main team stopped working on it, but since Citra is open source, community developers have kept it updated.
As of 2024, Citra still works great for playing 3DS games on PC and Android. It s better graphics, save states, and multiplayer. There are also some unofficial versions, like Citra Enhanced, which add extra features and performance improvements.
That is if you want to play 3DS games. Unfortunately, you have to find the ROMs yourself because that can be a different topic altogether.
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Knowing More About The Citra 3DS Emulator
The Citra 3DS emulator is considered one of or if not the best 3DS emulators around. It is easy to the emulator because they have their own home page. This means that you can look at updates and changes to the emulator that you can .
Citra is very straightforward because it has the basic tools of any emulator. That function is to run games at a good frame rate with minimal problems. A version for Android was also made however, that version is still in the experimental stage.
Using the emulator is very easy, and it is like any other emulator. You load the game up and configure your controls, before, after, and even during the time you are playing.
Whenever you launch Citra, there is also the option to update it whenever you are connected to the internet. The emulator gets constant updates so there could be some changes that you can do or just keep it as it is if you feel that it is good enough.
Why should you get the Citra 3DS Emulator
The first reason is that it is free, which is a good thing. You can just head over to their website and the latest version of Citra, and as we mentioned, the one you have installed can have updates done manually. It has very little to no issues when it comes to playing 3DS games. The problem is that you have to look for the ROMs yourself because they don’t provide it, which makes sense.
Why the Citra 3DS Emulator Can Be Good or Bad
The good thing is that it is definitely the best one out there. This means that if you don’t like it, then good luck finding another good and competent 3DS emulator. It is still being developed, so it will get more updates somewhere down the road to make it better and more functional.
The bad side is that the Citra 3DS emulator doesn’t have some advanced features yet. You can’t input cheats and it doesn’t have save states at the moment. There are also other ROMs that are not compatible yet or will have issues with the Citra. It does have a list of ROMs that are functioning on it but again you have to look for those yourself.
More resources:
Conclusion
, it is free so don’t pay for anything and if you don’t like it, you can just uninstall and delete the entire thing.
Always check the Citra homepage to see if there are any updates that the emulator has been receiving in the past few weeks. You may find something that you like or issues that have been addressed that you want to check out.
