Gamecards
Physical interface
The 3DS gamecards have the same physical interface as regular DS and DSi gamecards. There is only a minor cosmetic difference in the plastic case, which has a small extruding notch on the top-right side. As such, it prevents insertion of the gamecard into old Nintendo DS or DSi systems.
When modifying the case so that the 3DS gamecard fits in a DS or DSi system, those systems will refuse to detect the gamecard and show no banner icon.
Pin | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
1 | GND | Ground |
2 | CLK | Clock. Frequencies 6.7MHz and 4.2MHz) |
3 | NC | Not connected. Possibly used to program cards. |
4 | RCS | ROM select, active low. Pulled low to start a ROM transfer. |
5 | RST | Reset, active low. |
6 | ECS | Savegame chip select, active low. Pulled low to start a savegame SPI transfer. |
7 | IRQ | Removal detection. |
8 | VCC | Powersupply 3.3V. |
9 | DAT0 | Bidirectional data bus. |
10 | DAT1 | Bidirectional data bus. |
11 | DAT2 | Bidirectional data bus. |
12 | DAT3 | Bidirectional data bus. |
13 | DAT4 | Bidirectional data bus. |
14 | DAT5 | Bidirectional data bus. |
15 | DAT6 | Bidirectional data bus / SPI data from savegame chip. |
16 | DAT7 | Bidirectional data bus / SPI data to savegame chip. |
17 | GND | Ground |
Protocol
The communication protocol between the 3DS system and the 3DS gamecard has changed almost completely in comparison with the DS and DSi gamecard communication protocol.
After the sixth transfer, commands change size from 8 bytes to 16 bytes. Possibly a new encryption is used, such as AES CTR.
Here's a set of sample gamecard commands that a 3DS sends to a 3DS gamecard:
Size | Command | Description |
---|---|---|
2000 | 9F00000000000000 | Reset |
0000 | 71C93FE9BB0A3B18 | Unknown |
0004 | 9000000000000000 | Get gamecard ID, response=9000FEC2 |
0004 | 9000000000000000 | Get gamecard ID, response=9000FEC2 |
0004 | A000000000000000 | Unknown, response=00000000 |
0000 | 3E00000000000000 | Enter 16-byte command mode. |
07EC | 82000000000000000000000000000000 | Get header |
05E3 | F32C92D85C9D44DED3E0E41DBE7C90D9 | Encrypted, unknown |
0332 | 696B9D8582FB55D31B68CAFE70C74A95 | Encrypted, unknown |
0332 | BAA4812CA0AC9C5D19399530E3ACCCAB | Encrypted, unknown |
032E | 178E427C22D87ADB86387249A97D321A | Encrypted, unknown |
0332 | E06019B1BD5C9130ED6A4D9F4A9E7193 | Encrypted, unknown |
0332 | 4E0D224862523BBFE2E6255F80E15F37 | Encrypted, unknown |
The header command has some initial dummy bytes, and eventually responds with a 0x200 byte header. Here's an example for Lego Starwars 3:
0000000: 00 8c 03 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0000010: b3 cf fb c6 6a b1 cb 20 32 af ce 35 d4 1c 74 c9 ....j.. 2..5..t. 0000020: 8e 6b 27 2f 08 01 28 3b d4 30 de 44 37 f5 b0 46 .k'/..(;.0.D7..F 0000030: 91 59 d7 38 33 48 df 83 fd 71 84 2c 00 00 00 00 .Y.83H...q.,.... 0000040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0000050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0000060: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0000070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0000080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0000090: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00000a0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00000b0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00000c0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00000d0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00000e0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00000f0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0000100: 4e 43 43 48 7a 7f 0e 00 00 8c 03 00 00 00 04 00 NCCHz........... 0000110: 36 34 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 8c 03 00 00 00 04 00 64.............. 0000120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0000130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0000140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0000150: 43 54 52 2d 50 2d 41 4c 47 50 00 00 00 00 00 00 CTR-P-ALGP...... 0000160: 0c 27 e3 c1 de 7b 2a e2 d3 11 4f 32 a4 ee bf 46 .'...{*...O2...F 0000170: 9a fd 0c f3 52 c1 1d 49 84 c2 a9 f1 d2 14 4c 63 ....R..I......Lc 0000180: 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 03 00 00 ................ 0000190: 05 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00001a0: 06 00 00 00 1c 0a 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00001b0: 22 0a 00 00 58 75 0e 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "...Xu.......... 00001c0: 13 0c 04 26 15 f6 47 c4 c6 32 25 ea 9e 67 f8 a2 ...&..G..2%..g.. 00001d0: 7b 15 24 6b 88 fb c7 a9 27 25 7b 84 97 7b 78 7b {.$k....'%{..{x{ 00001e0: a6 5b ee 10 60 bb 6a 68 21 bb ce c6 00 03 5b 7e .[..`.jh!.....[~ 00001f0: 64 fb 6e ac a7 f0 96 0c fb 1f 5a 37 08 77 28 f7 d.n.......Z7.w(.