Installing

Applications are installed by copying the necessary files directly to the 3ds/ folder in the root of the SD card (preferred for new designs), or in a subdirectory of 3ds/, in which case said subfolder must be named identically to its executable. Most applications come with two files:

  • [appname].3dsx: The executable.
  • [appname].smdh: The icon/metadata. (Not required in any case, and may be integrated into the .3dsx)
  • [appname].xml: The list of supported targets (i.e. installed titles which the app supports replacing in memory at runtime, thus inheriting its permissions), and of any arguments to be passed to the .3dsx. (Optional)

A standalone .xml file can point to a differently-named .3dsx, launching it with potentially different arguments so that a single application can run in different modes.

The Homebrew Launcher will scan the SD card for all .3dsx files, but will only display an icon for those who have one according to the format described above. Recent enough versions can freely navigate the filesystem to select an application.

List

Launchers

Name Description Author Download Open-Source
Homebrew Launcher Run homebrew on your 3DS! Compatible with Rosalina and all prior 3dsx loading solutions devkitPro Here Yes
Homebrew Starter Pack Everything to get you started. smea Here Yes
Homebrew Launcher (v1.x) The old version of the 3DS Homebrew Launcher, originally created for ninjhax 1.x (Discontinued) smea Here Yes
[ Mashers' HBL] Homebrew Launcher with grid and folder support. (Discontinued) Mashers Here Lost in masher's retirement

Applications

Name Description Author Download Open-Source Last Updated
3dsfetch Small 3DS version of a popular Linux ricing script called screenfetch. VideahGams Here Yes 2015-09-17
3DS-PluginsFolder Simple program that creates folders with TitleID and copy plugins on them Klairm Here Yes 2020-09-06
TSI9 A simple program for detecting touch screen input. Johnodon Here Yes 2020-1-18
3DSident Identity tool for the Nintendo 3DS heavily inspired by PSPident. Joel16 Here Yes 2018-8-2
Clear MAC Filter Reset 8-hour per-console StreetPass rate limiting tastymeatball Here Yes 2018-8-24
CtrRGBPATTY Generate patches that edit LED notifications CPunch Here Yes 2017-11-3
ctrrpc A small and easily extensible RPC server/client written in C/Python. Allows you to quickly poke service-commands and syscalls over Wi-Fi from a Python shell on your PC. Useful during reverse-engineering. No longer under (active) development? plutoo Build from repo Yes 2014-11-10
ctr-streaming-server A 3DS homebrew audio/video playback server. It can also send HID state to the client (see the README) when enabled. The included parse_hidstream tool can be used to parse that HID data to simulate keyboard/mouse input events, via Linux uinput. No longer under (active) development? yellows8 Build from repo Yes 2014-11-20
DownloadMii A WIP repo-based online marketplace for homebrew applications & games. Appears to be non-active and out-of-date. filfat Build from repo Yes 2015-11-24
fb43ds A simple 3DS Facebook chat client linoma Build from repo Yes 2015-04-07
for-anyone-who-walks-a-lot Tool to get past the 10 coin per day limit on earning Play Coins by walking. iamevn Here Yes 2016-03-26
Homebrew Browser Download homebrew from the internet! cromo, zeta0134 Here Yes 2015-10-07
NFCReader Allows you to use your 3DS as a NFC/RFID UID Scanner. Jasper Peters Here Yes 2017-01-21
ScreenInfo Identify whether New 3DS LCD panels are TN or IPS. SciresM Here Yes 2016-09-04

Game Engines

Name Description Author Download Open-Source Last Updated
LÖVE Potion LÖVE for Nintendo 3DS. TurtleP Here Yes 2021-01-16
ctr”Lua A Lua interpreter for 3DS, brought to life by the remnants of the ”Lua community. Firew0lf, Reuh, Negi Here Yes 2016-06-27
EasyRPG Player RPG Maker 2000/2003 interpreter Rinnegatamante & EasyRPG Team Here Yes 2019-03-03
LuaPlayer+ 3DS First Lua interpreter 3DS homebrew, under Lua 5.3.1 Rinnegatamante Here Yes 2016-09-21
MegaZeux 3DS A port of the MegaZeux GCS to the 3DS. MegaZeux developers Here Yes 2018-03-04

Games

Name Description Author Download Open-Source Last Updated
2048-3D A port of the popular game 2048 for the 3DS. Jasper Peters Here Yes 2016-02-12
3DSCraft A Minecraft port for the 3DS. No longer under (active) development? smea Build from repo (alt. here) Yes 2014-11-20
3DS Nyan Cat A port of Nyan Cat for the 3DS, using LIBSF2D. markwinap Build from repo (alt. here) Yes 2015-05-26
Antibounce "Move your player to bounce around and collect coins. Go between screens through the holes in the sides of the floor. 3D can also be enabled." TurtleP Here Yes 2015-12-23
Breakout "A 3ds Breakout Clone." Magicrafter13 Here Yes 2017-10-17
checkers3ds A checkers game in glorious ASCII. No longer under development. UnsureSherlock Build from repo Yes 2016-02-25
Cookie Collector A tiny adaptation of the popular Cookie Clicker game for the 3DS. Kaisogen Here Yes 2017-06-04
Cookie Clicker 3DS A simple Cookie Clicker type of game inspired by Kaisogen's Cookie Collector TheMachinumps Here Yes 2016-08-27
EDuke3D An unofficial port of EDuke32 for the 3DS. MasterFeizz Here Yes 2016-05-09
Helii A port of Helii for the 3DS. BHSPitMonkey Here Yes 2015-09-18
Insectoid Defense A Sci-Fi Tower Defense game. sgowen Here Yes 2015-11-09
NumberFucker3DS Simple math game, originally used as a debug game for LövePotion. VideahGams Here Yes 2015-09-19
Zelda ROTH for 3DS A port of Legend of Zelda: Return of the Hylian, a Zelda fangame, to 3DS. nop90 Here Yes 2016-09-11
Mastermind 3DS A port of Mastermind for the 3DS. Jasper Peters Here Yes 2015-08-15
One Whale Trip Five-lane underwater whale swimming/pearl pickup adventure game in Python. thp Here Yes 2016-10-02
OpenSupaplex An open source 1:1 reimplementation of Supaplex for the 3DS. sergiou87 Here Yes 2020-06-29
Paddle Puffle 3DS A port of Paddle Puffle for the 3DS. Peanut42 Here Yes 2015-07-05
Pituka Classics Play CPC classics using Pituka Emulator-Core on 3DS. D_Skywalk Rick Dangerous Core Yes (core) 2016-02-26
Portal3DS An adaptation of Portal for the 3DS. smea Build from repo (Precompiled here) Yes 2015-08-18
ctrQuake An unofficial port of Quake for the 3DS, fully playable. MasterFeizz Here Yes 2016-09-16
Reversi Reversi for the 3DS. Jasper Peters Here Yes 2016-03-05
Sokoban An unofficial port of the puzzle game Sokoban for the 3DS. Landm Here Yes 2016-03-14
Space Fruit Hackathon game by 4 friends ported to 3DS. Asteroids but with fruit. TurtleP Here Yes 2016-04-09
SRB2 3DS An unofficial port of Sonic Robo Blast 2 Version 2.1.20 to New 3DS. It was made by derrek, a known vulnerability researcher and homebrew developer. SRB2 2.2.X Versions (2.2.8 is latest at the time this is being made) aren't ported yet and probably won't be. [derrekr] Here (Don't use 2.2 files!) Yes 2018-12-23
Tappy Plane A port of Flappy Bird for 3DS, but with a colorful plane. sgowen Here Yes 2015-11-09
Tetrepetete 3DS A game with blocks. thp Here No 2016-06-29
That Rabbit Game 3DS Inverse duck hunt with accelerometer input and stereoscopic 3D. thp Here No 2016-07-04
World of 3DSand A port of World of Sand for the 3DS. Steveice10 Here Yes 2016-07-12
Yeti3DS A quick and dirty port of Derek Evans' Yeti3D software rendering engine. smea Build from repo Yes 2015-08-07
Loonies 8192 A Mini Retro Puzzle for DOS, the PSP and 3DS (Homebrew) thp Here No 2019-01-27
DevilutionX A 3DS Port of Diablo 1. MrHuu Here Yes 2020-05-08

Emulators

Name Description Author Download Open-Source Last Updated
3DNES A NES emulator, without sound support. No longer under development. st4rk, gdkChan Here Yes 2015-03-28
atari800-3DS An Atari 8-bit home computer emulator. asie Here Yes 2016-10-29
blargSnes A Super Nintendo (SNES) emulator. A compatibility list can be found here. StapleButter Here Yes 2015-06-12
CHIP-3DS A simple and slow CHIP-8 emulator. xerpi Build from repo (alt. here) Yes 2015-04-02
CHIP8-2DS CHIP-8 emulator with savestates and touch controls. nopy4869 Here Yes 2016-07-20
CitrAGB Yet another GBA emulator for the 3DS. Shiny Quagsire Build from repo (alt. here) Yes 2015-09-21
GameYob A Game Boy (Color) emulator. A compatibility list can be found here. Drenn/Steveice10 Here Yes 2016-07-17
mGBA A GBA emulator that runs well without kernel hax. endrift Here Yes 2016-10-13
r3Ddragon A WIP Virtual Boy emulator for the 3DS based on Reality Boy / Red Dragon. mrdanielps Here Yes 2016-08-16
RetroArch A multisystem emulator. (GB, GBA, SNES, Genesis, CPS1, CPS2, etc.) libretro Here Yes Undergoing rapid development.
SNES9x for 3DS A SNES emulator for the old 3DS / 2DS. Optimised from Snes9x 1.43 and runs many games at full speed. Compatibility list here bubble2k16 Here Yes 2017-02-11
VirtuaNES for 3DS A NES emulator for the old 3DS / 2DS. Optimised from VirtuaNES 0.9.7 and runs many games at full speed. bubble2k16 Here Yes 2017-03-23
TemperPCE for 3DS A PC-Engine/Turbografx-16 emulator for the old 3DS / 2DS. Optimised from Temper runs all games, including CD-ROM and SGX games at full speed. bubble2k16 Here Yes 2017-06-19

Theme managers

Name Description Author Download Open-Source Last Updated
3DS HomeMenu extdata Tool Tool for accessing the SD extdata which Home Menu uses. This essentially allows writing custom themes to extdata which get loaded at Home Menu startup. yellows8 Here Yes 2015-08-17
Custom Home Menu Manager 2 Theme manager for Nintendo 3DS. Discontinued. Rinnegatamante Here Yes 2016-07-04
Themely Theme manager for Nintendo 3DS with 3dsthem.es integration. ErmanSayin Here Not anymore, 1.3.1 last FOSS version 2017-6-28
Usagi 3DS Theme Editor A simple 3DS theme editor for PC. You will need to have the .NET Library installed on your PC first before you can use it. usagirei Here Not sure 2017.05.28
Anemone3DS New theme and Luma splash screen manager, created to fill the gap left by its predecessors. User:astronautlevel2 Here Yes 2018-5-13

Title managers

Name Description Author Download Open-Source Last Updated
FBI Open source CIA (un)installer and launcher. Steveice10 Here Yes 2015-12-02
FBI 2 Multipurpose file/title/ticket/save manager Steveice10 Here Yes 2018-8-21

Note: downloading non-system applications from CDN is broken in any known homebrew, regardless of whether a signed ticket is installed or not (See also: 11.8.0-41#Server-side_changes)

Save managers

Name Description Author Download Open-Source Last Updated
save_manager Proof of concept save exporter/importer profi200 [Here] Yes 2015-09-13
svdt Save Data Explorer/Manager meladroit Here Yes 2015-10-16
[JK's Save Manager] Save/Extdata Manager JK_ Here] Yes 2016-09-29
JK's Save Manager for Rosalina Modded version of JKSM for use as .3dsx on Luma 8+ Phalk, JK_ Here Yes 2017-7-12
PKSM Save editor for Pokémon generations 3 to 7 Bernardo Giordano Here Yes 2020-6-13
Checkpoint Fast and simple homebrew save manager for 3DS and Switch written in C++ Bernardo Giordano Here Yes 2019-12-9
SpecializeMii Editor for Mii database (specialness) phijor Here Yes 2017-1-22
SpecializeMii Editor for Mii database (specialness and ownership) phijor, Ryccardo Here Yes 2017-8-13

File servers

Name Description Author Download Open-Source Last Updated
ftpd (ftBrony) A FTP server. mtheall Here Yes 2020-05-30
FTP-3DS Fork of ftBrony with a Nintendo theme. No longer under development and without repo. iamevn N/A Yes (No source officially available.) N/A
FTP - Graphic ModifierX Edition Fork of ftpd with aesthetic modifications. FloatingStar Here Yes 2016-01-27
ftpony A basic FTP server, useful for testing new homebrew versions without swapping the SD card. No longer under (active) development? smea Build from repo Yes 2014-11-24

Icon Packs

Icon Packs are SMDH Packs for homebrew apps.

Name Description Author Download Last Updated
Simplok The first 3DS Icon pack. link6155 Here 2015-09-12
1LP Another 3DS Icon pack. Repo is dead, no alternate downloads available. 100pcrack N/A 2015-12-22
Modern UI A simple icon pack with a flat and minimalist design. LouchDaishiteru Here 2016-02-15

Demos

Name Description Author Download Open-Source Last Updated
Skate Station A demo for the 3DS featuring music and 3D effects SVatG Here Yes July 2019
cubedemo A short demo of Homebrew on the 3DS, with working sound. plutoo Here No N/A
demo ou mourir Small demo for the 3DS with music and 2D effects Desire Here No November 2015
The Night of Interruptions! An independently made short film which can be watched on the Nintendo 3DS. Chukoloco08 Here No December 2020
Time for The Chickens to go to Sleep An animated bedtime story featuring The Clucking Chickens by Sawyer Ique which can be viewed on the Nintendo 3DS. Chukoloco08 Here No May 2021