Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo 3DS games run on the bundled Azahar core. The core draws both screens itself.

	Azahar
Folder	Roms/Nintendo 3DS (3DS)/
BIOS	Not needed
File types	Decrypted 3ds cci cxi 3dsx, and their compressed versions zcci zcxi z3dsx

• Encrypted games don't load. Decrypt them first.
• .cia install files are not supported.
• 3DS games are not on RetroAchievements in the app, and have no cheats.

Controls

The 3DS has its own on-screen pad: the d-pad, or the Circle Pad with STICK / D-PAD, A, B, X and Y where they sit on a 3DS, L, R, SELECT, START and MENU.

The 3DS shortcuts are all SELECT combos, because L2 and R2 are the 3DS's own ZL and ZR:

Buttons	What they do
SELECT + R1	Swap the screens.
SELECT + L1	Turn stylus mode on or off.
SELECT + LEFT / RIGHT	Change the layout: Top over bottom, Large screen, Side by side, Single screen, and round again.
SELECT + START, or MENU	Open the in-game menu.

A controller adds:

Control	Nintendo 3DS
L2, R2	ZL, ZR, also on controllers whose triggers are analog only
Left stick	The Circle Pad
Right stick	The C-stick, and the touch cursor
R3 (press the right stick)	Tap at the cursor
L3 (press the left stick)	Swap the screens

A controller's face buttons work as printed: its A is the 3DS's A. To play with the 3DS's own positions on an Xbox pad (A on the right), set Controller Layout to Nintendo in Options → Console Settings; see Controls.

SELECT waits

Many 3DS games pause on Select, so the game never sees SELECT while you hold it:

• Tap it and the game gets SELECT when you let go.
• Hold it longer than 1 second without a combo and nothing is sent.
• After a combo (SELECT + R1, L1, LEFT, RIGHT or START) the game gets nothing.

Motion

Games that use the 3DS's gyroscope and tilt read your phone's: turn or tip the phone the way you would turn or tip a 3DS. In Mario Kart 7's first-person view, for example, you steer by turning the phone.

• Motion is always on, like on a 3DS. There's no setting for it.
• It works in portrait and in both landscape directions.
• The game reads the phone's tilt as it is. Hold the phone the way the game expects, as you would a 3DS.
• The sensors only run while you play. They stop while the game is paused, in the in-game menu, or in the background.
• On a phone without a gyroscope, tilting still works, but aiming by turning the phone does nothing.

New 3DS controls

New 3DS Controls adds ZL and ZR and the C-stick to the on-screen pad. Set it for the console in Emulator Settings, or in the in-game menu under Options → Console Settings, where Save Changes keeps it for the game or the console:

Value	What the pad shows
Auto (default)	The extra controls for games known to use the C-stick, ZL / ZR or the Circle Pad Pro, such as Majora's Mask 3D (camera), Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Xenoblade Chronicles 3D.
On	The extra controls for every game.
Off	No extra controls.

• ZL and ZR sit where L2 and R2 are on other consoles.
• The C-stick is centred under SELECT and START in portrait, and at the top left of the face buttons in landscape.
• A change in the in-game menu updates the pad straight away.
• A controller's right stick, L2 and R2 always reach the game, whatever the setting.

Azahar runs as a New 3DS, so Circle Pad Pro games work without extra setup.

More detail

Auto finds the game by the title ID in .3ds, .cci and .cxi files. It can't read the compressed zcci, zcxi and z3dsx files or 3dsx files, so for those set On yourself.

Stylus mode

Azahar draws its own touch cursor on the bottom screen. In stylus mode:

Control	What it does
D-pad or left stick	Move the cursor. The d-pad speeds up the longer you hold it.
A	Tap at the cursor.
SELECT + L1	Turn stylus mode off again.

Stylus mode is off each time a game starts, and is not saved.

Screen layout

• SELECT + LEFT / RIGHT saves the layout for the game straight away, without Save Changes.
• The layout is Azahar's Screen Layout option, so you can also set it in Core Options, or for the console in Emulator Settings.
• Screen Swap Mode in Core Options sets whether the swap toggles (the default) or lasts only while you hold the buttons.