Controller:Nintendo 3DS

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Nintendo 3DS

XInput support
Connection method
Wi-Fi
Predecessor
Nintendo DS
Successor
Switch Joy-Con

Key points

Lacks native XInput support, requiring the use of a XInput wrapper (see XInput wrappers) for games that do not support DirectInput or the controller natively.

Inputs

• Motion sensing: 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis gyroscope
• Infrared sensor
• Touchscreen (the touchscreen can be interacted with either the user's finger or a stylus bundled with the handheld)
• Circle Pad
• 3 × cameras (Rear: 2 x 0.3 MP, f/2.85, Front: 0.3 MP, f/2.85 480p@30 video recording)
• 2 × digital shoulder buttons: 𝐋, 𝐑
• 7 × digital buttons: 𝐀, 𝐁, 𝐗, 𝐘, sᴇʟᴇᴄᴛ, ⌂ ʜᴏᴍᴇ, sᴛᴀʀᴛ
• 4 × digital directional buttons (d-pad): ↑, ↓, ←, →
• 2 × Volume Sider, 3D Depth Slier
• Power button
• Microphone
• Wireless Switch

Through the Circle Pad Pro accessory the system has access to a second Circle Pad and trigger buttons Zʟ, Zʀ)

The C-Stick and Zʟ/Zʀ buttons on the New Nintendo 3DS are backward compatible with Circle Pad Pro-compatible titles.

A near-field communication (NFC) reader and writer was released on September 25, 2015, in North America at US$19.99 and on October 2 in Europe, alongside Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. This peripheral enables Amiibo support for the Nintendo 3DS, 3DS XL, and 2DS, a feature already built-in to New Nintendo 3DS systems. The accessory is powered by two AA batteries.

Controller variations

Single analog stick

• Nintendo 3DS
• Nintendo 3DS XL
• Nintendo 2DS

Double analog stick

• New Nintendo 3DS
• New Nintendo 3DS XL
• New Nintendo 2DS XL

Use with PC platforms

Windows

Install/open the 3DSController homebrew application on Nintendo 3DS and run exe application on PC.

If you want to use the circle pad as a joystick, first install vJoy.

All of the standard buttons on the 3DS and the additional shoulder buttons of the New 3DS are supported.

The circle pad, New 3DS control stick, and touch screen can be used to move the mouse or control a joystick.

Using the touch screen as a keyboard (press 𝗟+𝗥+𝗫 to toggle).

Custom key bindings by editing the PC's 3DSController.ini (buttons can be mapped to either keyboard keys or joypad buttons),

Works on custom port (make sure the port in PC's 3DSController.ini and 3DS's 3DSController.ini match).

Controllable throttling amount.

No support for the circle pad pro.

Screen streaming from PC to 3DS feature has been abandoned.

Linux

Install/open the 3DSController homebrew application on Nintendo 3DS and run 3DSController.py script on PC.

Works the same as Windows version.

For joystick emulation, python-uinput has to be installed.

Steam

Can be recognized as Xbox 360 controller but after manual assignment. Controller cannot be found in Supported Controller Database, so Steam recognizes it as standard DirectInput device.

Hardware

Nintendo 3DS Circle Pad Pro

Nintendo 3DS Circle Pad Pro.

Circle Pad Pro is an accessory for the single-analog-stick Nintendo 3DS revisions that gives you extra control while playing. Circle Pad Pro is a kind of pad in which you put your Nintendo 3DS. This way you keep everything like a controller.

Its features were later integrated natively into the New Nintendo 3DS/2DS console revisions.

The Circle Pad Pro has 2 buttons on the back and an analog stick on the right. This gives you control similar to a console controller.

The cover is powered by one AAA battery. Battery life is approximately 480 hours (20 days).

Nintendo Circle Pad Pro is not compatible with the Nintendo 3DS XL revision.

Not supported by PC applications yet.

Support in games

Support for some controller features may be only available on certain systems. Refer to game-specific articles for details.

Games with controller's speaker support

There is no application yet which unlocks controller's built-in speaker to be a Windows output device.

Cemu emulator allows to use secondary audio device (gamepad) in general audio settings, but Nintendo 3DS cannot be used as Windows output device yet.

Built-in speaker cannot be used with Dolphin emulator yet.

Games with microphone support

Games with implemented voice chat are able to use controller's microphone, but microphone support for Nintendo 3DS is not implemented yet.

VoiceBot and VoiceAttack allows to control games and applications by voice commands.

List of Microphone-controllerd computer games.

Games with motion control support

For a list of games, see List of games with native Nintendo 3DS support.

Number of games which natively support motion controls is limited and gyro support is still not a PC standard.

There is no application which properly emulates motion controls.

Games with touchpad support

For a list of games, see List of games that support touchpad.

Touchpad is placed on the front of the console. The functionality of the touchpad can differ from between games.

Thanks to 3DSController homebrew application, touchpad can be remapped keyboard in any game.

Number of games which natively support touchpad controls is limited and touchpad support is still not a PC standard.

Games with IR sensor support

IR sensor support for PC games is still in development stage.

Nintendo consoles are using IR sensors which can be emulated on PC. See List of Game Boy Color games with IR support

Games with NFC support

Nintendo 3DS contains a near-field communication reader mostly used with Amiibo. On PC, NFC objects can be used to execute combos like activating cheats, changing game configuration or performing advanced combos like fatalities in Mortal Kombat games.

NFC reader support for PC games is still in development stage.

See List of video games using NFC.

Games with controller's camera support

There is no application yet which unlocks controller's built-in camera to be a Windows web camera device.

Nintendo 3DS's front camera support for PC games is still in development stage.

Cemu supports games where front camera can be used in-game.

Games with Nintendo button prompts

List of games with Nintendo button prompts