Virtual Console (Nintendo 3DS)

Virtual Console
Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Nintendo 3DS Released in JP: June 6, 2011 Released in US: June 6, 2011 Released in EU: June 6, 2011 Released in KR: February 27, 2016 Released in TW: February 3, 2016 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has debugging material.

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To do: Version differences. Stuff from the source code in the 2020 Nintendo leaks MBC4 support in the TRL source code. MBC4 was for interaction with the Nintendo 64 and possibly the unreleased 64GB Cable (not to be confused with the Transfer Pak/64GB Pack). No games ever used it.

The Virtual Console titles are merely shells for any game that is contained within it. They support a variety of systems right out of the box, simply requiring a swap of the game binary contained within the RomFS (as well as a bit of editing, depending on the game format) to run a different system.

Supported binaries are NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance. However, the Game Boy Color Virtual Console emulator can run Game Boy Advance, NES, and FDS games, although the NES Virtual Console emulator can only run other NES games.

Game Boy Advance Support

While there are 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games that do run at full speed (only ever made available for 3DS Ambassadors), they rely on hardware backward-compatibility via rebooting into a separate firmware called AGB_FIRM, thus they lack certain features including sleep support and save states. However, there is also a software-based emulator built into the Game Boy Color Virtual Console container.

It does work to a degree, but it's incredibly slow and unstable. However, it has full support for the main functions that other Virtual Console games have, such as save states and resuming where you left off, both of which are used for the GBA Virtual Console on the Wii U. It's likely Nintendo tried to do proper GBA emulation on the 3DS, rather than rely on hardware backwards-compatibility.

Multi-ROM Support

To do: Document the full debug mode (some screenshots by Hiccup).

While only compatible with the NES Virtual Console container, if multiple NES binaries are placed within the /rom/ directory of the Virtual Console RomFS and modified appropriately to run, when you start the application you'll be presented with a menu in which you can explore the Virtual Console's RomFS contents and boot a different game, although to change the game you're playing does require you close and restart the application.

Unreleased SNES Titles

On March 1, 2016, Nintendo began releasing SNES Virtual Console games to New Nintendo 3DS users on the Nintendo eShop. Hidden within the emulator binary is a list of games, some of which were released, and others were not. The text is stored in the .code of the ExeFS in Shift-JIS.

Green backgrounds denote released games.

String Name	Game Title
Super Marioworld	Super Mario World
Super Picross	Mario no Super Picross
Zeldanodensetsu	Zelda no Densetsu (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past)
Simcity	Sim City
Super Donkey Kong	Super Donkey Kong 1 (Donkey Kong Country)
Shvc Fireemblem	Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem
f-zero	F-Zero
ﾊﾟﾈﾙ ﾃﾞ ﾎﾟﾝ	Paneru de Pon (Tetris Attack)
Pilotwings	Pilotwings
Sutte Hakkun Np	Sutte Hakkun
Fireemblem4	Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Picross Np Vol.1	Picross NP Vol1
Kirby Bowl	Kirby Bowl (Kirby's Dream Course)
Street Fighter 2	Street Fighter II
ﾃﾞﾝｾﾂﾉｵｳｶﾞﾊﾞﾄﾙ	Ogre Battle
Akumajo Dracula	Akumajo Dracula (Super Castlevania IV)
Seikendensetsu 2	Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana)
Sfx Dragonballz2	Dragon Ball Z 2
Goemon 4	Ganbare Goemon 4
Kamaitachi No Yoru	Kamaitachi no Yoru
R-type 3	R-Type III
Final Fight	Final Fight
Torneconodaibouken	Torneko no Dai Bouken
Gradius 3	Gradius III
Populous	Populous
Otogirisou	Otogirisou
Herakles 3	Heracles III (Glory of Heracles III: Silence of the Gods)
Digital Devil Story	Shin Megami Tensei
Actraiser	Actraiser
Hu Super Bomberman 3	Super Bomberman 3
Super Mario Kart	Super Mario Kart
Supermario Collection	Super Mario Collection (Super Mario All-Stars)
Super Metroid	Super Metroid
Mother-2	Mother 2 (EarthBound)
Super Punch-out!!	Super Punch-Out!!
Super Donkey Kong 2	Super Donkey Kong 2 (Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest)
Super Donkey Kong 3	Super Donkey Kong 3 (Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble)
ﾍｲｾｲ ｼﾝｵﾆｶﾞｼﾏ ｾﾞﾝﾍﾟﾝ	Heisei Sin Onigasima Zen
ﾍｲｾｲ ｼﾝｵﾆｶﾞｼﾏ ｺｳﾍﾝ	Heisei Sin Onigasima Kou
Gk-wrecking Crew	Wrecking Crew 98
Mini4ku Lets&go Wgp2	Mini Yonku Let's & Go!! 2
Kirby No Kira Kizzu	Kirby no Kirakira Kids
Power Soukoban	Power Soukoban
Picross Np Vol.2	Picross NP Vol2
Picross Np Vol.3	Picross NP Vol3
Picross Np Vol.4	Picross NP Vol4
ﾊｼﾞﾏﾘﾉ ﾓﾘ	HAJIMARI NO MORI
ﾃﾞｱ･ﾗﾝｸﾞﾘｯｻｰ	Der Langrisser
ｼｮﾀﾞｲ ﾈｯｹﾂ ｺｳﾊ ｸﾆｵｸﾝ	Nekketsu Kouha Kunio Kun
ﾄﾚｼﾞｬｰﾊﾝﾀｰg	Treasure Hunter G
ﾏｰｳﾞｪﾗｽ	Marvelous
ﾍﾗｸﾚｽ4 ｶﾐｶﾞﾐｶﾗﾉｵｸﾘﾓﾉ	Hercules IV (Glory of Heracles IV: Gift from the Gods)
ｽｰﾊﾟｰﾜｷﾞｬﾝﾗﾝﾄﾞ	Super Wagyan Land
Final Fantasy 5	Final Fantasy 5
Final Fantasy 6	Final Fantasy 6
Clock Tower Sfx	Clock Tower Sfx
Dragonquest 1･2	Dragon Quest 1+2
Dragonquest3	Dragon Quest 3
ｸﾆｵｸﾝﾉ ﾄﾞｯｼﾞﾎﾞ-ﾙ	Kunio Kun No Dodgeball
M A J I N T E N S E I	Majintensei
ﾏ ｼﾞﾝ ﾃ ﾝ ｾ ｲ 2	Majintensei2
ﾂｷｺﾓﾘ	Tsukikomori
ｷｭｳﾔｸ･ﾒｶﾞﾐﾃﾝｾｲ	Kyuuyaku Megamitensei

(Source: Normmatt)