friends, i forgot to share this fun lil summer project i did some months ago. so, i had decided to buy a new 3ds xl, as a second unit apart from the 2ds xl that i already have. i wanted a second model specifically for modding purposes while keeping the original one intact. some of the features that i wanted to use on the modded console include: dumping all the roms of all the NDS cartridges i have, dumping all the save files of every single cartridge that i have, and installing whatever else that otherwise wouldn’t work in an unmodded console.
so anyways, when i received my 3ds in the mail, the console was in pretty good condition (for a $150-ish price which is technically a steal now), but there were some issues that I felt needed to be fixed. The biggest one was the cartridge reader. while the reader was able to read cartridges, it malfunctioned sometimes and made it so any physical game could potentially freeze. to fix this, i had to get a replacement cartridge reader and dissassemble the back of the unit to replace it. the process ended up being not too bad, there was no need for soldering, just unclipping and reclipping ribbon cables was the biggie, it took me about 20 mins doing this carefully, but i was able to fix it successfully. pic below shows the motherboard (in good condition) as well as the replacement cartridge reader on the side.
next up, the screen. idk if any of you guys have this same 3ds model, but apparently this is a common thing where the bottom touch screen leaves a mark over time on the top screen. this specific unit had it really bad, (it showed badly even in well-lit games at high brightness). because the actual screen was fine, all i had to replace was the screen cover. this ended up being more tricky, though, the cover’s glue is really strong, i had to use a heat gun to weaken it and then use a suction cup to take it out. had to use some force with the suction cup to really take it out, but i was afraid too much force could have damaged the actual screen/top lid. thankfully, that didn’t happen and i was able to then replace the cover replacement. also got a glass screen protector so the same imprint doesn’t happen again. pics below are before and after
to finish it off, i had been watching videos on youtube of people decorating their consoles and decided to do the same. now, because one of the reasons i modded the console was to put every single fire emblem game that can be put in the 3ds, i rightfully dubbed it my new “Fire Emblem machine”. made it a custom skin decal for the bottom plate and put some stickers that i already had on the top lid.
overall, this was a fun lil summer project. really happy with the results. i am also pretty satisfied with having been able to successfully back up all my original cartridges. growing up, whenever i played DS and GBA games, i would complete those to 100% completion, so i’d rather have all that progress and personal records backed up as a separate memento !!
this last pic is my true 100% save file of kirby super star ultra both in its cartridge and on my computer backed up
nomada.studio
