No, there’s no need to rub your eyes or question my sanity – the title is correct. A savvy gamer has shared a slick post on Reddit showing Elden Ring playing on their Nintendo 3DS, which is something we definitely didn’t think we’d read when we woke up this morning!
The 3DS might have been discontinued in 2020, but it still lives on as one of our favourite handhelds and plays a strong part in inspiring other budding handheld developers across the globe.
In fact, Nintendo’s dual-screen design has recently been the topic of our discussion over the AYANEO Flip DS and whether Arthur Zhang’s new machine has scratched our DS itch in 2023.
But we’re not here to talk about AYANEO, we’re to talk about Elden Ring and how on earth someone managed to get it playing on a 3DS!
Elden Ring On The 3DS – What’s The Story?
Credit: reddit
It’s probably the most insane thing we’ve seen all year, and as it’s only been one week since New Years Day, I can comfortably say that and still sleep at night.
The way that our Reddit user (whose name I can’t write as it contains a pretty strong swearword) shared the post was exquisite. There was no showing off, no gloating, just a passing comment about why the game had frozen in the Elden Ring subreddit.
This added more the shock factor. ‘Wait… that guy’s holding a Nintendo 3DS’ is what I imagine everyone shouted. It’s definitely what I shouted when I saw it, so I’m going to guess that you guys all did the same.
But how have they done it?
Well, the poster is using something called Pinbox, though this one won’t prick you if you stick your finger in without wearing a thimble. It’s an app that players can use to stream games from the PC to a 3DS.
What you’re looking at in the twelve second clip posted online is three hours of work, three hours of waiting for the game to be streamed onto the 3DS, only to freeze when going up against Margott the Omen King.
And no, it’s not playable at all, but considering Elden Ring is one of the biggest games ever, I’m not surprised in the slightest!
Is Elden Ring On Another Nintendo Console?
To date, this little streamed clip using Pinbox of Elden Ring on Nintendo 3DS is the only example of the game working on any Nintendo console. It isn’t even on the Nintendo Switch, but then again, the Switch isn’t really powerful enough to play Hogwarts Legacy, so that’s no real shock.
I’m not sure whether the ship has sailed for us to see Elden Ring on the Nintendo Switch 2 either. If the rumours are to believed and the console does come out this year, then it’ll be 2 years since Elden Ring came out by the time we get the new machine,
Having said that, GTA V has come out on every machine for the last decade, so I guess anything is possible.
Speaking of what is possible, will we see any other next gen games making it onto the 3DS in the near future? Perhaps the team behind Citra might try to bring Hogwarts Legacy or Horizon Zero Dawn onto their incredible emulator, though I suspect they’ve probably got enough on their plate at the minute porting games to Yuzu too!
