3DS System Update Locks Out a Lot of Flashcards, Permanently

Good... people will find a way to pirate games somehow though, sadly.

I'm glad it is successful.

If they want a game bad enough to buy a flash cart and pirate it, you want it bad enough to find a way to LEGALLY get it.

For those wondering about the tech behind this block:

I believe it has to do with the integrated circuit (IC) where saves are stored. On normal 3DS cards, save files are stored on a save IC somewhere on the game's printed circuit board (PCB). Most flashcarts don't have a save IC.

So the update detects if the cart inside the 3DS has a save IC. If it doesn't, the cart is blocked. Hence, there is no software workaround.

Granted, flashcarts don't run 3DS software as of now; people were using these flashcarts to run GBA and DS games, but good on Nintendo for blocking them.

@Kneehighpark ok, well that's good.

Good for Nintendo! They shouldn't have to stand for this nonsense. Buying games fair and square is how it should always be.

If the DSi/3DS didn't have region lock, I'd be okay with this. But as a European, I simply don't have another way to get things like Pokemon Conquest outside of buying a whole second 3DS (mind you, I buy a copy of the game so the developers get their money).

@SkywardLink98

please, enlighten me.
How can I legally buy and play Zelda Minish Cap and A Link to the Past on my 3DS ? My credit card is waiting.

Had Nintendo provided the whole SNES & GB & GBA collection through the Nintendo shop, I would happily spend $200 on games that I used to play as a child. If I was sure it was account based (like Steam on PC) and not tied to a single 3DS console (ie a single point of failure).

Annnddddd nobody seems to care that flashcards are used by a lot of people ONLY for homebrew applications, and not at all for pirating -sigh-

I admit that I used one on DS in the past but only as a way to try games before I bought them, it not only saved me from wasting money on bad games but it sold me on a lot of games that I otherwise never would have purchased because I didn't think they would be good.

@sandwhich Just in case you weren't aware, Pokémon Conquest was released in Europe at the end of July.

@Fry If you want The Minish Cap or A Link to the Past on a handheld, pick up a cheap Advance and copies of the games. It might not be the cheapest thing to do on the planet, but if you want to play them that badly, that shouldn't really matter. And please don't even get me started on the subject of wanting to play something like ALTTP on your 3DS - that's obviously not legally possible, ergo, shouldn't be done/attempted - or expecting Nintendo to just magically add 2000+ games to Nintendo eShop in the first 18 months. Do not get me started on these subjects.

On topic: I take the point that not every game is released in every region, hence why "some" (not "many") people use flashcarts, but the fact of the matter is they are illegal, they have made a noticeable impact on the industry, and people who have been found to be dealing in large quantities of them have been charged and, in several cases, imprisoned. Illegal = no excuse. They're illegal for a reason: because many people are using them to get free games that they should be paying for.

</RANT>

never used flashcards..i just hope they release the old Pokemon games soon so I can play them on my 3DS legally.

Yay Nintenja in the lead in the battle with the Pirates.

Granted that imo owning a flashcard is like having x-ray vision, It's hard not to abuse the power in a non-legal way.

@Cipher - I don't see the region being a reason... It's easy enough to just buy the game on the internet. I own plenty of DS games from other regions.

do what you can for now Nintendo.

@Cipher

Yeah, I would just travel with 5 different consoles to play my favorite games. Makes perfect sense. Except it doesn't.
Why shouldn't it be possible to play ALTTP on my 3DS ?
You do realize that Nintendo does not really have any additional costs for selling these old "ROMs". The "emulator" is already a part of the 3DS.

The thing is there are only 2 solutions for playing old games on a single console:
1. a flashcard
2. a 3rd party device (say, a tablet) with an emulator

Nintendo can not win this game by forcing people to move to competing platforms.

The only drawback is the legitimate use flashcarts had. Perhaps if they opened the barn doors on their virtual console library (and priced things reasonably) the whole thing would be moot.

Read the headline, was momentarily confused because I thought it referred to learning aids.

@SkywardLink98: Mother 3 says "hi." Had Nintendo released it in America, yeah, I'd have bought it. But you're crazy if you think I'm going to go hunting down a game in a language I can't understand.

If Nintendo was better about releasing games on the VC and didn't region lock their systems, there'd be less of an excuse for people to hack their systems.

U Go Nintendo!!!

At first I was worried this meant I couldn't play imports, so I put Ouendan in just to see, glad its still region free for DS games

are there saying that if i download the update, then i won't be able to play my ds games or flashcards that could hack the 3ds system itself?

@sandwhich Pokemon conquest came out in europe in July.

Another update just means another workaround by the hackers.

Eventually Nintendo is going to realize the only way to avoid this is by going fully digital on the next version and not including a gameslot. Until then, we'll have to keep dealing with bimonthly updates for nothing but security purposes.

I'm so glad I never sold my Jump Ultimate Stars!

Well done Nintendo!
Pirating games means less budget to work with on Developing Games.

If the Developers get paid - we get better games.
If the developers don't get paid - we don't get ANY good games

Yeah, all people who use flashcarts are pirates? I don't think so.

You people generalize too much.

@Nestalgic ...because that helped the Psp Go become so popular. Sure, that wasn't Nintendo, but there is still a nice group of people preferring to have a tangible game library; It would only irk things to force everyone to go digital with no other option.

@Marakuto Then why are you crying?

@Gamesake Maybe. But most of those lost sales were form pirates anyway. So it's better to Nintendo

@Fry: To be quite honest, I think Nintendo is more worried about the recent games. Too many people pirate new games, and that's why Nintendo is updating the system like this. As for everyone else who uses flash cards, you need to understand risks of performing unauthorized functions on your things: if it doesn't work, TOO BAD SO SAD >:3

@Fry Jeez you can't expect Nintendo to release ALL their past games on one console in less than 2 years!

@nicholasdelucca ._.

@Fry Eventually the ones which are still surviving maybe blocked too.

Being a musician, I totally side with Nintendo (and the gaming industry as a whole) on this one. The creative teams that spend months and years designing these games for our entertainment deserve to get paid. No matter what era, generation, or console/medium. There will always be hackers and people who sample, circumvent or cheat the system, but at least there is an effort to stopping this. If you think its unfair that you can't play certain games on a certain system without a cheat card then all I have to say is tough crap, life isn't fair.

Good finally people have to buy games unlike people like me who do the right thing.

@Fry minish cap im still playing that now lol every night at bed time

Glad they're doing something to stop pirating. I can see why people who legitimately own GBA/DS games and want to play them on their 3DS cannot will be upset. Yes, people can play them on the original console, but it isn't very convenient. Who wants to lug around three consoles, deal with charging them and organize a hundred games? What happens when GBA carts stop working correctly? Ex. some have batteries in them that they need to save (a great deal don't, but some earlier ones do). What happens when those die?

Not that I really care that much, but I can understand where they're coming from. Why lug around a GBA, squinting at the screen while you play and having to deal with replacing cart batteries when you can just get a flash cart?

I can see the developer/publisher side of things with pirating and not seeing a profit on their end, but i've always been a late gamer and try to play everything a console has to offer. Simply, after a while factory new games for old consoles just are not easy to come by. Publishers and developers don't see a profit on used games anyway, so they better hurry along with the virtual console thing or flashcarts are never going away.

Good, now get rid of region lock of 3DS games and you might convince less people to support the hacking of 3DS.

Maybe they should offer their entire DS catalog (ALL regions) on the eShop, with support for cheats and multiple saves per game.

Oh wait, they won't, and never will. Even when money is completely out of the equation, piracy still offers a far superior experience. It doesn't make any sense why Nintendo can't take extra steps so people don't have a reason to pirate.

@warvad Regardless of whether pirating is more convenient or gives a better experience, no reason there is is reason enough--it's illegal. You are free to choose your actions, but not your consequences.

The answer is a) to buy 100 cartridges for 30 euro each..or b) just use ur old DSi to play the games. Games arent available in e-shop anyway

@Nestalgic I'm not saying that it'd completely kill off a console in no time, but anyone could make a safe bet that it wouldn't help sales either, they'd still be losing a good deal of potential ones.

I won't condone piracy never will, either way it's wrong.

Yet for the love of god stop (not directed at the author of the article but the comments) saying piracy is hurting Nintendo really ? When ? Please link me to an article (a recent) that says Nintendo is hurting and losing tons of money because of piracy.

If I remember correctly Nintendo is doing a hell of a lot better lately.

Anyway it's a smart move on Nintendo's part business/self interest wise.

Some of you may have noticed I've pruned the comments here — we don't need to know whether or not you personally own and/or use a flashcart, and this is not the place to flaunt your acts of piracy, as per our Rules. Please stick to the topic at hand. Thanks in advance! :3

Just buy the games.

@kyuubikid213 A lot of people use them legally, only for playing homebrew games and/or as a media device, myself included. I've never pirated and I own one.

Good.

While it won't stop the most determined from pirating on an older generation handheld, at least they're closing the gap with the current generation, which might help a little if a lot of people are playing on the latest tech.

It's good news, though a bit of a pity that homebrew will also be blocked out. There are some handy apps on that front, which may never see an official equivalent, especially outside of Japan.

What? There is no such thing as "permanently" in the technology world or anywhere else really. Bad choice of phrasing.
The article even states that some cards still work and that its just a matter of time until updates are released...
What are we really trying to say here folks???

@Tyeforce The emulator is downloaded each time you buy a Virtual Console game. But, they don't have to specially tailor it for each game. All Gameboy Color games on the eShop are using the same emulator, just with their ROM.

The manuals are made for them and I'm sure that costs money. As for the comment about it being on the server, since Nintendo owns those servers, I don't think that costs them anything more than not having them on there.

No, I'm not saying the emulation of games in an unintended manner is right, just clearing up what you said here.

@Tyeforce
Not really. Most of the VC games come in the same emulator, only being changed/updated if they need to emulate some piece of hardware that wasn't emulated properly in the original emulator.

This is getting ridiculous. Nintendo releases a system update almost every month to stop pirates, and they still find a way around it. Someone needs to give up already.

@Koto ... Why are people ahainst the region lock? If you look at it from a sales view, it's a good thing as it prevents some games that are cheaper in other areas than the one you are in from being bought for a lower price than meant.

It's weird, I guess I am more willing to play a game that I bought with my own money than one that was pirated.

@TheDreamingHawk
Why would people not be against region lock? It prevents people from importing games from other regions, which means that if a game you wanted to play wasn't released in your region, too bad, so sad.

By not providing what consumers want, Nintendo is bolstering the sales of these "supposed illegal" flash carts and their constant feigned attempts to block them are a pathetic sham.
If Nintendo just offered the same thing officially (which they easily could), then the flash cart market would be almost entirely squashed. Nintendo just isn't offering something that people want and I have no idea why. They could stay in business forever just on emulating all of their own old stuff and adding great stuff like previously japan-only games to the list.

Seriously, would anyone be mad if Nintendo released an app for DS/3DS that let you download the ENTIRE backlog of GB/NES/SNES/GBA and play them on the go? Nope. Nobody would be mad. So why is anyone surprised by flash carts and why isn't Nintendo cashing in??????

@shinpichu Here is the thing: a majority of ganes appealing to gamers in that region are already released. It's not like NSMBU Is Japan only or anything. Yes, there is a mother 3 off and on, but just go play a game made by the same devs that DID get released in your country.

IMO the only good thing flashcarts are good for is for playing games YOU made by yourself, but that's all.

@TheDreamingHawk
What if the only game of that particular dev I'm interested in wasn't released in my region? What if no game by that dev was released in my region?

Edit: Also, your point about self-made games brings up something I wanted to mention: Nintendo(and other devs) should be more open in embracing game modding and such.

@shinpichu
More developers embracing modding? Hold on... Not everyone can be as awesome as Valve. That is a fact and because it is a fact the developers won't try because they will be essentially trying to argue a fact.
This comment is also a fact.
I am Fact Core.

@TysonQ7
Wishful thinking on my part, I guess. I just feel that there's a lot of great people working on romhacks right now, and I think Nintendo could build a lot of support by giving that community a more legitimate way to do what they do.

GOOD! I bought a game online and it turned out to be a fake. I never want to run into that problem again.

Give the pirates another week and I bet they will be up to date.

@shinpichu Maybe make it more relaxed with the more 'exclusives' like japanese games, etc., but the lock makes more sense with the many English speaking countries whose prices are very different I guess; like how Australian dollars are basically worth the same as US ones, though the former's prices are a bit higher, which means more people would probably resort to importing(less sales for Aus).

Don't get me wrong though, I wish they'd get rid of the lock too. Other places haven't done too bad with a more free stance.

@ouroborous Even if Nintendo released their entire retro library, it won't stop flashcards(though it would still boost sales). Why? There is still a bunch of people in those communities who'd want all of those games 'free' and we all know Nintendo isn't just going to give away all of their old games for nothing.

In all honesty, I'd be happy if they at least opened a lot of it up through the use of club nintendo coins(with cheaper coin prices) so sales would continue and we'd still be able to get our favorite retro games over time 'for free'.

It really bugs me how I save up a bunch of coins but have nothing to buy because they only show and advertise one 'free' game at a time, which only rots away your coins in due time if the one game never happens to be what you're looking for.

@ouroborous

True. Why couldn't Nintendo offer a subscription service? Pay $10 a month and have access to the whole NES and SNES libraries on your 3DS. Nothing would download directly — you'd have to play it through the shop or something. I'm sure that would be a profitable venture.

Piracy is bad. The end.
However, the things that Nintendo has done that have made it so tempting for some could be easily remedied.
1) Patch that makes all LEGAL games region-free/playable on all legit devices.
2) Release more than a DRIPPING of VC games each week/month. It's unfathomable that Nintendo is doing this again after 2+ years of this BS on the Wii.
3) Repeat 2.

Victory for all.

@Nestalgic
A subscription service is actually a cool idea.
One based on streaming content is a HORRIBLE idea. Nintendo's network is far too slow and shoddy to support that. Besides, thats even less ownership. You literally would only be renting forever.

@Kyhunsheo Wha? How did that happen? On a Nintendo console?

Not related to your post, since you said you bought it, but-

I'm totally all about buying the games legit. I work hard for my paycheck, and when I spend it on a game, I always feel a bit happier playing it knowing that my hard work paid for it. If Nintendo want to protect their hard work as well, more power to them.

I wish they just put NDS games on e-Shop

If Nintendo don't want people to pirate the obvious answer is street date downloads of all 3DS software. I live somewhere that it is very hard to get 3DS games thanks to lots of shipping but I would happily download them if available. For example, I really want Kid Icarus but due to the large box, shipping is more. If it was on the eshop I would have it by now.

Those that complain about being called pirates and how some use flashcarts only for homebrew need to keep in mind that they're a minority here, the reason piracy is such a problem is because so many people do it. Far more than those who only use homebrew. A few ripe apples among a pile of rotten ones.

I'm aware that people want to run custom apps and legal backups of their games which is why I support homebrew, but the same exploits that are used for homebrew are usually the same ones that open the gates for pirates. So you can't exactly blame anyone for being against hacking.

Finally some actions after so many words.

you know that these cards, can play movies. ebooks. text files like faqs and guides.
these are all feature that should be there initially on the 3DS, but arent. Maybe if the big N was thinking ahead and make these features available, people would refrain from using flashcarts. A good part of them anyway.

If those carts exist and work so well, its because Nintendo only failed again. And the solution is much simpler than trying to battle flashcard devs. Just make these features available.

it all happens because of your damn fault nintendo. wake up.

like Fry said, making the 3DS account like a steam account would be logical.
Sony does it. microsoft does it. nintendo failed it.

but you know, this is a problem related to nintendo. They just cant follow trend and latest technologies since the Wii. They CANT.
their consoles are outdated from the time they launch. Their online service is rudimentary and dont meet today's standard.

Still, it doesnt mean i dont like nintendo after all this ranting. they know how to make fun games, and their exclusives are excellencies.
maybe nintendo should retire the console war and do like SEGA? make games ? or simply focus on handheld and stop wasting time on home consoles that just dont do it well.

I'm not an expert on the topic, but if it's something that's not approved by Nintendo, and it can open up the door for people to steal games they haven't paid for, I'm glad they are trying to stop it.

Seems like the Pirates will have to dock on a different shore.

Ah, the old piracy debate. Unfortunately, it's an extremely complex issue (and certainly not the black-and-white issue that many seem to think) that can't really be done justice in article comments.

Piracy is illegal - that's a fact. However, there are many reasons for piracy (yes, including not wanting to pay for games, which I think is wrong) and not all of them are objectively evil.

As for Nintendo managing to lock out some flashcards - it's interesting it's taken them this long (I'm surprised a similar thing wasn't done for the DSi, but maybe it wasn't technically feasible) but it definitely won't stop it.

To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum, "Pirates find a way".

Wish they'd remove that idiotic region lock for a handheld device while they were at it though.

@Zantangor: I completely agree with this.

@Samholy Until Nintendo is in desperate need of getting money, they'll stick to making consoles and handhelds, because they still make money

I am totally against piracy.
If Nintendo made an SDK and let indie/bedroom programmers make 3DS and DS games and distribute them on an online service provided by Nintendo, then flashcarts wouldn't be needed. I understand this could drop the quality of the average 3DS game but it would be on a separate store from the eShop...maybe the Indie eShop or something. Or here's an idea: How 'bout downloading DS and 3DS games onto the system? A few jerks might download it and then sell the original, but they could probably come up with a way to wipe the original when you back it up, and then you could re-download the title from your account if the game gets deleted.

@Nicolasdeluuca Welcome to NL, awesome avatar too. VGcats is great!

Well, gee, Nintendo. If you'd just lower your prices after a while (Mario Kart DS is STILL 35 bucks) and release DS titles on the eShop, along with releasing more handheld games (especially GBA) instead of releasing them at a trickle that is slower than molasses, perhaps you wouldn't have such a big problem?

95% huh...
well they tried to close the door, but the flasharts put their foot in it.

Stop trying to use the fact that people use carts legally as argument material. It it is not. The majority of the people with them download and play games that they don't own and, just like in democracy, majority rules; Flashcarts are illegal.

All Nintendo has to do is get rid of the dang region lock and put more retro games into the eShop, that will trim down hacking a bit.

They should put download codes in the boxes of retail games. Buying the game and giving the option to have a download of it on your machine.

@grimbldoo: fixed your post for you

"Stop trying to use the fact that people use carts legally as argument material. It it is not [CITATION NEEDED]. The majority of the people with them download and play games that they don't own [CITATION NEEDED] and, just like in democracy, majority rules [CITATION NEEDED]; Flashcarts are illegal [CITATION NEEDED].

All Nintendo has to do is get rid of the dang region lock and put more retro games into the eShop, that will trim down hacking a bit [CITATION NEEDED]."

Really I think the main reason why people pirate is because games are becoming too expensive. Handheld games that used to be $30 are now $40 (3DS) and $50 (vita). Console games that used to be $50 are now $60.

Another reason why piracy is really bad is because of how a majority of flash users see it.

Go on youtube, and watch a virtual console trailer. Most of the comments are like: "ZOMG NINTENDO U CAN JUST DOWNLOAD THESE GAMES FOR FREE" and ETC. Whether you guys like it or not, Flashcarts are illegal regardless of the reason.

Guys, we are not here to debate the legality of flashcarts or not — remember that Nintendo Life is UK-based, and in the UK, they are flat-out illegal. That is the stance we take on them as per enforcement of our Community Rules. Please take the technical discussion elsewhere, it's getting off-track. Thank you!

<Statement redacted for silly British law>. I live in a country where one can buy one(a flashcard) legally, and I feel bad for my British brethren who can't know the joy of homebrew on their handhelds.

The ignorance in some of these comments applauding this as some sort of victory against piracy when it shuts out plenty of legitimate (international I guess, due to silly British law) users who want to play homebrew software is disgusting. At least have the decency to acknowledge the fact Nintendo is doing something that hurts both piracy AND legitimate users. It reminds me of the cheers Sony fans let out when they removed the feature that allowed tech geeks to install linux on the PS3 (despite that being an advertised feature)
((As an aside note: Thank you to everyone who DID comment on the fact that this is hurting legit users, even if they think they are a "minority"))

Maybe some of you didn't know this, but the wildly popular and successful Colors3D started off as a homebrew application for the DS, and many artists (and non-artists who like doodling) have that application and other games that aren't commercially available. Would we even HAVE Colors3D if flashcarts for the DS didn't exist?

Attacking the homebrew scene just doesn't make sense, since they often turn into something greater (look at indie devs bringing their greats: Cave Story, La Mulana, as mentioned above Colors3D. Obviously, La Mulana and Cave Story weren't homebrewed for Nintendo, but PC, however I don't think that has any bearing on the fact the indie scene does dev. for DS and Wii because it was easy to do so, and making it hard on 3DS (and presumably WiiU) is going to hurt the indie dev scene.) I can understand wanting to stop piracy, and I agree with that, but the DS and the Wii insanely successful, and the easiest to pirate for/run homebrew on. Shutting down BOTH piracy and homebrew isn't going to make Nintendo any more successful. they may sell a handful more of certain titles that are really good from pirates that would otherwise buy the game because they really want it, but they are shutting out an entire community of very dedicated gamers who want to share their visions with eachother. Perhaps the homebrew scene will still buy their handhelds and consoles, but they won't be happy about the decision, and good will is one of the greatest things a company could have. I'm always happy about giving my money to a company I love. Case in point, I'm always grumpy about buying Capcom products because of how they treat their staff and their fans, but I'll still do it if the game is good enough. Otherwise, I can do without.

How about instead of taking the easy route and attacking everyone illegit and legit, do some more R&D and see if you can design a system to stop piracy on the flashcards, while keeping homebrew operational. Maybe something that checks file hashes for known ROMs or something.

To restate my point and wrap this up because Jesus, this is loooong. YES, it's great to stop piracy. but PLEASE take into account all the people who are hurt by this in the indie scene(and those who follow it and play their games), and as Thomas said, the people who want to carry around their legally purchased DS collection with them on one card. It's NOT cool to indiscriminately include them in this attack. And I hope Nintendo can grow to understand that in the future.

@Hyperstar96 Well, the fact is, it breaks the law no matter what you do, so that still means it's bad.

@theblackdragon A UK site? Glad this doesn't have those broken dates that the UK does on my end. (It's January 10th on Monday!)

@Muzer #94
If you have a source that proves otherwise, please present it and I will be more than happy to change my citation lacking opinion. If not, remove the log from your eye before you attempt to remove our specks.

Nintendo is just begging that the 3DS gets homebrew'd though with the region locks. It's just a matter of time before it happens.

@TheDreamingHawk UK dates are more logical than US dates:
Day/Month/Year - ascending order of size, from smallest to biggest.
Month/Day/Year - No.

@C-Olimar: One could just as easily say that the US style of dates is more logical since it goes in the order it would be said aloud (month/day/year, i.e. "It's September 30th" or "On September 30th, 2012..."). Thankfully NL spells out the month so there's no confusion for dates like this coming Monday (10/1/2012 as opposed to y'all's 1/10/2012). :3

@theblackdragon I would say 'on the 30th of September', but I see the logic in Month/Day/Year now.

Pronouncing it a different way is fine. I just find it ugly and stupid on how the dates look. Heck, because Art of Balance Touch uses those dates for the endurance mode, I stopped playing.

My job is to make a security system in for financial institution. Compared to a device as small as a handheld portable device. Our system requires a more sophisticated and impenetrable security to prevent any fraud. But unfortunately if you ever learned about system life cycle its a slap in the face that There is no perfect system, which always lead to a gap in the system for someone to breach. That is why routine evaluation and improvement is required. So No Matter what NINTENDO do, their system will always be hackable. Piracy will live on. Its a costly futile effort if you would say. Its a war against principality not about money. Unless they are making a device like a bomb without a diffuser. One attempt to insert a card different will explode the device in unpredictable period. So when those pirates think they have managed the system they ended up selling activated time bomb.

As much as I love Nintendo (First memory is playing Metroid on NES) I have to admit that by region locking systems they're only encouraging people to pirate games. If you want to say that people pirating is unfair to Nintendo I can dig it, but see the other side.

@dimi what they need to do is allow a system transfer of games, have a DSi console for example with a 3DS console and allow the ability of copying games to the system, and if possible disabling the ability to play the original games in any console until u remove it from the console to avoid further pirating, im sure if thats made possible then theres absolutely no need for a flashcart

Counterfeiting is worse. (99.9% of the carts on Amazon that say cart only or cart in a small white case are counterfeit) ditto with Ebay (Dunno if Ebay has ones with counterfeit boxes as well).

There is a few DS games that I want that I won't get unless I see them somewhere I can inspect things in person. (Or they are for sale from a reasonably trusted seller).

Actually I have seen 2nd hand carts in High Street big name stores marked DS Lite only. (Which blatantly means they are counterfeit).