Table of Contents
3DS Link
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Back in 2014, clones of the Gateway flash cartridge began to appear en masse. One of the most famous clones was 3DS Link.
This clone is famous because its developers shamelessly stole code from Gateway without even checking it. When Gateway programmers embedded code that bricked consoles, the 3DS Link developers simply copied it. As a result, 3DS Link users' consoles started bricking.
3DS Link is a copy of the R4i Gold 3DS Deluxe Edition and Orange 3DS cartridges. Their firmware (for 3DS cartridges) is completely interchangeable. However, the firmware for the auxiliary cartridges (DS cartridge with a blue cover) was different.
All these cartridges do not work with the latest exploits and New versions of Nintendo 3DS. That is, they can only be launched on Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL consoles with firmware 4.1 – 4.5.
Kit
The cartridge came in a very beautiful orange box.
The kit included two cartridges and a card reader.
Note that the cartridges with the blue cover could differ in body color.
This is normal; at some point, the developers ran out of chips for the blue cartridges and replaced them with others. Because of this, they had to modify the firmware, and to avoid confusion, they changed the color of the cartridge.
Firmware
The main problem with 3DS Link is that the developers, for some reason, could not fix the firmware they stole. Perhaps they just lacked the skills?
A total of 8 firmware versions were released:
V2.0 – stolen from Gateway (early firmware version). Corresponds to version 1.2.
V3.0 – this version is based on Gateway v2.0b1 firmware.
V3.1 – this is Gateway v2.0b2 firmware. Caution! This firmware was the first to include code for bricking consoles.
V3.2 – the 3DS Link developers tried to fix the firmware, but consoles continued to break.
V3.3 – despite the new name, this is firmware version V3.0. The last version that did not have code for bricking consoles.
V3.3b – the 3DS Link developers got scared and rolled back the firmware to version 2.0. They thought that version 3.0 might also have bricking code.
V4.0b1 – they couldn't handle the bricking code on their own. So, the 3DS Link developers stole the firmware code from the MT-Card cartridge developers. To hide this, the 3DS Link programmers simply disabled the menu. This is the menu you enter after using the cartridge with the blue cover.
v.4.0b2 – the latest firmware available at the moment.
Usage
Archive with firmware: 3DSLink_4.0B2.rar
Currently, only firmware v4.0b2 can be found. But the problem is that the creators of 3DS Link did not develop it themselves but stole it from another clone - MT-Card.
At the same time, the Launcher.dat menu was simply disabled.
Because of this, you CANNOT create emuNand, which limits your ability to upgrade the console. That is, you can only run games that worked on firmware up to 4.5.
In theory, you could take firmware 3.0, create emuNand, and then firmware 4.0b2 would launch it. In reality, I couldn't find firmware 3.0 :( But even if you manage to find it, think carefully about whether it's worth using. After all, according to the developers, it was firmware 3.0 – 3.3 that bricked consoles.
Epilogue
Among all its siblings R4i Gold 3DS Deluxe Edition / Orange-3DS / 3DS Link, the latter sold in the largest quantities.
At the same time, I strongly do not recommend buying it. In fact, the developers of this cartridge could not crack the Gateway code, which is why the cartridge quickly lost support. Considering that Gateway developed for a long 5 years and supports emuNand firmware up to version 11.7, there is no point in buying 3DS Link. Unless for collection purposes.
