I’ve been playing more games on my 3DS lately and I was thinking how nice it would be to use some of the online features that Nintendo shut off back in April (was it April of 2024?) Turns out, some clever folks have made what is damn near a drop-in replacement for the Nintendo network. Pretendo lets you sign up and with the Nimbus app (and custom firmware) you can replace the Nintendo network (to be clear, the Nintendo network is now completely gone for 3DS/WiiU) and play some 3DS titles with their full online features. Some titles only have partial support, but it’s better than none.
I did find the instructions to be a little lacking. They do a decent job of explaining you need custom firmware, and what options need to be turned on, and how to get the Nimbus app, but they don’t mention that once you have run Nimbus and picked the Pretendo network, that you then have to go into the settings on your 3DS and go through the typical motions of getting on the Nintendo network.
Sounds pretty obvious though, right? Except I hadn’t used these features or had to configure a Nintendo ID on a 3DS within the last 5-8 years, so I didn’t know where to find it. Add to this the complication that the 3DS I’m using has Japanese menus. Eventually I’ll be able to read them, but for now I just stumble through.
So far, I’ve mainly just used it to browse the Miiverse and see posts from others. I don’t play a lot of multiplayer online 3DS titles. A fair amount of multiplayer local wireless, sure, but not online. I forget when they originally killed the Miiverse, seems like it was a few years before they shut it all down, but I don’t recall. I just remember being annoyed that I permanently had this useless button in the UI that would display an error button instead of doing something useful.
updated: 2024-05-25 05:01:16
generated: 2024-08-16