Thanks must go out to the Gateway 3DS team, for not only supplying the review sample but for also providing various bits of information that made this review possible.
A Brief History of 3DS Hacking
On December 17th, 2012 an image was posted on Twitter by reseller OzModChips that showed a 3DS with both of its screens fully illuminated. The text it displayed was a simple "WE HACKED IT!" message. The hack was confirmed by various scene members to be legitimate, members who included scene veterans Crediar, Neimod, and Yellows8. Yellows8 commented that the hack used a save game exploit, however the name of the game used was not published to protect the exploit from being patched by Nintendo. The exploit functioned in User Mode, so homebrew would be limited to using assets originally associated with the game the save exploit used. This means that there would be no ROM loading, which was a plus because many 3DS hackers are against piracy. Since this exploited seemed rather limited, there was no point in releasing it.News of another exploit soon surfaced which reported that 3DS hacker Neimod had acquired full kernel control on an unmodified 3DS. The exploit was confirmed to use another savegame exploit of a 3DS game cartridge. This could have been any 3DS game cartridge released before the announcement, and the release date for the exploit is nonexistent, the reason being that it is easy for Nintendo to patch. 3DS hackers wanted to experiment with the exploit to preserve the vulnerabilities across upcoming system updates and patches. From then on 3DBrew.org has been continually updated with newly obtained information, which includes a list of working and failed attempts at exploiting the 3DS. This list further includes attempts at trying to crash the 3DS using the eShop games Pushmo/Pyramid by creating custom QR codes, and exploiting the 3DS through its Internet browser.
Moving forward, on May 30th, 2013 we get an announcement from the GW3DS Team that they have a working Flash Kit that plays 3DS ROMs. They also demonstrate the Flash Kit working, in the form of a video, where they show it loading games such as Luigi's Mansion. The exploit they found involves corrupting the 3DS' DS User Setting strings, making them too long, which leads to a crash in 3DS mode that occurs once you attempt to view the settings. Once the stack smash crashes the 3DS from the corrupt strings in the 3DS' DS Profile Settings, it turns to the SD card to read data. The GW3DS Team released a file called "launcher.dat" that goes on the 3DS' SD card. This file contains information the 3DS executes once the SD card read begins. Once the information is read by the 3DS it reboots into GW3DS mode which allows the GW3DS to function.
A History of the Gateway 3DS Team?
The initial community reaction to the GW3DS Team's teaser video was quite diverse. Part of the GBAtemp community was quite excited, and were in anticipation of the first 3DS Flash Kit to get into consumer hands. Other members of the GBAtemp community were against a 3DS Flash Kit appearing so soon in the 3DS' short life span. There arose a plateau of questions about the legitimacy and usage of the GW3DS Flash Kit. In the video, the GW3DS Team demonstrated that the GW3DS required games to be put on separate microSD cards, and that game saving was not functioning properly. In response, the GW3DS Team created a FAQ, to answer most of these questions. The FAQ confirmed the one game per microSD card limitation, its inability to play homebrew, that game saves were currently not working, and that the GW3DS would be available at the end of June. The FAQ created an even more diversified split on GBAtemp, each group with a different stance on the GW3DS Flash Kit. One side remained completely against it due to it being a device purely meant for piracy reasons, this due to the fact you cannot currently dump your own 3DS games and that the GW3DS team said it would not support homebrew. The other side, however, embraced the GW3DS perhaps for their want of free games. The end of June came with no word from the GW3DS team, this lead to suspicions of the GW3DS being fake. Finally, on the 11th of July the GW3DS Team posted an announcement that preorders were now open, and answered a few more questions in addition to giving some new information.
The GW3DS will launch working only on firmware 4.1-4.5, with plans to attempt an update to get it working on later 3DS firmware revisions. The GW3DS will ship with two Flash Kits. One is the red labeled GW3DS Flash Kit, which handles running 3DS ROMs and the other is a blue labeled DS Flash Kit that is used to install the GW3DS exploit, and play DS ROMs and homebrew.
On the 18th day following the last GW3DS Team announcement, an update to the FAQ was published. This updates stated that the first GW3DS units were ready to ship, that the blue labeled DS Flash Kit runs homebrew as works on the 6.1 firmware, and that the GW3DS exploit installer only needs to be run once or each time you enter DS mode. The FAQ also informed customers that Animal Crossing: New Leaf would not function properly on the GW3DS due to its NAND based save chip. At this point members began to lose hope that the GW3DS would ever see release, but a day later the GW3DS sent out a widespread email that the GW3DS was on its way to reviewers. A few day later reviewers started to get their GW3DS samples, which gave hope to members who were once having doubts on the legitimacy of the GW3DS Flash Kit.
The GW3DS units are still in transit to resellers in some parts of the world, while resellers closer to the GW3DS manufacturer have already received stock. The GW3DS Team has been busy supporting the product, and has recently posted another teaser video showing off firmware spoofing as well as region lock bypassing. Firmware spoofing is quite useful because newer 3DS games require you to update your 3DS to a higher firmware than the GW3DS supports. This means that firmware spoofing will allow gamers to play those games without the need for updating. Bypassing region lock will allow gamers to play any 3DS ROM, from any region, on any region-locked 3DS. The new update is currently in beta testing, and will be publicly released in the coming days. In the mean time, the GBAtemp community patiently awaits the arrival of the GW3DS to local resellers.
On August 21st the GW3DS team released an update to the GW3DS which includes the ability to play games from other regions as well as implementing a firmware spoofer that allows you to play newer games. The update is v1.1a, and now the GW3DS team is currently working on their goal of homebrew launching.
Packaging and Contents
Gateway 3DS red labeled Flash Kit PCB Photos courtesy of the GW3DS team
Design and Impressions
In my own personal opinion, considering the price of the GW3DS Flash Kit, the packaging could have been a bit nicer. Some of the DS mode Flash Kits, such as the iEvolution, come in metal tins, are packaged with a microSD card reader, and include instructions. Getting past the packaging and its lack of extras, the red labeled GW3DS Flash Kit itself has a nice quality build to it. The red labeled GW3DS Flash Kit is made of a nice durable plastic and has glossy stickers, which look like they could outlast typical wear and tear. Comparing the quality of the red labeled GW3DS Flash Kit to a retail 3DS game, I can not really distinguish one from the other besides the GW3DS having a slightly yellow tinge to it. Build-wise, the quality of the GW3DS is on par with that of an official Nintendo 3DS cartridge. Going onto the blue labeled DS Flash Kit, the bar was lowered in terms of quality. The plastic used in the shelling is a bit cheap which gives the cartridge a sort of slick feeling. Like the red labeled GW3DS Flash Kit, the blue labeled DS Flash Kit has a glossy sticker, however instead of fading out to a rich red it fades into a deep blue color. The shell is held together by plastic pegs one of which broke when I attempted to open it to take the PCB photos. Comparing it to an official Nintendo DS cartridge it's definitely of a lower quality.
I want to take the time to mention here that when you buy a GW3DS Flash Kit, that you are actually getting two Flash Kits for the price of one. One of them is for playing 3DS ROMs on your 3DS, and the other is a DS-Mode Flash Kit that supports DS ROMs and homebrew.
Set-up and Usage
The follwing is a collection of requirements:
2x microSD Cards: You can prepare, and use the GW3DS using one microSD card, however I recommend having two microSD cards. One that is at least 2 GBs in size to hold the blue labeled DS Flash Kit firmware, along with the GW3DS exploit installer. The other microSD card should be at least 16 GBs in size; due to the fact that the max size a 3DS ROM can be is 8 GBs. Currently, the largest sized ROM dumps are 4 GBs, meaning that you will need a microSD card larger than 4 GBs to get started. However a GBAtemp user by the name of 3DSGuy has created a tool that trims 3DS roms to a smaller size that would allow someone to make a 4 GB 3DS rom small enough to fit onto a 4 GB microSD card. His tool can be found in the download section below, and so far all the roms I've trimmed using it have worked fine.A microSD Card Reader and SD card reader: Sadly, the GW3DS does not come with a microSD card reader. You will need one in order to drag/drop 3DS ROMs to the microSD card, as well as put the blue labeled DS Flash Kit kernel files onto the smaller 2 GB microSD card. The SD card reader is needed to copy the required “launcher.dat” file.
3DS unit on firmware v4.1-4.5: At the time of writing this review the GW3DS only supports 3DS/3DS XL units on firmware 4.1-4.5. If your 3DS is on a higher firmware then you'll have to wait for the GW3DS Team to release an update. If you are interested in purchasing a 3DS/3DS XL then the way to make sure you get a compatible unit is to check the back of the box to make sure it says "Trademark of Nintendo 2012". This ensures it will have a firmware GW3DS currently supports. The Pikachu 3DS XL, Black 3DS XL, and the Animal Crossing New Leaf 3DS XL, are units confirmed to have a firmware higher than 4.5. (For the US that is it in other regions the 3DS may come with a lower firmware and still be a special edition 3DS XL.) It's recommend that if your 3DS is lower than 4.5 that you find a retail game with the 4.5 update, and update that way. The GW3DS team has recommended not updating to 4.5 using the GW3DS.
1x SD Card (At least 2 GBs in size): All new 3DS units come with a 2 GB/4 GB SD card. A smaller SD card might work, but I have yet to try the exploit with one. This SD card is needed in order to store your games saves on, as well as to store the GW3DS required “launcher.dat” file.
Software Requirements
3DS ROMs (Do not ask for these here, we do not support hosting or sharing links to illegal content)
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