How to Install Custom 3DS Themes Ensure you’ve installed the Homebrew Launcher on your 3DS before attempting to follow this tutorial. On your computer, open up the main directory of your 3DS’ SD Card.
Want to customize your 3DS Home Menu? You could opt into purchasing and using Nintendo’s official custom themes, but what if you want more options? Well great news! You can download custom themes, make your own, and even download all of Nintendo’s official themes while you’re at it.
Follow this tutorial to learn how to do all of this and more.
Install it by dragging the.3dsx file into the 3ds folder on your 3DS's SD card. Access the homebrew launcher through your chosen exploit and click on the Anemone app. Now either put your files on the SD cards themes folder or scan a QR code on the theme download of Theme Plaza. Installing []. Applications are installed by copying the necessary files directly to the 3ds/ folder in the root of the SD card (preferred for new designs), or in a subdirectory of 3ds/, in which case said subfolder must be named identically to its executable.
Contents
Requirements
- Anemone3DS (recommended)
Custom Home Menu Manager (CHMM2)Themely Homebrew App (alternative)- A custom theme (or several)
Where to Download Custom 3DS Themes
First download some themes that you like. Here are a few places to get them from:
- Theme Plaza – Get custom themes for your 3DS Home Menu. Also find custom badges and splash screens for CFW.
- 3DS Theme Swap – Request and submit custom themes in this subreddit. Includes links to many themes.
- GBATemp Custom Theme Thread – Discussion thread where you can find and post your own custom themes and compilations.
Caution: 3DStheme.com is not a legit site. Do not visit it to download themes. It is a survey site where in order to download anything you must complete offers and it does not work.
Once you’ve downloaded some you like follow the next section to install them on your 3DS.
How to Install Custom 3DS Themes
- Ensure you’ve installed the Homebrew Launcher on your 3DS before attempting to follow this tutorial.
- On your computer, open up the main directory of your 3DS’ SD Card. Go into the “Themes” folder. This is where you will place the themes you’ve downloaded.
- Locate where you saved your 3DS themes. Each theme and its files will get its own folder within the “Themes” folder. Transfer all of your themes to your 3DS Themes folder as shown below.
- Download the latest version of Anemone3DS CIA or 3DSX.
For .CIA (recommended) place it anywhere on the SD and install using FBI.
For .3DSX, place the 3DSX file onto your 3DS’s SD card in the directory SD:/3ds/Anemone3DS
If you installed the CIA, you’re done. Launch the app on your 3DS. - For 3DSX users only: Place your microSD/SD Card into your 3DS, power it on, and launch the Homebrew Launcher.
- For 3DSX users only: In the Homebrew Launcher, navigate to Anemone3DS and start the application.
- Select a theme or themes and install. Press START to exit the app. Congratulations, you should be able to see your custom theme!
Note: You can download themes via the QR code function on Theme Plaza. Anemone 3DS supports downloading themes via QR code.
Want to make your own theme? Read on to the next section.
How to Make Custom 3DS Themes
If you want to make your own theme to customize your menu specifically to your liking follow this guide.
Essentially you will be using a template to edit the top and bottom screen with a program that can read .psd files (eg. Photoshop), adding custom music, folders, and extra effects to compile your theme files. The process can be time consuming but the end result will be worth it.
My Top 20 Favorite Custom 3DS Themes
I’ve spent some time looking through a lot of themes and narrowed down my top 10 personal favorites. I’ve divided them between top 10 official themes and top 10 custom themes. Check out my top 20 themes post here.
- 2List
Installing[edit]
Applications are installed by copying the necessary files directly to the 3ds/ folder in the root of the SD card (preferred for new designs), or in a subdirectory of 3ds/, in which case said subfolder must be named identically to its executable. Most applications come with two files:
How To Install Themes On 3ds
[appname].3dsx: The executable.[appname].smdh: The icon/metadata. (Not required in any case, and may be integrated into the.3dsx)[appname].xml: The list of supported targets (i.e. installed titles which the app supports replacing in memory at runtime, thus inheriting its permissions), and of any arguments to be passed to the .3dsx. (Optional)
A standalone .xml file can point to a differently-named .3dsx, launching it with potentially different arguments so that a single application can run in different modes.
The Homebrew Launcher will scan the SD card for all .3dsx files, but will only display an icon for those who have one according to the format described above. Recent enough versions can freely navigate the filesystem to select an application.
List[edit]
Launchers[edit]
| Name | Description | Author | Download | Open-Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homebrew Launcher | Run homebrew on your 3DS! Compatible with Rosalina and all prior 3dsx loading solutions | devkitPro | Here | Yes |
| Homebrew Starter Pack | Everything to get you started. | smea | Here | Yes |
| Homebrew Launcher (v1.x) | The old version of the 3DS Homebrew Launcher, originally created for ninjhax 1.x (Discontinued) | smea | Here | Yes |
| Mashers' HBL | Homebrew Launcher with grid and folder support. (Discontinued) | Mashers | Here | Lost in masher's retirement |
Applications[edit]
| Name | Description | Author | Download | Open-Source | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3dsfetch | Small 3DS version of a popular Linux ricing script called screenfetch. | VideahGams | Here | Yes | 2015-09-17 |
| 3DSident | Identity tool for the Nintendo 3DS heavily inspired by PSPident. | Joel16 | Here | Yes | 2017-7-21 |
| Clear MAC Filter | Reset 8-hour per-console StreetPass rate limiting | tastymeatball | Here | Yes | 2018-8-24 |
| CtrRGBPATTY | Generate patches that edit LED notifications | CPunch | Here | Yes | 2017-11-3 |
| ctrrpc | A small and easily extensible RPC server/client written in C/Python. Allows you to quickly poke service-commands and syscalls over Wi-Fi from a Python shell on your PC. Useful during reverse-engineering. No longer under (active) development? | plutoo | Build from repo | Yes | 2014-11-10 |
| ctr-streaming-server | A 3DS homebrew audio/video playback server. It can also send HID state to the client (see the README) when enabled. The included parse_hidstream tool can be used to parse that HID data to simulate keyboard/mouse input events, via Linux uinput. No longer under (active) development? | yellows8 | Build from repo | Yes | 2014-11-20 |
| DownloadMii | A WIP repo-based online marketplace for homebrew applications & games. | filfat | Build from repo | Yes | 2015-11-24 |
| fb43ds | A simple 3DS Facebook chat client | linoma | Build from repo | Yes | 2015-04-07 |
| for-anyone-who-walks-a-lot | Tool to get past the 10 coin per day limit on earning Play Coins by walking. | iamevn | Here | Yes | 2016-03-26 |
| Homebrew Browser | Download homebrew from the internet! | cromo, zeta0134 | Here | Yes | 2015-10-07 |
| NFCReader | Allows you to use your 3DS as a NFC/RFID UID Scanner. | Jasper Peters | Here | Yes | 2017-01-21 |
| ScreenInfo | Identify whether New 3DS LCD panels are TN or IPS. | SciresM | Here | Yes | 2016-09-04 |
Game Engines[edit]
| Name | Description | Author | Download | Open-Source | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Löve Potion | LOVE2D for 3DS Homebrew. | TurtleP | Here | Yes | 2018-08-27 |
| ctrµLua | A Lua interpreter for 3DS, brought to life by the remnants of the µLua community. | Firew0lf, Reuh, Negi | Here | Yes | 2016-06-27 |
| EasyRPG Player | RPG Maker 2000/2003 interpreter | Rinnegatamante & EasyRPG Team | Here | Yes | 2019-03-03 |
| LuaPlayer+ 3DS | First Lua interpreter 3DS homebrew, under Lua 5.3.1 | Rinnegatamante | Here | Yes | 2016-09-21 |
| MegaZeux 3DS | A port of the MegaZeux GCS to the 3DS. | MegaZeux developers | Here | Yes | 2018-03-04 |
Games[edit]
| Name | Description | Author | Download | Open-Source | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Boxes 2DS | A remake of homebrew '100 Boxes puzzle' for DS and GBA. | Cid2mizard | Here | No | 2015-11-11 |
| 2048-3D | A port of the popular game 2048 for the 3DS. | Jasper Peters | Here | Yes | 2016-02-12 |
| 3DSCraft | A Minecraft port for the 3DS. No longer under (active) development? | smea | Build from repo (alt. here) | Yes | 2014-11-20 |
| 3DS Nyan Cat | A port of Nyan Cat for the 3DS, using LIBSF2D. | markwinap | Build from repo (alt. here) | Yes | 2015-05-26 |
| Antibounce | 'Move your player to bounce around and collect coins. Go between screens through the holes in the sides of the floor. 3D can also be enabled.' | TurtleP | Here | Yes | 2015-12-23 |
| Breakout | 'A 3ds Breakout Clone.' | Magicrafter13 | Here | Yes | 2017-10-17 |
| checkers3ds | A checkers game in glorious ASCII. No longer under development. | UnsureSherlock | Build from repo | Yes | 2016-02-25 |
| Cookie Collector | A tiny adaptation of the popular Cookie Clicker game for the 3DS. | Kaisogen | Here | Yes | 2017-06-04 |
| Cookie Clicker 3DS | A simple Cookie Clicker type of game inspired by Kaisogen's Cookie Collector | TheMachinumps | Here | Yes | 2016-08-27 |
| DrawAttack | Online multiplayer drawing game, like Pictionary. | Cruel | Here | Yes | 2016-04-17 |
| EDuke3D | An unofficial port of EDuke32 for the 3DS. | MasterFeizz | Here | Yes | 2016-05-09 |
| Hamsters 2DS | A text-based hamster breeding game. | Cid2mizard | Here | No | 2015-11-01 |
| Helii | A port of Helii for the 3DS. | BHSPitMonkey | Here | Yes | 2015-09-18 |
| Insectoid Defense | A Sci-Fi Tower Defense game. | sgowen | Here | Yes | 2015-11-09 |
| NumberFucker3DS | Simple math game, originally used as a debug game for LövePotion. | VideahGams | Here | Yes | 2015-09-19 |
| Zelda ROTH for 3DS | A port of Legend of Zelda: Return of the Hylian, a Zelda fangame, to 3DS. | nop90 | Here | Yes | 2016-09-11 |
| Mastermind 3DS | A port of Mastermind for the 3DS. | Jasper Peters | Here | Yes | 2015-08-15 |
| Minesweeper 2DS | A port of Minesweeper for the 3DS. | Cid2mizard | Here | No | 2015-11-01 |
| One Whale Trip | Five-lane underwater whale swimming/pearl pickup adventure game in Python. | thp | Here | Yes | 2016-10-02 |
| Paddle Puffle 3DS | A port of Paddle Puffle for the 3DS. | Peanut42 | Here | Yes | 2015-07-05 |
| Pituka Classics | Play CPC classics using Pituka Emulator-Core on 3DS. | D_Skywalk | Yes (core) | 2016-02-26 | |
| Pixel Shuffle 2DS | An adaptation of the puzzle game Pixel Shuffle for the 3DS. | Cid2mizard | Here | No | 2015-11-01 |
| Pixel Swap 2DS | An adaptation of puzzle games Pixel Swap 1 & 2 for the 3DS. | Cid2mizard | Here | No | 2015-11-01 |
| Portal3DS | An adaptation of Portal for the 3DS. | smea | Build from repo (Decompiled here) | Yes | 2015-08-18 |
| ctrQuake | An unofficial port of Quake for the 3DS, fully playable. | MasterFeizz | Here | Yes | 2016-09-16 |
| Reversi | Reversi for the 3DS. | Jasper Peters | Here | Yes | 2016-03-05 |
| Sokoban | An unofficial port of the puzzle game Sokoban for the 3DS. | Landm | Here | Yes | 2016-03-14 |
| Space Fruit | Hackathon game by 4 friends ported to 3DS. Asteroids but with fruit. | TurtleP | Here | Yes | 2016-04-09 |
| Tappy Plane | A port of Flappy Bird for 3DS, but with a colorful plane. | sgowen | Here | Yes | 2015-11-09 |
| Tetrepetete 3DS | A game with blocks. | thp | Here | No | 2016-06-29 |
| TileMap 2DS | An adaptation of the puzzle game TileMap for the 3DS. | Cid2mizard | Here | No | 2015-11-03 |
| Tiles 2DS | An adaptation of the puzzle game Lights Out for the 3DS. | Cid2mizard | Here | No | 2015-11-01 |
| That Rabbit Game 3DS | Inverse duck hunt with accelerometer input and stereoscopic 3D. | thp | Here | No | 2016-07-04 |
| Trucmuche 2DS 09 | An adaptation of the hidden objects game Trucmuche for the 3DS. | Cid2mizard | Here | No | 2015-12-03 |
| World of 3DSand | A port of World of Sand for the 3DS. | Steveice10 | Here | Yes | 2016-07-12 |
| Yeti3DS | A quick and dirty port of Derek Evans' Yeti3D software rendering engine. | smea | Build from repo | Yes | 2015-08-07 |
| Loonies 8192 | A Mini Retro Puzzle for DOS, the PSP and 3DS (Homebrew) | thp | Here | No | 2019-01-27 |
Emulators[edit]
| Name | Description | Author | Download | Open-Source | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3DNES | A NES emulator, without sound support. No longer under development. | st4rk, gdkChan | Here | Yes | 2015-03-28 |
| atari800-3DS | An Atari 8-bit home computer emulator. | asie | Here | Yes | 2016-10-29 |
| blargSnes | A Super Nintendo (SNES) emulator. A compatibility list can be found here. | StapleButter | Here | Yes | 2015-06-12 |
| CHIP-3DS | A simple and slow CHIP-8 emulator. | xerpi | Build from repo (alt. here) | Yes | 2015-04-02 |
| CHIP8-2DS | CHIP-8 emulator with savestates and touch controls. | nopy4869 | Here | Yes | 2016-07-20 |
| CitrAGB | Yet another GBA emulator for the 3DS. | Shiny Quagsire | Build from repo (alt. here) | Yes | 2015-09-21 |
| GameYob | A Game Boy (Color) emulator. A compatibility list can be found here. | Drenn/Steveice10 | Here | Yes | 2016-07-17 |
| mGBA | A GBA emulator that runs well without kernel hax. | endrift | Here | Yes | 2016-10-13 |
| r3Ddragon | A WIP Virtual Boy emulator for the 3DS based on Reality Boy / Red Dragon. | mrdanielps | Here | Yes | 2016-08-16 |
| RetroArch | A multisystem emulator. (GB, GBA, SNES, Genesis, CPS1, CPS2, etc.) | libretro | Here | Yes | Undergoing rapid development. |
| SNES9x for 3DS | A SNES emulator for the old 3DS / 2DS. Optimised from Snes9x 1.43 and runs many games at full speed. Compatibility list here | bubble2k16 | Here | Yes | 2017-02-11 |
| VirtuaNES for 3DS | A NES emulator for the old 3DS / 2DS. Optimised from VirtuaNES 0.9.7 and runs many games at full speed. | bubble2k16 | Here | Yes | 2017-03-23 |
| TemperPCE for 3DS | A PC-Engine/Turbografx-16 emulator for the old 3DS / 2DS. Optimised from Temper runs all games, including CD-ROM and SGX games at full speed. | bubble2k16 | Here | Yes | 2017-06-19 |
Theme managers[edit]
| Name | Description | Author | Download | Open-Source | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3DS HomeMenu extdata Tool | Tool for accessing the SD extdata which Home Menu uses. This essentially allows writing custom themes to extdata which get loaded at Home Menu startup. | yellows8 | Here | Yes | 2015-08-17 |
| Custom Home Menu Manager 2 | Theme manager for Nintendo 3DS. Discontinued. | Rinnegatamante | Here | Yes | 2016-07-04 |
| Themely | Theme manager for Nintendo 3DS with 3dsthem.es integration. | ErmanSayin | Here | Not anymore, 1.3.1 last FOSS version | 2017-6-28 |
| Anemone3DS | New theme and Luma splash screen manager, created to fill the gap left by its predecessors. | User:astronautlevel2 | Here | Yes | 2018-5-13 |
Title managers[edit]
| Name | Description | Author | Download | Open-Source | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FBI | Open source CIA (un)installer and launcher. | Steveice10 | Here | Yes | 2015-12-02 |
| FBI 2 | Multipurpose file/title/ticket/save manager | Steveice10 | Here | Yes | 2018-8-21 |
| FreeShop | GUI CDN title installer | TheCruel/arc13/Paul/evi | Here | Yes | 2018-5-17 |
| NASA | Universal CIA Manager for FWs 4.1 - 10.7 | Rinnegatamante | Here | No | 2016-04-13 |
Note: downloading non-system applications from CDN is broken in any known homebrew, regardless of whether a signed ticket is installed or not (See also: 11.8.0-41#Server-side_changes)
Save managers[edit]
| Name | Description | Author | Download | Open-Source | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| save_manager | Proof of concept save exporter/importer | profi200 | Here | Yes | 2015-09-13 |
| svdt | Save Data Explorer/Manager | meladroit | Here | Yes | 2015-10-16 |
| JK's Save Manager | Save/Extdata Manager | JK_ | Here | Yes | 2016-09-29 |
| JK's Save Manager for Rosalina | Modded version of JKSM for use as .3dsx on Luma 8+ | Phalk, JK_ | Here | Yes | 2017-7-12 |
| PKSM | Save editor for Pokémon generations 4 to 7 | Bernardo Giordano | Here | Yes | 2017-8-3 |
| SpecializeMii | Editor for Mii database (specialness) | phijor | Here | Yes | 2017-1-22 |
| SpecializeMii | Editor for Mii database (specialness and ownership) | phijor, Ryccardo | Here | Yes | 2017-8-13 |
3ds Themes Codes
File servers[edit]
| Name | Description | Author | Download | Open-Source | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ftpd (ftBrony) | A FTP server. | mtheall | Here | Yes | 2016-09-17 |
| FTP-3DS | Fork of ftBrony with a Nintendo theme. No longer under development and without repo. | iamevn | N/A | Yes (No source officially available.) | N/A |
| FTP - Graphic ModifierX Edition | Fork of ftpd with aesthetic modifications. | FloatingStar | Here | Yes | 2016-01-27 |
| ftpony | A basic FTP server, useful for testing new homebrew versions without swapping the SD card. No longer under (active) development? | smea | Build from repo (alt. here) | Yes | 2014-11-24 |
Icon Packs[edit]
Icon Packs are SMDH Packs for homebrew apps.
| Name | Description | Author | Download | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplok | The first 3DS Icon pack. | link6155 | Here | 2015-09-12 |
| 1LP | Another 3DS Icon pack. Repo is dead, no alternate downloads available. | 100pcrack | N/A | 2015-12-22 |
| Modern UI | A simple icon pack with a flat and minimalist design. | LouchDaishiteru | Here | 2016-02-15 |
Demos[edit]
How To Install Themes On Psp
| Name | Description | Author | Download | Open-Source | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skate Station | A demo for the 3DS featuring music and 3D effects | SVatG | Here | Yes | July 2019 |
| cubedemo | A short demo of Homebrew on the 3DS, with working sound. | plutoo | Here | No | N/A |
| MCU Bricker / LED Rave | Make the notification LED glow in different colors | User:MarcusD | Here | Yes, but down | Late 2016? |
| Spine 2D | Demo of Spine's 2D skeletal animations | Cruel | 3DSX; CIA | No | N/A |
| demo ou mourir | Small demo for the 3DS with music and 2D effects | Desire | Here | No | November 2015 |
Retrieved from 'https://www.3dbrew.org/w/index.php?title=Homebrew_Applications&oldid=21028'