Reviving Amiga Games on 3DS
Retro gaming fans can now enjoy classic Amiga 500 titles on their handhelds thanks to the Amiga emulator for 3DS. This project, based on UAE4All (which itself stems from UAE 0.8.22), is still in alpha—but it’s already running surprisingly well on both the original 3DS (O3DS) and the faster New 3DS (N3DS).
Though some features are still in development, many games already run smoothly, making this an exciting tool for retro enthusiasts. The additional horsepower of the N3DS enhances performance, giving smoother gameplay and quicker loading times.
Download here: https://github.com/badda71/uae3DS/releases
Installation Made Simple
Getting started is easy. Users need to:
- Create a
/3ds/uae3DSfolder on their SD card. - Add a Kickstart 1.3 ROM file named
kick.romto that folder. - Copy any
.adfor.adzdisk images to a directory of their choice.
From there, installation can be done using FBI (for CIA files), the Homebrew Launcher (for 3dsx files), or a flashcard. Note: for proper sound in the CIA version, a DSP dump is also required. A reliable DSP dumper is available via GBATemp.
Controls and Functionality
The emulator provides intuitive controls:
- SELECT opens the emulator menu
- START toggles SuperThrottle
- A button fires the joystick
- B button pushes up
- X/ZL/double tap triggers left mouse click
- Y/L button acts as right click
- Bottom screen serves as a touchpad and virtual keyboard
Even in this early stage (currently at version v0.2), it’s a feature-rich experience.
Features in Development
The emulator’s GitHub page outlines future goals:
- Custom key mapping
- Saving settings to SD card
- Moving the status bar to the bottom screen
- Screen scaling and zoom options
- Autofire support
- Potential SD-card-as-Amiga-drive feature (ambitious but exciting!)
Community contributions are welcome. Developers can join the fun by submitting pull requests or reporting issues directly on GitHub.
