Owners of the Sky3DS flashcart for Nintendo 3DS are starting to sweat because two of the latest 3DS games cannot be played; this is supposedly caused by an upgrade of the anti-piracy checks on the console. The two games are:

• Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer (JP)
• Fire Emblem If (JP)

The Sky3DS card itself isn't "banned", you can still play other games, but these two won't launch at all. Sadly it seems the card cannot be fully upgraded to bypass these checks. It is assumed that future releases will also bear these upgraded AP checks; we will know when more games are released.

Furthermore, users of the custom firmware on the "old" Nintendo 3DS are reportedly unable to play Animal Crossing (while Fire Emblem functions normally). We will report any additional information on the subject as soon as we can.

Source: discussion thread

 

[loco365]

I'm almost glad that I went with a gateway because I can update the card in the event that any new AP methods are formulated. However, something is telling me that it too will eventually meet an untimely end.

 

[olshrimpeyes]

Calm down. It was a good joke (albeit an old one that has been used many times) that anyone who has been in this scene for more than a few months fully gets. (If you don't get it I or someone else will be glad to explain it to you.). As a new member I fully understand how a comment like that would be distressing for you but if you stick around you will start to understand our sense of humor around here.

I'm completely calm. I understand the joke. I'm not really all that new I've been lurking for a while. It still feels misleading to people who are new, but I'm obviously the minority here so no point in discussing further.

 

[guitarheroknight]

So is there a way that new cards could be made to be able to run modified and unmodified roms? Or is that impossible?

You won't see a purple/red/green card which bypasses the new AP in a very very long time mainly due to the need of another kernel exploit or something like that. Sincerely, you have a greater chance seeing GW bypassing the 9.6 crypto than Sky bypassing the new AP.

 

[RichHomieSupreme]

Sky3DS by design will never run modified roms. It doesn't actually utilise any exploits at all, it just clones a retail cartridge. Not using an exploit means that the cartridge itself has no access to the hardware. It's impossible.

It might be possible that a fix is released for Gateway and CFW since they both have kernel-level access to the hardware, though they can also both use modified roms/

Thanks for the reply, I'm not too knowledgeable about these things.

 

[duwen]

For some reason, while reading the posts in the two threads about Sky3ds' days being numbered, I keep thinking of the story of Chicken Licken...

"Gracious goodness me!" said Chicken-licken, "the sky must have fallen; I must go
and tell the King."

...it's like the prophecies of Nostradamus!

http://fairytales4u.com/story/chicken.htm

 

[Reecey]

I'm sorry but all I can say on this subject is, why buy a Sky3ds card in the first place???, that runs of the systemnand itself and not an emunand based card and if you weren't dumb enough to think this was not coming one day then you were obviously dumb enough to buy the card in the first place so need I say more! Anyone with any brains upstairs would not of purchased one in the first instance!!!

 

[Father Crilly]

I'm sorry but all I can say on this subject is, why buy a Sky3ds card in the first place???, that runs of the systemnand itself and not an emunand based card and if you weren't dumb enough to think this was not coming one day then you were obviously dumb enough to buy the card in the first place so need I say more! Anyone with any brains upstairs would not of purchased one in the first instance!!!

Maybe because not everyone has a 3DS with FW 4.0-4.5?

 

[thorasgar]

I'm sorry but all I can say on this subject is, why buy a Sky3ds card in the first place???, that runs of the systemnand itself and not an emunand based card and if you weren't dumb enough to think this was not coming one day then you were obviously dumb enough to buy the card in the first place so need I say more! Anyone with any brains upstairs would not of purchased one in the first instance!!!

There are lots of reasons for having a sky. Btw I have 2 gateways, 1 sky, 3 N3DS and 1 O3DS.

Exploits. Albeit I have not been keeping up the past couple of months it is more economical and convenient to use a sky than several copies of CN to run the various exploits that need different saves.

Friends. Have a friend that doesn't have a particular game you want to play with him. Hand him your sky and you are good to go.

FW. For whatever reason some do not have exploitable FW.

Been busy with moving the past few months so I haven't had a chance to set up my sky but I have one and once the weather turns crappy will get up and running.

 

[duwen]

I'm sorry but all I can say on this subject is, why buy a Sky3ds card in the first place???, that runs of the systemnand itself and not an emunand based card and if you weren't dumb enough to think this was not coming one day then you were obviously dumb enough to buy the card in the first place so need I say more! Anyone with any brains upstairs would not of purchased one in the first instance!!!

Maybe because not everyone has a 3DS with FW 4.0-4.5?

Exactly! Afterall, it would be really sensible for anyone on firmware +9.2 to buy a Gateway, right?

 

[FAST6191]

Calm down. It was a good joke (albeit an old one that has been used many times) that anyone who has been in this scene for more than a few months fully gets. (If you don't get it I or someone else will be glad to explain it to you.). As a new member I fully understand how a comment like that would be distressing for you but if you stick around you will start to understand our sense of humor around here.

You mean I will never get my R4 dual core hyper speed breadmaker gold deluxe pro ninja SDXC?

Edit. On an unrelated note. I am finding this if not lack of love then barely concealed dislike of the sky3ds to be odd.

 

[RichHomieSupreme]

Question: do you think it's still worth it to buy a sky3ds with this news?

 

[Vengenceonu]

I can't believe I was right on the money. I can't find where but I'm definitely on the record saying "sky3ds will survive every 9.x update but Nintendo will put an end to them pirating newer games before 10.0".

On another note: anyone hear from super card?

 

[thorasgar]

You mean I will never get my R4 dual core hyper speed breadmaker gold deluxe pro ninja SDXC?

Edit. On an unrelated note. I am finding this if not lack of love then barely concealed dislike of the sky3ds to be odd.

I think it is understandable given the initial 10 game limit assuming it was a design feature and not a limitation of the tech they used. I am also not surprised by sense of entitlement some express.

My only beef is that Gateway has a monopoly over the flashcard market, sure there are others, but they don't seem to be as good.

Who is your beef with? The only reason they have a monopoly is no one else with the skills has gone and developed their own card.

Question: do you think it's still worth it to buy a sky3ds with this news?

Is having nearly the entire back catalog of 3DS games worth it to you?

I can't believe I was right on the money. I can't find where but I'm definitely on the record saying "sky3ds will survive every 9.x update but Nintendo will put an end to them pirating newer games before 10.0".

On another note: anyone hear from super card?

You mean the Super Unicorn?

 

[MidLevelCrisis]

I own a Sky3DS, and I was wondering when this would finally happen, but tbh, As long as all the games up until now keep working without having to modify my 3Ds software I'm fine with this.

I don't get people discussing the prices of these cards, Besides, the card cost me the same as 2 new 3ds games, and for that price I can try out any game, the good ones I actually buy.
For me the fact that it reads roms like an unmodified game cartridge is worth something most people don't seem to appreciate, I can understand their arguments, but still. I'm keeping mine, untill the point a card arrives that does the exact same (emulate a real cartridge) and more.

A lot is still to vague for me really, and hasn't any animal crossing game always been a problem because of the way they handle their save files storage?

I still have a second Untouched MM limited edition New 3DS XL with an exploitable Firmware version.. Depending on how this situation develops I might start using it, i'll be holding on to it a bit longer I guess.

 

[NyaakoXD]

Sky3DS purple button coming soon! NEW AP BYPASS!

Also, animal crossing was released years ago......

Don't you mean, green button?

 

[Father Crilly]

If the anti-piracy check is scanning the ROM then surely there must be a way around it without developing a new purple (or green, for that matter) card.

I'm thinking that it would have to do with "DiskWriter" but I'm probably wrong, I'm not familiar with that program's capabilities.

 

[Foxi4]

Time will tell what work-around will become more popular. As it stands today, the Sky3DS can work hand-in-hand with CFW just as easily as GW does - you can already launch Fire Emblem If on a Sky3DS via Pasta CFW. What's needed is another nice kernel exploit on post-9.2 firmwares, once that's out, the flood gates will open once more. We'll see if this new method will be widespread - so far it's only two games.

 

[Deleted User]

You don't really need sky3ds for Pasta CFW, and the strength of sky3ds is that it works >9.2, but now that may become: sky3ds only works with games that use fw 9.9 or below.

EDIT: And it looks like Gateway just released an update that completely bypasses this new antipiracy check. They say it was very easy to fix. Will it be the same for Sky3ds or will they require a new cart?

 

[Metoroid0]

gateway rulez

 

[Vipera]

That's a myth, piracy users are only a very very small % and negligible when it comes to affecting sales, in fact, there impact is almost nonexistent, I wish people stopped believing that piracy kills consoles or sales in the long run. They don't.

Golden Sun Dark Dawn (a random example, mind you) sold less than 800k copies worldwide (500k in Japan alone), yet it's the most downloaded non-pokémon game for the Nintendo DS (check your warez sites). It's very easy to kill a franchise.

http://www.vgchartz.com/game/35078/golden-sun-dark-dawn/