Hardware Hardmod Availability

[Hyoretsu]

No matter which 3DS/2DS version, both physically and firmware, come to exist, will hardmod downgrade always be available? I understand it takes a little time to prepare the files for a downgrade to be possible, but eventually will it be available? Or Nintendo has some way to block them? (Asking this cuz' I was thinking about buying a Flashcard and Gateway is better than Sky3ds+, but Gateway need the console on 9.2.0 and I'm on 11.0.0-33, just going to be sure that I'll ever be able to use it. And yes, I know that cias exist and that they're free)

 

[Ryccardo]

Hardmod kernel downgrades as nowadays done on 11.0 (and previously done on 10.4+) are only possible as long as the operating system is compatible with whatever kernel you're injecting. And Nintendo's prior track record (as Gateway users of then stuck on 4.x certainly remember) is that they're willing to introduce version dependencies that don't have a real technical reason to exist.

Of course it's possible now that you're on 11.0 (if you don't update they can't retroactively block them like browserhax on 10.5+, nope), and downgrading with a full nand backup will always be possible on the console the backup comes from!