Ever wanted to play Nintendo 3DS games on your Android device? Well, the Citra development team has just made your dreams reality, with their brand new release of Citra Android. The hard work from many different developers, including ones who have previously worked on Dolphin and Yuzu, has culminated in a beta version of the official build of Citra that you can grab from the Google Play Store for free. Running Citra on your phone or tablet will require, at minimum, Android 8 Oreo and support for OpenGL ES 3.2. Having a snapdragon 835 chip is recommended in order to get the best performance possible, but isn't mandatory. The Android version of the emulator even has features such as microphone support, camera support for scanning QR codes, and was shown running Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Mario Kart 7, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Fire Emblem: Fates, and more, in addition to certain Virtual Console titles.

What Works and What Doesn’t?
The app is still in beta. So, while we have tried to squash the bugs we’ve come across, you may still run into the occasional glitch. If you run into any major problems, please report them to us on our Discord server or forum and we will try to organise them.

The app requires a minimum of 64-bit Android 8 (Oreo), and OpenGL ES 3.2 support. These are relatively high requirements; however, they allow us to ensure that every device that can run Citra will have a reasonably good experience. As for hardware, we recommend a device with a Snapdragon 835 or better. Your experience may vary greatly depending on the quality of your device’s GPU drivers.

Pokémon on an older device

Pokémon on a newer device

Source
Google Play Store Download

 

[eskinner3742]

Actually very surprised to see full speed on my s10. The last beta I tried was lucky to see 40% speed so this is a huge improvement. Very nice work from the citra team as always

 

[Deleted User]

on huawei it sadly loads quite bad. but i guess thats due to the shitty drivers that huawei offers :s even dolphin has problems o

 

[Taleweaver]

Out of curiosity : anyone knows how it performs on a gpd xd+? :-)

(the only google-fu I can find date back to sometimes years ago. That's probably not very representable )

 

[notimp]

23 USD on aliexpress buys you a 7007F (older version 7007X would be viable as well) controller, which should worthwhile if people are using this longterm.

You have to get the controller in HID mode first (x+home button or x+android button to start), otherwise the controller tries to simulate touch inputs, which we dont need.

Sorry for the poor image quality, old phone capturing new phone..

 

[Randomintheworldofgame]

I need to try that i always wanna play 3ds on my Android

 

[Rafciu]

Im using unofficial build for a while now but official is so much better. I tested few games on OnePlus 7t with snapdragon 855+:

- Fire emblem awekening Perfect outside the battles little lag during battles. Its the matter of shaders can be played on 3x with no problem 4x causes fps drops during battles

- Mario Kart 7 works perfect on 3x

- Mario party: The top 100 works perfect on 4x

- Project X zone 2 crashes emulator

- Pokemon Omega Ruby works perfect on 4x

- Pokemon Y works perfect on 4x

- Resident evil Revelations crashes emulator after second loading screen

- Super Mario 3d land works perfect on 2x

- Shin megami Tensei Devil Survivor works perfect on 4x

- Spider-Man Edge of Time works perfect on 4x

- Super smash Bros 3ds battles works perfect on 2x but story mode works slow (around 15fps)

Im amazed by current status of Citra emulator. For first time official build is better than unofficial.

 

[Mikitok]

Fake phones cant emulate this system well...

 

[spotanjo3]

Im using unofficial build for a while now but official is so much better. I tested few games on OnePlus 7t with snapdragon 855+:

- Fire emblem awekening Perfect outside the battles little lag during battles. Its the matter of shaders can be played on 3x with no problem 4x causes fps drops during battles

- Mario Kart 7 works perfect on 3x

- Mario party: The top 100 works perfect on 4x

- Project X zone 2 crashes emulator

- Pokemon Omega Ruby works perfect on 4x

- Pokemon Y works perfect on 4x

- Resident evil Revelations crashes emulator after second loading screen

- Super Mario 3d land works perfect on 2x

- Shin megami Tensei Devil Survivor works perfect on 4x

- Spider-Man Edge of Time works perfect on 4x

- Super smash Bros 3ds battles works perfect on 2x but story mode works slow (around 15fps)

Im amazed by current status of Citra emulator. For first time official build is better than unofficial.

That's good to know. Mine too and be aware that it is beta pre release. They are working very hard on it. It will be much better for next release!

 

[Morricorne]

Snapdragon 450 user here. Not compatible os stock android 9 32bit. But nothing is lost
I installed this emu unoficial mmj build on my second Android device. Oneplus 3 6/64gb 64bit os. Snapdragon 820. Not playable. I Have slide show. Minimum CPU is snapdragon 845 for this emu. Better is buy used Nintendo 3ds. I think.

 

[Rafciu]

Snapdragon 450 user here. Not compatible os stock android 9 32bit. But nothing is lost
I installed this emu unoficial mmj build on my second Android device. Oneplus 3 6/64gb 64bit os. Snapdragon 820. Not playable. I Have slide show. Minimum CPU is snapdragon 845 for this emu. Better is buy used Nintendo 3ds. I think.

I saw video on YouTube showing that snapdragon 720g is capable od running Citra just fine... So its weird that 820 is not playable.

 

[Morricorne]

I saw video on YouTube showing that snapdragon 720g is capable od running Citra just fine... So its weird that 820 is not playable.

Maybe because 720g is newest CPU?
Anyway my Oneplus 3 is broken now. Dolphin Emulator finished this phone. I only played Resident Evil 0 and screen come off cause CPU Heat problem occur. Now im stuck with moto g6 snapdragon 450. Im lucky cause have old2ds too. Only this shit TN 2ds screen

 

[Rafciu]

Maybe because 720g is newest CPU?
Anyway my Oneplus 3 is broken now. Dolphin Emulator finished this phone. I only played Resident Evil 0 and screen come off cause CPU Heat problem occur. Now im stuck with moto g6 snapdragon 450. Im lucky cause have old2ds too. Only this shit TN 2ds screen

Damn You're right there is almost 3 years difference between them. I always though that snapdragons 8xx are better than 7xx

 

[notimp]

Street Fighter IV is fullspeed on a Snapdragon 855 at 2x resolution, once 3D effect in options is disabled.

Sadly though it hits a brick wall, when FMVs are played back (including loading screens, which is so flipping odd.. ), which ultimately makes it unplayable.

Input lag with the controller mentioned above is there but managable.

Buying a real 3DS still is preferable (because of battery usage alone.. ).

 

[Julie_Pilgrim]

Ah sweet, 3DS games on the go!

Then we can play game boy games in the go using vc injects

 

[1B51004]

When life presents you with lemons, you make a emulator!?

Can't wait for Scurvy, a NES bootleg emulator.