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There’s now a Nintendo 3DS emulator available on the iOS App Store

We’ve been extensively covering the release of many retro game emulators for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, as Apple recently updated the App Store guidelines to allow game emulators for the first time. Now there’s Folium, a Nintendo 3DS emulator for iOS.

Folium is a Nintendo 3DS emulator for iOS

Folium was recently launched on the App Store for iPhone. While it is compatible with Game Boy Advanced and Nintendo DS games, as well as other existing emulators, Folium is the first emulator available on the App Store that also works with Nintendo 3DS games.

“Folium is a beautifully designed, high performing multi-system emulator that allows you to play video games from retro consoles and handhelds, currently including cores for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS,” reads the app’s description. However, there’s one thing to keep in mind.

Since third-party apps on iOS lack JIT (Just-In-Time) compilation support, the emulation performance is somewhat reduced – which becomes more noticeable on older devices. Still, if you have an iPhone 15 Pro or one of the latest iPad models, you can have fun with the 3DS games.

The good news is that Folium works with MFi game controllers such as the Backbone One, Nintendo Switch Joy-Con and Switch Pro Controller, PS4 and PS5 controllers, and Xbox Series controllers.

The emulator costs $4.99 and requires an iPhone running iOS 15 or later. The app has no version for iPad or Apple TV. Of course, you have to download the games (or ROMs) by yourself.

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Avatar for Filipe Espósito Filipe Espósito

Filipe Espósito is a Brazilian tech Journalist who started covering Apple news on iHelp BR with some exclusive scoops — including the reveal of the new Apple Watch Series 5 models in titanium and ceramic. He joined 9to5Mac to share even more tech news around the world.

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