console modding is about changing the software or hardware of a console to change its appearance or possible functions. the extent of my modding has mainly been adding Custom FirmWare (CFW) to old devices, but I have done a little bit of hardware modding too. CFW allows for new or improved features on the console (e.g. adding a custom themes).

i started doing console modding in october of 2024. it is a very rewarding experience, but can also be frustrating when you cannot figure out what is going wrong... thankfully there is many people on dedicated subreddits and discord modding servers there to help!

if you are interested in modding a console of your own, Hacks Guide is the place to go!

a number of friends have inquired about me helping them hack their 3DS which i'm really excited about! its a challenging but rewarding experience and i'm looking forward to my friends getting to use their 3DS more too (did somebody say streetpass? >:3). one of them has parental controls on so i'll have to see about getting around that, but it should be fun :)

i also know what console i want to try modding next... the Wii U!! what a failure that poor girl was..... but my family was actually one of the few that bought the Wii U. i can't find any statistics for units sold in australia specifically, but sales outside of the Americas and Japan was only 3.73 million units oop. i had a lot of fun with it tho as a kid!! more towards the start of its life because i got less interested in video games during 2015 (ahhhhh moody teenage years) but i have really fond memories of playing nintendoland and new super mario bros u with my brother. in recent years though she has been sitting dusty under our TV. my brother and dad played and 100% completed Excite Truck (2006) on it in 2020 but thats a Wii game, not even the Wii U lmao. last time a Wii U game was played on her (before yesterday) was 2017 from the looks of the daily log. so i want to revive her! mod it and play games i never got the chance to play on both the Wii and Wii U.

some games i want to play on it are:

• Splatoon
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
• Sonic Unleashed
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
• Bayonetta 1
• ZombiU
• Pikmin 1
• Paper Mario

today i got to mod the Outside of my 3DS XL! my 3DS had blue faceplates (my favourite colour as a kid). NOW however, my fav colour is obvi red, and my lovely brother entrusted me with his red 3DS XL so that i could swap the faceplates between our two devices. so now i have a red 3DS !!!!!! i am going to put stickers on the outside as well once i am home. very rewarding experience :D

i encourage anyone with an old 3DS to mod it and take advantage of the plethora of free games available !! i have been taking mine with me on the tram every day i have work, its so nice having a dedicated handheld that you can easily slip into your pocket, something i miss with the switch :(

i was lamenting the other day over how theres no longer actual portable handheld consoles. the switch is handheld yes, but its not convenient to take places. you can't just slip it in ur pocket !! i took mine on the tram the other day cause i was binge playing crypt custodian (amazing game) but it was so.... not enjoyable how i had to keep it in its case in my bag when i wasn't playing it, cause its not even nice to just hold if u can't put it in ur pocket, like when i was getting on and off the tram.

so! i had a youtube video come up on my suggested about modding ur 3DS and what it can do, so i got out my old blue 3DS XL and i decided to give it a go. i had no idea that since the nintendo eshop is now down, theres soooo many options for getting games onto ur 3DS for free. i'm a big advocate for physical media as it keeps media preserved, and honestly this is just another way of doing that with 3DS games, and other games by using the handheld as an emulator.

so far i've downloaded:

• Luigi's Mansion
• Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (i played this one as a kid and almost finished it before i lost all the DS/3DS games i had up til that point ;-; which is also why i'm so glad to be able to get so many games that i lost now!!)
• Corpse Party
• Shin Megami Tensei IV
• plus i have a few physical games still, including Majora's Mask which i have borrowed from my brother to finally play :)

i also set up a custom theme >:3 its red and black obviiiii and has this epic gengar art

the outside of my 3DS XL is blue which is NOT ideal (my fav colour was blue as a kid), but my brother has an identical one in red, and has agreed to let me swap the faceplates of our two so that mine can be red and black :D i'm going to put stickers on it once the faceplates are swapped, but i can start decorating the inside now heehee. i'm visiting my hometown in november so i'll get to do that then!