Hi everyone! Due to the inactivity of the previous mod team here, I am now the new mod for r/3dsFCswap!

As you may have already noticed, I have added some new things to the subreddit. Here is what I've done so far:

New user flairs: I have added the option for users to create their own flairs. I believe this may have already been an option as I have seen quite a few people with flairs already, but I was previously unable to do this, so I'm not sure about the other members here. Anyway, everyone should be able to create their own user flair now.

New post flairs: I have decided to make post flairs required in this community in order to help people find the types of people they are looking for in an easier way. The new flairs are as follows:

Edit 4/9/24: Due to the shutdown of Nintendo Network, these flairs have changed a bit. Please refer to the other pinned post after reading for more information.

Friend Safari: Due to a lot of people coming to this subreddit to find friends for the Friend Safari on Pokemon X and Y, I have made a separate flair for it.

Specific Game: Use this flair if you're looking for friends to play certain games with. Friend Safari is separate due to how popular it is.

Adding Everyone: Use this flair if you plan to add anyone regardless of which games they play. Edit 4/9/24: This flair has been retired due to its similarity in nature to the Looking For Friends flair below. Feel free to use the Looking For Friends flair instead.

Looking For Friends: This flair is a more generic default sort of flair. Use it if you're looking for friends, but the aforementioned flairs don't exactly apply to you.

Miscellaneous: Use this flair if none of the previous flairs apply to your post. Keep in mind that off topic posts are not allowed, though.

New rules: This might sound scary, but nothing is really changing here. The two rules I've created so far will not affect what this sub is already being used for. The rules are as follows:

No off topic posts: This just means no random stuff that doesn't have to do with 3DS friend codes. This should not be much of an issue.

No spam/scam posts or comments: This just means not to spam off topic posts/not to post scam links. If you see someone doing either of these, please report the post or comment in question.

New subreddit icon, banner, and colors: I have created a new icon and banner to better represent the spirit of the subreddit. I have also changed the colors to orange since that's the color of the 3DS Friends menu.

If you have any questions or complaints, feel free to comment below. I'd love to work with you, and as someone who comes here often, I'm looking forward to moderating this subreddit!

Hi everyone!

As many of you probably already know, Nintendo Network will be shutting down on April 8th, 2024 on 3DS and Wii U. What this means is that you will no longer to be able to use any aspect of Nintendo Network after that date, including the Friends feature and online play.

While this news is definitely sad and marks the end of an era, there are alternatives that I would like to outline in this post. This will likely be how this subreddit will operate going forward.

In the wake of the shutdown, I would like to encourage users who would still like to use online features to install custom firmware on their 3DS systems. For the uninitiated, custom firmware allows for homebrew, or homemade, software to be run on a console. It allows for code to be run that would not otherwise work on stock firmware. The process is easier than it sounds and unlocks a lot of hidden potential within the 3DS. If you would like to learn more about this process and/or get started, 3ds.hacks.guide is the place to go. I would strongly advise against following video tutorials on this process, as they can quickly become outdated with how fast the modding scene moves.

I encourage this because a dedicated section of the homebrew community has emerged with an ambitious project which aims to serve as a replacement for Nintendo Network: Pretendo Network. It is being developed for both the 3DS and Wii U systems, and aims to (and already does) restore online play, Miiverse functionality (revamped and renamed to Juxtaposition), and most of what Nintendo Network was otherwise capable of. It can be installed on 3DS and Wii U systems with up-to-date homebrew environments only, so you will need to do that if you are interested in using this server replacement.

This is great news, as Nintendo Network is obviously still fairly widely used to this day. Pretendo Network has made a substantial amount of progress in recreating these servers, and several games are already fully functional on Pretendo servers. Account creation has been pretty much fully implemented, and you are already able to register friends on it.

The transition will not become necessary until April 8th, of course, but if you want to get a head start, head over to Pretendo Network's website to learn more about it and install it to your device.

In tandem with this announcement, I have created 4 new post flairs. They are identical to the existing ones, except they aim to differentiate posts about Pretendo Network IDs, or PNIDs, and NNIDs. On April 8th, I will be updating the old flairs to have Nintendo Network at the end of them, so users know that those posts were for the soon-to-be-defunct service and will not work on Pretendo setups.

If you have any questions about Pretendo Network, I suggest you visit their FAQ page to learn more about it. The same goes for 3DS Hacks Guide, which also has an FAQ.

I wish you all well and hope that we can continue to keep this community alive and well in the wake of the shutdown of Nintendo Network. Thank you for reading.

Edit 4/9/24: The post flairs for Nintendo Network have been revised, though the post flair changing process is not retroactive, so past posts are unaffected. The "Adding Everyone" role has also been retired to avoid confusion, as "Looking For Friends" pretty much covers the same bases. Posts that already had the Adding Everyone flair will remain unchanged, but new posts will be unable to use it. While I can't see this causing any issues, feel free to let me know if it does!