3DS emulator
Super Mario 3D Land is but one of the many games Citra currently supports.

The 3DS is Nintendo’s latest handheld console (not counting the shapeshifting Nintendo Switch). But it’s not new in any sense. In fact, it has racked up quite a few years in the industry. The 3DS launched in early 2011, making it a staggering 7 years since its birth. It has had several rethinks and upgrades, but the company hasn’t seen the need to make a new handheld. But considering its age, it’s due for a fully functioning emulator, as tradition indicates. And it’s an undisputed fact that the best 3DS emulator right now is Citra.

Citra is an open source 3DS emulator whose development began way back in 2014. It’s had a successful development cycle from thereafter, though it took some time to gather a following. But considering all the facts, it’s impressive that Citra is nearly a perfect emulator. In fact, it made leaps and bounds in the last few months alone.

Citra’s latest update improves upon the hardware rendering, which in laymen’s terms just means that it’s now super duper fast. In addition to this, it now offers support for all three major OSes. With the recent Wii U emulator escapade, you might think that Citra demands a NASA supercomputer to run. Well, rest assured that’s not the case. In fact, the only requirements are that you must have a 64 bit OS and a graphics chip that support OpenGL 3.3. This is deliverable by a lot PCs. But on the offhand, don’t expect Citra to support your 15 year old Toshiba.

Pokemon 3DS emulator
Pokemon is seen being played on an experimental build of Citra.

A quick google search for “Pokemon 3ds emulator” will return a page with Citra on the top. In fact, “Pokemon 3ds emulator” is but one of many searches that lead directly to Citra. This is indicative of the reputation of the 3DS emulator. It’s the go-to for anyone looking to play on their PC.

Also take into account that Citra supports nearly all of the major 3DS titles. That includes all of the Legend of Zelda’s and Super Mario Bros. If were still looking for a reason to check it out, then here you go.