Nintendo 3DS Achieves Windows 95 Boot Through DOSBox, Albeit Slowly

A tech enthusiast with a knack for tinkering decided to push the boundaries of a homebrew Nintendo 3DS port of DOSBox by attempting to run Windows 95 on it. Armed with the enhanced “New” 3DS, which boasts extra RAM and processing power, YouTuber MetraByte embarked on this ambitious journey. He successfully installed the DOSBox port and proceeded to layer the Windows 95 operating system on top of it. However, patience was key during this process, particularly as he opted to let the 3DS sit overnight for the initial boot of Windows 95. Interestingly, the installation phase was much quicker, wrapping up in about five minutes. It’s worth noting that proper mouse input functionality, accessed through the touch interface in DOSBox, only came to life well after Windows 95 had started running on the device.

For those interested in the detailed process and outcomes, you can check out MetraByte’s YouTube journey titled “Installing Windows 95 on a 3DS and Trying to Make Music with it.” The video delves into the intricacies and the fascinating challenges he faced.

So, let’s outline the upside: Windows 95 technically does operate on the New Nintendo 3DS. On paper, this adds up since Windows 95 was originally designed to run with as little as 4MB of RAM, aligning with the era’s tech capabilities. The New Nintendo 3DS, with its 256MB of RAM, fits comfortably into this historical context even if it sounds minuscule by today’s standards. However, the performance hit comes from the need to run x86 emulation on the Arm-based architecture of the 3DS, making the process less efficient.

In practice, while you can get Windows 95 up and running on a New Nintendo 3DS, it begs the question—why would you? The endeavor is slow and cumbersome, and once inside the OS, functionality is limited. MetraByte’s attempts at running even basic tasks, like playing a MIDI audio file, hit a wall. His go-to music studio software simply caused the device to bluescreen. Although Windows 95 did function up to a point, only the most lightweight of applications might run without a hitch.

In reality, if you’re exploring DOSBox on the New Nintendo 3DS, Windows installation is not advisable. Instead, delve into older DOS games, which are more likely to run smoothly given the 3DS’s considerable power for its time and the performance benefits of not having Windows 95 as an extra layer of processing.

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