With Nintendo’s 3DS experiencing a bit of a renaissance lately, prices for functioning systems have shot through the roof. Getting a busted one with a broken screen is a lot cheaper, but then you run into the eye-watering price difference between a replacement top screen for the regular version and the larger XL variant. The latter costs about the same as a whole new used 3DS, while the former goes for peanuts. Here the solution is obvious, with [Skawo] demonstrating how they hacked the cheaper, smaller top screen into a New 3DS XL.

The price difference on AliExpress as shown in the video is on the order of $120, with the smaller screen going for less than $10. Since they both use the same connector pin-out and display technology, you can plug either display into the New 3DS XL mainboard.

Where you’ll run into issues, other than the replacement display being obviously not XL, is the physically shorter flat flex cable for the controls that forces the display to be installed in an offset manner. You need jailbroken firmware like Luma3DS here to adjust for the screen offset. Filling in the missing screen real-estate is the other issue you have to patch over somehow, which was done here in barbaric fashion with some cardboard.

Beyond that it does work, and as a fix to at least get a broken New 3DS XL back into the game it’s worth considering. Do note that there’s a difference between regular 3DS and New 3DS (second generation) screens with neither being compatible, so be careful before you try such a fix.

After the Nintendo 3DS saw various Nintendo 64-era titles like Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask ported to it, there was a lot of speculation that the GameCube/Wii title of Twilight Princess might soon make its way to this handheld gaming system too. Unfortunately no official release happened, but with the recently decompiled source code of the game in hand, [Tobi] set out to see whether such a port was realistic.

Compared to the somewhat scruffy Nintendo DS and DSi handhelds, the 3DS hardware is decidedly more beefy, both in the processor department as well as in terms of RAM with 128 MB of FCRAM (Fast Cycle DRAM). This puts it within batting distance of the game’s original two consoles.

In the video the current status of the porting effort is demonstrated, with the game actually running surprisingly well despite the early state of the porting project. Even with the rather impressive graphical glitches and overall instability that one would expect at this early stage, the game is essentially already playable.

As noted by [Tobi], the next steps will involve fixing these bugs and above all actually optimizing the so far quick-and-sloppy port. Along with the possibility of actually having Twilight Princess rendered in 3D, this is a rather exciting development that demonstrates that an official version of the game for the 3DS would have been easily possible.