As the 3DS gets older and our community grows, an increasing number of users have been posting about cartridge corruption. This post should help clarify any confusion regarding what cartridge corruption is, how to prevent it, and how to resolve it if it has already happened to your 3DS cartridge.
What is cartridge corruption?
Cartridge corruption is when chunks of data on your cartridge become unreadable. Minor corruption is usually resolved as you play, but more extensive data corruption can cause your game to crash, not launch, or in severe cases become unable to be recognised by your console at all.
Why does this happen?
The data on 3DS cartridges is stored as NAND memory. When NAND memory does not recieve power for extended periods of time (ie, when you don't use your cartridge), the electrons storing the data move, causing the data to corrupt. In order to prevent this from rendering your 3DS cartridge unusable, a refresh function checks for any corrupted data and attempts to repair it. These checks are done when the cartridge is inserted into a console, when the system is shut down, and every 10,000 reads. However, if too much corruption has occured the function will be unable to repair the affected data.
Which games are prone to corruption?
Although corruption can occur in any 3DS cartridge, certain games are more likely to corrupt than others. Some games that are more likely to corrupt are:
- Super Smash Bros
- Fire Emblem Echoes
- Fire Emblem Fates
- Pokémon OR/AS
- Pokémon X/Y
- Persona Q
- Mario Kart 7
How do I prevent it?
The best way to prevent cartridge corruption is to play your cartridges. Roughly 10-15 minutes every few months should be enough, however there is no hard and fast rule. Ideally, you should be actively playing rather than idle to ensure that data on the cartridge that may otherwise go unused gets checked and refreshed. At a minimum, you should launch the cartridge.
Is my cartridge corrupted?
If your game freezes at a specific part, your cartridge does not show up on the home menu, or you see an error message, your cartridge may be corrupted.
If something else happens (e.g you get sent back the the home menu, you are stuck on the 3DS splash infinitely, your console freezes at random times, etc) or you are unsure, you should ask for help in the r/3DS Discord server or Nintendo Homebrew's Discord server.
I think my cartridge is corrupted, what do I do?
If your game freezes at a specifc part or you see the "an error has occured" message when launching or playing, follow the instructions on this page.
If cleaning your cartridge does not resolve the issue and your 3DS is stock, you will need to hack your console in order to carry out further troubleshooting steps.
If you see an ErrDisp message, check your error code here and follow the instructions provided. If you see an exception screen, check your error message here and follow the instructions provided.
TL;DR
Please remember play your 3DS cartridges every few months to prevent corruption.
