Nintendo 3DS Launches Windows 95 with DOSBox, But Booting Takes Hours

A curious tech enthusiast decided to take up a rather unusual challenge: running Windows 95 on a homebrew Nintendo 3DS port of DOSBox. Using the beefed-up “New” 3DS model, which packs extra RAM and processing power, YouTube content creator MetraByte managed to get the DOSBox port up and running. From there, he loaded Windows 95 on top of it. However, patience was essential—booting the OS took so long that he actually left it running overnight just to get started. In a striking contrast, the operating system installation wrapped up in just five minutes. Oddly enough, the touch-based mouse input didn’t kick in until after everything was set up.

Now, on to the good news: Windows 95 does indeed work on the New Nintendo 3DS. Given that Windows 95 was originally designed to run with a mere 4MB of RAM, it kind of makes sense. Of course, those specs were meant for computers built on x86 architecture, not for emulation scenarios. The New Nintendo 3DS offers 256MB of RAM, which seems paltry by today’s standards but aligns well with the era when software rarely demanded gigabytes. Yet, the challenge lies in DOSBox not only managing system memory but also emulating x86 on the New 3DS’s ARM-based hardware, which is what really drags down performance.

So, yes, you can technically get Windows 95 to boot up on a New Nintendo 3DS. But let’s be real: just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. The setup is cumbersome and slow; even once it boots, usability is nearly nil. When MetraByte tested it, even something as basic as MIDI audio playback didn’t work. His attempts to use music studio software resulted in the dreaded blue screen. The system did run, sort of, but only the lightest software might have a chance of functioning.

Practically speaking, if you’re messing around with DOSBox on the New 3DS, steer clear of Windows installations. Instead, delve into playing classic DOS games. Those are likely to play smoothly and genuinely take advantage of the 3DS’s capabilities without the unnecessary overhead of running Windows 95.