March 18th, 2011

How to Access a 3DS Demo Unit’s Menu

54 Comments

Ah, we have such clever members on our forum. thatoneguy159 has discovered that it’s possible to bypass the auto-loading feature on Nintendo 3DS demo units that force you to play Pilotwings Resort (and I imagine, any other game on display). This allows you to do pretty much everything on the 3DS.

Here are the steps he outlines:

1. Hold the power button until the 3DS is off.
2. Press and hold simultaneously the following buttons for 3 seconds: start, select, L, and R.
3. Press the power button and a menu should pop up on screen that asks about a StreetPass feature.
4. Press the home button to go to the menu.
5. ????
6. PROFIT!!!

He also points out that “Going to the system settings and exiting it will cause the game to auto-start again. Repeat the above steps to go back to the system menu. No other built in games do this.” There is a video from another user, lokilink, showing off this bypass in action, which you can see above.

  • 4nof4te

    thats so cool D: I wish I could get my hands on a demo unit. But atleast I preordered it.

  • Dave Brzozo.

    I’m sure that soon they’ll probably make so you can’t anymore. But that’s pretty cool :)

    • Dave Brzozo.

      Actualy maybe not, not like they can do anything about it..

  • supersyrup97

    no, I do not want to access the best 1500 ringtones for iPhone…I want to access the hidden secrets in the 3DS ;)

  • Jbluna

    How the heck would they figure that out on their own?

    • Keaton

      its a dsi trick similar to this

  • Eryc

    hey guys its lokilink david thank you for using my vid im honored and glad i could help

    • Dave Brzozo.

      So did anyone notice/say anything when you got it to the home menu? :P

    • Eryc

      no lol the best buy guys kept walking past not even glancing lol

    • Jonathan

      I doubt you are him. Impostor.

    • Ryan31394

      Yea, I did this and I was bit worried about them, but none of them said anything. :P

    • Eryc

      im no imposter im lokilink u can check 3dsfourms.com i said thank u there too in page 4 of the thread where this all started

    • 3DS=epic

      awsome kant wait to try this tomorrow at bestbuy

  • Darth

    Lol but how do you get back to the demo?

    • Sam A.

      You go to the game by clicking the game icon.

  • zeioIIDX

    Figured this out last week but it’s really finicky as far as getting it to work :/

  • Samuel Arriola

    Oh come on!!!!! I was just there!!!!

  • Ryan31394

    Aww…didn’t want to use mine? Mine was five minutes of actually showing the features themselves. lol

  • Jetz

    Pfff, I tried out the 3DS today, and I went to the menu by just pressing the power button for 3 seconds. None of this “Press L, R, START, SELECT” bullshit. The 3DS was even on when I did this and I was able to go the menu. Clever forum member my ass, you just waste 3DS playing time if you do this.

    Just press the power button for 3 seconds at any given moment, menu pops up, click on home menu and done. Pro tip.

    • Ryan31394

      This means someone had already done it on that console. I was able to get to the menu like this only after I did it the way described above first. So apparently someone who is also a close follower of the 3DS forum lives in your area. :P

  • Awesume
    • Ryan31394

      Spam much? This is a video of Black Ops. >.>

  • Nogbert

    i just got back from a demo, and was unable to access the menu screen. i tried multiple times without success

    • Ryan31394

      Yea, it took me like ten attempts. I almost gave up. =P

    • ToddC

      Yeah it takes a few tries but it works eventually. Face Raiders is fun, but it’s hard when the system is tied down with a cord.

  • marcos

    Are they in american best buys? like in san diego california? or are these in japan?

    • Ryan31394

      American. I don’t even know if there ARE Best Buys in Japan….but yea, they’re in the US. Call your local one and ask if they have a 3DS demo station.

    • Nighguy

      Lol another San Diegan. I live in lakeside. The best buy in El Cajon had a demo unit. It was awesome.

  • http://twitter.com/MagicWhiskey MagicWhiskey

    (If this is a duplicate post, I apologize.)

    I played a demo unit today at a US Best Buy in Cincinnati, Ohio.

    My quick impressions: the blue 3DS is the blue from the old iMacs, (Bondi Blue) and there’s no mistaking it.

    The 3D works like those Magic Eye art pieces we’ve all looked at, only it works immediately.

    The face buttons click nicely like Blackberry phone buttons. (The best analogy I can think of.)

    The plastic housing around the lower screen and face buttons (the 2nd of three layers when the 3DS is closed) has a semi-sparkly finish. The top, darkest layer seems to have a thin transparent shell over the color, like a transparent cover may look on a cell phone. Very nice looking.

    When playing PilotWings, your eyes are forced to focus (naturally) differently from when you look at the 3rd person perspective of the hang glider and backgrounds, as if you really are looking into a depth.

    I found no problem switching my eye’s focus from top screen to bottom screen.

    Flipping the 3D off and on actually separates scanlines on the screen, like a blind going sideways.

    The LED lights on the unit are rather bright; will look great on a black 3DS! (Sort of like the wifi lights on a newer, slim PS3.)

    @Magicwhiskey on Twitter

    • Dave Brzozo.

      That’s actualy very helpful, thank you :)

  • FacestabMan

    wish it was the OOT3DS demo.

  • fgvgfvgfbvgfv

    DAVID ON THE AUSTRALIAN DEMO VERSIONS ALL YOU DO IS PRESS & HOLD HOME AND CHOOSE RETURN HOME…..

    • Techa

      Yeah played at marion westfield in adelaide and I got into the Devmenu stuff :D

  • Yoshi

    Lol, I tried this yesterday to see it it was true. It was :D
    I got to make a moi and play AR games. The ar games were difficult bcause best buy didn’t give you much freedom to move the 3DS, but it was fun :D

    • Yoshi

      A moi? Lol I meant mii.

    • ToddC

      Gaaa I hate the Mii maker! (mostly because I used the photo thing and it gave me a huge nose.

  • danny

    wait all i had to do was press the home button and it worked it brought me to that menu and other people where able to go to the home menu since i saw other face already there on face raiders

  • joemario13

    I was at a best buy in Orlando, FL today and checked out the game section for the 3DS. I turned the corner and there it was!!! At first I wasn’t going to play it since its out in a week, didnt want to ruin the excitement, but I couldn’t resist. The 3DS is awesome!!!!!! Take my word for it, freaking amazing!!!!!!!! 8 DAYS LEFT!!!!!!!!

  • Kardibask

    Hahaha screw restrictions best buy, behold the power of blogging!

    • Mr.3DS

      indeed :3 XD

  • http://www.joelsevere.wikia.com J. Severe

    VERY cool. If I ever get to Best Buy or whatever, I’ll try this out. Might even record it with my camera and upload it through my YouTube account.

  • utnap

    I’m at best buy now it won’t work

    • ToddC

      Are you still there? Because it works :)

  • Eric

    I was so mad I did not remember how to do this.. I was at a best buy today, and I did not think about this till I got there… But yeah the 3DS was cool, can’t wait to get my own.

  • ken

    I saw the 3ds at my local best buy played pilot wings 3ds which I had tried the hack and played face raiders mii maker and then I want back to pilot wings which I think it was pretty good with 3d occasionally I lost the effect but overall the 3d on pilot wings worked pretty well and the best part was no one else was in line so i play for 1 hour straight with 3d.3d felt weird at first.

  • Mr.3DS

    mabe i should try this….im going to best buy today

  • cool

    i tryed it and it worked.

  • Anthony

    Haha i love this trick i am going to bestbuy now to test out a demo using this trick

  • Anthony

    Doing it today w00t. i will try out the camra

  • Avi

    Goin to bsst buy cant wait

  • http://youtube.com/catsslashgnats gadget593

    It didn’t work for me… :(

    • ToddC

      you did it wrong.

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  • Brian Peters

    I played a demo unit, IT WAS EPICCCC