Super Mario Sunshine for New 3DS v0.1.0-beta

Updated 25 October 2026: ZR is now a soft R press (FLUDD sprays while Mario moves), and the zips include the port's MIT licence. If you downloaded before then, download again for ZR. (The zips are built from commit d72e325.)

A native port of Super Mario Sunshine to the New Nintendo 3DS: the game's decompiled code runs on the 3DS's CPU, its graphics go to the 3DS's GPU and its sound to the DSP. No game data, art or music is included: you play your own disc image.

What works

• The game, from the opening to the final Bowser fight, on a New 3DS, New 3DS XL or New 2DS XL.
• Music and sound, the movies, and saves (memory card files on the SD card).
• The Homebrew Launcher, and the HOME Menu once you build and install the CIA (below).

Speed, measured on a New 3DS with the included settings.txt: Delfino Plaza mostly at the game's own cap of 30 frames a second, Ricco Harbor about 29, Bianco Hills about 25, and the slowest moments around 24. The final Bowser fight is slower (below).

Known issues

• The final Bowser fight runs slowly (its hot-tub water is drawn by the CPU).
• The Old 3DS is not supported: it is too slow.
• The bottom screen shows the port's status text, not a game screen.

Downloads

File	What it is
sms3ds-0.1.0-beta.zip	The game for the Homebrew Launcher, the tested settings.txt, the README and the licences.
SMS-3DS-CIA-Builder-0.1.0-beta.zip	Builds the .cia for the HOME Menu from your own disc image (Windows, macOS; Linux with your own makerom and bannertool).

Installing

You need a New 3DS family console with custom firmware (Luma3DS), your own USA Super Mario Sunshine disc image (GMSE01, a plain 1.4 GB .iso), and for sound SD:/3ds/dspfirm.cdc (run DSP1 once if you never have).

1. Put your disc image at SD:/sms/GMSE01.iso.
2. Copy sms/settings.txt from the zip to SD:/sms/settings.txt.
3. Homebrew Launcher: copy 3ds/sms3ds/sms3ds.3dsx to SD:/3ds/sms3ds/.
4. HOME Menu: unzip the CIA builder and run Build SMS CIA.bat (Windows) or Build SMS CIA.command (macOS; the first time, right-click it and choose Open), and give it your disc image. It needs Python 3.8 or newer and takes about half a minute. Copy output/sms3ds.cia to SD:/cias/ and install it with FBI.

The CIA's icon (the Shine Sprite), banner (the title logo) and banner sound (the opening of the title theme) are made from your disc, which is why no CIA is published. Please don't share the CIA you build.

Controls

The GameCube controller's layout: the Circle Pad is the stick, the C-Stick the camera, L and R the triggers, ZL is Z. R is a hard press (Mario stops to aim FLUDD) and ZR a soft one (FLUDD sprays while Mario moves); SELECT switches R to the soft press too. START + SELECT quits.

AI disclosure

This port was made with heavy AI assistance, and tested rigorously. Nearly all of its code, scripts, patches and documentation were written by Claude, Anthropic's model, working through Claude Code; every commit but one merge carries a Co-Authored-By: Claude line. ikevik directed the work, deciding what to build and what to trade away, and tested it throughout, in the Azahar emulator and on a real New 3DS: play-testing through the whole game on the console, profiling runs there, before-and-after builds of each change, and a checker for the renderer's materials against the GameCube's own arithmetic. The game's own code is the decompilation and PC port credited below. Expect mistakes all the same, and please report problems in the issue tracker.

Credits

Built on doldecomp/sms, chasem-dev/sms-english, chasem-dev/sms-pc-port and chasem-dev/sms-switch, with devkitPro's libctru and citro3d; the CIA builder uses makerom and bannertool. Its approach follows 2gifts/melee-3ds. The full list is in the README. The port's own code is under the MIT licence.

Checksums (SHA-256)

d9af42d43263a45828db5fa420ae3da2bd892a477274370c6c8f111758cc2be7  sms3ds-0.1.0-beta.zip
1b2aaac50739bc39e97c8389920498cc0c260c76d92b52dc8b16d4728f520137  SMS-3DS-CIA-Builder-0.1.0-beta.zip