3DS Crash/Black Screen/Assplodes/End of the World/Has a Fit Issue

Saving the world from robotic drones and crazy Russian nationalists would be a whole lot easier if the 3DS wasn't crashing so much!!!

This blog post is here to clear up any confusions about the 3DS crash issue.

So I'm a owner of the UK edition of the 3DS since launch day on March 25th and I get the dreaded "Black Screen Crash" screen.

The first game I got for my 3DS was Super Street Fighter IV 3D. If you play this game online, it requires internet functionality (Wi-Fi). To confirm I completed almost all the Arcade mode and played several people online and it never crashed.

I played around with the AR Cards and the several packaged programs that are installed into the 3DS without any crashing issues. I then noticed the firmware update and downloaded it and got that "For a Limited Time Only" 3D video.

I then purchased the game Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars. This is when I witnessed my first crash.

I got to Chapter 2 when suddenly half of my screen on the top melted to black...but I have to emphasize "MELTED"...it wasn't FULLY covering half the top of the screen and the bottom screen was fully black.

I tried holding the power button down and nothing happened - Game screen stood there frozen. I then closed my 3DS...opened it again and the console was off! Upon replaying the game again the problem didn't happen...because I did something different:

The crash kinda threw me off. I was really worried this was a hardware issue and thought maybe this had something to do with hardware limitation or bad firmware. Well, turns out I did something completely random which made the game work whilst figuring this out: I turned off my WiFi.

To be precise I only get the crash under ONE condition, when the WiFi is on...and it is only with Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars.

I don't contest it will happen with other games in the 3DS's launch library too, however I can confirm right now it happened to me again when I "tested" putting the WiFi on and playing a late Chapter in the game (Chapter 6) and the crash happened - This time I got the full on error message from Nintendo.

So it comes down to faulty firmware in the context of the WiFi's functionality.

If you want, any 3DS owners can report the games they have had this problem with in the context of the WiFi issue here in the comments and I'll list it in an update on this blog, but for now as it stands Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars is effected badly!