The Home Menu is the heart of the Nintendo 3DS. From there one can start games, applications, and access various processes including the friends list. It is launched by NS, and is always running in the background in 3DS-mode except when using System Settings.
System Versions
The system version displayed by System Settings is stored in CVer and NVer.
| Version | Title version | Release date | Changelog | CDN Availability | CDN Post Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0.0-0 | 0 | February 26, 2011 | Shipped with 3DS on launch | Available | February 18, 2011 |
| 1.1.0-0 | N/A | N/A | Update from some game cards | Unavailable | N/A |
| 1.1.0-1 | 0 | February ?, 2011 | General bug fixes
Added 3D Video title to menu. ("For a Limited Time Only") |
Available | March 1, 2011 |
| 2.1.0-1 | N/A | N/A | Found as an update on some game cards. This update appears to build on 2.0.0-2 as if it is used to upgrade a 3DS from 1.1.0-1 all of the features introduced in 2.0.0-2 are not present. With this update the Internet Browser is stubbed, and the E-Shop is not present and the Demonstration Video is still present. However the revised Home Menu, DSiWare Management and other features found in update 2.0.0-2 are present in this update. | N/A | N/A |
| 2.0.0-2 | 1029 | June 6/7, 2011 | eShop added, web browser available, System Transfer added. Full DSiWare data management available. Automatic downloading for system updates added. | Available | June 6, 2011 |
| 2.1.0-3 | 2049 | June 15, 2011 | Fixes the Ridge Racer freeze. | Available | June 15, 2011 |
| 2.1.0-4 | 2049 | July 25, 2011 | System stability improvements and other adjustments. | Available | July 25, 2011 |
| 2.2.0-4 | ? | November 6, 2011 | Improve the arrangement of Friend List. Update from some game cards such as Mario 3D Land(JPN). | Unavailable | ? |
| 3.0.0-5 | 4111 | December 7, 2011 | Added 3D video recording to the camera title, updated Mii Streetpass Plaza, System Transfer between 3DS systems available, improved eShop, home menu QR code scanning with QR codes containing URLs. Nintendo Zone is now always accessible, 3D video streaming support was added to NZone. | Available | December 7, 2011 |
| 3.0.0-6 | 4111 | December 21, 2011 | Only StreetPass Mii Plaza and the NVer title were updated. From Nintendo's release notes: "System stability improvements and other adjustments". | Available | December 21, 2011 |
| 4.0.0-7 | 5131 | April 24, 2012 | Add folders to Home Menu, game patching added, buy more expensive games than 1000 yen in JPN. System titles for CHN, TWN, and KOR became available. | Available | April 24, 2012 |
| 4.1.0-8 | 5131 | May 14, 2012 | From changelog: "improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments". Once updated to 4.1.0-8, the parental-controls PIN is no longer required for future system updates. | Available | May 14, 2012 |
| 4.2.0-9 | 6146 | June 26, 2012 | Improved eShop safety for entering credit-card info, and behind the scenes improvements. Stored CC info will be deleted by this updated eShop, and can be re-entered again. | Available | June 26, 2012 |
| 4.3.0-10 | 6146 | July 24, 2012 | Updated eShop, bad word list and NZone hotspot list updated. | Available | July 24, 2012 |
| 4.4.0-10 | 6146 | September 19, 2012 | NZone hotspot list updated and TWL_FIRM updated for blocking flash cards. | Available | September 19, 2012 |
Auto-Boot Kiosk Function
It's unknown what the system checks for determining whether the gamecard can be auto-booted. When the Home Menu is initially loaded by NS, it checks Slot-1 for a Kiosk Demo cartridge. If one is found, it will load the application on the cartridge and the home menu will not remain running in the background, or at least not in an operational state. Kiosk demos up to (but not including) New Super Mario Bros 2, utilised a combination, of blocking the functionality of the 'Home' button and kiosk auto-boot to enforce a "kiosk environment". Pressing the power button in this environment caused a shutdown, and the home menu is inaccessible. However if the home menu is fully initialised and then one of these kiosk demos is launched, the environment is the same as if it was auto-booted, except, pressing the power button brings the user to the 'Grey sleep page' instead of shutting down.
From the New Super Mario Bros 2 demo and onwards, a new kiosk environment was introduced. The 3DS will auto-boot the card like before. However, both 'Home', and 'Power' buttons will cause a shutdown when pressed, and the kiosk demo will automatically quit after a set period of time of inactivity causing a shutdown. If the home menu is fully initialised and then the kiosk demo is loaded, the 'Home' and 'Power' act as they would with a normal retail game (the home menu is accessible). But the game will still quit after a set period of time of inactivity, but will instead quit to the home menu.
Attempting to launch kiosk demos on a 3DS which doesn't have the same region encoding, will result in the 3DS will printing "An Error has Occurred" when attempting to auto-boot a such kiosk demo. And not showing the application on the home menu (the latter also happens with regular retail games).
Auto-boot cartridges, can bypass some of the functions of the Home Menu. Auto Booted software:
- Does show usage history in the activity log
- Bypasses Parental controls
- Bypasses Forced Game Card Updates
- Bypasses Initial 3DS Setup
- The console does not have a friends list presence.