Citra (emulator)

Citra
DeveloperCitra team
ReleaseApril 24, 2014; 12 years ago (2014-04-24)
Final release
Nightly 2104 / 4 March 2024; 2 years ago (2024-03-04)
Preview release
Canary 2798 / 4 March 2024; 2 years ago (2024-03-04)
Written inC++
Operating systemWindows, macOS, Linux, Android
Platform
Available in22 languages
TypeVideo game console emulator
LicenseGPL-2.0-or-later
Websitehttps://citra-emu.org at the Wayback Machine (archived March 3, 2024)
Repositoryhttps://github.com/citra-emu/citra at the Wayback Machine (archived March 2, 2024)

Citra is a discontinued free and open-source game console emulator of the Nintendo 3DS, a handheld system, for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. Citra's name is derived from CTR, which is the model name of the original 3DS. Citra can run many homebrew games and commercial games.

Citra was first made available in 2014. The core team behind it went on to develop Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu in 2018. Support for Citra by the Yuzu team was dropped on March 5, 2024, following a $2.4 million settlement reached with Nintendo of America.

Development

Citra was initially created in April 2014. The first commercial Nintendo 3DS game to be run by Citra was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.

Citra has been able to emulate audio since May 21, 2016, and has had a JIT compiler since September 15, 2016. In November 2017, Citra announced networking support for the emulator. The networking support emulates the 3DS's local Wi-Fi, which originally made it possible to play over local networks. Additionally, Citra allows the networking to be compatible with other users anywhere. In April 2020, the Citra Team announced compatibility with New Nintendo 3DS games and support for save states, and in May 2020, they announced a version of Citra for Android. The console's Home Menu was bootable from March 2023. In September 2023, support for Vulkan was added as an experimental alternative to OpenGL.

Shutdown

In March 2024, Nintendo and Yuzu developer Tropic Haze LLC., reached a settlement prompting Tropic Haze to shut down operations for Yuzu. Additionally, Tropic Haze agreed to surrender or cease working on any project that involved Nintendo's copyrighted properties, and as a result support for Citra was dropped by the developers.

System requirements

Citra System Requirements
Requirement Requirements
Personal Computer
Operating system
CPU x86-64 CPUSingle Core Performance > 1,800 on Passmark
Graphics hardware
Android
Operating system Android 8.0 (64-bit)
CPU AArch64Snapdragon 835 or better
Graphics hardware

Successor

Azahar
Original authorCitra team
DeveloperAzahar Emulator team
Release22 March 2025; 19 months ago (2025-03-22)
Stable release
2126.0 / 10 August 2026; 2 months ago (2026-08-10)
Written inC++
Operating systemWindows, macOS, Linux, Android
Platform
TypeVideo game console emulator
LicenseGPL-2.0-or-later
Websiteazahar-emu.org
Repositorygithub.com/azahar-emu/azahar

Azahar was created as a community-driven continuation of Nintendo 3DS emulation development following the discontinuation of the Citra emulator. The name Azahar is derived from the Spanish word for "orange blossom", continuing the citrus themed naming established by the previous emulator’s name and logo.

Development

In the months that followed Citra's shutdown, several independent forks of Citra emerged as members of the emulation community sought to continue Nintendo 3DS emulation development. In late 2024, two of them (Lime3DS and a fork maintained by a former Citra developer) announced the merge of their codebases and development efforts under a new project named Azahar. The first public releases of Azahar were made available in early 2025.

The emulator was released incorporating changes developed in its predecessor forks, including user interface and user experience improvements from Lime3DS, as well as additional functionality originating from the fork maintained by the former Citra developer, such as Artic Base, a homebrew tool designed to enable access to software libraries hosted on original Nintendo 3DS systems. The initial release also introduced additional changes, including the removal of support for encrypted ROM files. The development team stated that this decision was intended to reduce concerns related to the circumvention of technological protection measures, an issue raised during the legal proceedings involving Yuzu. The release also added support for re-downloading previously purchased software from the Nintendo 3DS digital storefront, the Nintendo eShop.

Development of Azahar continued during 2025 and early 2026, with the inclusion of compressed ROM support, dual screen capabilities on Android and other general improvements.

System requirements

Azahar System Requirements
Requirement Requirements
Personal Computer
Operating system
CPU x86-64 CPU with SSE4.2 supportSingle-core performance > 1,800 on Passmark
Memory 2 GB
Graphics hardware
Android
Operating system Android 10 (64-bit)
CPU AArch64Snapdragon 835 or better
Memory 2 GB
Graphics hardware

Reception

Time Extension noted the emulator's ability to cache shaders on game load, resulting in higher performance and decreased frame rate stutters compared to other emulators. Android Authority called Azahar "the best way to play Nintendo 3DS games on Android". Retro Dodo called the emulator "one of the best on the market".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "FAQ". Citra. Citra Team. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Citra Android is here! · Citra". Citra. Archived from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  3. ↑ "The Citra translation project on Transifex". www.transifex.com. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  4. ↑ "Citra/License.TXT at master · citra-emu/Citra · GitHub". GitHub. Archived from the original on 2019-01-25. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
  5. 1 2 Hollister, Sean (March 4, 2024). "Bunnei confirms Yuzu is shutting down — and it'll hit Nintendo 3DS emulator Citra too". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 17, 2024. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 Wes Fenlon (2024-03-04). "Nintendo 3DS emulator Citra taken offline as collateral damage in Yuzu lawsuit settlement". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2025-07-17.
  7. 1 2 3 "Nintendo Lawsuit Shuts Down Switch Emulator Yuzu And 3DS Emulator Citra". GameSpot. Retrieved 2025-07-17.
  8. ↑ "Games · Citra". Citra. Archived from the original on 3 October 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  9. ↑ Lilly, Paul (January 15, 2018). "Nintendo Switch 'Yuzu' Emulator Announced By Citra 3DS Developers". HotHardware. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  10. ↑ "Citra Progress Report – 2015 P1". Citra. Citra Team. 23 February 2016. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  11. ↑ Parlock, Joe (12 May 2015). "The first commercial 3DS game's been successfully emulated". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  12. ↑ Orland, Kyle (12 May 2015). "Don't look now, but 3DS emulation is becoming a thing". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 18 August 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  13. ↑ "HLE Audio Comes to Citra". Citra. Citra Team. 20 May 2016. Archived from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  14. ↑ @citraemu (16 September 2016). "After much anticipation, Citra now has a JIT! Props again to @MerryMage for another massive contribution to the project!!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 26 September 2019 – via Twitter.
  15. ↑ "Announcing Networking Support". Citra Team. 4 November 2017. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  16. ↑ @citraemu (31 March 2020). "Citra's NEWEST release brings New 3DS game support! Games such as Minecraft 3DS are now playable. To celebrate, we are taking a page out of Nintendo's playbook and for a limited time, you can try out New™ Citra Canary XL" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 1 April 2020 – via Twitter.
  17. ↑ @citraemu (1 April 2020). "Accidentally fell off that cliff or killed that shiny? We've got you covered with new experimental save state support in Citra Canary. Save and reload till you finally succeed!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  18. ↑ "Switch & Emulation News: GameCard Installer NX 2.0 released with faster install speed & more while Citra gets savestate, New 3DS & texture upscaling support!". wololo.net. 2020-04-06. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  19. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (26 May 2020). "Android Now Has A Very Good 3DS Emulator". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  20. ↑ "Citra Progress Report 2023 Q2 - Citra". Citra. Archived from the original on 2024-03-04. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  21. ↑ "The Vulkan-o erupts - Citra Vulkan is here! · Citra". Citra. 2023-09-15. Archived from the original on 2023-09-22. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  22. ↑ Liam, Dawe (18 September 2023). "Nintendo 3DS emulator Citra adds Vulkan support". GamingOnLinux. Archived from the original on 17 March 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 "Azahar Minimum Requirements". Azahar Github Readme. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  24. ↑ "azahar/License.TXT at master · azahar-emu/azahar · GitHub". GitHub. Retrieved 2026-01-24.
  25. 1 2 "Azahar Blog: A New Beginning". Azahar Emulator Blog. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  26. ↑ "Azahar Announcement Post on X". X. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  27. ↑ Fernandez, Nick. "Two more Nintendo 3DS emulators just bit the dust, but this time it's good news". Android Authority. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  28. ↑ Sulpizi, Gabriela. "Lime3DS: llegó el relevo de Citra para emular la 3DS en Android" [Lime3DS: Citra's successor has arrived to emulate the 3DS on Android]. Androidphoria (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 January 2026.
  29. ↑ Fernandez, Nick. "Azahar Emulator is the new best hope for Nintendo 3DS emulation". Android Authority. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  30. ↑ Wilkins, Shawn. "Lime3DS and PabloMK7 Citra Fuse Into Azahar". Retro Handhelds. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  31. ↑ "Azahar 2120 Release Candidate 1". Azahar Github Repository. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  32. ↑ Wilkins, Shawn. "3DS Emulator Azahar's First Release Candidate Now Available". Retro Handhelds. Retrieved 25 January 2026.
  33. ↑ Drescher, Nathan. "There's a new 3DS emulator for Android ready to take Citra's place". Android Police. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  34. 1 2 "Game Loading on Azahar: What's Changing". Azahar Emulator Blog.
  35. ↑ "Support for compressed 3DS backups is here!". Azahar Emulator Blog. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  36. ↑ Fernandez, Nick. "The best 3DS emulator now has dual-screen support, just in time for dual-screen handhelds". Android Authority. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  37. ↑ Santabarbara, Sebastian. "Everyone's Favourite 3DS Emulator Just Got Dual-Screen Support". Retro Dodo. Retrieved 25 January 2026.
  38. ↑ Fernandez, Nick. "3DS emulation on Android is now better than ever, thanks to Azahar's biggest update yet". Android Authority. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  39. ↑ McFerran, Damien (2026-02-11). "3DS Emulation Just Keeps On Getting Better". Time Extension. Retrieved 2026-08-07.
  40. ↑ Simons, Hadlee (2026-07-13). "The best Nintendo 3DS emulator on Android finally supports multiplayer games". Android Authority. Retrieved 2026-08-07.
  41. ↑ Saltalamacchia, Brandon (2026-01-30). "Azahar Nintendo 3DS Emulator Finally Supports .3DS Extensions". Retro Dodo. Retrieved 2026-08-07.