3DS Crashes, What’s Causing The Errors?

The launch of any new console isn’t normally without hiccups, but Nintendo machines are normally super-reliable.  So, it’s with a dash of concern that my brand new 3DS has crashed twice (both times over the weekend) with a nasty black screen, adorned with white text to the effect of “An Error Has Occurred” requiring a reset of the system, losing any progress made in whatever game was running.

Those games?  The first time was Rayman 3D, half way through The Fairy Glade, meaning I had to do the level again.  The second time was during the first world of Super Monkey Ball 3D as I went for a high score.  Totally unrelated, and absolutely isolated in dozens of hours play since launch, but annoying all the same.

A quick search on Twitter suggests I’m not alone – others have cited Rayman as the constant, a forum thread discusses issues with Monkey Ball, one person has Tweeted that their’s crashed on another game and one told me his 3DS crashed on a normal DS game.

Nintendo have already been quick with a system update that added a nice little demo video, perhaps if this is a more widespread issue then they’ll be able to roll out a fix fairly quickly to make the lovely little handheld even more appealing. As it is, I’m loving the 3DS, but these admittedly occasional crashes are just making me a bit nervous with my game saves.

Has your 3DS crashed?  If it has, let us know which game you were playing and any other variables you can think of – internet on, number of friends etc, to see if there’s a common thread that might be useful in fixing the issue.

We’ll ping Nintendo to see if they’re aware of the issue.

26 Comments

  1. Is it just the games rather than the console it self?

    • Mine would only crash when trying to launch the pre-installed software, games were fine.

      • Well I hope its fixed in software update, hope it isn’t the hardware

  2. I’ve only witnessed one crash on my Nintendo 3DS, and it was quite annoying as well. I was playing on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, a series I’ve never played before, and about 20 mins into playing, just after kicking some Ghost Recon rear, the nasty black screen with “An Error Has Occurred” appeared.

    It’s the only time I’ve witnessed the error, and admittidly, I haven’t been on Ghost Recon since the error.

    I also have the following games, witch I’ve not had any problems with: Asphalt 3D, Nintendogs & Cats: Golden Retriever, The Sims 3D, and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3D.

    • Disable WiFi while playing, and no more crashes. Rayman used to crash all the time, but not with WiFi off. Hopefully an update will fix this.

  3. I’ve also had two crashes. Once at the Samurai Warriors main menu, and the 3DS home menu. Luckily Nintendo can try to amend these errors with system updates.

  4. is it too early to suggest the “never buy consoles at launch” philosophy should be extended to handhelds now?

    mind you at the rate nintendo release new versions of their handhelds it’s probably a good idea to wait a year anyway.

  5. I got my 3DS on Friday and it crashed after just a couple of hours, and it continued to crash everytime I tried to launch a programme that used the camera, like AR, FaceRaiders and the 3D camera. But it would play Pilotwings Resort fine. Took it back to Gamestation and they swapped it for a brand new one and I haven’t come across the problem since.

    • What a coincidence, my camera has done the same thing after two days, although it works for a while until it crashes. The camera oddly enough seems to struggle to focus on something and splits apart before bringing up an error. There was even one time where one of the two cameras froze, so one eye was just seeing a static image, Tesco Direct are having the console collected, so ill be without one for a few days :(

  6. I sooo want a 3DS however the battery life worrys me…. so I will have to wait and watch everyone else have the fun

    • Its three hours isn’t it?

      • I’ve had more than 3 hours having solidly played Pilotwings on about 1/2 3D.

        Probably closer to 5.

      • Thats ok then, the PSP is close to that if playing games

    • Its 3 hours with full brightness and 5 with low, but it’s in my opinion the most charming, fun console i’ve owned since the Gamecube, so this is something that can be worked with, ^^

  7. It been report else where. I first read about this a few weeks ago on some of the err (hacking) sites.

    They have not be able to work out whats going on, if it is a software or even worse issue. Hopefuly it just a software issue.

  8. Touch wood, so far so good, no crashes on Lego Star Wars or Pilotwings for me. Picking up Rayman tomorrow night, rather than launch day due to Tesco direct’s crappy £10 game scheme.

  9. 17+ hours logged so far and all is well. Fingers crossed…

    • Starting to think it might be the console itself. Don’t fancy swapping it and having to set everything up again though. =(

  10. What have to be careful about is “Cause and Effect”.
    This is where people start beliving that something only happends or dosn’t happen because xyz, this has been reported just after people install new PS3 firmware and PS3 goes YLOD. Chances are it not a issue with install the firmware, it just something that was going to happen, etc.

    Some people are saying re-formating SD card has fix it, others say only happen when playing for some time. It to early in to day to say XYZ, but please say it not the worst case issue with the hardware.

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