In an unexpected feat of homebrew development, cloud gaming has officially arrived on Nintendo’s dual-screen hardware. Developer p0mpurin has released Kasumi, an unofficial open-source client that streams GeForce NOW on 3DS handhelds. Currently in public beta and completely free to download, Kasumi allows players to access modern PC games directly on the decade-old hardware.
Kasumi streams your GeForce NOW library to the handheld. The games run on NVIDIA’s servers, while the 3DS decodes the video with its hardware decoder, plays the audio, and sends your button presses back. According to p0mpurin, it runs at 30 fps and 960×540 with stereo audio.
What it offers
- Your GeForce NOW library with box art, plus favorites and recently played tabs.
- Gyro aiming, custom button mapping, a touchpad mouse, a remote keyboard, and zoom, including per-game zoom zones for small text.
- A queue estimate for free-tier users, with a chime and notification LED when your rig is ready.
- Sign in on your phone or PC, so no password is typed on the 3DS.
- Automatic reconnect, including after closing the lid.
- Automatic updates from GitHub through the app’s Settings.
What you need
- A New 3DS, New 3DS XL or New 2DS XL. The original 3DS lacks the required video decoder.
- Custom firmware (Luma3DS).
- A GeForce NOW account. The free tier works, with a queue and one-hour sessions.
- A good 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signal.
We tried Kasumi ourselves with Megabonk, and it holds up surprisingly well. The stream quality is decent, and it is perfectly playable for games that don’t demand quick reflexes. Setup is the easy part, too: signing in takes a moment from your phone or PC, and the app offers a good range of options to tweak.
As always, remember to follow us on our social media platforms (e.g., Threads, X (Twitter), Bluesky, YouTube, and Facebook) to stay up-to-date with the latest news. This website contains affiliate links. We may receive a commission when you click on these links and make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. We are an independent site, and the opinions expressed here are our own.
