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title: Hacking Around The Financial Pain Of New 3DS XL Top Screens
description: Nintendo 3DS systems are surging in price, making broken units with damaged screens an attractive budget option. However, replacement top screens for the XL...
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og:description: Nintendo 3DS systems are surging in price, making broken units with damaged screens an attractive budget option. However, replacement top screens for the XL...
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# Hacking Around The Financial Pain Of New 3DS XL Top Screens

**[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

Nintendo 3DS systems are surging in price, making broken units with damaged screens an attractive budget option. However, replacement top screens for the XL variant cost around $120, while the smaller non-XL screen goes for under $10. Since both screens share the same connector and display technology, the cheaper smaller screen can be installed in a New 3DS XL mainboard. The main challenges are a shorter flex cable that causes an offset installation, requiring jailbroken firmware (Luma3DS) to correct the screen offset, and filling the remaining gap — solved here with cardboard. The fix works as a cost-effective way to revive a broken unit, though compatibility differences between regular 3DS and New 3DS screens must be noted.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://hackaday.com/2026/07/15/hacking-around-the-financial-pain-of-new-3ds-xl-top-screens>

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Tags: [#hardware](https://daily.dev/tags/hardware)

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