--- title: I put a Raspberry Pi inside my Nintendo 3DS, and now my... description: The DSpico is an open-source flashcart built around a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller that lets Nintendo DS, DSi, and 3DS consoles connect to a PC over USB... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-put-a-raspberry-pi-inside-my-nintendo-3ds-and-now-my-pc-sees-it-as-a-gamepad-webcam-and-microph-fa27arrx8 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I put a Raspberry Pi inside my Nintendo 3DS, and now my PC sees it as a gamepad, webcam, and microphone | daily.dev og:description: The DSpico is an open-source flashcart built around a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller that lets Nintendo DS, DSi, and 3DS consoles connect to a PC over USB... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-put-a-raspberry-pi-inside-my-nintendo-3ds-and-now-my-pc-sees-it-as-a-gamepad-webcam-and-microph-fa27arrx8 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Fa27ArRx8.png og:image:alt: I put a Raspberry Pi inside my Nintendo 3DS, and now my PC sees it as a gamepad, webcam, and microphone og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I put a Raspberry Pi inside my Nintendo 3DS, and now my PC sees it as a gamepad, webcam, and microphone **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 9 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The DSpico is an open-source flashcart built around a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller that lets Nintendo DS, DSi, and 3DS consoles connect to a PC over USB for the first time. Beyond acting as a standard flashcart with microSD storage, community-built homebrew apps turn the handheld into a USB webcam, microphone, speaker, and now a gamepad, thanks to the author's own TinyUSB-based HID controller implementation. The console's ARM7 core runs the actual USB stack while the RP2040 acts as a bridge, translating cartridge bus commands into USB peripheral operations. Camera output is slow and low quality, but the microphone sounds surprisingly good, and the hardware, firmware, and bootloader are all openly licensed. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does the DSpico flashcart let a Nintendo DS or 3DS connect to a PC over USB? The DSpico is an RP2040-based flashcart with a USB port where the DS console itself runs the actual USB stack via TinyUSB on its ARM7 core, while the RP2040 acts as a translator between cartridge bus commands and the USB peripheral hardware. This lets the console appear to a PC as a webcam, microphone, speaker, or gamepad depending on which homebrew application is loaded. _daily.dev surfaces deep hardware hacking writeups like this one for developers exploring embedded USB projects._ ### What sample rate and quality does the DSpico microphone homebrew app produce? The microphone example presents as a 32,728Hz, mono, 16-bit USB audio input, a rate traced to the DSi's I2S clock. The ARM7 core configures the DSi audio codec, sets up the PLL, enables mic bias, and boosts the preamp to 40 dB gain, producing audio quality comparable to a semi-decent laptop microphone rather than a typical handheld console mic. _Developers tinkering with embedded audio pipelines can find similarly specific hardware breakdowns on daily.dev._ ### Why is the DSpico webcam example so slow on the Nintendo DS and 3DS? USB transfer over the DS cartridge bus tops out at around 1 MB/s, and an uncompressed camera frame is 96 KB, which struggles over a 6.7 MHz card bus driven by a 33 MHz ARM7 CPU. As a result the webcam outputs a native DS resolution of 256x192 at an aspirational 10 FPS, though actual performance is lower. _daily.dev helps hardware tinkerers track constraints like these when repurposing old console internals._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Someone turned a GBA into a Switch controller, and it uses the OG Link Cable as the cord](https://daily.dev/posts/someone-turned-a-gba-into-a-switch-controller-and-it-uses-the-og-link-cable-as-the-cord-b5hswrkud) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [GitHub - WeebLabs/DSPi: A fully featured audio DSP firmware for the Raspberry Pi Pico \(RP2040\) and Pico 2 \(RP2350\).](https://daily.dev/posts/github---weeblabs-dspi-a-fully-featured-audio-dsp-firmware-for-the-raspberry-pi-pico-rp2040-and-p-97dhcbolr) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Someone built the PlayStation controller PC dongle that Sony refuses to make](https://daily.dev/posts/someone-built-the-playstation-controller-pc-dongle-that-sony-refuses-to-make-5qoybmpwz) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Sega Master System Controllers, Now With USB C](https://daily.dev/posts/sega-master-system-controllers-now-with-usb-c-swkckgvyt) · Hackaday · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Someone made an ESP32-powered device that links up GBA consoles over the internet](https://daily.dev/posts/someone-made-an-esp32-powered-device-that-links-up-gba-consoles-over-the-internet-6obmdtlnj) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#embedded](https://daily.dev/tags/embedded), [#raspberry-pi](https://daily.dev/tags/raspberry-pi) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-put-a-raspberry-pi-inside-my-nintendo-3ds-and-now-my-pc-sees-it-as-a-gamepad-webcam-and-microph-fa27arrx8) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I put a Raspberry Pi inside my Nintendo 3DS, and now my PC sees it as a gamepad, webcam, and microphone","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-put-a-raspberry-pi-inside-my-nintendo-3ds-and-now-my-pc-sees-it-as-a-gamepad-webcam-and-microph-fa27arrx8","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-put-a-raspberry-pi-inside-my-nintendo-3ds-and-now-my-pc-sees-it-as-a-gamepad-webcam-and-microph-fa27arrx8"},"datePublished":"2026-09-16T15:04:13.612Z","dateModified":"2026-09-16T15:47:34.699Z","description":"The DSpico is an open-source flashcart built around a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller that lets Nintendo DS, DSi, and 3DS consoles connect to a PC over USB...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/52a096db41d7103266a883492afead9e?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/52a096db41d7103266a883492afead9e?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-put-a-raspberry-pi-inside-my-nintendo-3ds-and-now-my-pc-sees-it-as-a-gamepad-webcam-and-microph-fa27arrx8","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"embedded,raspberry-pi","timeRequired":"PT9M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"I put a Raspberry Pi inside my Nintendo 3DS, and now my PC sees it as a gamepad, webcam, and microphone"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-put-a-raspberry-pi-inside-my-nintendo-3ds-and-now-my-pc-sees-it-as-a-gamepad-webcam-and-microph-fa27arrx8#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How does the DSpico flashcart let a Nintendo DS or 3DS connect to a PC over USB?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The DSpico is an RP2040-based flashcart with a USB port where the DS console itself runs the actual USB stack via TinyUSB on its ARM7 core, while the RP2040 acts as a translator between cartridge bus commands and the USB peripheral hardware. 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