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El33t Tip: How to transfer all your 3DS content to the 3DS XL

Written by: Tom Morrison / 30 July 2012 / No Comments

It’s likely that thousands of 3DS owners will be performing system transfers over the next few weeks due to the release of the 3DS XL, which launched in Japan and Europe on Saturday, July 28th, and will be arriving in the US on August 19th.

The 3DS XL has the largest screen in Nintendo’s handheld history, a refined form factor as well as longer battery life than the original model, so it’s easy to understand why so many 3DS owners will be upgrading to the new hardware over the coming weeks. The following tutorial on moving all your data from the 3DS to the 3DS XL is designed to make the process as simple and as clear-cut as possible, and carrying out these instructions shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes.

Before you start the transfer you’ll need to ensure that both devices have system software version 3.0.0-5E or later installed. Both systems will also need to be able to connect to the internet during the transfer. Additionally, it’s recommended that you have no SD card inserted in the 3DS XL during the transfer and that you perform it before you’ve stored any data on the new unit, as this will be erased during the transfer process.

To perform the system transfer you’ll need to follow these simple steps:

From the HOME Menu on both systems, select “System Settings”, then “Other Settings”
Tap “System Transfer”, followed by “Transfer between Nintendo 3DS Systems”
Read the Terms of Use, then touch “I Agree”
On the 3DS select “Send from this System”, and on the 3DS XL select “Receive from a Nintendo 3DS System”
Follow the on-screen instructions to carry out the transfer

Once this is done you can remove the SD card from your newly formatted 3DS and put it in your 3DS XL. You’ll now be able to access all the data you had stored on your old system on your 3DS XL, including eShop downloads.

The 3DS XL comes packaged with a 4GB SD card so if you were using a smaller one on your 3DS you can use a PC to transfer all the data from your old SD card to the new, 4GB one.

Here’s a tutorial video from Nintendo explaining the system transfer process I’ve outlined above: