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RetroBIOS

Citra

Citra emulates Nintendo 3DS. It reads 4 files, none of them required: it starts games without them.

Run on its own, the app keeps its data in this folder:
About this profile
Detail Value
Type standalone + libretro
Classification Community fork
Source https://github.com/libretro/citra
Upstream https://github.com/citra-emu/citra
Version none stated in the source
Revision libretro/citra@a0483e9abe81
Profiled 2026-03-23
Profile YAML, JSON
Cores citra
Systems Nintendo 3DS
Data folder (Windows) %APPDATA%/Citra/
Data folder (macOS) ~/Library/Application Support/Citra/
Data folder (Linux) $XDG_DATA_HOME/citra-emu/, else ~/.local/share/citra-emu/
Data folder (Android) <folder picked at first launch>/
Install this emulator's files

For Citra inside RetroArch, RetroBat or another setup. The installer finds your setup and its BIOS folder, then downloads only the files this emulator reads there and checks each one.

Open the Start menu. Type PowerShell and open it. Paste the line. Press Enter.

PowerShell
&([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://abdess.github.io/retrobios/i.ps1))) --emulator citra
Technical notes

Citra 3DS emulator. Upstream taken down March 2024 (Nintendo lawsuit). Mirror: https://github.com/citra-mirror/citra Data dir: {save_dir}/Citra/ under the default "LibRetro Default" option citra_use_libretro_save_path, {system_dir}/Citra/ only when the frontend gives no save directory. sysdata/ sits under it. ref: src/citra_libretro/citra_libretro.cpp:157, src/citra_libretro/citra_libretro.cpp:445-466, src/citra_libretro/environment.cpp:139, src/common/file_util.cpp:855

The core reports library_name "Citra". ref: src/citra_libretro/environment.cpp:180

HLE for most services. Embedded open-source replacements for shared font, Mii data, country list, and bad word list compiled into the binary. ref: src/core/file_sys/archive_ncch.cpp:9-27, 133-167

firmware_count absent in .info (= 0). All files optional.

Files

Section titled “Files”

4 files: 0 required, 4 optional. 1 has an HLE fallback.

In this collection: 4 in repo and 0 missing.

Optional

Section titled “Optional”

aes_keys.txt optional in repo

AES encryption keys

  • Path: Citra/sysdata/aes_keys.txt
  • Read from: the save directory, not the BIOS directory (libretro build)
  • System: Nintendo 3DS
  • needed for encrypted games
Source

boot9.bin optional in repo

ARM9 bootrom

  • Path: Citra/sysdata/boot9.bin
  • Read from: the save directory, not the BIOS directory (libretro build)
  • System: Nintendo 3DS
  • provides AES and RSA keys
Validation and source

shared_font.bin optional in repo HLE fallback

system shared font (legacy format)

  • Path: Citra/sysdata/shared_font.bin
  • Read from: the save directory, not the BIOS directory (libretro build)
  • System: Nintendo 3DS
  • fallback to embedded open-source replacement font
Source

seeddb.bin optional in repo

game seed database

  • Path: Citra/sysdata/seeddb.bin
  • Read from: the save directory, not the BIOS directory (libretro build)
  • System: Nintendo 3DS
  • needed for seed-encrypted games (9.6+ titles), creates empty if missing
Source

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”
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Maintained by Abdess on GitHub. Report a problem.

Packs from release v2026.10.10, .

MIT for the tooling and metadata. BIOS and firmware files are third-party system software, preserved for personal backup, archival and interoperability.