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Windows 95 running on a Nintendo 3DS was accomplished by MetraByte on YouTube. The OS ran very slowly on the 3DS, taking hours to perform simple tasks. The system struggled with graphics and basic applications like Paint, making it far from ideal for practical use.
What's the weirdest device you've seen running Windows 95? While the aging operating system we all love has found itself on all kinds of hardware, there's something about it being on a double-screened games console that's really interesting. Someone managed to get Windows 95 running on a Nintendo 3DS, and it was more of a struggle than a feasible way to run the retro software on newer hardware.
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Someone got Windows 95 running on a Nintendo 3DS
This cool feat was performed by MetraByte on YouTube, who used a modded Nintendo 3DS to get the job done. He got a little help by running DOSBox on the 3DS and then feeding Windows 95 into it, but it didn't make it any easier to get it operating properly.
The first issue was that the operating system ran painfully slow. Sometimes it would take hours to perform a simple setup step, which got tiring for MetraByte very quickly. Daring to open any application with even the slightest bit of graphical intensity (like the 3D Maze screensaver) made Windows 95 throw an illegal operation error and crash it. Even Paint was a chore for the device, especially noted when the system took time to load each color on the palette, one by one, as if each one was a herculean job in its own right.
MetraByte's original goal of composing music on the OS was far too ambitious for the 3DS, so he had to give up on it. While he did prove that Windows 95 can work on a 3DS, it was far from ideal. Perhaps tweaking some of DOSBox's settings to make it play nicer with the 3DS's hardware would speed it up? Even then, it seems navigating a cursor with a small touchscreen is a nightmare in its own right.