Louvre Says Au Revoir To Nintendo 3DS Audio Guides

The Louvre Museum in Paris, France is retiring the Nintendo 3DS audio guides for the museum later this year.

Spotted by Nintendo Everything, the official website for the world-famous museum confirms that the 3DS console audio guides are going “out of operation” sometime in September this year in place of a new system which hasn’t been confirmed. A Nintendo Switch 2 app, perhaps…? Oh, come on, you thought it too.

The collaboration between the Louvre and Nintendo first dropped in 2012 — where you could “rent” a 3DS at the Louvre to use as an audio guide. Nintendo even held a dedicated Direct on the collab in 2013 to announce a purchasable version of the software, so people could experience the Louvre from the comfort of their own home. We’ll pop that Direct below, because seeing Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto together gave us the warm fuzzies.

The software itself contained high-quality photos and 3D models of much of the museum’s iconic artwork. Over 600 images, 30 hours of audio commentary, and more than 400 3D reconstructions of museum rooms are part of the software.

It was, and still is, an extremely unique collaboration, and we’re a little bit sad to see it go. But it’s been around for 13 years, so it makes sense. So, if you want to experience the Louvre in a truly unique way, then you’ve got until September 2025 to rent one of those special 3DS’s.

Did you have a chance to try out the 3DS Louvre guide at the museum? Let us know in the comments.