Set Up Pretendo Network for Pokémon 3DS Trading: 13 Steps [2026]

Nintendo pulled the plug on 3DS and Wii U online services in April 2024 (for the 3DS, official online services ended on April 8, 2024, after eShop purchases had already stopped on March 27, 2023), and for most owners of Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire, that meant the Global Trade Station, Wonder Trade, and Battle Spot went dark for good. Two years later, a fan-run project called Pretendo Network has quietly rebuilt enough of that infrastructure to bring trading and ranked battles back online for a limited set of titles, whether you’re running a modded Nintendo 3DS or the Azahar emulator on a PC. This tutorial walks through the entire setup: creating a Pretendo account, redirecting your DNS, linking your console or emulator, and fixing the errors that trip up almost everyone on their first attempt.

This isn’t the same territory covered by a standard “how to install an emulator” guide. Getting Azahar or a real 3DS to boot a Pokémon ROM is only step one. The part nobody explains well is how to reconnect that game to a working online back end so GTS listings, Wonder Trade, and Friend Safari actually function again. That’s what Pretendo Network does, and it’s still evolving: as of September 2026 it remains officially in beta, with Pokémon X/Y and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire supported at a limited level while Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon are not yet online.

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What Is Pretendo Network, and Why Pokémon Players Need It

Pretendo Network is an open-source project that recreates Nintendo Network, the company’s discontinued online services infrastructure for the Wii U and the 3DS family of consoles. When Nintendo shut down those servers in April 2024 after roughly 12 years of operation (3DS eShop purchases had already ended on March 27, 2023), every online feature tied to Nintendo Network ID (NNID) accounts stopped working: matchmaking, friend lists, the eShop’s online functions, and every game-specific service built on top, including Pokémon’s GTS and Wonder Trade. Pretendo’s answer is a self-hosted replacement that intercepts the same network calls the games were originally built to make, using a Pretendo Network ID (PNID) in place of an NNID.

It helps to understand why this gap exists at all. The Nintendo 3DS launched in 2011, and Pokémon X and Y arrived on it in 2013, built around always-online assumptions that made sense at the time: a living GTS economy, real-time Wonder Trade partners, and ranked Battle Spot ladders that depended on a constant stream of matchmaking traffic from Nintendo’s servers. None of that logic disappeared when the games did, it just lost its back end. Pretendo isn’t trying to improve on what Pokémon X/Y originally offered; it’s trying to rebuild the exact plumbing that made those features work in the first place, one server endpoint at a time.

The project funds itself through community pledges, and its public progress page has shown funding running around 197% of its stated $3,000 monthly goal, a rough signal that development has stayed active rather than stalling out like so many emulation-adjacent side projects do. In April 2025, WiiUBrew reported 21 public Pretendo-supported games and services, plus 11 additional services in paid beta, which shows how much of the catalogue sits outside the Pokémon titles. The unofficial Pretendo game-support wiki, which the team itself points to as more accurate than the official progress page, was still being updated in late August and into September 2026, which tells you this isn’t an abandoned Discord experiment. It’s a slow-moving but functioning service.

For Pokémon specifically, Pretendo staff have confirmed that X, Y, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire have working support, though access has at times been gated behind a subscriber tier (referred to in Pretendo’s own forum as the “Super Mario” tier) or limited to testers for titles like Rumble World. Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon are explicitly not supported yet, according to Pretendo’s own forum moderators. If your reason for reading this is to get Alola-region trading back, you’re going to be disappointed. If you want X/Y or OR/AS trading, Wonder Trade, and Battle Spot working again, this guide gets you there.

Prerequisites and Version Requirements

Before touching any settings, confirm you have the right hardware, software, and account pieces in place. Two setup paths exist here, and they require different prerequisites, so pick the one that matches your situation.

Requirement	Real 3DS path	Azahar emulator path
Console/software version	Any 3DS/2DS family unit running Luma3DS custom firmware	Azahar 2126.1.1 (latest release, September 11, 2026) or the 2126.0 stable line
Custom firmware	Luma3DS (latest build from LumaTeam)	Not required for the emulator itself, but required to extract system files from a real 3DS
CIA installer	FBI homebrew app	FBI (used on the donor 3DS to install AzaharArticSetup.cia)
Bridge tool	Nimbus (nimbus.cia)	AzaharArticSetup.cia from the azahar-emu/ArticSetupTool repository
Pokémon game	X, Y, Omega Ruby, or Alpha Sapphire cartridge/ROM you legally own	Same titles, dumped from your own cartridge
Account	Free Pretendo Network ID (PNID) from account.pretendo.network	Same PNID, linked through NNID Settings inside Azahar
Network access	Router or console-level DNS override capability	Admin access to your PC’s network adapter settings

Two things are worth flagging up front. First, running Pretendo on a real 3DS through the Nimbus + Azahar-bridge method assumes your console is already on custom firmware; if it isn’t, that’s a separate project on its own and outside the scope of this guide. Second, the DNS-only approach (just pointing your router at Pretendo’s DNS) is the simplest route and works for stock, unmodified 3DS hardware for basic online connectivity, but the deeper integration this tutorial focuses on (linking a PNID through NNID Settings, using Azahar’s Artic Base networking bridge) requires the homebrew tools listed above.

Step 1: Understand the Two Setup Paths Before You Start

Before running a single command, decide which of the two paths applies to you, because the remaining steps branch depending on the answer.

• Path A — Real 3DS hardware: You have a physical, custom-firmware 3DS or 2DS and want Pokémon X/Y/OR/AS to trade and battle over Pretendo directly on the console.
• Path B — Azahar emulator on PC: You want to run Pokémon on a desktop through Azahar and still access GTS, Wonder Trade, and Battle Spot, either against other emulator users or against real hardware users also on Pretendo.

Most players end up doing both, because Azahar’s networking bridge (built by the Azahar team as “Artic Base”) actually borrows system files and firmware components from a real, modded 3DS to make the emulator’s online stack behave correctly. That means even a pure Azahar setup benefits from having at least momentary access to real 3DS hardware to pull a handful of files. Keep that in mind if you assumed emulator-only would be simpler; it usually is not on the network side, even though it’s simpler on the “no console required” side.

Step 2: Create Your Pretendo Network Account

Every path starts the same way: registering a Pretendo Network ID (PNID). This is the direct analog of the Nintendo Network ID (NNID) that Nintendo’s servers used to issue, except it authenticates against Pretendo’s independently hosted servers instead.

1. Go to the Pretendo Network account registration page and create a free account with a unique username, email, and password.
2. Confirm your email address if the registration flow requires it.
3. Note your PNID username and password somewhere safe — you’ll enter these manually on your console or emulator’s tiny on-screen keyboard, which is exactly as tedious as it sounds.
4. Optional but recommended: join the Pretendo Discord or check the forum’s Announcements category before proceeding, since the team posts planned maintenance windows there and Pokémon-specific compatibility updates surface there before anywhere else.

Pretendo’s account system is explicitly described by the project as being in beta, and the unofficial wiki notes that account management features like deletion are still “in development” and partially non-functional. Don’t panic if you can’t fully delete or edit an account later; that’s a known limitation, not something you broke.

Step 3: Configure DNS on a Real Nintendo 3DS

Pretendo works by redirecting the domain lookups your console normally sends to Nintendo’s servers toward Pretendo’s own infrastructure instead. The mechanism for that redirection is a DNS override, and it’s the same pattern used by other 3DS server-replacement projects.

1. On your 3DS, open System Settings.
2. Select Internet Settings.
3. Choose Connection Settings, then select the Wi-Fi connection you use most (Connection 1, 2, or 3).
4. Tap Change Settings.
5. Swipe to the second settings page and select DNS.
6. Set Auto-Obtain DNS to No.
7. Tap Detailed Setup and enter your primary DNS address.
8. Save the settings and run Connection Test to confirm the console can reach the network.

This DNS-redirect pattern is the same one used across the broader 3DS/Wii U private-server ecosystem. Pretendo publishes its own current DNS addresses on its website and Discord rather than a single address that never changes, since server infrastructure gets migrated periodically — always pull the live IP from Pretendo’s official channels immediately before setup rather than reusing an old one from a months-old forum post, since a stale address is the single most common reason this step fails silently.

Step 4: Set DNS for Azahar on PC (It’s Different From the 3DS Method)

This is where a lot of people get stuck, because Azahar (like Citra before it) has no per-emulator DNS setting anywhere in its options menu. There is no “network” tab where you paste a DNS address. Instead, the redirect happens at the operating system level, on the actual network adapter your PC uses to reach the internet.

# Windows 11 example: setting a custom DNS server on your active adapter
# Open PowerShell as Administrator, then run:

Get-NetAdapter | Select-Object Name, Status

# Identify your active adapter name (e.g. "Wi-Fi" or "Ethernet"), then set DNS:
Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wi-Fi" -ServerAddresses ("PRETENDO_DNS_IP")

# Verify it applied:
Get-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wi-Fi"

Substitute PRETENDO_DNS_IP with the address Pretendo currently publishes for this purpose. Because this change applies to your entire PC’s network traffic, not just Azahar, remember to revert it afterward if you want normal DNS resolution for everything else you do online. A quick way to reset:

# Revert to automatic DNS (DHCP-assigned) when you're done playing
Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wi-Fi" -ResetServerAddresses

On macOS, the equivalent is System Settings → Network → [your connection] → Details → DNS, where you add the Pretendo DNS address to the list and remove it later. On Linux, it depends on your network manager, but nmcli or your distro’s network settings panel exposes the same per-connection DNS override.

Step 5: Pull System Files From a Modded 3DS for Azahar’s Artic Base Bridge

Azahar’s online functionality depends on a component the team calls Artic Base, which streams system-level services from a real 3DS to the emulator over your local network rather than trying to fully reimplement Nintendo’s proprietary networking stack from scratch. That means, somewhat counterintuitively, that even the “no console needed” emulator path benefits from momentary access to real 3DS hardware.

1. On your modded 3DS, download AzaharArticSetup.cia from the azahar-emu/ArticSetupTool GitHub repository and copy it to your SD card’s /cias folder.
2. Boot into your 3DS home menu and use FBI to install the CIA.
3. Launch the newly installed Azahar Artic Setup Tool app on the 3DS and follow its on-screen prompts to start the bridge server.
4. On your PC, in Azahar’s settings, point the emulator to the IP address your 3DS shows on screen, so Azahar can stream the required system modules over your local Wi-Fi network.
5. In Azahar’s configuration, enable LLE Applets and the option for required LLE modules for online features. Without these enabled, the emulator will boot games fine but silently fail every online connection attempt.

If you don’t have permanent access to a real 3DS, some community guides document alternate methods of sourcing the needed system files, but doing so outside your own hardware raises both legal and reliability concerns, since those files are tied to Nintendo’s own copyrighted firmware. The cleanest, safest path is a one-time loan of a friend’s console or your own modded unit.

Step 6: Link Your Pretendo Account Through NNID Settings

With DNS pointed at Pretendo and (for Azahar users) the Artic Base bridge running, the next step is linking your new PNID to the console or emulator’s NNID settings — the same settings screen the 3DS originally used for an official Nintendo Network ID.

1. Boot into System Settings on your 3DS (or the 3DS Home Menu inside Azahar).
2. Navigate to NNID Settings.
3. Choose Link Existing ID (do not select “create new,” since you already registered a PNID at account.pretendo.network).
4. Enter your PNID username and password using the on-screen keyboard.
5. Confirm the link and wait for the console or emulator to complete the handshake with Pretendo’s servers.

On Azahar specifically, it’s common and expected for the emulator to crash immediately after this linking step completes. Community documentation for this exact process explicitly calls this out as normal, not a failure state — simply relaunch Azahar, boot back into the same game, and check whether your friend list or online features populate correctly before assuming something went wrong.

Step 7: Verify Your Pokémon Game Is on a Supported Title List

Once your account is linked and your connection test passes, launch your Pokémon game and check the in-game Wi-Fi status before assuming GTS or Wonder Trade will just work. Pretendo’s own moderators have been explicit that support is title-specific and not blanket “every Pokémon game works now.”

Pokémon 3DS title	Pretendo online status (Sept. 2026)	Notes
Pokémon X	Supported	GTS, Wonder Trade, and battles functional; access has been tied to a subscriber tier at points in the project’s history
Pokémon Y	Supported	Same status as X
Pokémon Omega Ruby	Supported	Confirmed working alongside X/Y per Pretendo staff replies
Pokémon Alpha Sapphire	Supported	Same status as Omega Ruby
Pokémon Rumble World	Tester-only	Not broadly available to the public as of this writing
Pokémon Sun	Not supported	Explicitly confirmed unsupported by Pretendo forum moderators
Pokémon Moon	Not supported	Same as Sun
Pokémon Ultra Sun	Not supported	Same as Sun/Moon
Pokémon Ultra Moon	Not supported	Same as Sun/Moon

Because this list changes as Pretendo’s development continues, check the unofficial game-support wiki before you invest time troubleshooting a title that simply hasn’t been wired up yet. The Pretendo team itself has said its own official progress page can lag behind reality, so the community-maintained wiki is the more reliable source to check first.

Step 8: Test GTS, Wonder Trade, and Friend Safari

With everything linked, it’s time to confirm the actual in-game features work rather than just the connection test passing.

1. Open the in-game Wi-Fi menu in Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby, or Alpha Sapphire and run the built-in connection test from inside the game itself (separate from the system-level connection test).
2. Visit a Pokémon Center and access the Global Trade Station terminal to confirm you can browse existing listings.
3. Try placing a low-value GTS listing and searching for a common species to confirm both directions of the trade pipeline work.
4. Test Wonder Trade with a Pokémon you don’t mind losing, since match quality on a smaller, beta player base can vary.
5. Check Friend Safari by adding another Pretendo user’s PNID as an in-game friend, which requires both players to have linked accounts.

Because Pretendo’s active player base for older 3DS Pokémon titles is smaller than what Nintendo’s original servers supported at their peak, Wonder Trade queue times can run longer than nostalgia might lead you to expect. That’s a population problem, not a setup problem — don’t spend an hour re-checking your DNS settings if the real issue is simply that fewer people are online at that moment.

Step 9: Set Up a Second Instance for Local Emulator-to-Emulator Trading

If you want to trade between two of your own save files (for example, moving Pokémon between an X save and a Y save you both own) without waiting on GTS matchmaking, you can run two Azahar instances side by side.

1. Install Azahar to two separate folders (or use portable mode) so each instance keeps independent save data and configuration.
2. Link a separate PNID to each instance, following steps 5 and 6 for both.
3. Launch both instances and add each PNID as a friend to the other inside the respective games.
4. Use the in-game “Trade” option under Player Search System rather than GTS, since a direct trade with a known friend is more reliable than public GTS matchmaking while the service is still in beta.

This approach sidesteps a lot of the population-related wait times from Step 8, since you’re trading directly with yourself rather than depending on strangers being online with compatible listings at the same time.

Step 10: Configure Router-Level DNS for a Whole-Household Setup

If multiple people in your household are setting up 3DS units on Pretendo, or you don’t want to keep manually flipping your PC’s DNS between Pretendo and your normal ISP settings, applying the DNS override at your router instead of per-device saves a lot of repetitive work.

1. Log into your router’s admin panel (usually at 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 — check your router’s label for the exact address).
2. Find the DNS settings, typically under WAN, Internet, or DHCP settings depending on your router brand.
3. Replace the primary DNS with Pretendo’s current published address.
4. Save and reboot the router.
5. Confirm every device on the network now redirects to Pretendo by running a connection test on your 3DS or checking Azahar’s connectivity again.

The obvious tradeoff: this redirects DNS for every device on your network, including phones, laptops, and smart TVs, which will have zero effect on their normal browsing (Pretendo only intercepts Nintendo-specific hostnames) but does mean you’re routing DNS queries through a third-party fan project across your entire household rather than just one console. Most people find the per-device method from Steps 3 and 4 a better balance of convenience and scope.

Step 11: Keep Azahar and Your DNS Records Updated

Azahar ships new builds on a rolling basis, with version 2126.1.1 landing on September 11, 2026, following the 2126.0 stable release on August 10, 2026, and a string of 2125.x builds earlier in the year. Because Pretendo’s own infrastructure and Azahar’s Artic Base bridge both change over time, an outdated emulator build is one of the more common causes of online features silently breaking after previously working.

1. Check the azahar-emu/azahar GitHub releases page periodically for new builds, especially after Pretendo announces a maintenance window.
2. Re-download Pretendo’s current DNS address before every fresh setup, since server migrations happen and old addresses stop resolving without warning.
3. Watch Pretendo’s Announcements forum category for notices about game-support changes, since titles have moved between “tester-only” and “public” status before.

Step 12: Understand the Legal and Stability Caveats

Pretendo is not an official Nintendo service, and it operates by reverse-engineering and recreating the network protocols Nintendo Network originally used. Coverage of the project has noted that while there’s a theoretical risk of legal action given Nintendo’s history of pursuing emulation and homebrew projects, the free, non-commercial, preservation-focused nature of Pretendo has meant it has continued operating without a takedown as of this writing. That’s not a legal guarantee for the future, and you should treat the project’s continued availability as something that could change.

On the stability side, Pretendo officially describes itself as being in beta, with the explicit warning that errors and incomplete functionality should be expected. Treat this less like a finished consumer product and more like a community-run service that happens to work quite well for a specific, growing list of games — which, as of September 2026, includes Pokémon X/Y and OR/AS but not the newer Sun/Moon generation.

It’s also worth being realistic about what “beta” means in practice for a project funded by community pledges rather than a corporate budget. Pretendo’s public progress page states plainly that it does not reflect all project goals, and the team has directed users to an unofficial, community-maintained wiki instead because that page moves faster and more accurately than the official one. That’s a healthy sign of a transparent project, but it also means you should budget extra patience into any Pretendo setup session. Features that worked last month can shift status, subscriber tiers have gated specific titles in the past, and server addresses get migrated without much fanfare. None of that makes the project unusable, it just means you’re dealing with active, unfinished infrastructure rather than a polished, versioned product with a changelog you can trust to be complete.

Common Pitfalls When Setting Up Pretendo Network for Pokémon

These are the mistakes that account for the vast majority of failed setups, based on patterns that show up repeatedly across the DNS-redirect and Artic Base setup process.

• Using a stale DNS address. Pretendo’s server addresses change periodically as infrastructure gets migrated. An address copied from an old forum post or a months-old guide is the single most common reason a “correctly configured” setup simply doesn’t connect.
• Forgetting DNS is per-adapter, not per-emulator, on PC. Azahar has no internal DNS field. If you set DNS somewhere other than your actual active network adapter (a virtual adapter, a disconnected Ethernet port, a VPN adapter), the emulator keeps resolving through your normal ISP DNS and every Pretendo hostname fails silently.
• Assuming Azahar crashing after linking a PNID means the setup failed. This crash is a documented, expected part of the process. Restart the emulator and check whether the link actually completed before troubleshooting further.
• Trying to get Sun/Moon or Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon online. No amount of correct DNS or account configuration will make GTS work in these titles, because Pretendo has not built server support for them yet.
• Skipping the LLE Applets setting in Azahar. Without this and the “required LLE modules for online features” option enabled, the game boots and plays fine offline but every online menu times out.
• Not realizing Artic Base needs a real, modded 3DS at least once. Some players expect a fully emulator-only path with zero hardware involved; the current Azahar architecture streams certain system services from real hardware over your local network.
• Expecting instant Wonder Trade matches. Pretendo’s active player base for a specific older title is smaller than Nintendo’s original service at its peak. Long queues are a population issue, not a broken setup.
• Leaving your PC’s DNS pointed at Pretendo permanently. This has no meaningful downside for general browsing since it only intercepts Nintendo-specific domains, but it’s good practice to revert it when you’re not actively playing, particularly if you share the PC with others on different consoles or accounts.

Output Examples: What a Working Setup Looks Like

A correctly configured connection test on a 3DS reports a successful result with an assigned IP address and confirms it can reach the internet through the overridden DNS. On the in-game Wi-Fi test inside a supported Pokémon title, a working setup shows a successful handshake message and lets you proceed to the GTS or Wonder Trade menus without an error code interrupting the flow. In Azahar, a working Artic Base connection shows the bridge status as connected in the emulator’s logging output, and the NNID Settings screen displays your linked PNID username rather than prompting you to link an account again on every boot.

# Example of a healthy DNS check from a Windows PC pointed at Pretendo
PS C:\> Get-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wi-Fi"

InterfaceAlias  InterfaceIndex AddressFamily ServerAddresses
--------------  -------------- ------------- ---------------
Wi-Fi           14             IPv4          {PRETENDO_DNS_IP}
Wi-Fi           14             IPv6          {}

Troubleshooting: 8+ Common Errors and Fixes

Work through these in order, since later issues often mask earlier, unresolved ones.

• Connection test fails immediately on the 3DS or Azahar: Re-check that “Auto-Obtain DNS” is actually set to No and that you saved the settings before running the test again. A surprising number of failed attempts trace back to the setting reverting because the save step was skipped.
• Connection test passes, but the in-game Wi-Fi test fails: This usually means DNS is correct but the account link (Step 6) either didn’t complete or didn’t attach to this specific save file’s region/title ID. Re-open NNID Settings and confirm the linked username is displayed correctly.
• Azahar shows “Artic Base disconnected” or a similar bridge error: Confirm the Azahar Artic Setup Tool app is still running and visible on your 3DS screen, and that both devices are on the same local network segment (not, for example, one on a guest Wi-Fi network that isolates clients from each other).
• GTS menu loads but every search returns nothing: This is very likely a population issue rather than a technical one for X/Y/OR/AS, given the smaller player base compared to Nintendo’s original service. Try Wonder Trade instead, which doesn’t require a specific matching listing.
• PNID login rejected as “incorrect credentials” despite being certain they’re right: The 3DS’s on-screen keyboard can silently autocorrect or fail to register shift-key presses on certain firmware versions. Retype slowly, and consider temporarily using a simpler password without special characters for the initial link, then changing it back on the Pretendo website afterward.
• Azahar crashes on boot after enabling LLE Applets: Confirm you actually have the correct, complete set of system files pulled through Artic Base for your console’s region. A partial or mismatched system file set is a common cause of crashes specifically tied to enabling LLE applets.
• Trades appear to complete but the received Pokémon never shows up: Do not power off the console or close the emulator during the trade animation, even if it appears to hang. Interrupting mid-trade on a beta service is one of the more reliable ways to actually lose data, unlike on Nintendo’s original, more mature infrastructure.
• DNS changes on Windows don’t seem to apply: Flush the DNS cache after changing the adapter setting, since Windows caches previous resolutions.

# Flush Windows DNS cache after changing your adapter's DNS server
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

• Router-level DNS override doesn’t affect a specific device: Some devices, particularly phones and smart TVs, ignore router-assigned DNS and use hardcoded public DNS servers instead. Check that device’s individual network settings if a household-wide DNS change didn’t propagate to it.

Advanced Tips: Getting More Out of Pretendo Network

Once the basic setup works reliably, a few refinements make the experience noticeably smoother, particularly if you plan to keep using this setup long-term rather than as a one-off nostalgia trip.

• Coordinate trades in advance through the Pretendo community. Because the active population for older 3DS Pokémon titles is smaller than it was on Nintendo’s original service, posting in Pretendo’s community channels to arrange a specific GTS listing or Wonder Trade window at an agreed time dramatically cuts down wait times compared to hoping a random match appears.
• Run Azahar in portable mode for multiple independent profiles. If you’re managing more than one PNID for testing or for trading between your own saves, portable installs avoid cross-contaminating configuration files between instances, which otherwise causes account-link confusion.
• Keep a snapshot of your working configuration. Because Pretendo’s infrastructure and Azahar’s builds both change over time, documenting your exact working DNS address, Azahar version, and Artic Base setup steps the moment everything works means you can quickly compare against a future guide or forum post if something breaks after an update.
• Watch for expanding title support rather than assuming the current list is final. Pretendo’s team has stated its intention to add more Pokémon titles over time, without a committed release date. Checking the unofficial wiki periodically costs nothing and saves you from assuming a title will never be supported.
• Use a dedicated router profile or guest network for Pretendo traffic if you’re security-conscious. Since you’re routing specific game traffic through independently operated, community-run infrastructure rather than Nintendo’s own servers, isolating that traffic to a guest network segment limits exposure if you’re cautious about network security on shared home networks.
• Pair this setup with a save editor for cleanup work, not for fabricating trade fodder. If you’re rebuilding a Living Dex across Pokémon X/Y and OR/AS after years away from the games, a save editor like PKHeX is useful for auditing what you already legitimately own before you start trading duplicates away on a beta service with a smaller, less forgiving player base than Nintendo’s original servers had.
• Don’t assume Battle Spot ranked ladders behave identically to how you remember them. With a smaller, self-selected population of returning players, matchmaking pools skew differently than they did during the original console generation’s peak years, so early games in a session may match you against significantly more dedicated players than a casual ladder climb would have in 2016.

Complete Working Project: Pretendo-Ready Pokémon Trading Setup Checklist

Here’s the full sequence from zero to a working, tested online trading setup, combining every step above into a single reference checklist.

1. Register a PNID at Pretendo’s account registration page.
2. Decide whether you’re setting up a real 3DS, Azahar, or both.
3. On a real 3DS: set DNS manually through Internet Settings → Connection Settings → Change Settings → DNS.
4. On PC: set DNS on your active network adapter through PowerShell, System Settings, or your Linux network manager.
5. For Azahar: install AzaharArticSetup.cia on a modded 3DS via FBI, run it, and point Azahar to the console’s IP address.
6. Enable LLE Applets and required LLE modules for online features inside Azahar’s settings.
7. Link your PNID through NNID Settings on both the 3DS and/or Azahar, using “Link Existing ID.”
8. Restart Azahar if it crashes post-link (expected behavior) and confirm the account shows as linked.
9. Confirm your specific Pokémon title (X, Y, Omega Ruby, or Alpha Sapphire) is currently listed as supported on the unofficial Pretendo wiki.
10. Run the in-game Wi-Fi connection test from inside the Pokémon game itself.
11. Test GTS browsing, a low-value GTS listing, Wonder Trade, and Friend Safari.
12. Revert your DNS settings when you’re done playing, if you changed them at the device level rather than the router level.
13. Bookmark the Azahar GitHub releases page and the Pretendo Announcements forum to catch future changes that might require re-configuration.

Follow that sequence in order and you’ll have a working, tested Pretendo Network connection for Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby, or Alpha Sapphire, on either real hardware or Azahar, with a documented fallback for every failure point along the way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Pretendo Network work with Pokémon Sun and Moon?
No. Pretendo’s own forum moderators have confirmed that Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon are not supported as of this writing, even though X, Y, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire are.

Do I need a modded 3DS to use Pretendo Network at all?
Basic DNS-level connectivity can work on stock hardware for some Wii U services, but the deeper integration this guide covers, including linking a PNID through NNID Settings and using Azahar’s Artic Base bridge, requires custom firmware like Luma3DS plus homebrew tools like FBI and Nimbus.

Is Pretendo Network legal to use?
Pretendo is an independent, fan-run, non-commercial project that reverse-engineers Nintendo’s discontinued server protocols rather than an official Nintendo service. It operates in a legal gray area with no evidence of enforcement action against it as of this writing, but there’s no guarantee that will remain the case indefinitely.

Why did Azahar crash right after I linked my Pretendo account?
This is a documented, expected behavior in the current Azahar-Pretendo integration. Simply relaunch the emulator, reload your game, and check whether the account link actually completed before assuming anything is broken.

Why are Wonder Trade queues so slow compared to what I remember from 2016?
Pretendo’s active player population for these older 3DS titles is considerably smaller than Nintendo’s original service was at its peak. Longer queue times reflect fewer concurrent players, not a broken configuration.

Can I use Pretendo Network on Panda3DS or Folium instead of Azahar?
As of September 2026, the documented Artic Base bridge integration for Pretendo-style online features is built specifically around Azahar. Other 3DS emulators may add comparable support in the future, but you should check each project’s own documentation before assuming feature parity.

What happens if I use an outdated Pretendo DNS address?
Your connection test will typically fail outright, or resolve to infrastructure that no longer exists, since Pretendo periodically migrates its servers. Always pull the current DNS address from Pretendo’s official website or Discord immediately before setup.

Does setting my PC’s DNS to Pretendo affect my normal internet browsing?
No. The redirect only intercepts Nintendo-specific hostnames that the game and console try to reach; general web browsing continues to resolve normally through the same DNS server, since it simply won’t recognize or need to redirect those other domains.