Freeze on loading screen then crash?

[Firefoxies]

So, I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I'm honestly so confused about how or why this happened. I've owned the same physical copy of New Leaf since release day. I haven't played it in the past few months, but it's been in my 3DS since it's the only game I really play. Today, I wanted to reset and do the 1/1 challenge, but when I open the game, it's on the loading screen with the yellow train for a few seconds, then the animation freezes, and an error pops up just saying "An error occurred." Now, I have a big resetting addiction, so if this is the death of my cartridge, I didn't really lose any town of sentimental value. However, I'm a bit disappointed that of all the times a game cartridge would stop working, it would be New Year's Day.
If this isn't the death of my cartridge though, I'd really like to know if there's a way to fix this.

 

[Belle of Pripyat]

I've reset my towns countless times on one of my cartridges without a problem, so I doubt that's what happened to yours. Do you have any other games you can test? I wonder if there's a problem with your 3DS. Maybe there's dust inside?

 

[Firefoxies]

I've reset my towns countless times on one of my cartridges without a problem, so I doubt that's what happened to yours. Do you have any other games you can test? I wonder if there's a problem with your 3DS. Maybe there's dust inside?

I put Pokemon Alpha Sapphire in to test it out, and it loaded up just fine, which is why I think it's the cartridge. I think it's something to do with the age, or that it's been gathering dust inside the DS for the past few months.

 

[mayortash]

Are the contacts dirty? Maybe try to wipe them clean.