[Nero]

INTRODUCTION

Why I decided to create this thread? First.. I want to contribute something to GBAtemp to kick off the new year. I want to help others emulate older games and classics on their DS, other than DS games. A wider game library available on your Slot-1 Flashcart means more fun! Think about it, a portable NES/Mega Drive? What about restoring GB/C Playback on your DS? I will assist you!Feel free to ask ANY questions in this thread! First, READ the "First Things First" section.


First Things First

Q: Can you give me teh linkz to teh ROMs?
A: NO! This isn't the site for you to get ROMs. Search on Google or whatever search engine you use. Don't bother asking, or the banhammer will come and haunt you.

Q: Can I play GBA games on my Slot-1 Flashcart?
A: NO!!! This question has been asked way too much in the past. There is no way to emulate or play GBA ROMs on your Slot-1, it doesn't have the right hardware. Get a Slot-2 for GBA playback.

Q: What about N64 games? Just look at SM64 DS!
A: It's still a NO. The DS, isn't capable of emulating the N64. Super Mario 64 DS was a port, meaning it was imported from the N64, and taking advantage of the DS hardware, they pretty much re-did most of the game to be playable on a DS.

Q: Umm.. MAME/Arcade games, what about KOF!?
A: Nope. DS isn't capable of it. If you're looking for Arcade Portability, I suggest getting a PSP.
Well. Actually, you can emulate the early arcade games on the DS.

Q: No Wonderswan emulator on your list? YOU FAIL!
A: Hey, no Wonderswan emulator for Slot-1's, FYI.

Emulator List

Hello all, and welcome to the Emulator List. Here is a list of all the emulated game systems you can play on your DS. Portable SNES, NES, Megadrive games, etc. Look below and gaze at the list. The keyword in the parenthesis is the word you should search (Ctrl+F). You'll find the emulator you're looking for.

-SNES
::SNEmulDS (SNEZ1)
::SnesDS (SNEZ2)


-NES
::nesDS (NES1)
::NesterDS (NES2)


-Genesis/Megadrive
::jEnesisDS (GMD1)
::PicodriveDS (GMD2)


-Game Boy (Color)
::Lameboy (CGB1)
::DSBoy (CBG2)


-Sega Master System+Sega Game Gear
::DSMasterPlus (SMS1)


-Colecovision or Commodore 64
::ColecoDS (CDS)
::FrodoDS (FFDS)


-ZX Spectrum
::SpeccyDS (SPCDS)
::ZXDS (128DS)


-Atari (2600 and ST respectively)
::StyxDS (SXDS)
::StellaDS (STDS)


-Early Arcade Games
::MarcaDS (MCDS)


-TI Calculators (TI-85 and TI-83 respectively)
::DS85 (INS1)
::WabbitDS (INS2)


-Last Mumbles


-Credits

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_

SNES


-SNEmulDS (SNEZ1)

Great SNES emulator for the DS. What am I saying? Simply the best for DS. Great Compatiblity, lots of settings to ensure perfect SNES gaming. Save and Load states, Automatic SRAM saving! You don't have to worry about saving in a game, then tapping a button on the bottom screen to actually save your data. It also has the option to use your Slot-2 as extra RAM, which gives SNEmulDS the ability to boot games larger than 4MB. There's also a "Mouse" mode, where you can use your Stylus to emulate the SNES mouse. SNES emulation on the DS is nowhere near perfect, but you can't expect perfection in this world. Right? (Meaning some games have GFX corruption, some games have garbled sound, some games don't work, etc.)

Best Features:
Great compatibility
Automatic SRAM saving
Save/Load States (Up to 10 for each game!)
Utilizes Slot-2's RAM to increase capabilities.
Has a "Mouse mode".
Touch-Scrollable list of ROMs

SNEmulDS Website

Latest Version: 0.6 Alpha

Compatibility Lists

Pocketheaven SNEmulDS Compatibility List

GBAtemp SNEmulDS Compatibility List

Brief Description of Set-Up:

-1) Download from the site above.
-2) You can place the '000SNEmulDS.nds' file anywhere on your MicroSD/NAND, but for G6REAL/M3Real owners, you must place it in the ROOT of your NAND/MicroSD.
-3) Place the snemul.cfg file in the ROOT of your MicroSD/NAND
-4) Make a directory (folder) named "SNES" on the root of your MicroSD/NAND. Place all your SNES ROMs in there.
-5) Go into your Flashcart's menu, and boot it up! Now have fun!

Quick Compatibility Mumbles

Chrono Trigger - One of my favorite RPGs, ever. Runs great in SNEmulDS. The text gets cut off sometimes, and it's discolored in certain places. (In caves it's usually red) GFX corruptions appear in some places, especially Zeal. The sound is awesome. Gets a little scratchy if you put your DS's volume to the max.

E.V.O - Search for Eden - Great game. I have to say, this game runs 99% perfect in SNEmulDS. No problems in the game at all, except the graphically glitched intro. That's all I could find.

Street Fighter II - The World Warrior - Great fighter. Minimal problems are present. The sound is sometimes messed up when you boot up SF2. The scores at the very top are always cut off unless you want to resort to ugly scaling.

Street Fighter II Turbo - Next game after Street Fighter II. Same problems as above. I find the game running faster than normal when you play in Turbo mode, so just go into 'Options' and change Fast Speed to Normal Speed.

Aero Fighters - Rare port of the arcade game to SNES. A good port too. It runs amazing in SNEmulDS. The only problem is the HUD is sometimes cut off, but scaling the screen with the 'Middle' option solves this.

F-Zero - Runs great. The FPS is significantly lower than the real game though. The Power meter is graphically glitched up. Playable however. (I find it better when it's slower. )

Super Bomberman 2 - Runs great on SNEmulDS. Only complaint would be the HUD. gets cut off. You can solve part of this by scaling with 'Middle'. Still cuts of about 1/3 of the HUD though.

Axelay - Looks fine in SNEmulDS. I can't find anything wrong with this. Really.


-SnesDS (SNEZ2)

It's an OK SNES emulator. Well.. It's the other Slot-1 SNES emulator available for the DS. It's actually a horrible SNES emulator. The compatibility isn't anything to catch your eye, and the support is nothing compared to SNEmulDS. SNES DS has not been worked on any further since 2005! And SNEmulDS is still getting updates and great support.

Best Features:
DLDI Support.. (Meaning it will work on pretty much, all Slot-1 Flashcarts.)

SnesDS Website

Download link to SnesDS

Other Notes: The file extension of SNES ROMs are always in .smc or .fig.


NES


-nesDS (NES1)

Simply the BEST NES emulator for DS there is. 98/99% Compatibility for NES games, so you'll be happy to know, it will probably play ALL your favorite classics. The L button activates the 'Rewind' feature. Which basically rewinds the gameplay of the ROM you're playing. Say, you die in Megaman, you can hold the L button to rewind before the point of death. Cheap, right? To speed up gameplay, hold the R button. Unfortunately, there isn't Automatic SRAM saving, so you will have to tap the 'Save SRAM' button on the bottom screen to actually save your game. There is also the feature to Save/Load states! You can only use one state at a time though.

Best Features:
AWESOME Compatibility. Near 100%.
Very cheap 'Rewind/Playback' feature
Frameskip/Speed-Up of Gameplay
Save/Load State (1 at a time)

nesDS Website

Download nesDS

Brief Description of Set-Up:

-1.) Download nesDS from the link above.
-2.) Place nesDS anywhere you want on your MicroSD/NAND
-3.) Make a directory named anything you want, but for organizing purposes, name it "NES".
-4.) Boot up nesDS.nds, and have some retro fun on your DS!

-NesterDS (NES2)

Ah... SNEmulDS is to nesDS, as SnesDS is to NesterDS.
Catch my drift? I guess you could say NesterDS is O.K. It hasn't been updated since November/December of last year, so don't expect updates anytime soon. Please walk away from NesterDS, and use nesDS. Thank you very much.

Another thing.. NesterDS uses software emulation, which allows for better graphical accuracy and compatibility. While nesDS uses the 2D hardware of the Nintendo DS to get higher fps.. This can cause problems with games and graphical corruptions, but it's minimal out of the whole NES library. (Thanks to DanTheManMS for this info)

NesterDS Website

Download NesterDS


Genesis/Megadrive


-jEnesisDS (GMD1)

Best Genesis emulator for DS. Hands down. Awesome compatibility, I haven't found a game that doesn't work yet. Save/Load states, and tons of settings to fix game compatibility. There's the ability to scale the screen just incase something gets cut off. Amazing emulator. There isn't any sound support for jEnesisDS, but Lordus, is working on sound.

UPDATE: The new update of jEnesisDS supports sound! Awesome! Grab the file below.

jEnesisDS 0.6

Best Features:
Amazing compatibility.
Save/Load states.
Scaling of the screen
Sound support

Outdated Version: jEnesisDS 0.5

jEnesisDS Website

Brief Description of Set-Up:

-1) Download jEnesisDS from the link above.
-2) Place the .nds file on the root of your storage device.
-3) Make a directory that will contain your Genesis ROMs. (Name it Genesis for organizing purposes)
-4) Boot up jEnesisDS, and have fun!

-PicodriveDS (GMD2)

It's not too good compared to jEnesisDS. It allows the use of Slot-2 RAM to increase game compatibility, but that just adds to the crappy compatibility list. It works with many games, but many of the games have problems with speed, and some games graphically glitch up. I point towards jEnesisDS. By the way, PicoDriveDS has NOT been updated since February, and Lordus is still working on jEnesisDS.

Best Features:
Feature to use the Slot-2 RAM for better compatibility

Download PicodriveDS

PicoDriveDS Website


Game Boy (Color)


-Lameboy (CGB1)

This deserves a special spot on my MicroSD. Best GBC emulator for DS, hands down. Near perfect compatibility, great sound, and it has RTC for Pokemon G/S/C. There's also the feature to change the screen size. Two sizes: Regular GB/C, and a stretched out size. (Same as the size of a stretched out GB/C game on the GBA)

Best Features:
Near perfect compatibility for Game Boy Color and Game Boy games
Pretty much spits out the sound as the same as any GB/C
Two different screen sizes: Normal, and Stretched.
RTC clock for Pokemon G/S/C

Download Lameboy 0.9

Brief Description of Set-Up:

-1) Download Lameboy from the link above.
-2) Place the .nds file on the root of your storage device.
-3) Make a directory that will contain your Game Boy/Game Boy Color ROMs. (Name it GB© for organizing purposes)
-4) Boot up Lameboy, and have fun with your GB/C enabled DS!

-DSBoy (CGB2)

While not as good as Lameboy, it still deserves the award for being an OK GB Emulator for the DS. It doesn't have any sound yet, but it has OK compatibility for GB games. GFX glitches here and there, etc.. Slowdowns... No GBC yet.. Just go with Lameboy!

Download DSBoy


Sega Master System+Sega Game Gear


-DSMasterPlus (SMS1)

Yep, that's right. The only Sega Master System/Sega Game Gear emulator for Slot-1. If there's another one, it's probably nothing compared to DSMasterPlus. This emulator has 99/100% compatibility for SMS and Game Gear games. You can Save and Load states, but it's limited to one at a time. Guess what? There is CHEAT support! That's right.. It uses Action Replay codes.

Best Features:
Perfect or near perfect compatibility for SMS/GG ROMs
Save/Load states
Cheat Support - Pro Action Replay
Decent Looking GUI

DSMasterPlus PortableDev

Download DSMasterPlus


Colecovision or Commodore 64


-ColecoDS (CDS)

Great Colecovision emulator. 100% compatibility (I believe), and the GUI is very similar to the DSMP's GUI. Save/Load states.
Play all your favorite classics! Make 'em portable too.

Best Features:
100% Compatibility
Decent looking GUI
Save/Load states
Portable Colecovision!

ColecoDS PortableDev

Download Latest Version of ColecoDS

-FrodoDS (FFDS)

Teh C64 emulator for DS! Great emulator. Even has a touch-sensitive keyboard on the bottom screen to simulate the Commodore 64. Download below!

Best Features:
Simulation of a Keyboard on the Touch screen
It's portable C64.

FrodoDS Website

FrodoDS <-- Download Link


ZX Spectrum


-SpeccyDS (SPCDS)

The only ZX Spectrum emulator for the DS. It has Save/Load states, and it has great compatibility. Most likely you will be able to play all your favorites. Grab it from the link below.

SpeccyDS Website

Download SpeccyDS


-ZXDS (128DS)

The ZX Spectrum 128 emulator for the DS.. Only one. I am not sure on the capabilities of this emulator, but you can check it all out on the site.

Official ZXDS Site

Download ZXDS


Atari (2600 and ST respectively)

-StyxDS (SXDS)

Atari ST emulator for DS. It has a simulated keyboard on the touch screen. Most games run at 97% and up, but not all games.

Features, The Thread itself

Download StyxDS

-StellaDS (STDS)

Teh Atari 2600 emulator for Slot-1's! Atari 2600.. I loved it dearly. Amazing gaming system. Now all in your palm of your hands. Play great classics like Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, and Space Invaders! Perfect Compatibility I believe. I haven't found a single game that doesn't work. It sounds just like the real Atari as well. (10/10)

Best Features:
Perfect Compatibility
Emulates the Atari 2600 near perfect; Sound, graphics, etc
Portable Atari 2600
The download comes with a bundle of A2600 Homebrew!

Official StellaDS Website

Download StellaDS + Bundle of Homebrew


Early Arcade Games


-MarcaDS (MCDS)

We are presented.. With an Arcade emulator. That emulates only, the early arcade games; such as Donkey Kong, 1942, Galaga, the classics. Amazing compatibility.. 75 games, 1 of them are unplayable. Some have problems.

Best Features:
Great compatibility (1/75 unplayable)

Problematic Games:
---
Bagman : Partial Sound, No voice
Galaga : No Score print
Galaxian (Namco set 1) : No background
Galaxian 4 : No background
Galaxian X : No background
La Bagnard (set 1) : Partial sound, No voice
Penguin Kun Wars : some tiles are missing?
Scramble : no background
Super Bagman : Partial Sound, No Voice
Time Pilot: Not playable

PortableDev - MarcaDS

Download MarcaDS


TI Calculators (TI-85 and TI-83 respectively)


-DS85 (INS1)

Here we are.. Presented with a TI-85 calculator. An emulation of it, for the DS. Great graphing calculator, and a great substitute to the real thing, if you don't have the money for one, or if you just don't want to buy one. You just need the TI85 ROM and the .nds itself. You can play the TI-85 games on your DS! Very cool. There's save-states too, to aide you.

Best Features:
Awesome Calculator for an Awesome Gaming System
Save-states for games


Download DS85

DS86 Website


-WabbitDS (INS2)

This is a TI-83 emulator. A great one at that. It has a Rewind/FF feature for games. The touchscreen is used very well, and there is sleep mode. By the Website, it says 'Low Power Mode', so I'm assuming this means it will save your DS's battery life.

Best Features:
TI-83 for DS
Rewind/FF for games
Sleep Mode
Battery Life Preserver

Download WabbitDS

WabbitDS Website

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_

Last Mumbles

There ends my Emulators for Slot-1 List. I will be sure to update it with new info whenever I can.
I want to contribute this to the members of GBAtemp, great start to a new year. (1 hour left till 2008!)

Hopefully this will get a sticky, and I will get props from someone.
I'm suspecting someone is going to come in here and start flaming me for some unknown reason, who knows?

Anyways... This took me quite a bit of time... Have fun you guys!


CREDITS


Nintendo: For creating the DS and GBA.
GBAtemp: The best community on teh interwebz.
GBAtemp Crew: Kivan, shaunj66, sinkhead, Costello, mthrnite, Opium, Ace Gunman, you guys are all awesome. (And various other Crew members. )
Homebrew Devs: Those talented guys with skills, programming these homebrew so we can enjoy teh games. Props to them.
s-Cry-ed: Great anime and it's OP kept me pumped.
Martin Leung: The VG pianist. Kept me going happily with teh Mario music!
DanTheManMS: Pointing certain things out.
FAST6191: Pointing things out and for the suggestions.

Updated Last: January 27, 2008

-Updated the jEnesisDS section.


FIN.

~Nero

This post has been edited by Nero: Jan 28 2008, 07:56 AM

[DanTheManMS]

A couple of notes:
1. An "emulator" doesn't have to emulate games, so I find it silly to exclude TI calculator emulators for that purpose. As long as it runs from slot-1 I'd vote to include it. You've only got two options anyway, DS85 and WabbitDS.
2. You should mention that NesterDS uses software emulation for high graphical accuracy and compatibility while NES DS uses the DS's 2D hardware to greatly improve speed at the cost of possible graphical inaccuracy and incompatibility.
3. Similarly, PicoDriveDS uses a software renderer, while jEnesisDS comes in both hardware and software renderer modes (only v0.4a came in both modes, v0.4 and v0.5 only came in hardware renderer mode).
4. SNES DS compatibility is greatly increased by packaging the games into the *.nds file, thereby adding the snesadvance.dat patches that prevent games from freezing in SPC loops. However, the tools to do this were removed when the DLDI build was added. See http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/SNES_DS and look for the "quickstart slot-1 instructions" for more info on this. I have the older builder tools for NES DS and SNES DS as well as the 11-27 version of SNES DS uploaded to http://danthemanms.googlepages.com/nesDS_s...slot1_usage.zip as the official sites no longer offer them. The NES DS builder is mostly useless now unless you want to test it in an emulator or something, but the SNES DS portion could be useful I guess. Still not as good as SNEmulDS obviously, but not quite as bad as you first mentioned.
5. Long before that release of DSBoy appeared, a third GB/GBC emulator for the DS arrived that was also called DSboy, though it was really pretty bad in terms of playability. See http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/GNUboy_DS for information regarding this and downloads if you're interested in testing it for yourself.
6. Wasn't there an Apple 2 emulator called PomDS or something? No clue if that applies here or not.
7. If you haven't already seen this page, http://www.portabledev.com/pages/ds/nds-emulation.php might be useful, though it's rather outdated and doesn't really have DLDI versions of anything, so I'm not sure if any of the emulators were updated to work on slot-1 devices or not.

[Nero]

Ah.. Thanks Dan. I will take your notes into the next update.
I don't think I'll include the builders though.. Maybe for SnesDS.

So is there anything else about NesterDS you'd like to mention? (Anything upsides of NesterDS compared to nesDS?)

~Nero

[DanTheManMS]

Yeah, the whole builders thing is rather off-topic, I realize. Just thought I'd mention it regardless, as I had to repeat the building instructions often before the Games N Music card got DLDI support.

In any case, honestly aside from the increased compatibility with certain games, NesterDS doesn't have much going for it. It's slow, requires frameskip to stay full speed, and has no saving support at all. I just wanted to point out that due to its software emulation, it has fewer graphical glitches. NES DS handles 99% of games fine though, so it's just that 1% that should be tried in NesterDS.

[Jim_e]

Q: You have no TI-XX Calculator emulator in your List! You fail!
A: Hey, this is an Emulation List for games, not calculators, Although some of the TI calculators do contain games, I find them unworthy to put on this list.. Go and buy a real TI calculator. 

Why do I feel like I'm getting singled out here? Well, I suppose DS85's creator is with me, but that's still pretty lonely.

No love for WabbitDS I guess.

[Nero]

Q: You have no TI-XX Calculator emulator in your List! You fail!
A: Hey, this is an Emulation List for games, not calculators, Although some of the TI calculators do contain games, I find them unworthy to put on this list.. Go and buy a real TI calculator. 

Why do I feel like I'm getting singled out here? Well, I suppose DS85's creator is with me, but that's still pretty lonely.

No love for WabbitDS I guess.

Don't worry, I'll put the TI emulators in next time.

~Nero

[Satangel]

Tnx alot Nero, the previous topic with emulators for the NDS was kinda outdated, and was waiting for this
Tnx, and happy new year!

[Nero]

Tnx alot Nero, the previous topic with emulators for the NDS was kinda outdated, and was waiting for this
Tnx, and happy new year!

No problem.
Happy new year.

~Nero

[Riddance]

great work Nero!
I have been looking for a list like this, thank for treating us with this in the new year
best wishes

small note, comments on sound (present, good, perfect) might be handy if possible

[JPH]

Good idea Nero...just provide some links with the items you post, please

[Agjsdfd]

yo cool. not a bad idea

[TrolleyDave]

Great work Nero mate.

[Nero]

Good idea Nero...just provide some links with the items you post, please

What do you mean by that, JPH? I posted the Download links.

Thanks for the comments guys.. and Riddance, I'm not sure what you mean by that.

~Nero

[Ducky]

AWSOME JOB NERO!!! , I see you like the avas I made you .. Nice new signature by the way.. xD
----Sorry I pay too much attention to graphics----

GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT JOB!!!! SOO MUCH EFFORT IT NEEDS TO BE A STICKY!

[FAST6191]

First, nice start on redoing the lists I think the last one was pre-DLDI.

While I have all the respect for AlexMaul in the world cheats for early consoles are able to be hardcoded. Cracker did it here:
http://ezflash.sosuke.com/viewtopic.php?t=5974

No love for ScummVMDS (true it is an interpreter not an emulator but that is as far as this sort of thing is concerned nitpicking at its finest)?
If you do add it in there are a few other interpreters for the DS.

Likewise a section for remakes/ports might not go amiss: some great games (and not just the obvious FPS ones) have been ported/had emulators specifically designed.