Almost exactly a year ago, Balatro stormed onto the scene as a surprise standout of 2024. The game features an utterly addictive gameplay loop that takes the familiar game of poker and turns it up to 11 with a unique assortment of decks, cards, and combinations to chase higher and higher scores. Since its release we’ve seen both unofficial and official mobile ports, as well as versions of the game that are playable on handhelds from the likes of Anbernic and similar. This would however be the first Nintendo DS port.

​

Posted by Haynster on GitHub towards the end of last week, the Balatro DS port is built using the MicroLUA library and offers a cut-down version of the full game. Though lacking music and unique decks, and only being limited to 12 Boss Blinds and 15 Joker cards, the project stands as a really fun effort that looks great given the limitation of the platform, still maintaining that core gameplay loop.

Installation instructions can be found over at the project’s GitHub page.

Source

 

[notsu]

-snip-

 

[Mama Looigi]

that's the first news post about a DS port of a game i've ever seen that did not end up getting stuck in limbo and eventually cancelled

 

[LightyKD]

That's actually genius. The best time killer on the most portable console. I want a physical DS release too but it's probably never happening.

Give Etsy some time. I'm sure someone will make a repro game card.

 

[Naster]

What a piece of crap is this?

 

[Robert Newbie]

I keep hearing about how addictive this game is. Kudos to the dev(s) for creating a standout in the indie space. A DS port sounds like a nice compliment to the handheld.

 

[DJ-Yoshiman]

I keep hearing about how addictive this game is. Kudos to the dev(s) for creating a standout in the indie space. A DS port sounds like a nice compliment to the handheld.

Let me tell you how addictive it is, to paint you a picture.

I hate, absolutely bloody well HATE cards being involved in gameplay. Liked Kingdom Hearts, hated the one with cards involved. It's an absolute turn off. I've tried them, and I just get so sick and tired of the random behind it and feel like I might as well just be playing Mario Party. The most I can stand is MegaMan Battle Network, and even then, I eventually lost interest in those games.
I also am growing tired of this trend of roguelikes in recent games. Seems like the buzz-genre of the last few years, ramped up recently.

So this game sounds like I should absolutely hate it. I only played it because a friend bought it for me for Christmas. I didn't gather enough motivation to play it until late last month, and that was just because I would have felt bad not playing it at least once, when my friend doesn't money on me.

I play it every chance I get, and spend at least an hour. It just hits every nail on the head for that dopamine effect. Changing your strategy on the fly according to what cards show up, combined with seeing those numbers just climb higher and higher (especially when it happens exponentially instead of linearly) is bliss, man. It's weird, I've disliked it in any other game, but I'm enjoying it in this game.

Sorry for the optimistic diarrhea of words coming out of me, there.

 

[Robert Newbie]

Let me tell you how addictive it is, to paint you a picture.

I hate, absolutely bloody well HATE cards being involved in gameplay. Liked Kingdom Hearts, hated the one with cards involved. It's an absolute turn off. I've tried them, and I just get so sick and tired of the random behind it and feel like I might as well just be playing Mario Party. The most I can stand is MegaMan Battle Network, and even then, I eventually lost interest in those games.
I also am growing tired of this trend of roguelikes in recent games. Seems like the buzz-genre of the last few years, ramped up recently.

So this game sounds like I should absolutely hate it. I only played it because a friend bought it for me for Christmas. I didn't gather enough motivation to play it until late last month, and that was just because I would have felt bad not playing it at least once, when my friend doesn't money on me.

I play it every chance I get, and spend at least an hour. It just hits every nail on the head for that dopamine effect. Changing your strategy on the fly according to what cards show up, combined with seeing those numbers just climb higher and higher (especially when it happens exponentially instead of linearly) is bliss, man. It's weird, I've disliked it in any other game, but I'm enjoying it in this game.

Sorry for the optimistic diarrhea of words coming out of me, there.

You sound like me, when it comes to card games in video games. I tend to have a hard time with mini games interrupting the main gameplay. I just can't connect with them. I think it was because of Triple Triad in Final Fantasy VIII (I thought it was required because the game is vague at that point about what you should do next.) and poker in Police Quest. By the time I got to Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, I was demotivated by card-based gameplay.

So, if Balatro made a believer out of you, it probably would do the same to me. I would totally go down that rabbit hole, if the gameplay works.

 

[TheStonedModder]

That's actually genius. The best time killer on the most portable console. I want a physical DS release too but it's probably never happening.

Could always get one I’d raise cheap r4 clones with a custom sticker and have it auto boot the rom

 

[Ericzander]

Do you guys not have phones?

 

[notsu]

-snip-

 

[captainpringles]

Most of us probably do, but let's be honest, a phone is never beating the DS.

I've read about R4s bricking DSes and whatnot so I'm kinda scared. It is not easy finding a DS in decent condition 2025.

An R4 card can't brick your DS. You can brick the R4 card by using the wrong firmware, but it won't damage the actual console. As for finding a DS, I'd check facebook marketplace or ebay. Shouldn't be hard finding one for under $100.

 

[notsu]

-snip-

 

[TheStonedModder]

Believe me, I've looked. Everything I've seen in my area is either yellow, scratched, both, or a fucking 3DS.

Not sure if this is real or not but it was one of the things I read while researching R4 cards, lol: https://gbatemp.net/threads/the-r4-bricked-my-ds-lite-personal-story.99825/. Maybe it's a power issue and not software related? Not really sure.

Most DS systems are gonna be yellowed. It’s an issue with the screens Nintendo used

If you don’t want a 3ds a dsi or dsi xl works as well if not better since it won’t have a stretched image when full screen on this xl like it would on a 3ds

 

[WG481]

Let me tell you how addictive it is, to paint you a picture.

I hate, absolutely bloody well HATE cards being involved in gameplay. Liked Kingdom Hearts, hated the one with cards involved. It's an absolute turn off. I've tried them, and I just get so sick and tired of the random behind it and feel like I might as well just be playing Mario Party. The most I can stand is MegaMan Battle Network, and even then, I eventually lost interest in those games.
I also am growing tired of this trend of roguelikes in recent games. Seems like the buzz-genre of the last few years, ramped up recently.

So this game sounds like I should absolutely hate it. I only played it because a friend bought it for me for Christmas. I didn't gather enough motivation to play it until late last month, and that was just because I would have felt bad not playing it at least once, when my friend doesn't money on me.

I play it every chance I get, and spend at least an hour. It just hits every nail on the head for that dopamine effect. Changing your strategy on the fly according to what cards show up, combined with seeing those numbers just climb higher and higher (especially when it happens exponentially instead of linearly) is bliss, man. It's weird, I've disliked it in any other game, but I'm enjoying it in this game.

Sorry for the optimistic diarrhea of words coming out of me, there.

I love gambling.

 

[raxadian]

Cool too bad I don't like Poker.

 

[LandonAndEmma]

View attachment 487996​

Almost exactly a year ago, Balatro stormed onto the scene as a surprise standout of 2024. The game features an utterly addictive gameplay loop that takes the familiar game of poker and turns it up to 11 with a unique assortment of decks, cards, and combinations to chase higher and higher scores. Since its release we’ve seen both unofficial and official mobile ports, as well as versions of the game that are playable on handhelds from the likes of Anbernic and similar. This would however be the first Nintendo DS port.

​

Posted by Haynster on GitHub towards the end of last week, the Balatro DS port is built using the MicroLUA library and offers a cut-down version of the full game. Though lacking music and unique decks, and only being limited to 12 Boss Blinds and 15 Joker cards, the project stands as a really fun effort that looks great given the limitation of the platform, still maintaining that core gameplay loop.

Installation instructions can be found over at the project’s GitHub page.

Source

I saw this yesterday, it’s amazing

 

[BLsquared]

Crazy to see this get made. Wow.

 

[captainpringles]

Believe me, I've looked. Everything I've seen in my area is either yellow, scratched, both, or a fucking 3DS.

Not sure if this is real or not but it was one of the things I read while researching R4 cards, lol: https://gbatemp.net/threads/the-r4-bricked-my-ds-lite-personal-story.99825/. Maybe it's a power issue and not software related? Not really sure.

Lmao, that's a 17 year old post. Flashcarts and the firmware for them have come a long way since then. Besides, almost all of the comments suggest that it was an issue with the DS itself, not the R4.

 

[Egoistamamono]

Not bad, I hope the developers moved it to BlocksDS so i can run it through twlmenu.