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Homebrew N64 Emulation on DS

[WIP/Release] ds_mangaman - Turning the Nintendo DS into the Ultimate Vertical Book-Style Manga Reader!

Hwongfish · 2026-06-09T00:33:11+00:00

Hi everyone! I’ve always felt that the Nintendo DS is criminally underrated when it comes to being a dedicated manga-reader. Think about it: it has two screens built right into the form factor, one of them has a precise (not quite most of the time though) touchscreen, and when you rotate the console 90 degrees counter-clockwise, it perfectly mimics the ergonomics of holding a real physical tankobon (manga volume). When held vertically, the D-pad sits perfectly on the bottom, and the shoulder keys (L/R) are in the ideal position for switching chapters. Plus, the touchscreen can be used to magnify for reading the text or inspecting details. Such interactions are the ultimate form factors that modern smartphones just can't match. To prove this, I built ds_mangaman — an open-source, highly optimized homebrew manga viewer for the NDS/NDSL. Download and learn how to build in Github release: :teach::teach::teach: GitHub Repository: https://github.com/hwfish-error408/ds-mangaman :grog::grog::grog: Looking for Contributors! The compiler engine and core state machine are now fully functional and running smoothly on real hardware and emulators (like melonDS). However, I want to take this project further and could really use the community's help! I’m looking for developers, testers, and retro-enthusiasts to help with: A, Implementing a cleaner UI/Main Menu. B, Adding Bookmark support (saving states to SRAM/FAT .sav). C, Further optimizing the DMA memory copy speeds during page and chapter transitions. Feel free to download the source, check out the build pipeline, test it on your flashcarts, and open Issues or Pull Requests on the GitHub repo! Let's make the NDS the ultimate retro manga machine.

Thread starter LieutenantPie
Start date Aug 19, 2010
Views 1,280
Replies 4

LieutenantPie

Active Member

Newcomer

Level 3

Aug 19, 2010

I know, I know. N64 emulation is "100% impossible". But, would it be possible to use a GBA cartridge and a DS Flash cart with a massive amount of combined memory to properly emulate N64 games?

murkurie

Well-Known Member

Member

Level 2

Aug 19, 2010

No, it wont

liquidnumb

Well-Known Member

Member

Level 2

Aug 19, 2010

I think you missed the point somewhere. Not possible at any reasonable speed with the hardware available. If you're asking if you can emulate an N64 on the DS by adding hardware capable of emulating an N64, then...

Still no. Because.

monkat

I'd like to see you TRY to ban me. (Should I try?.

Banned

Level 1

Aug 19, 2010

Why is everyone so focused on this instead of asking for what we really need here?

NDS emulation on the N64.

twiztidsinz

Taiju Yamada Fan

Member

Level 2

Aug 19, 2010

From what I'm to understand (from a post by Normmatt), the DS lacks the GPU power to do N64 games.
Even with something like the SuperCard DSTwo, there isn't enough graphical processor power.

Magically adding 1024TB of RAM isn't going to help render graphics.