Homebrew Retro emulation without CFW?

[Giodude]

no one line was
no its not the easiest its the cheapest
lol kiddo no one has time to be a troll (i am a grown man with a kid of my own and a job) you are the one being counterproductive the op has the right to choose not to install cfw if he chooses and even after the op states not once but twice that he does not want cfw you try to cram it on him . . . so please do ignore me because i am obviously the one trolling here lol . . . btw kiddo i dont know you and you are nothing more than another internet random so why on earth should i care . . . have a good day/life kiddo

Though they should be informed how little a cfw will impact their experience as a whole. Companies trying to sell things give the option for the consumer not to buy it, but heavily weigh in favor of buying it.

 

[AlexanderLS]

I was doing a bit of searching for myself.
You can use a cheaper nds flash cart by using emulators designed to run on the NDS.
Like;
http://lolsnes.com/Download-lolSnes.htm
http://gamebrew.org/wiki/NesterDS
https://gbatemp.net/threads/gbaemu4ds-gba-emulator-for-ds-i-dsi-entry.281715/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/gbarunner2.451970/
I could find more if the OP is interested, The OP could also simply search for ... emulator for nds.

The hardware emulation on those more expensive carts drains the battery. These work arounds use the native hardware and could save OP some money on the flash cart.

 

[TankedThomas]

If you don't want custom firmware, get a DS flashcard. You won't be able to use as many emulators (yes Supercard DSTWO can do GBA but it's not really worth it) as you would if you hacked your 3DS, but if you have a compatible flashcard, you can choose to install CFW at a later date anyway, so there's always the option.

This is what you want: https://www.nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=575
You don't need anything more than that (well, apart from an SD card for it, and you have to download the firmware from the R4i website). Then just find emulators for the DS - there are plenty around the place.