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Hacking Which PDF reader works on M3Rael?

[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 Fel
Start date May 21, 2010
Views 1,401
Replies 4

Fel

GBAtemp's Adventurer

Member

Level 6

May 21, 2010

I've just tried yesterday the Ansi reader, or how it's called, and I get only white screens. Does anyone know of a version or any other pdf reader that works on Sakura/Touchpod?

jurassicplayer

Completionist Themer

Member

Level 13

May 22, 2010

That is the only pdf reader there is. Other options could be to use ComicbookDS, or converting to a text file and reading it through a text reader.

Fel

GBAtemp's Adventurer

Member

Level 6

May 22, 2010

Okay, thanks for the tip!

grindbart

Well-Known Member

Member

Level 3

May 28, 2010

if it is a book,without pictures, convert it to epub and use dslibris,best choice you can make

Whipple

Well-Known Member

Member

Level 2

May 28, 2010

Did you try scrollling around the screens after you loaded your PDF reader?
I tried one that worked (can't remember the name) but it blew everything up so large that it was not usable.
You could easily have mistaken a title screen (with lots of white space) for a program failure with white screens.

Wish I had something better to suggest, but there is not much available out there.
Give DSLibris a try.