Changes

There are three types of games using that uses the DSi hardware enhancements:

;DSi-enhanced retail cartridges: Regular DS retail cartridges A regular game cartridge that is compatible with the older DS NDS models, but unlocks more RAM and features when used on the DSi(commonly it's just camera support, similar to some late GBC games on but may provide better performance with the GBAextra RAM). A Only a [http://www.rfgeneration.com/blogs/pdrydia/DSi-enhanced-titles-an-incomplete-list-1969.php couple of dozen games] from Japan and US/EUR relied had this feature. It's similar to how some late Game Boy Color games would offer better performance when played on this method, they the Game Boy Advance. These games will still boot on DS any NDS emulators, but will be detected as if it was on the original DS and will load without the any DSi enhancements. DSi-enhanced games will also have an animated icon when displayed in the boot menuof the DSi, which is the only indication that it's DSi-enhanced.;DSi-exclusive retail cartridges: Retail cartridges relying heavily that relies on the DSi hardware features. A boot-up An error screen will show when attempting to load those one of these games on a regular DS models console(and by extension, emulators for thosealso). Only These cartridges where white instead of gray and only five games were released this way, either as launch games titles or because they were too big for to be sold as DSiWare(see below). ;DSiWare: Downloadable titles only avaliable available through the DSi Shop (discontinued as of March 31, 2017). They have a 16MB size limitation due to the small size of the internal NAND and there were a lot of interesting exclusives for the system released as DSiWare. The Nintendo 3DS is can also compatible with those games run DSiWare, due to the firmware used for backwards-compatibility being same as the DSi, and offers a way to back them up to an SD card , but not the save files. The Nintendo 3DS eShop also offers has some DSiWare for purchase, though it uses a different file packaging format.

All three formats can be converted to <code>.nds</code> format. Compared to regular DS games, DSi games had some additional header information that wasn't even correctly dumped in the earlier broken dumps. The 2017 set has updated many of thosethese to the correct format, though it's still severely lacking in DSiWare exclusives. DSiWare dumps exist in both NDS <code>.nds</code> format or CIA and <code>.cia</code> format (for the ones who want to boot it installation on their a homebrewed 3DS).

On the old DS or DS Lite modelsEven though it's possible to convert these titles to <code>.nds</code>, as well as most Nintendo DS emulators, the first type will load in regular DS mode without any DSi enhancements, the second when attempting to run these games on a normal emulator it will either show an error message(when attempting to run a DSi-exclusive title), and the third or will crash on boot-up (when attempting to run DSiWare) due to missing encryption abilities and lack of DSi hardware support. DSi-enhanced games will run as if it was on a regular DS model.

On the DSi/3DS family of handhelds, the first two formats can be played on some select DSi-compatible flashcarts like the (discontinued and now expensive) CycloDS iEvolution flashcard flashcart(which won't work on a stock 3DS not with unless you install custom firmware to whitelist it). As for the third type, it's only available for digital purchase at their respective stores (DSi Shop for DSi, eShop for the 3DS) eShop and installed as apps to the limited TWL NAND. In the 3DS' case, though they can also be installed as custom titles if in a <code>.cia </code> format (like the same format for all 3DS applications, but here it's also a container for a <code>.nds</code> rom ROM in this case, and meaning converting back and forth is possible), provided custom firmware has already been installed. Since the DSi Shop has closed, the only way of obtaining DSiWare on the physical system is by [[Modding Consoles/Flashcarts#Nintendo_DSi|homebrewing]] your DSi and either installing it to the system's NAND, or installing TWiLight Menu++ and loading it as a <code>.nds</code> ROM.

There hasn't been much of a need for DSi emulation due to it's small library of exclusive games and lack of DSi-enhanced titles that provide anything major besides camara camera support. The only thing really notable is DSiWare, which saw several exclusive releases.

No$GBA added support for DSi games of all three formats starting with version 2.8, although some games won't boot and others have graphical glitches. You'll need to enable ''"16MB DSi/retail" '' under the settingsin order to use it. Emulation Compatibility is very iffy due to a so-so DS emulation foundation in No$GBA's already poor DS emulation, and the camera is just spoofed as a static image but just and will causes an the emulator to crash whenever used, meaning games that use uses it may boot , but it won't be very playable.

melonDS recently started attempts at DSi emulation and has been able to boot its the system's firmware<ref name="melonDSi">http://melonds.kuribo64.net/comments.php?id=94</ref> and even showed that it can boot ''Flipnote Studios'', but freezes when trying attempting to create a new note.<ref name="progress on DSi">http://melonds.kuribo64.net/comments.php?id=99&p</ref>. It's being worked on off an experimental branch and requires a lot of files to be dumped from the DSi in order to work, but it could become the most usable option for DSi emulationin the near future. Most of it is being done using the documentation that the No$GBA devs have already compiled on the subject.

DSi emulation requires a copy of the lower 32K-halves of the ARM7/ARM9 BIOSes BIOS files (<code>BIOSDSI7.ROM </code> and <code>BIOSDSI9.ROM</code>), which are different from the regular DS BIOS files and needed for the decryption. All the needed files are <code>bios7i.bin</code>, <code>bios9i.bin</code>, <code>BIOSDSI7.ROM</code>, <code>BIOSDSI9.ROM</code>, <code>BIOSNDS7.ROM</code>, and <code>BIOSNDS9.ROM</code>. These unicorns can be found [http://archive.org/details/DSiFirmwareFiles here].

It's also advised (but still completely '''optional''') to use a NAND dump as well to increase compatibility (though adding games is more complex, and a soft-modding solution to dump it is still being worked on). Rename it to "DSi-1.mmc" (should be about 250MB). Change In No$GBA, change ''"Reset/Startup Entrypoint "'' to ''"GBA/NDS BIOS" '' to now boot the emulator and games in DSi mode. Hex editing is required in order to "install" new DSiWare titles, though loading retail games in DSi mode from the menu is still possible easily. This Using a NAND dump fixes lots a lot of glitches and crashes related to languages and use of the internal DSi font.