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|Windows, Linux, macOS

|[https://gbatemp.net/download/melonds-for-switch.35201/ 0.78.4-23]

Players who have a copy of the same game can link together using the DS's wireless signals, (given that the game offers this feature).

melonDS supports wireless communication with several games, including ''New Super Mario Bros.'' and ''Pokemon'', but you need to have either multiple instances opened, which can slow down overall performance and cause more timing problems, or connect multiple computers via LAN. No$GBA can emulate it is able to connect, but the connection fails somewhere during establishing before the actual connection (despite the names from the other DS showing just fine)is finished.

Players who both have a DS but only one copy of a game can use the "Download Play" to play together without everyone needing a copy of the game. The player with the physical cartridge will host the game, while the other players connect connects using a "downloaded" version of itreceived from the host. Normally they are either simple mini-games or stripped down versions of the main game, but so in most cases it is better to use connect using multiple cartridges instead. However, there are some games , like ''Mario Party DS'' , that requires Download Play in order to use its multiplayer.

Download Play isn't supported by any emulator so far, though [[Emulators on 3DS#Nintendo DS|NDS-bootstrap]] homebrew on the Nintendo 3DS can boot some of them. MelonDS melonDS fails during the download process though some actually go as far as booting, but never to the actual "game"

Nintendo's online service that was available for the Wii and DS and was free to use. It was shutdown on May 20, 2014 due to the company GameSpy, the ones who were the ones managing these servers, shutting down its multiplayer services after being bought out. A popular game that used this feature was ''Mario Kart DS''.

There was a third-party DeSmuME forks that successfully emulated WFC but has quite a bit of requirement (Ethernet cable, though this can be circumvented with external software). After the service shutdown, there was a version compatible with the fan servers (restoring all DLC data but sadly most multiplayer games had their content lost forever). melonDS is one of the only emulators to offer wiWi-fi Fi capabilities. <!--can melonDS connect to any fan servers?--> It's still a work-in-progress, but it works relatively well.

Uses the wireless communication on the DS to connect to the Wii. The idea is parallel to the GBA Link Cable for the GameCube, and just like the Link Cable, only a handful of games actually have this feature. Some notable examples are ''Pokemon Battle Revolution'' in which players could transfer their Pokemon to the game and use the DS as a controller, ''Animal Crossing: City Folk'' in which data could be transferred between the DS version ''Animal Crossing: Wild World'', and the ''Nintendo Channel'' on the Wii where players could download demos of DS games to their console using Download Play(basically the same idea as the Download Station kiosk).

Inserting a GBA cartridge in the Slot-2 of the Nintendo DS while a game is running can unlock various gameplay features for [https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_DS_games_with_GBA_connectivity some several DS games]. It's unknown if No$GBA supports this, but it can be done in DeSmuME by going to Config > Slot 2 (GBA Slot) and selecting GBA Cartridge. Select the GBA ROM file, make sure its <code>.sav</code> file is in the same folder. You may need to reset the game for it to take effect. DeSmuME, however, does not support GBA games with hardware features like the solar sensor from GBA Boktai cartridges used in Boktai DS (Lunar Knight).

Released on April 5, 2009, the '''Nintendo DSi''' added new lighting effects, an inner and outer 0.3 megapixel digital cameras, 16MB of RAM (compared to the previous 4MB of RAM), a faster ARM9 CPU clocked at 133 MHz, and offered downloadable titles called "DSiWare". It cost {{Inflation|USD|169.99|2009}} at launch and later dropped to {{Inflation|USD|149.99|2010}}. The system, however, was region-locked, meaning that DSi exclusives from different regions couldn't be used and the system language couldn't be changed, and . It also did away with backwards-compatiblity by removing Slot-2, which was used to load GBA cartridges and other gaming accesories accessories (''i.e. Guitar Hero: On Tour'').

;DSi-enhanced retail cartridges: A regular game cartridge that is compatible with the older NDS models, but unlocks more RAM and features when used on the DSi (commonly it's just camera support, but may provide better performance with the extra RAM). Only a [http://www.rfgeneration.com/blogs/pdrydia/DSi-enhanced-titles-an-incomplete-list-1969.php couple of games] had this feature and is similar to how some late Game Boy Color games (mainly the ones made by Capcom or WayForward in the early 2000s) would offer additional feature if played on the Game Boy Advance. These games will still boot on any NDS emulators, but will be detected as if it was on the original DS and will not load without any DSi enhancements. DSi-enhanced games will also have an animated icon when displayed in the boot menu of the DSi, which is and the titleID on the only indication that itcartridge will say '''TWL''' instead of '''NTR'''s DSi-enhanced.;DSi-exclusive retail cartridges: Retail cartridges that relies on the DSi hardware features. An error screen will show when attempting to load one of these games on a regular DS console(and by extension, emulators also). These cartridges where white instead of gray and only [https://wwwen.giantbombwikipedia.comorg/nintendo-dsi-exclusive/3015-3774wiki/games/ four Nintendo_DSi#Software_library five games] were physically released this way, either as launch titles or because they were too big to be sold as DSiWare (see below). ;DSiWare: Downloadable titles only 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 can also 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 has some DSiWare for purchase(which is the only ''legal'' way of obtaining them now), though it uses a different file packaging formatthan the DSi. The system itself is also capable of running other DSiWare since the firmware used for backwards-compatibility is the same as the DSi.

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

On the DSi/3DS family of handhelds, the first two formats can be played on some select DSi-compatible flashcarts like the discontinued and expensive CycloDS iEvolution flashcart(which won't work on a stock 3DS unless you install custom firmware to whitelist it). As for the third type, it's some are only available for digital purchase at the 3DS eShop and are installed as apps to the limited TWL NAND, though they . Users with custom firmware can also be installed as custom titles if in a convert DSiWare to an installable <code>.cia</code> format (the same format for all 3DS applications, but here it's also a container for a and even dump already installed ones back to <code>.nds</code> ROM in this case, 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 [https://dsi.cfw.guide/installing -dsiware| installing] it to the system's NAND, or installing TWiLight Menu++ and loading it as a launching the <code>.nds</code> ROMthrough Unlaunch.