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The major challenge with emulating multiplayer functionalities is timing inaccuracies, which have made many projects, such as DeSmuME, not want to implement them. So far, the only emulator to actually make any progress is melonDS, but even that is still under development.

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

Download Play is supported by melonDS. Like with local multiplayer, it is very hit and miss but unlocking the framerate helps. melonDS will often fail during the download process, but some games actually go as far as booting and sometimes in-game as well.

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 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 Wi-Fi capabilities. 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 ''Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time'' which is essentially the same as the DS port but can connect with other DS' with the game, ''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).

So far, no emulator has been able to emulate this feature, nor have attempted to, and considering that the GBA/GCN connectivity on Dolphin has yet to achieve full functionality (and a lack of interesting titles that uses it), hints that this feature won't be emulated for a while. If this was ever going to be emulated, it would require work on both ends.

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 several DS games].