Changes

! scope="col"|[[libretro|Libretro Core]]

! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulatorsemulators|Recommended]]

|{{~}} ||{{~}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}<small>(WIP)</small>

|[[Delta Emulator]]

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|align=left|{{Icon|Switch|Vita|PSP}}|[https://github.com/Hydr8gon/NooDS git]<small> (Switch/Vita)</small><br/>[https://github.com/Xiro28/NooDS-PSP NooDS_PSP git] <small>(PSP port)</small>

;[[melonDS]]: Unlike DeSmuME, melonDS can use wifi, and has some DSi support. In terms of being user-friendly, options in melonDS are more simplified. Has similar DS game compatibility as DeSmuME. Both can run games at a higher internal resolution (sharper 3D objects) and can open roms inside an archive (zip, rar, 7z). Both can display the two screens in a variety of ways, but melonDS has a hybrid mode. [https://i.imgur.com/S73Eb4m.jpg (Example)] While the developers of No$GBA had documented the Wi-Fi capabilities first, melonDS is the first and only emulator that's gotten as far as it has and it has been found to work reasonably well with a handful of games. melonDS does not have custom file paths yet (all saves will be created where the rom is). Switching to OpenGL in core options may give a performance boost. ;[[DeSmuME]]: DeSmuME has had significant improvements since 2018; new features since that time include the use of less CPU/GPU resources and high-resolution 3D rendering, though WiFi capability remains neither emulated nor supported. v0.9.13 from May 2022 is the first "Stable" build in over 7 years and is highly recommended over all previous builds. [[OpenEmu]] uses a shallow fork of the v0.9.11 build and should be avoided as well. If you do run into issues on the v0.9.13 build, then try switching back to the v0.9.11 build (see [[Common Problems and Solutions]] for tips). ;[[DraStic]]: A payware, closed-source emulator for [[Android emulators|Android]] devices that can run games at a decent speed even on potato phones. It's on par with (or in some cases better than) DeSmuME, and emulating it through BlueStacks on PC may actually be a viable and fast alternative aside from a slight input delay. Some rumors have spread around that the developers deliberately put in issues to mess with pirated copies, though this is considered unsubstantiated. At the very least, you shouldn't expect any support from Exophase and company if you use a pirated copy, though it is available for free on the Raspberry Pi and Odroid via RetroPie. ;[[Delta Emulator]]: An open source application for iOS with the ability to emulate many consoles and handhelds including the Nintendo DS. Since version 1.3, Delta Emulator allows you to emulate Nintendo DS with DeSmuME or melonDS core, you will need to have DS BIOS or DSi BIOS to play DS/DSi games in Delta using melonDS core, it also allows you to boot into DS/DSi home screen and functions similar to melonDS. ;[[No$|No$GBA]]: Focuses on speed, and has major compatibility issues and glitches as a result. Because it was originally a GBA emulator, the DS's 3D features are still very poorly handled. However, it's a good option for low-end machines but don't expect a lot of games to run perfectly. A fan program, No$Zoomer, was released for version 2.6 which increases compatibility and options, as well as the titular zooming and resizing abilities. The biggest addition is noise cancellation which clears up static that No$GBA makes with its 3D rendering. It doesn't change accuracy though. No$Zoomer never rebased to newer no$gba versions, and looks like it's abandoned so likely never will. In v2.8, No$GBA became the first emulator to supports DSi games, which has been their most notable feature. Only use No$GBA for DSi games that don't work on other emulators, debugging (if you've taken up romhacking for DS games or homebrew development), if you value speed above everything, if you're using a potato PC, or just as a last resort. ;[[mGBA#medusa|medusa]]: [[mGBA]] developer endrift is also creating a DS emulator, but it's very much a work-in-progress and isn't nearly as far as melonDS in terms of the capabilities it's covered. As of March 2018, medusa's development is "suspended until further notice".<ref name="medusa suspended">https://mgba.io/2018/03/09/holy-grail-bugs-revisited/#postscript-a-several-month-late-explanation</ref> ;iDeaS: An abandoned and experimental DS emulator that uses a plug-in system, it's very slow and buggy but has partially gotten some features working like the camera and slide accessories.

;[[melonDS]]: Has an OpenGL renderer with upscaling as of version 0.8.<ref name="melondsopengl">http://melonds.kuribo64.net/comments.php?id=90</ref> The renderer is much faster than DeSmuME's and supports increasing the internal resolution up to 16x native resolution. More features such as texture filtering are planned. ;DeSmuME X432R:A fork of DeSmuME that has graphical enhancement such as an option to increase internal resolution and use MSAA. The devs of DeSmuME have now included an option for increased internal resolution (see below), making X432R outdated. See the [[DeSmuME]] page for more details. ;[[DeSmuME ]] <small>([[libretro]])</small>:Also has an option to increase internal resolution since [https://github.com/libretro/desmume/commit/5e430dfbc22f9d54c77f291304a38352ee1e5a63 August 8, 2015 git commit]. It requires a very high-end CPU to run at a reasonable framerate.