Alternatives to NooDS
A fast, portable open-source emulator for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
NooDS
A fast, portable open-source emulator for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as NooDS.
melonDS
A Nintendo DS and DSi emulator focused on accuracy and speed, with local wireless between emulated consoles.
melonDS focuses on DS and DSi accuracy with local wireless between instances and OpenGL resolution scaling, but drops GBA and Android and needs BIOS and firmware files.
DeSmuME
Long-running Nintendo DS emulator with high-resolution rendering.
DeSmuME is a long-running DS emulator with high-resolution 3D rendering, cheats and movie recording, but it lacks GBA and Android and is demanding on performance.
SkyEmu
A low-level emulator for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS.
SkyEmu covers Game Boy through DS with low-level emulation aimed at preservation, but lists only macOS and Linux rather than Windows and Android.
no$gba
A Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and DSi emulator with a source-level debugger.
no$gba covers GBA, DS and DSi with a source-level debugger and tiny downloads, but it is closed source and limited to Windows and DOS.
mGBA
A Game Boy Advance emulator that gets the accuracy right and still runs at full speed on weak hardware.
mGBA handles Game Boy Advance and earlier Game Boy models with a built-in BIOS, rewind and Lua scripting, but has no DS support and no Android build listed.
Also worth comparing
These listings name NooDS as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
VisualBoyAdvance-M
A Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance emulator that continues the original VisualBoyAdvance.
NooDS covers GBA and Nintendo DS but not the original Game Boy, and adds builds for Switch, Vita and Wii U homebrew alongside desktop and Android.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
RetroArch
One front end for dozens of emulators, with unified settings, shaders and a controller setup you only do once.
Azahar
Run Nintendo 3DS software with an open-source emulator.
Panda3DS
An open-source Nintendo 3DS emulator for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.
Gearboy
An accurate Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Super Game Boy emulator with a built-in debugger.
