melonDS
A Nintendo DS and DSi emulator focused on accuracy and speed, with local wireless between emulated consoles.
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3 more ways to get melonDS
Package managers
- Homebrew
brew install --cask melonds - Flathub
flatpak install flathub net.kuribo64.melonDS - Snap Store
snap install melonds
About melonDS
melonDS emulates the DS and DSi with an explicit goal of doing things both correctly and quickly. It handles the DSi's extra hardware, supports local wireless play between instances, and includes OpenGL rendering with resolution scaling for the 3D layer.
Booting the DS firmware, as opposed to launching a game directly, needs a BIOS and firmware dump from an original DS or DS Lite. Firmware dumped from a DSi or 3DS is not bootable and only contains configuration data, so it works for direct boot only. DS BIOS dumps from a DSi or 3DS are fine.
You supply your own BIOS, firmware and games.
Strengths
- Emulates DSi hardware as well as the original DS
- Local wireless play between emulated consoles
- OpenGL renderer with resolution scaling on the 3D layer
- Builds for Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD including ARM64
Limitations
- Firmware boot needs a dump from an original DS or DS Lite; DSi and 3DS dumps will not boot
- You must supply BIOS, firmware and game files yourself
- Pixel-perfect 3D rendering is still on the project's own to-do list
- No netplay over the internet
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source under the GPL.
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Developer
- Arisotura
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Playing DS and DSi games accurately, including local wireless between two instances
- Categories
- Emulators
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Selected from the TechWalrus downloads catalog (Emulation); facts checked against the developer's own pages, 3 sources on file.
Alternatives to melonDS
Compare allSoftware that can replace melonDS for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
DeSmuME
Long-running Nintendo DS emulator with high-resolution rendering.
DeSmuME is an older Nintendo DS emulator with high-resolution 3D rendering, a large cheat database and movie recording, but releases are infrequent and it is slower and less accurate for many games.
RetroArch
One front end for dozens of emulators, with unified settings, shaders and a controller setup you only do once.
RetroArch runs emulator cores inside one front end with shared settings, shaders and controller setup on desktops and phones, though standalone emulators are sometimes more accurate than the equivalent core.
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SameBoy
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PPSSPP
A PSP emulator that needs no BIOS file and runs handheld games in HD on phones and PCs.
