Nintendo DS

Nintendo

Portable Game Console - Lifespan: 2004- 2011

Nintendo DSWikipedia

Information

Emulators	libretro: melonds DS libretro: desmume libretro: desmume2015 libretro: melonds melonds bizhawk: melonDS
Games Location	📁 roms \ 📂 nds
File extensions	.nds .bin .zip .7z

System Features

Retroachievements	Netplay	Controller autoconfig
lr-melondsds: YES lr-desmume: YES lr-desmume2015: YES lr-melonds: YES MelonDS: NO Ares: NO BizHawk: YES	lr-melondsds: NO lr-desmume: YES lr-desmume2015: YES lr-melonds: NO MelonDS: NO Ares: NO BizHawk: NO	lr-melondsds: YES lr-desmume: YES lr-desmume2015: YES lr-melonds: YES MelonDS: YES Ares: YES BizHawk: YES

BIOS

Bios file	Folder	md5
firmware.bin	\bios	145eaef5bd3037cbc247c213bb3da1b3
bios7.bin	\bios	df692a80a5b1bc90728bc3dfc76cd948
bios9.bin	\bios	a392174eb3e572fed6447e956bde4b25
dsi_bios9.bin	\bios
dsi_bios7.bin	\bios
dsi_firmware.bin	\bios
dsi_nand.bin	\bios

Controls

Except standalone MelonDS emulator, all emulators can simulate touchscreen with the joystick, this can usually be enabled in the advanced options > controls:

Option / emulator	Control layout
lr-melondsds
lr-desmume lr-desmume2015
lr-melonds
MelonDS standard
MelonDS (left stick)
BizHawk standard
BizHawk (mouse)

Specific System Information

Running DSi games

RetroBat allows you to run DSi nand files (.bin) with libretro:melonDS_ds, libretro:melonDS and melonDS standalone emulators.

libretro:MelonDS_ds has native support, there is nothing special to do except run the game.

For libretro:melonDS and MelonDS, you need to place a '.bin' dsi nand file in the roms\nds folder, the file will be detected by RetroBat and will automatically launch to the DSi firmware when running the game, from there you will be able to select the game from the nand and run it:

Example of a nand file:

When running from RetroBat, you will be directly booted in the DSi nand:

Note that melonDS is able to run nand files directly, libretro:melonds, however, will require you to have a least 1 .nds game file in the folder (it will use this game as starter to run the nand file).

Adding games to a nand_file

Only the standalone melonDS emulator allows to install games to a nand, in order to do this, proceed as follows:

• Run melonDS (emulators\melonds)

• Open the config > emu settings windows and navigate to the DSi-mode tab:

• Browse to any firmware file you want to modify and click "OK"

• Close the setting window and navigate to system > Manage DSi titles

• In the next window, you can delete or import titles

• Press "import title..." and in the next screen, select the title to import to nand

• Confirm with "OK", the title is now install to the nand and you can close the emulator

Next time you run the .bin nand file from RetroBat, the added title will be available in the nand menu for you to play.

DS nand files have a limited size, running nand files that are heavier than the maximum authorized number of blocks will lead to a black screen.