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Setting up Emulators

DSPico & Pico-Launcher Users

If you intend to use this page to setup emulators on Pico-Launcher, you may be better served by reading the Pico-Launcher emulators page, which details how to integrate emulator support directly into the Pico-Launcher menu, using Pico-Launcher's file association feature.

Nintendo Consoles

Info

GBARunner 2 and 3 are both hypervisors for running GBA games on DS hardware. Setup guides for both are provided, as currently, some games run better on one than the other. GBARunner2 is the older and more stable release, while GBARunner3 is the in-development successor to GBARunner2.

  1. Download the GBARunner3 zip file.

  2. Open/extract GBARunner3-hicode.zip, and copy the contents into the root of your SD card.

  3. Download the GBARunner3 frontend.

    R4iMenu Compatibility

    R4iMenu isn't able to boot homebrew compiled with Calico libnds, such as GBARunner3-Frontend 0.10.0 and newer.

    Therefore, R4iMenu users should instead download the older 0.9.0 release found here.

  4. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root, and place gbar3-frontend.nds inside.

  5. Obtain a GBA BIOS dump. Rename the file to bios.bin if it isn't named that already.

  6. Place the bios.bin file in the _gba folder.

  7. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create a GBA folder inside it. Place your .gba game ROMs inside.

  8. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  9. To play GBA games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch gbar3-frontend.nds, and select a GBA ROM in the menu.

  1. Download DSL Enhanced GBARunner2.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root, and place GBARunner2_arm9dldi_ds.nds inside.

  3. Create a _gba folder on your SD card root.

  4. Obtain a GBA BIOS dump. Rename the file to bios.bin if it isn't named that already.

  5. Place the bios.bin file in the _gba folder.

    Note

    If you are unable to obtain a GBA BIOS .bin file, you may skip the two steps above. Keep in mind however, that GBARunner2 will fallback to the built in open-source BIOS, which will lead to worse game compatibility.

  6. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create a GBA folder inside it. Place your .gba game ROMs inside.

  7. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  8. To play GBA games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch the GBARunner2 NDS file, and select a GBA ROM in the GBARunner2 menu.

Tip

If the ARM9 DLDI version of GBARunner2 doesn't work on your cart, you can try using the ARM7 DLDI version instead.

  1. Download the GameYob zip file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Open/extract gameyob.zip, and locate gameyob.nds inside. Copy this file to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create a GB folder inside it. Place your .gb or .gbc game ROMs inside.

  5. Obtain a GameBoy Color BIOS dump. Rename the file to gbc_bios.bin if it isn't named that already.

  6. Place the gbc_bios.bin file in /ROMs/GB.

    Note

    If you are unable to obtain a GBC BIOS .bin file, you may skip the two steps above. However, GameYob will not be able to run games in color without the BIOS file, so you will only be able to emulate games in grayscale.

  7. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  8. To play GB/C games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch gameyob.nds, and select a GB/C ROM in the GameYob menu.

Warning

SNEmulDS has fairly low game compatibility, so expect results to be hit or miss. Some games may run flawlessly, some may be buggy, and some may be completely unplayable. You can get an idea of what will work and what settings to use by checking the compatibility list.

  1. Download the SNEmulDS 0.6a zip file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Open/extract snemulds_0.6a.zip, and locate SNEmulDS.nds inside. Copy this file to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. Copy snemul.cfg to your SD card root, then open the file with Notepad. Change the ROMPath = /SNES line to ROMPath = /ROMs/SNES, and save the file.

  5. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create a SNES folder inside it. Place your .sfc or .smc game ROMs inside.

  6. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  7. To play SNES games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch SNEmulDS.nds, and select a SNES ROM in the menu.

Note

This is Coto's fork of SNEmulDS. It's more up to date and has some compatibility fixes for games and aims to fix bugs. However, it can also have some regressions in the overall user experience and just outright not work on some carts, so 0.6a is also available for download in the other tab. Try both and choose which one you like best.

See Coto's README for more info on this fork.

  1. Download the SNEmulDS 0.6d zip file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Open/extract SNEmulDS-0.6d-NTR-TGDS1.65.zip, and locate SNEmulDS.nds inside. Copy this file to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. From the extracted files, copy snemul.cfg to your SD card root.

  5. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create a SNES folder inside it. Place your .sfc or .smc game ROMs inside.

  6. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  7. To play SNES games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch SNEmulDS.nds, and select a SNES ROM in the menu.

  1. Download the NesDS NDS file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Copy nesDS.nds to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create a NES folder inside it. Place your .nes game ROMs inside.

  5. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  6. To play NES games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch nesDS.nds, and select a NES ROM in the menu.

Atari Consoles

  1. Download the StellaDS NDS file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Copy StellaDS.nds to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create a 2600 folder inside it. Place your Atari 2600 game ROMs inside.

  5. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  6. To play Atari 2600 games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch StellaDS.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.

  1. Download the A5200DS NDS file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Copy A5200DS.nds to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create two folders inside: 5200 and BIOS.

  5. Place your .a52 game ROMs inside the 5200 folder.

  6. Obtain an Atari 5200 BIOS dump. Rename the file to 5200.rom if it isn't named that already.

  7. Place the 5200.rom file in /ROMs/BIOS.

    Note

    If you are unable to obtain an Atari 5200 BIOS file, you may skip the two steps above. A built-in open-source BIOS is provided by the emulator, but some games don't have full compatibility with the built-in BIOS.

  8. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  9. To play Atari 5200 games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch A5200DS.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.

  1. Download the A7800DS NDS file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Copy A7800DS.nds to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create two folders inside: 7800 and BIOS.

  5. Place your .a78 or .bin game ROMs inside the 7800 folder.

    Note

    NTSC ROMs are strongly recommended by the developer. PAL ROMs have more scanlines and render more slowly, causing the sound to be wrong. All testing was also done with only NTSC ROMs.

  6. Obtain an Atari 7800 High Score ROM dump. Rename the file to highscore.rom if it isn't named that already.

  7. Place the highscore.rom file in /ROMs/BIOS.

    Note

    If you are unable to obtain an Atari 7800 highscore.rom file, you may skip the two steps above. The emulator will work without it, but your high scores won't be saved.

  8. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  9. To play Atari 7800 games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch A7800DS.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.

  1. Download the A8DS NDS file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Copy A8DS.nds to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create two folders inside: 800 and BIOS.

  5. Place your 8-bit Atari game game ROMs inside the 800 folder.

    • The following game types are supported by A8DS:
      • CAR and ROM cartridge-based games up to 1MB in size
      • XEX Atari 8-bit executable images
      • ATR and ATX disk-based games
      • Atari 5200 cartridge based games (up to 128K Super Carts)

  6. A8DS optionally supports Atari BIOSes for more accurate emulation. An open source "Altirra" BIOS is built-in, but official Atari BIOSes will provide the best performance, if you are able to obtain them.

    • The following optional BIOSes are supported by A8DS:
      • atarixl.rom - Atari 16k XL/XE BIOS (NTSC Rev 02 - BB 01.02, 10.May.1983)
      • atariosb.rom - 12k Atari 800 OS-B revision BIOS (NTSC OS-B version 2) - for older games
      • ataribas.rom - 8k Atari BASIC cartridge (Rev C)
      • a5200.rom - 2k Atari 5200 BIOS ROM (Rev 1)

  7. Place all BIOS files you have obtained and want to use in /ROMs/BIOS.

  8. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  9. To play Atari 8-bit games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch A8DS.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.

Sega Consoles

PicoDriveTWL vs jEnesisDS

PicoDriveTWL is a port of the PicoDrive emulator to DS hardware. PicoDrive is a more accurate emulator, but generally a bit slower than jEnesisDS. jEnesisDS is generally recommended for a smooth experience, but if you run into issues with a game on jEnesisDS, you may want to give PicoDriveTWL a try and see if it works better.

  1. Download the jEnesisDS zip file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Open/extract jenesisds_0.7.4.zip, and locate jEnesisDS.nds inside. Copy this file to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create a Genesis folder inside it. Place your Genesis game ROMs inside.

    Supported File Types

    jEnesisDS requires ROMs to be in .gen, .bin, or .smd format to be recognized in the file browser. If you have .md ROMs, rename them to .gen or .bin before placing them on your SD card.

    You can find a batch script here to rename all your .md files quickly. Place rename_md.bat in the same folder as your .md ROMs, then double click on it to run the script. It will ask whether to rename your files to .gen or .bin. After you make a choice, all .md files in the folder will be renamed to the target extension.

  5. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  6. To play Sega Genesis games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch jEnesisDS.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.

  1. Download the PicoDriveTWL NDS file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Copy PicoDriveTWL.nds to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create a Genesis folder inside it. Place your .md, .gen, or .smd game ROMs inside.

  5. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  6. To play Sega Genesis games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch PicoDriveTWL.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.

  1. Download the S8DS zip file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Open/extract S8DS.zip, and locate S8DS.nds inside. Copy this file to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create three folders inside: SMS, GG, and BIOS.

  5. Place your Sega Master System or Game Gear .sms or .gg game ROMs inside the SMS and GG folders, respectively.

    More SEGA 8-Bit Consoles Supported

    S8DS also supports more consoles than just Master System and Game Gear. Sega System-E / SG AC / MegaTech is also supported, using MAME format .zip ROMs.

    A list of supported consoles and arcade roms can be found in the S8DS README.

  6. [Optional] Place any BIOS files you'd like to use with S8DS in /ROMs/BIOS.

    • You will need to set S8DS to use the BIOS in the emulator settings: Options -> Machine -> Bios Settings

  7. On your SD card root, create a data folder, then create a S8DS folder inside.

    • This folder is only used by the emulator for save files and configuration, so you don't need to place anything inside.

  8. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  9. To play Master System & Game Gear games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch S8DS.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.

Miscellaneous Consoles

  1. Download the NGPDS zip file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Open/extract NGPDS.zip, and locate NGPDS.nds inside. Copy this file to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create two folders inside: NGPocket and BIOS.

  5. Place your NeoGeo Pocket .ngp or .ngc game ROMs inside the NGPocket folder.

  6. Obtain a NeoGeo Pocket (for monochrome games), and a NeoGeo Pocket Color BIOS. The following BIOS names are pre-configured, but you can change them later in the emulator settings:

    • NGP Color BIOS: ngp-color-bios.ngp
    • NGP Monochrome BIOS: ngp-bnw-bios.ngp

  7. Place your NeoGeo Pocket BIOS files in /ROMs/BIOS. Rename them as needed to match the naming listed above, or change the BIOS paths in settings.

  8. On your SD card root, create a data folder, then create a NGPDS folder inside.

  9. Download this settings.cfg, and place it in /data/NGPDS on your SD.

  10. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  11. To play NeoGeo Pocket games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch NGPDS.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.

  1. Download the NeoDS NDS file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Copy NeoDS.nds to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create a NeoGeo folder inside.

  5. Also on the SD card root, create a data folder, and then create a NeoDS folder inside.

  6. Download this _NeoDS.ini file, and place it inside /data/NeoDS.

  7. NeoDS requires ROMs to be converted to .neo format before they can be used with the emulator. Follow the documentation found here to convert your ROMs.

  8. Once your ROMs are converted, place them in /ROMs/NeoGeo on your SD card.

  9. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  10. To play NeoGeo games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch NeoDS.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.

  1. Download the NitroGrafx zip file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Open/extract NitroGrafx0_9_0.zip, and locate NitroGrafx.nds inside. Copy this file to the Emulators folder.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create a TurboGrafx folder inside it.

  5. Place your TurboGrafx/PC-Engine .pce game ROMs inside the TurboGrafx folder. CD based games are also supported, in .iso format or .bin/.cue format.

  6. [Optional] NitroGrafx needs a CD-ROM BIOS to play CD games. If you want to play those games, place a CD-ROM BIOS inside the TurboGrafx folder.

    • You will need to set NitroGrafx to use the BIOS in the emulator settings: Options -> Machine -> Bios Settings -> Select Bios

  7. On your SD card root, create a data folder, then create a NitroGrafx folder inside.

    • This folder is only used by the emulator for save files and configuration, so you don't need to place anything inside.

  8. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  9. To play TurboGrafx games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch NitroGrafx.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.

  1. Download the ColecoDS NDS file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Copy ColecoDS.nds to the Emulators folder on your SD card.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create two folders inside: Coleco and BIOS.

  5. Place your ColecoVision game ROMs inside the Coleco folder.

  6. Obtain a ColecoVision BIOS dump. Rename the file to coleco.rom if it isn't named that already.

  7. Place the coleco.rom file in /ROMs/BIOS.

  8. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  9. To play ColecoVision games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch ColecoDS.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.

Tip

More consoles than just ColecoVision are supported by ColecoDS - similar architecture devices are also emulated. See the ColecoDS README for more information, and a full list of supported BIOSes.

  1. Download the NintelliVision NDS file.

  2. Create an Emulators folder on your SD card root.

  3. Copy NINTV-DS.nds to the Emulators folder.

  4. On your SD card root, create a ROMs folder, and then create two folders inside: INTV and BIOS.

  5. Place your IntelliVision .int game ROMs inside the INTV folder.

  6. Obtain at minimum, the two required BIOS dumps for NintelliVision: grom.bin and exec.bin.

    Supported BIOS Files

    NintelliVision supports extra BIOS files for maximum game compatibility, and the developer advises users to obtain copies of all supported BIOSes to get the best experience with NintelliVision. Below is a list of supported BIOSes and their hashes:

    • grom.bin - [REQUIRED] 2KB, CRC32: 683A4158
    • exec.bin - [REQUIRED] 8KB, CRC32: CBCE86F7
    • ivoice.bin - [Optional] For Intellivoice games - 2KB, CRC32: 0DE7579D
    • ecs.bin - [Optional] For ECS games - 24KB, CRC32: EA790A06
    • wbexec.bin - [Optional] For full Tutorvision mode - 16KB, CRC32: 7558A4CF
    • wbgrom.bin - [Optional] For full Tutorvision mode - 2KB, CRC32 82736456

  7. Place your IntelliVision BIOS files in /ROMs/BIOS.

  8. Place the SD card back into your cart, and boot into the menu.

  9. To play IntelliVision games, navigate to the Emulators folder, launch NINTV-DS.nds, and select a ROM in the menu.