Libretro melonDS is a promising Nintendo DS/DSI emulator developed in C and C++.
The melonDS emulator aims to provide a fast and accurate Nintendo DS emulation. Although it is still a work in progress, it has a pretty solid set of features:
It was written by Arisotura (known as StapleButter), a former contributor to DeSmuME.
This core is under GPLv3 license.
RPI0/RPI1 | RPI2 | RPI3 | RPI4/RPI400 | ODROID XU4 | ODROID GO | PC x86 | PC x86_64 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
Feature | Supported |
---|---|
Restart | ✔ |
Screenshots | ✔ |
Saves | ✔ |
States | ✔ |
Rewind | ✔ |
Core Options | ✔ |
RetroAchievements | ✔ |
RetroArch Cheats | ✔ |
Controls | ✔ |
Remapping | ✔ |
Filename | Description | MD5 | Provided |
---|---|---|---|
bios7.bin | ARM7 BIOS | df692a80a5b1bc90728bc3dfc76cd948 | ❌ |
bios9.bin | ARM9 BIOS | a392174eb3e572fed6447e956bde4b25 | ❌ |
firmware.bin | NDS Firmware | 145eaef5bd3037cbc247c213bb3da1b3 e45033d9b0fa6b0de071292bba7c9d13 3ad72b2c9a736b24953f2d391da4bfcc | ❌ |
Put the bios like this:
┣ 📁 recalbox
┃ ┣ 📁 share
┃ ┃ ┣ 📁 bios
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣ 🗒 bios7.bin
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣ 🗒 bios9.bin
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣ 🗒 firmware.bin
Roms must have the extension:
This system supports compressed roms in .zip/.7z format. However, be careful, it is only an archive.
The files contained in the .zip/.7z must correspond to the extensions mentioned above.
Moreover, each .zip/.7z file must contain only one compressed rom.
Put the roms like this:
┣ 📁 recalbox
┃ ┣ 📁 share
┃ ┃ ┣ 📁 roms
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣ 📁 nds
┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┣ 🗒 game.zip
The roms using No-Intro format are highly recommended.
For more information about roms, go to this tutorial!
To be able to keep your custom configurations during an upgrade, we advise you to use our configuration override feature.
You can configure various options in two different ways.
┣ 📁 RetroArch Menu
┃ ┣ 📁 Core options
┃ ┃ ┣ 🧩 Name_option
retroarch-core-options.cfg
:┣ 📁 recalbox
┃ ┣ 📁 share
┃ ┃ ┣ 📁 system
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣ 📁 configs
┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┣ 📁 retroarch
┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┣ 📁 cores
┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┣ 🧩 retroarch-core-options.cfg
Options | Options values | Variables (for configuration override) | Variables values |
---|---|---|---|
Boot game directly | Enabled ✅ / Disabled |
melonds_boot_directly |
enabled / disabled |
Screen Layout | Top/Bottom ✅ / Bottom/Top / Left/Right / Right/Left / Top Only / Bottom Only / Hybrid Top / Hybrid Bottom |
melonds_screen_layout |
Top/Bottom / Bottom/Top / Left/Right / Right/Left / Top Only / Bottom Only / Hybrid Top / Hybrid Bottom |
Hybrid ratio | 2 ✅ / 3 |
melonds_hybrid_ratio |
2 / 3 |
Swap Screen mode | Toggle ✅ / Hold |
melonds_swapscreen_mode |
Toggle / Hold |
Threaded software renderer | Disabled ✅ / Enabled |
melonds_threaded_renderer |
disabled / enabled |
Touch mode | Disabled ✅ / Mouse / Touch / Joystick |
melonds_touch_mode |
disabled / Mouse / Touch / Joystick |
OpenGL Renderer (Restart) | Disabled ✅ / Enabled |
melonds_opengl_renderer |
disabled / enabled |
OpenGL Internal Resolution | 1x native (256x192) ✅ / 2x native (512x384) / 3x native (768x576) / 4x native (1024x768) / 5x native (1280x960) / 6x native (1536x1152) / 7x native (1792x1344) / 8x native (2048x1536) |
melonds_opengl_resolution |
1x native (256x192) / 2x native (512x384) / 3x native (768x576) / 4x native (1024x768) / 5x native (1280x960) / 6x native (1536x1152) / 7x native (1792x1344) / 8x native (2048x1536) |
OpenGL Improved polygon splitting | Disabled ✅ / Enabled |
melonds_opengl_better_polygons |
disabled / enabled |
JIT Enable (Restart) | Enabled ✅ / Disabled |
melonds_jit_enable |
enabled / disabled |
JIT block size | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 32 ✅ / 33 / 34 / 35 / 36 / 37 / 38 / 39 / 40 / 41 / 42 / 43 / 44 / 45 / 46 / 47 / 48 / 49 / 50 / 51 / 52 / 53 / 54 / 55 / 56 / 57 / 58 / 59 / 60 / 61 / 62 / 63 / 64 / 65 / 66 / 67 / 68 / 69 / 70 / 71 / 72 / 73 / 74 / 75 / 76 / 77 / 78 / 79 / 80 / 81 / 82 / 83 / 84 / 85 / 86 / 87 / 88 / 89 / 90 / 91 / 92 / 93 / 94 / 95 / 96 / 97 / 98 / 99 / 100 |
melonds_jit_block_size |
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 32 / 33 / 34 / 35 / 36 / 37 / 38 / 39 / 40 / 41 / 42 / 43 / 44 / 45 / 46 / 47 / 48 / 49 / 50 / 51 / 52 / 53 / 54 / 55 / 56 / 57 / 58 / 59 / 60 / 61 / 62 / 63 / 64 / 65 / 66 / 67 / 68 / 69 / 70 / 71 / 72 / 73 / 74 / 75 / 76 / 77 / 78 / 79 / 80 / 81 / 82 / 83 / 84 / 85 / 86 / 87 / 88 / 89 / 90 / 91 / 92 / 93 / 94 / 95 / 96 / 97 / 98 / 99 / 100 |
JIT Branch optimisations | Enabled ✅ / Disabled |
melonds_jit_branch_optimisations |
enabled / disabled |
JIT Literal optimisations | Enabled ✅ / Disabled |
melonds_jit_literal_optimisations |
enabled / disabled |
JIT Fast memory | Enabled ✅ / Disabled |
melonds_jit_fast_memory |
enabled / disabled |