4 Of The Best Nintendo DS Emulators For Android
Long before the fancy foldable smartphones we see today, there was the clunky yet charming dual-screen Nintendo DS. Released in late 2004, the rather unique form factor of the DS opened the doors for intuitive controls and gameplay styles. Selling over 150 million units in the fiscal years of the decade between 2005 and 2015, the DS climbed to be one of the most popular and recognizable handheld consoles to date.
Its inspiration paved the way for its successors, the Nintendo 2DS and the 3DS, both of which were also well-received and highly acclaimed among the gaming community. If you are someone who has owned a Nintendo DS previously and misses playing popular titles like "Mario Kart DS," "Nintendogs," or "Pokémon Black," there is still a way to do so without even requiring you to carry around a secondary device.
Emulation makes it possible for games and apps designed for specific consoles to be enjoyed by anyone on any platform. While there are a host of great emulator apps for Android to choose from on the Google Play Store, the list gets a little more specific when it comes to the Nintendo DS. Based on user feedback and popularity, here are the best emulators you can use to play your favorite Nintendo DS games on Android!
SuperNDS Emulator
With over 5 million installs and an overwhelmingly good 4.4-star rating, SuperNDS Emulator is one of the most popular ways to play Nintendo DS games on Android. While the free version works fine with a few ads sprinkled here and there, it only supports phones running Android 10 or lower. The paid Pro version extends compatibility to Android 13 and retains all the same features found in the free app.
Loading ROMs is made simpler thanks to the autoscanning that the app does at every launch, and quick saving works well. The user interface and design of the buttons are reminiscent of the ones found in the original DS, and the emulator makes good use of haptic feedback throughout the gameplay for a better experience.
Under the settings, you can find options to fiddle around with the execution engine, autosave frequency, frame skip, filters, and a choice to pick the OpenGL 3D renderer. You can also display FPS in-game or swap the locations of the two displays.
The emulator lets you change the layout of the keys as well as map any physical buttons on your phone to one of the action triggers in-game. Overall, despite the slightly wonky compatibility, the minimal approach of the SuperNDS Emulator app will get your favorite nostalgic games up and running in no time.
DraStic DS Emulator
DraStic DS Emulator is the lone paid-only option on our list but is also the one with the most appraisal for compatibility and ease of use. The emulator supports a plethora of features that aid in both the gameplay experience and quality. You can emulate games at double the original resolution, making good use of the increasingly impressive displays of Android smartphones these days.
Just like most emulators, you can mess around with button layout and size settings to better fit your preferences. DraStic is also able to register inputs from third-party controllers, leaving more screen real estate for the actual content. Gameplay-oriented features include the ability to perform a quick save at any time and resume your progress from any save state, as well as fast-forwarding emulation to counter the annoyingly long wait in certain games.
The $4.99 price tag might seem a little steep, but given its track record with bug fixes, updates, and generally positive user feedback, the DraStic DS Emulator is probably the one to pick if other options fail at providing a good gaming experience.
Lemuroid
Apart from having an incredibly cute app icon, Lemuroid offers emulation support for a slew of gaming consoles, likes of which include the Atari 2600, Super Nintendo, Game Boy Advance, PSP, and, of course, the Nintendo DS. Unlike most emulator apps, Lemuroid has a user interface that doesn't look two and a half decades old and has a minimal approach when it comes to laying out its various options.
Handling game states allows you to pause and resume your games at any time. Lemuroid also automatically scans your phone's internal storage to curate a library of available ROMs and its display simulation feature lets you recreate the classic CRT effect on your phone's screen. In supported games and with compatible gamepads, you can play local multiplayer games using this emulator.
Perhaps one of its biggest advantages is the lack of any advertisements, providing for an uninterrupted gaming experience. Being as versatile as it is user-friendly, we highly recommend giving Lemuroid a try, especially if you are one to generally care about minimalism and a less cluttered design.
RetroArch Plus
RetroArch Plus is an all-in-one emulator available for free on Android and works on top of the Libretro developmental interface. Pairing that with its open-source nature allows you to emulate games from popular handheld devices like the Game Boy, PSP, and the DS.
RetroArch isn't ready to use for Nintendo DS games out of the box, but installing the required add-on from the in-app core library is pretty straightforward and quick. Apart from the usual customizability options like button layout adjustment, managing save states, and remapping buttons, you can also rewind certain games. Being open-source has other advantages, too, such as not worrying about anything tracking you thanks to zero advertisements.
RetroArch is also available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and even online through a web browser. You can sideload the beefed-up version of RetroArch from their website on your Android phone which unlocks the ability to select any platform's core you want.