Emulation Guide #12 - Nintendo DS with upscaling using Desmume via Retroarch
My favourite handheld - well possibly. The DS holds some classic games and some first class conversions of SNES and N64 games to the handheld format. Any handheld that gives you Mario Kart on the move has to be worth owning!​
​
Due to the dual screen format and touch screen not all DS games transfer well to PC - but those that do certainly benefit from the resolution enhancements on offer through Desmume/RetroArch
As with most emulation using RetroArch once you've downloaded the correct core its plain sailing to load your games and get playing - and the resolution enhancement is pretty similar as with our guides to emulatiung PlayStation and Nintendo 64 (both guides are listed in the Retro Gaming section) . The emulator can be found below.
​
RetroArch website: https://www.retroarch.com/?page=platforms
​
You will obviously need some games, and there is a link below to Internet Archive which has ever has a near complete set of ROMs for the Nintendo DS, literally thousands, but you will need to register with the site to access them (it doesn't require anything other than an email address and setting a password, no personal data required!).
As always I can't vouch for all of the Roms as I have not tested them all - but the Internet Archive generally provides a good source for Retro games.
More generally if you are looking for other options for sourcing ROM files, or off the shelf solutions for emulation and front ends, then consider having a look at my wider games hunting advice - https://www.beanzontech.com/emulation-games-hunting.
Points to note:
General:
-
If you have a multicore CPU make sure you set the GPU core to the ones that best suits your setup (probably 4..)
-
L3 and R3 together will get you in to the settings menu whilst in game play, it's there you can play around with the display settings and resolution enhancements.
Controllers
-
As RetroArch will automatically recognise your Xinput controller there is not much to do - the standard mapping is what you would expect for the DS.
Display
-
These can be changed between the classic top/bottom of the DS handheld to a number of different options.
-
If, like me, you prefer to use the Hybrid/Top display setting for most games pressing R3 will toggle the main screen between the top and bottom screens.
Resolution​​
-
I was using a Ryzen 5 4650g for this video, enhancing at increased resolutions using Desmume is processor heavy - I really struggled to get beyond 4 times resolution before I noticed slowdown. Fortunately 3 or 4 times resolution looks great on a 32" monitor!
-
Its best to play around with the settings once your in the game to get maximum resolution - I did find that the 3d type games struggled beyond 3 times resolution - 2d games could more readily handle 4 times or even more
​​
Pretty straightforward really! I hope you enjoy the video and the gaming - let me know in the YouTube comments whether you think this was any good and whether you feel that emulating handhelds is worthwhile?
Until the next one - Go Well!
​
Archive.org links (you might need to be registered as user):
Roms:
​
Alternatively try Azvarel Retro Gamer on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxxGheAWm3Y
​
He provides an individual link to a Mega or Google drive location with each video, the video details the games included in that link.
​
But watch out for AdF.ly and the sometimes dubious links.....
​
​
​