melonDS

melonDS is an emulator for the Nintendo DS and DSi. This app is the Android port, by Rafael Caetano, of the melonDS project for PC; version 2.0.0 moved it to the melonDS 1.1 core.

Games and BIOS

• No games are included. You need your own DS games as ROM files, dumped from cartridges you own.
• DS games need no BIOS files. Since melonDS 0.9.4 the emulator has carried an open-source replacement for the DS BIOS, written for the DraStic emulator, and the Android app uses it unless you switch to your own files. We checked: the two BIOS images built into this APK are byte for byte the open-source ones from the project’s FreeBIOS.cpp, not Nintendo’s.
• Your own dumps are needed to boot into the DS’s own menu without a game, and for DSi mode: the DSi BIOS, firmware and NAND files, which come only from a DSi console.

Features

• An OpenGL renderer with resolution scaling up to 8 times the DS screen, added in beta 1.10.0 and made faster in 2.0.1.
• Save states, rewind and fast-forward. Save states made with 2.0 don’t load in older versions, and the other way round.
• Cheats in Action Replay format, typed in or imported from XML databases. No codes are included.
• RetroAchievements, with a hardcore mode that turns off save states and rewind.
• Gamepads, custom screen layouts, dual-screen handhelds (AYANEO and AYN, which lent test devices), and the Rumble Pak.
• The phone’s camera and microphone stand in for the DSi camera and the DS microphone; that is what the camera and microphone permissions are for.

Missing, according to the README: local multiplayer and DSi SD card support. The developer also says performance is solid on 64-bit devices with JIT, but “very poor” on 32-bit devices, which lack JIT.

What goes online

• Update checks. The GitHub build looks for new releases on GitHub at most every 22 hours and can download and install them, which is why it asks to install apps. Updates come from the same developer and carry the same key as this file. In the 2.0.1 source code, turning the update check off doesn’t seem to stop it: the code treats “off” as “check now”. We haven’t tested this on a device.
• RetroAchievements, if you log in.
• Nintendo’s update server, only when you import a DSiWare title into a DSi NAND: melonDS downloads that title’s small metadata file from it, over plain HTTP.

Our scan found no tracker libraries.

About this file

• This is the official GitHub release, app-gitHub-prod-release.apk from version 2.0.1, byte for byte (the SHA-256 matches the hash GitHub publishes). That is why its version reads “2.0.1 GH”. It is signed with the developer’s key, CN=Rafael Caetano (SHA-256 fingerprint starting 04:93:BB:87); beta 1.10.0 was signed with the same key.
• The Google Play version, “2.0.1 PS”, is built separately; see the FAQ about switching. melonDS isn’t in F-Droid’s main repository.
• The 21.1 MB file runs on Android 7.0 and later, on 64-bit ARM, 32-bit ARM and 64-bit x86. It declares 16 permissions, 4 of which need your approval.
• melonDS is licensed under GPL-3.0.

Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi are trademarks of Nintendo. melonDS is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo.

Notice for the built-in BIOS

The replacement BIOS inside this APK is distributed under the following licence, which asks that binary copies carry it:

Custom NDS ARM7/ARM9 BIOS replacement. Copyright (c) 2013, Gilead Kutnick. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1) Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2) Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

CPU types in this build: arm64-v8a (64-bit ARM, almost every phone since 2017); armeabi-v7a (32-bit ARM, older and budget phones); x86_64 (64-bit Intel, emulators and Chromebooks).

Recent releases on the project’s GitHub. We host and check only the newest one. Full changelog.