ANDSemu vs dasShiny

ANDSemu is a free, open-source Nintendo DS emulator for Android phones and tablets. It provides a streamlined graphical interface for running Nintendo DS games, with portrait stacked, landscape side-by-side and landscape stacked screen layouts, plus LCD swapping. Save states and cheat support are included. The project describes its code as based on nds4droid and DeSmuME, and also names DSdroid in the repository. ANDSemu is licensed under GPLv3; redistribution, forks and selling a fork require compliance with that licence, including source files and build scripts. The README recommends Google Play installation and gives source compilation as an alternative. However, AppBrain reports that the app was removed from Google Play on January 14, 2013. Its historical listing describes a free download requiring Android 2.3.3 or later. Source builds require ActionBarSherlock, Android Support Libraries and ndk-build for DeSmuME and other native libraries.

dasShiny is a free Nintendo DS emulator for Linux, macOS, and Windows. The maker describes it as highly experimental and aims it at people familiar with cartridge folders and recent BSNES versions. Its interface looks for a gamefolder.nds/manifest.xml file; a blank manifest directs it to a ROM in gamefolder.nds/rom, which can be up to 1 GB. Setup requires ARM7 and ARM9 BIOS files and firmware, and the maker advises backing up rewritable firmware. The emulator can load homebrew ROMs, but it does not implement DLDI support for FAT access, so software that depends on that access may not work. Games listed as known to run include Super Mario 64, Mario Kart DS, and Animal Crossing: Wild World, along with several demos. Pokémon Diamond/Pearl is reported to save but crash at the load menu. For 3D, the maker says a high-end Core 2, i5, or i7 is pretty much mandatory in the described context. Windows users are advised to choose XAudio2 over DirectSound.