BizHawk vs melonDS

BizHawk is an emulation project centered on EmuHawk, a multi-system emulator written in C#. It targets tool-assisted speedrunners with recording, playback, and debugging tools. EmuHawk records rerecordable movies for 45 or more systems, while the integrated TAStudio provides a piano-roll workspace for composing movies with savestates that rewind and adjust inputs. Other functions include save slots, named savestates, speed control, frame stepping, rewinding, screenshots, audio and video recording, and memory viewing, searching, and editing. Lua and C#.NET can control the frontend and emulator cores programmatically, and keyboard, mouse, and gamepad hotkeys can be rebound. Supported systems include Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony PlayStation, arcade machines, and DOS/Windows. BizHawk is free and open source, with the team’s original work under the MIT License. Installation instructions cover Windows and Unix, but current EmuHawk does not work on macOS; Android and iOS are unavailable.

melonDS is a free, open-source emulator focused on Nintendo DS emulation, with builds listed for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its feature list includes a nearly complete CPU, video, and audio core, a JIT recompiler, an OpenGL renderer with 3D upscaling, joystick support, savestates, RTC, microphone, and lid controls. The project also lists DLDI support. Wi-Fi features include local multiplayer and online connectivity, but are a work in progress and may not work with all games. DSi emulation and GBA slot add-ons are also in progress. DS emulation requires configured BIOS and firmware files; DSi emulation additionally needs a DSi NAND image. melonDS uses raw save files and can import saves from DeSmuME, DraStic, or a flashcard, but does not support the special save memory type used by WarioWare DIY and Jam with the Band. Direct online connectivity requires libpcap or WinPcap, Ethernet, and administrator or superuser privileges; indirect mode does not require Ethernet or those privileges. The software renderer is more accurate but more CPU intensive, while OpenGL may be faster but less accurate.