dasShiny vs GB Enhanced+

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.

GB Enhanced+ is a free, open-source emulator for DMG, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and Pokémon Mini systems, available on Windows, Linux and macOS. Nintendo DS emulation is described as experimental. The project focuses on emulating peripherals and less common hardware, with support listed for the Wave Scanner, Wantame Card Scanner, Vaus Controller and WorkBoy. It also supports link-cable emulation, real-time clock features, save states and controller input. Configuration options include joystick haptics, accelerometer input for motion controls and netplay settings for linking emulator instances. The emulator can automatically apply an IPS or UPS patch file when it shares a name with a ROM. PDF and ODT manuals cover operation, netplay, rumble support and motion controls. Building it requires SDL 2.0, OpenGL 3.3 or greater, a C++ compiler and CMake; Windows also requires GLEW. Qt for the GUI and SDL2_net for netplay are optional. It is licensed under GPLv2. Save states from version 1.9 and earlier are incompatible with version 1.10.