iDroidDS vs SkyEmu

iDroidDS, also called nds4droid, is a free Nintendo DS emulator for Android smartphones. It uses DeSmuME 0.9.11 as its core and lists save states, cheat support, and screen layouts for Both, Main, Touch, Portrait, and Landscape. The project is open source under the GNU General Public License, welcomes contributions, and says the emulator has no advertisements. Supported processor architectures are armeabi-v7a, arm64-v8a, x86, and x86_64. This version requires Android 5.0 (Lollipop) or newer; the README says devices with more than 512 MB of RAM and that Android version should be able to run it. Performance can vary with device hardware and the game being emulated. The repository warns that it is not the official nds4droid repository and that the project is not stable. Issues can be reported through GitHub tickets, but reports involving devices below Android 5.0 or ROMs that do not operate correctly will be closed. Dropbox save syncing and work on the OpenGL ES 2.0 and 3.0 renderers are listed as planned tasks. The software is provided as-is without warranty.

SkyEmu is a free emulator for Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS systems. It runs on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows, and can load ROMs compressed in ZIP archives. Graphics options include upscaling shaders, color correction, and screen ghosting. Controls include game controllers, rumble, configurable keybinds, and mobile on-screen controls. Four persistent save-state slots include screenshot previews. A REST-like API supports asynchronous scripting and automation, and listed integrations include Retro Achievements, a RetroArch/libretro core, and Google Drive save-state sync. The web app runs locally using WebAssembly and JavaScript, keeping files on the user's machine; its service worker enables offline use on more platforms. The project describes its focus as preserving these systems for future generations while providing a good user experience. It says Game Boy Advance emulation is significantly more accurate than its Game Boy and Game Boy Color emulation. Many Nintendo DS games still have mild graphics and audio issues, and DS emulation is beta quality.