NeoCD/SDL vs NeoDS

NeoCD/SDL is a port of the NeoCD NeoGeo CD emulator to the SDL library. It can run many original NeoGeo CD games and is listed for Windows, Linux, BeOS, and Dreamcast; the project also lists ports for Xbox and PlayStation 2. Each of two players can use a keyboard or a separate joystick. Keyboard shortcuts control fullscreen display, video effects, frameskip, sound, screenshots, and quitting. To run the emulator, users need an uncompressed 512kb system ROM named neocd.bin. The documentation says users are not entitled to a copy of the copyrighted BIOS unless they own an original NeoGeo CD console. The emulator and its source code are free, but selling is not allowed, and the emulator cannot be provided on the same physical medium as NeoGeo game software. Source code and technical knowledge may be reused only for non-commercial purposes. Downloads include source and binary files. Windows builds require MinGW, MSYS, SDL development libraries, and NASM; Linux builds require SDL source and NASM. The program is distributed without warranty.

NeoDS is a Nintendo DS emulator for NeoGeo AES and MVS games. It emulates the M68000 and Z80 CPUs, graphics, ADPCM and PSG audio, as well as NeoGeo protection and encryption. NeoDSConvert converts NeoGeo ROM sets into .neo files, and the emulator uses the same ROM sets as MAME. The documented setup requires a Nintendo DS Lite and a DLDI-compatible flash card. A Slot-2 flash card with RAM is optional and can improve the speed of some games. The emulator supports button remapping, normal or scaled video, CPU underclocking, and saving configuration and SRAM to the flash card; its graphical interface is operated with a stylus. It does not emulate FM audio, raster effects or multiplayer, and some timings are not very accurate. The repository describes the project as a fork of a 2008 NeoDS release being updated to 2026 MAME sets. The emulator is free to use for non-commercial purposes; save states appear in the README’s TODO list rather than as a supported feature.