The world of Nintendo DS emulation has always been a bit of a strange thing. You’re either in the camp where the emulation is fine, or the one where it’s just better to do it on an original console. Recently though, those lines have been blurred with dual screen releases like the Anbernic RG DS, and the AYN Thor. You can now get proper dual screen gaming done on a device built for it. Unfortunately at the same time, Drastic finally decided to go out, and while there are options for low end devices, not a lot of them have been great.
Enter Sapphire Rhonodite, who’s decided to not just help work on one DS emulator, but two at the same time. SeedlessDS and WatermelonDS are two Nintendo DS emulators with a focus on both dual screen emulation, but also low end devices if you’re looking at Seedless specifically. This is a pair of emulators looking to give you options depending on what you need, and as of last night, new drops for both platforms were announced over on their Patreon.
WatermelonDS
Starting with WatermelonDS, it’s a self described upstream fork of MelonDS and the MelonDS Android Port that works for Dual Screen devices, and includes additional features like external display support, OpenGL/Vulkan renderers, and support for RetroAchievements in hardcore mode. It’s impressive to see what they’re working on and the latest 0.7.0 update includes the following.
- The Project as a whole has been renamed from melonDualDS to WatermelonDS
- A Major UI Refresh Including:
- New WatermelonDS Visuals
- Updated Designs
- New Token Designs
- Visual Consistency
- Updated Icons
- Improved ROM List Presentation
- Better Box Art Usage
- ROM Icon Scaling Update
- RetroAchievment Presentation Updated
- Improved account and score display
- RetroArch shader preset for all renderers
- Experimental Vulkan FastPath
As always, I highly recommend checking out their Patreon or the Github for more information on this, but these updates alone will be super helpful for users in the future.
SeedlessDS
So why have two emulators for the same system at the same time? Well as they mention on the main page of this Github, this one is the smaller partner to WatermelonDS and exists as a lighter option to be run on limited power like with the Anbernic RG DS. With this being the 1.0.0-beta1 release, there’s a lot to cover, and again check out their Github for more information, but here’s the big things mentioned.
Main Highlights
- New Android frontend for a DraStic-based core
- Based on the DraStic r2.6.0.4a core
- New UI built from scratch with Kotlin + Jetpack Compose
- UI direction designed to match the WatermelonDS family
- Focused on Android handhelds with physical controls
- Designed with dual-screen devices in mind
- RetroAchievements support work
rcheevos integration pinned to v12.3.0- Achievements, leaderboards, and profile information
- Save states with screenshots
- Quick save and quick load
- Cheat database and custom codes
- Global and per-game settings
- Physical controller mapping
- Front-end friendly launch intent support
Additional Notes
- Built for Low Power Handheldss
- RetroAchievement Support including Hardcore
- Improved UI for handheld usage
- Built for Physical Controls and Mapping Support
- Additional support with front-ends
And of course, at the very end is their roadmap for what they plan to do in the future, but the one thing I really found interesting was this line: “A Linux version is planned, with devices such as the RG35XX SP in mind.” That will be awesome to see if they can get this running on lower end devices like that, and I look forwards to seeing what’s next.
As always, be sure to support developers along the way, whether that’s through Patreon, or offering feedback if they’re looking. Or in the case of Sapphire, you can also check out another project they’re helping work on by the name of iisu. It’s definitely a small upstart project, and any support to check it out as well would be awesome. For now though, keep an eye out for what’s coming down the pipeline.
