Best NDS Emulators for PC, Android, and iOS in 2026

Tech & Gaming
1

DS emulation has been mature for a while but the best options have shifted depending on platform. Here’s the current state broken down by device.

PC – melonDS is the answer now

melonDS has become the recommended DS emulator for PC, overtaking DeSmuME which was the standard for years. It’s open source, actively developed, and has better accuracy and performance in most cases.

Key features:

  • Accurate DS and DSi emulation
  • Local wireless emulation support (multiplayer between two melonDS instances on the same PC or network)
  • OpenGL renderer for upscaling
  • JIT recompiler for performance
  • Saves are compatible with other emulators
  • Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux

What about DeSmuME? DeSmuME still works and runs most games fine. Its development has slowed significantly though. For a new setup in 2026, melonDS is the better starting point. DeSmuME can be a fallback for specific games that have compatibility issues on melonDS, but that’s uncommon.

RetroArch option: Both melonDS and DeSmuME are available as RetroArch cores if you’re using that frontend. The melonDS core is the recommended one.

Setup basics for melonDS

Download from melonds.kuribo64.net. The setup is similar to mGBA – extract the archive, open the executable, configure controls under Config > Input and Hotkeys.

One important step: the DS BIOS and firmware files improve compatibility and are required for some features like DSi mode. They’re not bundled with the emulator for legal reasons but are widely documented. Once you have them, point melonDS to their location under Config > Emu settings > DS mode.

The dual screen layout can be configured in View – you can set vertical, horizontal, or single-screen with a toggle between the two. Useful depending on your monitor orientation.

Android – DraStic

DraStic is the DS emulator for Android. It’s fast, has excellent game compatibility, and supports hardware controllers, custom layouts, and save state management. It costs a few dollars on the Play Store and is worth it – the free DS emulator options on Android are notably worse.

Features worth knowing: speed-up mode (hold a button to fast-forward), gyroscope support for games that used it, and Dropbox/Google Drive save syncing.

iOS – Delta

Delta is a free, open-source multi-system emulator for iOS that includes DS emulation. It’s available through the App Store following Apple’s policy changes on emulators in 2024. DS emulation quality in Delta is solid for most games.

Delta also handles GBA, SNES, NES, N64, and GBC, making it the practical all-in-one option for iOS retro gaming.

BIOS files

Neither melonDS nor DraStic require BIOS files to run most games, but having them improves compatibility, particularly for games that check firmware settings. The BIOS situation is the same across platforms – not bundled, needs to be sourced separately.

2

melonDS for PC is the right call. I switched from DeSmuME about a year ago and the difference in accuracy for a few games I was playing was noticeable. The wireless multiplayer feature is also genuinely cool – ran Pokemon trades between two instances on the same machine which I didn’t think would be possible.

3

DraStic on Android is one of those rare paid emulators that’s actually worth the cost. The performance on mid-range Android hardware is impressive and the UI is well thought out. I’ve tried a couple of free alternatives and they’re meaningfully worse in both compatibility and usability.

4

Delta on iOS becoming App Store available was a significant shift. Before that you needed AltStore or a developer account to sideload it, which was a real barrier for non-technical users. The App Store version has the same quality with a much simpler install path.

5

The DeSmuME vs melonDS transition is a good example of how emulator recommendations can go stale quickly. A guide from four or five years ago would have said DeSmuME without question. Always worth checking whether a recommended emulator is still actively maintained before committing to it.

6

The dual-screen layout options in melonDS are genuinely useful depending on your setup. I run mine in horizontal layout on a widescreen monitor with the two screens side by side – it uses the screen space better than vertical stacking and feels more natural for games that had active content on both screens.