A Few Questions

[JushinLiger]

Hello everyone, I'm a GBA homebrew fan and I finally upgraded to DS. I've currently got a Supercard SD and I've got a Superkey in the post (I should have it by tomorrow). I just wanted to ask the following:

1. I already have a few NES and SMS ROM's on my SCSD, should I download a new emulator or used the one already installed and just switch to GBA mode?

2. To run the emulators, do I need to have an emulator in the same folder as the ROM's or do I compile the ROM's together to make a .NDS file with them on?

3. Which emualtors are best to use for:
NES
Master System
Gameboy
Gameboy Color
SNES
Sega Genesis
Atari 2600
Amastrad CPC
MSX

Thanks for any help. I can't wait to play some of my old games on DS :D

[DanTheManMS]

1. I already have a few NES and SMS ROM's on my SCSD, should I download a new emulator or used the one already installed and just switch to GBA mode?
The built-in one is PocketNES v0.97 I believe. It works fine, but you'll be limited to the GBA resolution. The WIP builds of NES DS support the Supercard SD, so I would suggest using that instead, as it has greator functionality (though it is missing one sound function).


2. To run the emulators, do I need to have an emulator in the same folder as the ROM's or do I compile the ROM's together to make a .NDS file with them on?
Depends on the emulator and the device being used. For instance, with NES DS, slot-2 Supercard users do not have to prepackage them. Just create an empty nesDS.nds file, launch it, and use the browser to select the .nes file to launch. Slot-1 device users however need to prepackage their roms since NES DS doesn't understand their filesystems, and the resulting file must be less than 3-4 MB or so in order to fit into the DS's RAM. Other emulators may not work the same way. With SnezziDS, you have to preconvert your files, but with SNEmulDS you don't.

NES - As I stated before, NES DS is your best bet here. Use the WIP builds made by emu_kidd for saving support. Alternatively, you could download a known working version using DSOrganize's Homebrew Library if your Wifi connections are setup correctly. It connects to a website and downloads the file directly to your SD card.

Master System - check the DS News posts, as I believe there was a recent SMS emulator released, but I can't remember the name. Otherwise you could try SMS Advance for the GBA.

Gameboy - Goomba or Goomba Color, both of which run in GBA mode. You can use the built-in version in the Supercard menu, or you can build your own using the newer WIP builds (which get rid of the border color change issue). See the Goomba forum of http://boards.pocketheaven.com for more details about the WIP builds.

Gameboy Color - See above

SNES - You have three choices here, SNES DS, SnezziDS, and SNEmulDS. Of these, I would recommend either SnezziDS or SNEmulDS. SnezziDS has greater compatibility and fullspeed for more games, but SNEmulDS offers many gameplay options and the ability to load straight .smc files directly off your card. SnezziDS requires GBA compatibility, so it will work on your Supercard SD but not any of the newer slot-1 devices, while SNEmulDS will run on nearly every device. Try both emulators and see which ones work better for different games. There are also partial compatibility lists for here for SnezziDS (http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/SnezziDS_Compatibility_List) (somewhat outdated, as the newest version is v0.28a) and here for SNEmulDS (http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/SNEmulDS_Compatibility_List).

Keep in mind that SNES emulation on the DS isn't really all that great yet, so don't expect too much. Not all games are compatible, and many games have graphical or gameplay glitches. Usually the graphical ones can be remedied somewhat though. In SnezziDS, press L+R+Select+Up a few times to cycle through various known "good" background settings. In SNEmulDS, go to the Options and tap the settings once to change them, then hit Back to see if they improved things. Repeat until you find a workable combination.

Sega Genesis - I think the only one is called Picodrive DS and runs without sound. I have not personally used this.

Atari 2600 - according to http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk the only one is StellaDS (http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk/emulators-for-nintendo-ds-19962.html). Once again, I have no personal experience with this. I think there was some Atari type emulator in the recent news, though that might have been a different system.

Amastrad CPC - again using DCEmu as a source, try CrocoDS

MSX - same here, try the ones at DCEmu, or try MSX Advance, which according to the "Flubba's Other Emus" section of the PocketHeaven boards, works well.

[JushinLiger]

Cheers for all the help, thats cleared up all the questions I had. :D