10 of the best Nintendo DS emulators for PC that let you play Pokemon games (2022)

We’re not going to talk about the past of the Nintendo DS or try to explain why you want to play it right now. I’ll cut to the chase since I know why you’re here. We have put together a list of some of the best Nintendo DS apps for PC and Android.

Play Pokemon DS games that are only available on the Nintendo DS. These games will take you back to your childhood. I like having a Nintendo DS version for PC because of Pokemon. You could play Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid Prime Hunters, or other Nintendo games. If you still want to play Pokemon games on your PC or Android, here are some of the best Nintendo DS emulators:

Best Nintendo DS Emulators (2022)

The Best PC Games That Feel Like Nintendo DS

1. DeSmuMe

Emulator for Nintendo DS games called DeSmuMe
The name is a little strange, and it sounds even stranger when you say it. DeSmuMe is one of the best DS emulators for PCs, though. You can get it on both Windows and Mac.

Nintendo DS games work pretty well on both, but when I played games on highest graphics on my MacBook Air (2017 edition), I had frame drops. In the end, the speed will depend on how your PC is set up.

Good thing you can change a lot of things about the images and emulator settings. There are also some other useful tools, like a cheat code manager and support for USB controllers. There is also a save spot in the NDS emulator that lets you pick up the game where you left off.

A lot of Nintendo DS fans like DeSmuMe, but the open-source project does have a few issues. The last stable update came out in 2015, and workers don’t work on the project very often. Aside from that, the emulator doesn’t work with all Pokemon games, but you can still play them. There is also no WiFi simulation.

It’s available for Windows and Mac

Why should you use DeSmuMe?

• Changes to graphics
• Very Good Compatibility

2. MelonDS

MelonDS is the best emulator for DS.
MelonDS is always at the top of the list when we talk about the best Nintendo DS apps for PC. A lot of people have said that this emulator is like the most popular NDS emulator, DeSmuMe.

This PC emulator doesn’t have as many emulation and graphics choices as DeSmuMe, but it does great things in some areas, like rendering DS games very accurately.

The Nintendo DS emulator’s new OpenGL draw lets you use high resolutions even on systems that aren’t very fast, and Melon’s new JIT recompiler lets it emulate quickly. If you want to play Pokemon games on your PC, MelonDS is the best option. You can use it to play DS games on Windows.

The local Wi-Fi support for playing group games is another great thing about the MelonDS. Even though this function is still being tested and only works with a few games, it’s great that it works at all. Other than that, it has a save slot, a few screen layout choices, and support for a joystick, which is standard for PC NDS emulators.

Window and Linux versions are available.

MelonDS: Why use it?

• High speed when resolutions are raised
• Lots of accuracy

3. NO$GBA

Pokemon on the NO$GBA
Even though NO$GBA was first made to emulate Game Boy Advance games, it is still one of the best Nintendo DS emulators for Windows. One good thing about this DS emulator is that it works with games from the GBA, the Nintendo DS, and the Nintendo DS Lite (DSi).

The DS emulator doesn’t have a lot of graphic choices. But with a few changes to the settings, you can get images for games that are about as good as DeSmuME. One good thing about the tradeoff is that the Nintendo DS emulator works very quickly, even on PCs that aren’t very powerful. Second, compared to the other best NDS emulators on this list, it doesn’t use up much system resources.

The issue is with the lack of screen layout tools, though. Also, the shared feature is still being tested, and it didn’t work for me that way. You can only get the version on Windows. Besides that, you can use a joystick and save your progress. NO$GBA also has its own team that helps with cheat codes.

Where You Can Get Windows

Why should you use No$GBA?

• It uses little memory and is fast.
• It also works with GBA and Nintendo DSi games.

4. RetroArch (Most versatile DS emulator)

RetroArch is different from the other Nintendo DS emulators here because it can play games from almost all old platforms. It is planned to have a number of mimics, or “cores,” built into a single piece of software.

For us, RetroArch has DeSmume and MelonDS for playing NDS games. As an all-in-one emulator, it lets you play games from the NES, SNES, DS, DSi, 3DS, 64, Atari, MAME, and other hardware.

It might be hard to get used to the user experience at first, but it gets easier over time. But running games isn’t as easy as it is with the other Nintendo DS emulators on this page.

Besides that, it has all the important graphics and emulators choices. You can boost the original resolution all the way up to 4K and use shaders to make games look very different. You can use a joystick, save your progress in a slot, and change the layout of the screen.

There is a chance that RetroArch will use up more PC resources than other programmes. It is still one of the best versions for PC, though.

Why should you use RetroArch?

• Emulator for everything
• A few games already installed

Availability: Every platform

5. OpenEmu

A Mac version of OpenEmu
OpenEmu is another piece of software that gives other game emulators a front end. This PC emulator is pretty much the same as RetroArch in terms of the devices it supports and the ways it can emulate them.

One thing that sets OpenEmu apart from the others is its UI, which is incredibly simple and clean. If you have a Mac, the screen will look like iTunes. Like, the emulator sorts games by platform and shows the box art for each one. OpenEmu comes with the DeSmuMe emulator, which lets you play Nintendo DS games.

Some users might not like that there aren’t many image settings. Also, when I tested, I didn’t see a way to raise the internal resolution. It has pretty much everything else, like choices for screen layout, save states, cheat code support, and so on. It works with a huge number of controllers, such as DualShock, Switch Pro, Wiimote, and more. OpenEmu is one of the best DS emulators for mac in general.

Availability — Apple Mac

OpenEmu: Why use it?

• Streamlined UI
• All-in-one emulator

The best Nintendo DS emulator for Android in 2022 is [name of emulator]

1.DraStic DS Emulator

It makes sense that people want to play Nintendo DS games on Android since the Nintendo DS was a handheld game system. And DraStic is the best DS version for Android so far.

When it comes to features, the app is just as good as the DS versions for PC. That’s why you can use controls, save states, map buttons, and so on. You can also raise the internal screen with this app. However, the best performance is only likely to be seen on smartphones with high-end specs.

The app makes up for the fact that smartphone screens are very different from Nintendo DS (dual-screen) screens by giving you six different layout choices. There is a stacked view, a single view, and a choice to make one screen shorter than the other. The default view makes both screens the same size.

You have to pay $4.99 for DrasTic, which is the only bad thing about it. The price doesn’t really matter, though, when you think about how many features it has.

Availability — Google Android

Why go with DraStic?

• Save files online with Google Drive
• Speed up emulation

2. Citra (Nintendo 3DS Emulator)

Without a question, Citra is the best Nintendo 3DS emulator for PC Pokemon games. You can play a lot of 3DS games at full graphics and high resolution even if your machine isn’t very good.

Users of the Nintendo 3DS simulator can set the internal resolution to as high as 4K, which makes Pokemon games and The Legend of Zelda games even more fun. As for the games, Citra’s website has an area where you can check to see if Nintendo 3DS games work with the PC emulator.

Going back to the programme, it works with a joystick, lets you change how the screen looks, and supports cheat codes. The Nintendo emulator has a screen recording built right in. Citra also acts like the 3DS’s built-in Wi-Fi. This means you can play with other people who also have this DS version running.

Citra is also available for Android, making it the only Nintendo 3DS simulator for Android that works.

Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android users can get it.

Why should you use Citra?

• Multiplayer support
• 10x internal resolution

3. Lemuroid

The lemuroid
Android users can also use Lemuroid to play Nintendo DS games. This one, unlike DraStic, is free to use and doesn’t have any ads.

Lemunroid works with a lot of different systems besides the Nintendo DS. These include the Atari 2600 (A26), the Atari 7800 (A78), the Atari Lynx, the Nintendo (NES), the Super Nintendo (SNES), the Game Boy (GB), the Game Boy Colour, and many more.

There are all the features you need, like the ability to save quickly and use a gamepad. You can also hook up more than one gamepad. This Android app lets you play Nintendo games, and it also has a list of all your games.

Availability — Google Android

Why should you use Lemuroid?

• Connect more than one gamepad
• ROMs that can be zipped

For now, you can also read our story about Nintendo Switch emulators for PC and Android on this page!

Extra tools for DS Emulation

Check out some more apps that let you play Pokemon games on a DS. Ten DS emulators were tried, but these apps didn’t make the cut. But because they are well-known in the community, they still deserve to be mentioned.

• EmuBox (Android)
• SuperNDS emulator (Android)
• Free DS emulator

Should emulators even be legal? If you use DS versions, will you get in trouble?

Oh, yeah, emulators. Not so much with ROMs. Any kind of emulator is just software that pretends to be a game system. This is a lot like torrent clients. Torrent clients are not illegal in and of themselves, but getting torrents is.

In the same way, PC emulators are not illegal, but it is illegal to download and play games on the same simulator. There have been different points of view on the subject, though. The Nintendo website, on the other hand, says that making digital copies of old NDS games is against the law, even though Nintendo no longer makes DS games and doesn’t make any money from this.

These were some of the best PC games that let you play DS games. If you want to play games from your phone on your PC, you might be interested in the best iOS or Android apps for PC.

F.A.Q

How do I get Pokemon on my PC?

Emulators for the Nintendo DS, like MelonDS, NO$GBA, OpenEmu, and more, let you play Pokemon games on your PC.

What makes DeSmuME a good emulator?

It’s one of the best.

Has DeSmuME been given up?

DeSmuME has not been left behind, no. There hasn’t been a stable build since 2015, but the latest file patch can still fix the old build.

Can DeSmuME play games for 3DS and GBA?

Yes, all NDS handheld game systems can be simulated by the DeSmuME emulator. Users can play 3DS games with the DeSmuME simulator because of this. It can’t, however, play GBA games.