DS Emulation Sensation
MAX Media Player lets you relive those ageing gaming sensations on your Nintendo DS…
Ever want to play your old Spectrum games on the go? Would you like to revisit some of the greatest graphic adventures of the 16-bit era? Want to play arcade ROMS on your DS? Well now you can!
One of the most interesting aspects of the DS home brew scene is emulation. An emulator is a program that allows a computer or console to run software written for another machine. The DS has numerous emulators available, allowing you to run games programmed for the Spectrum, Amiga, SNES, arcade machines and others. Just transfer the emulator to your MAX Media Player’s 4GB HDD or your GBA flash cart, along with the program files written for the machine you wish to emulate (commonly known as ‘ROMs’), and you’re away.
When entering the exciting world of emulation, a couple of things must be borne in mind. Firstly, no emulator can ever offer a perfect reproduction of the machine it seeks to emulate. There’s always something they can’t do, so don’t expect every game to run on an emulator. Also, most home brew software is constantly updated and improved, giving it new functionality, better compatibility and more. If a given emulator doesn’t work when run with MAX Media Player from your 4GB HDD or your flash cart, or your favourite game of old doesn’t play or runs at a poor frame rate, check the emulator’s home page again a few weeks later to see if a new, improved version has been released.
Finally, none of the emulators listed here are programmed or supported by Datel. Please direct any questions you might have about them to their programmers.
Our Favourite Emulators
Everyone likes to take their favourite retro games with them when they travel, and with some of the great emulators for the DS, you can do just that. And it doesn’t get any more retro than Space Invaders! Chris Double has written an emulator which faithfully recreates this most ancient of coin-ops. You can download it at his site, but not the ROM for the game itself, which for copyright reasons, is not distributed with the emulator. You can get it from various sites which offer arcade-machine ROMs, but you should only download it if you own the arcade board.
SCUMM, or Script Creation Utility for Manic Mansion, is arguably one of the finest emulators released in recent years. And guess what? There’s a version for the DS! The emulator is designed to run games written using the graphic-adventure creator originally designed for Manic Mansion (hence the name). Currently in Version 0.6, the DS version is capable of running a wide range of 16-bit adventuring gems, including Beneath a Steel Sky, Flight of the Amazon Queen, Gobliiins, and Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max and, of course, Manic Mansion. Check out Revolution Software’s site [www.revolution.co.uk] for some free downloadable games too…
It’s one of the best DS home brew sites on the net! At DS Emulation, you can check out all the latest public domain games, applications and emulators, as well as reading about the latest DS news. And as well as the apps, games, emulators and more stored on the site, it also offers links to plenty more home brew programs elsewhere on the net.
As well as being the ultimate DS home brew solution, MAX Media Player is perfect for running GBA programs. GBA Emulation is a News and downloads site for the Nintendo GBA Micro & Game Boy Advance.
Troy Davis is one of the top home brew developers on the DS. Known as GPF online, GPF Development is his own site, where he shares his wares on the Dreamcast as well as Nintendo’s happening handheld.
MAX Console is one of the best games enthusiasts’ sites on the net, and they've a great download section – just follow the link on the home page.
NDS Home Brew is exclusively dedicated to bringing you Nintendo DS home brew – it’s as simple as that. Not the jazziest site on the net, but it’s packed with quality downloads and is easy to navigate.