I planned to get a dsi and emulate gba games, but it seems that the emulation is not too great. I see it’s even worse on the ds lite.

If I use a gba flash cart in the ds lite, should I have full compatibility?

Additionally, how does screen quality between the 2 compare? I don’t care much about the size, but overall picture quality.

Thanks in advance!

  • Nazo
    5•1 day ago

    @neon_nova This is incorrect. NDS, DSi, and 3DS do not emulate GBA games. They have the actual chip that the GBA uses inside them (the NDS used the same chip for sound processing, so GBA got grandfathered into the 3DS by virtue of it supporting NDS games.)

    The only thing I can think of that you might have read is some may not have liked the screen resizing. It should be the same between the NDS and the DSi however. Early 3DS firmwares had a resize people apparently didn’t like, but by the time I ever got a 3DS it looked fine. Maybe you heard that?

    The only problem is that since they use a 100% hardware exact method, this doesn’t include support for special hardware in the few games with it. The few games with them needed special patches. (There aren’t many games like that though.)

      • Nazo
        2•1 day ago

        @neon_nova Seems like not really a bunch, but that page is specifically for GBALoader. I don’t know about the “Virtual Console” loader, but I’m pretty sure it has fewer compatibility issues because I’ve played a few of those “no boot” games. At least on the 3DS. (I never had a DSi. I went straight from NDS to 3DS.)

        I would assume there are surely tools for building “Virtual Console” images for the DSi as well. I know on the 3DS there’s a great one called “New Super Ultimate Injector” but it’s probably 3DS only (it gives you a .cia installer file.) If there are that should open up some options.

        Otherwise, with the hardware range mentioned, you would indeed have to do a slot 2 cart. IMO it’s a lot more inconvenient, but YMMV. They do draw a bit more power though. Bear that in mind

        • @neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
          2•1 day ago

          Thanks for letting me know. I wasn’t aware that was an option. I completely skipped the ds generation as a kid. So, I’m going to try to catch up. Normally I’d emulate, but the dual screens is annoying to emulate.

          • Nazo
            1•15 hours ago

            @neon_nova I can understand that. The main thing I wanted to emphasize was mostly just that when a 3DS runs a NDS or GBA game and when a NDS or DSi runs a GBA game it is running in 100% hardware. There might be compatibility issues due to the loading process itself (especially 100% software loading like GBA mode on the DSi or 3DS) but the system actually reboots into that mode running directly on the actual chipset itself. That means other than any issue the loader might introduce, things run 100% speed with 100% exactness because it literally is the same hardware.

            BTW as far as emulating NDS and/or 3DS goes if you ever have to, some emulators like RetroArch’s will let you set one screen to be big and the other small. This helps a lot sometimes. Most games only really use one screen