Please enable JavaScript to watch this video. Update: April 15th, 2014 nds4ios has updated their emulator UI, added Dropbox capabilities, changed their certificate date to February 8, 2014, and added a testing version of the emulator on their site.
The below instructions have been updated accordingly. Step 1: Download & Install the Emulator From your mobile web browser on your iPad or iPhone, go to. If you're jailbroken, choose one of the Cydia options. If not, choose the OTA version, then hit 'Install' when the popup appears. After the whole installation process is complete, open up the emulator.
Step 4: Add Some Nintendo DS ROMs UPDATE: The plus sign used to add ROMs is now gone from nds4ios; see the update at the bottom of this article to see how to manually add ROMs. Since this is just an emulator, there won't be any games installed, but you can find ROMs by tapping on the plus (+) sign at the top right. Only download ROMs that you own. If you don't own them, you're technically committing piracy and the FBI might raid your house and arrest you.
You've been warned. You can also mess with the settings by tapping on the three-lines symbol in the top left. I enabled Bottom, which relocates the controls to the bottom of the emulator (leaving it on Top makes the controls stay at the top of the emulator, which get in the way of gameplay).
Heres a thought, Nintendo made these games fine from the systems they were programmed for. This is piracy. If you want to play these games, buy them from Nintendo.
Cant find an original DS? 3DS is fully backwards compatible.
Dont want to do that? Go to a pawn shop or find one online. Want to play GBA games?
Same thing, buy one at a pawn shop or find one online. Is 3DS an option for downloading games? Ive downloaded a few classics on my 3DS and im satisfied with it.
The games dont crash, dont suffer framerate losses, and most of all, ITS NOT ILLEGAL. Nothing in life is free. You pay for it one way or another. You're right! Buying possibly broken or damaged, overpriced, pre-owned Nintendo consoles and carts off eBay or at a flea market does in fact support Nintendo directly! Man, too bad I'm not rich, or else I could afford one of nintendo's earthbound carts for snes, you know, since there were so few released in America and the average price per cart, not including box/cover or manual is $300. Oh, but of course, buying discontinued items for outdated consoles from a 3rd party is most definitely helping Nintendo out, right?
Maybe if you stepped off your high horse for a minute, you would realize this: Nintendo isn't remastering or even repackaging these games, they are literally mixing emulators in with the new software for 'backwards compatability', and then selling us roms. It's a new trend in the field of entertainment: Take out the software/hardware that allows for true backwards compatibility, like how the wii could read gc disks, or Xbox 360 could read Xbox disks, or the various Nintendo portables, etc, and charge money for games that were already made. It's cheap, and makes more money for less effort. Emulators are a solution to this corrupt form of commercialism. Granted, yes piracy is theft, but the prices they charge for outdated games is highway robbery.
Now, I'll support the industry if I find a current game I'm interested in, but not for older games, since they were discontinued. Also, newer consoles aren't fully backwards compatible as how you state.
It's up to how that company decides what games to allow back on the market. Otherwise, we would have the entire mother series, or the entire final fantasy series up to the hardware capabilities of that console, but they don't.
Emulators, however, can be used for translations and hacks. TL;DR, think before you type, and no, buying from eBay/flea market does not help nintendo, nor do emulators for previous gens hurt it.