The Ds Scene

[Josquius]

Does anyone have any idea about what the DS scene is like?
I'm htinking of getting one and if it has some decent homebrew stuff (mainly thinking of emulators) it would really seal the deal for me.
I don't think I like the GP2X too much at all, all this stuff about the control stick...Has me ill at ease. Also I am considering the DS for its official games too.

 

[DaveC]

Does anyone have any idea about what the DS scene is like?
I'm htinking of getting one and if it has some decent homebrew stuff (mainly thinking of emulators) it would really seal the deal for me.
I don't think I like the GP2X too much at all, all this stuff about the control stick...Has me ill at ease. Also I am considering the DS for its official games too.

Well considering the DS screen resolution is only 256 x 192 and the CPU is only 66 MHz it is not too great for emulation.

While it may be useable for systems like Speccy, forget MAME, NeoGeo, Megadrive, and any other systems that were about 320 x 240.

The DS is ok for the official games though.

 

[iignotus]

There's a lot of really, really interesting homebrew that takes advantage of the touchscreen (and mic iirc), but personally it's too much of a hassle to get a linker and gba cart, etc. Official DS games are really fun, though that's probably all you'll be playing on it (and GBA of course).

 

[PSyMastR]

Ive got the PassMe2, but no flashcart as of yet. Any suggestions for a good one thats cheap?

 

[grahf]

The DS (and gameboy) scenes were never super populated, since the price of admission is high.. flashcarts used to be so damn expensive. Recently they are getting dirt cheap, so a lot of cool stuff is starting to come out of the woodwork.

Also, dont bother with a clunky pass-me. A compatible wifi card + Wifi-me is much better (and cheaper).
The best, is Wifi card + Wifi-me + Flash-me = bliss

 

[PSyMastR]

Ive already got it, and its much cheapter then a wifime + the card i gotta buy, and all that. (Plus, I cant take it anywhere [If I had the WifiMe] as I'de be away from my computer) So, any good flash cards you reccomend?

 

[Fishbong]

What? you ´re seriously carrying that hulk of a passme around with your DS? I can´t believe it.

Seriously, flash your DS and then get rid of the passme... Those things are anyway only for warez kiddies who are not clever enough to flash their device but want to play pirated games.

 

[fitzsteve]

Ive got the PassMe2, but no flashcart as of yet. Any suggestions for a good one thats cheap?

Check out the Supercard, its cheap and great for playing DS Backups, uses CF or SD cards for storage. DS Games run at full speed and most work due to frequant firmware updates. Not great for GBA Roms though as many suffer slow down, somthing to do with slow RAM.

Steve.

 

[PokeParadox]

Another alternative is the M3 adaptor. It's basically the same as the supercard, and also comesin CF or SD...
It does a lot better with GBA stuff and I am yet to find anything that gets messed up with it (both GBA and NDS).

Another alternative is the M3 adaptor. It's basically the same as the supercard, and also comesin CF or SD...
It does a lot better with GBA stuff and I am yet to find anything that gets messed up with it (both GBA and NDS).

 

[nickspoon]

Yay for automerge.

 

[PSyMastR]

Any cheaper solutions? Or is the Supercard it?

Note, im not looking to play GBA dumps, as Ive got a GBA (it would be nice though), only DS homebrew and stuff.

 

[dustin]

http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/DS_Homebrew has all the information you need on how to get started. If you have a DS with old firmware you can flash your DS using the GBAMP which is pretty darn cheap. If you have the new firmware supercard is the cheapest I think but you should still check out the link. If you don't know if you have new or old check out the link anyway. Also for anyone planning to buy a DS I might wait until the DS lite comes out, should be relativly soon.

 

[Mark1970]

Well considering the DS screen resolution is only 256 x 192 and the CPU is only 66 MHz it is not too great for emulation.

While it may be useable for systems like Speccy, forget MAME, NeoGeo, Megadrive, and any other systems that were about 320 x 240.

The DS is ok for the official games though.

They could go for that sub-pixel-technique some of the emulators (and also some commercial games) have been using to 'enhance' the resolution. Also Microsoft's cleartype shares some of these techniques.

http://www.ece.purdue.edu/~hankd/SUBPIX/Index.html
http://www.tinaja.com/glib/muse141.pdf

Cheers, Mark

 

[grahf]

SnesDS works excellent on the DS. 256x224, is 16 pixels trimmed from the top and bottom. Most games are programmed with being played on TVs with cut borders anyhow, so its no problem. I suggest everyone check out SnesDS, its really an amazing emulator. Compatibility is still low, but i was very impressed by the speed and excellent sound.