Software Alternatives & Reviews

EmulationStation VS melonDS

Compare EmulationStation VS melonDS and see what are their differences

EmulationStation logo EmulationStation

a graphical emulator front-end

melonDS logo melonDS

A Nintendo DS emulator with support for commercial games.
  • EmulationStation Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-10-20
  • melonDS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-10

EmulationStation videos

Playing Classic Games with EmulationStation & RetroArch

melonDS videos

Quickly Setup melonDS Emulator For Windows & Linux!

More videos:

  • Tutorial - MelonDS DS Emulator for Nintendo Switch - How to Setup & Overview - Homebrew CFW App
  • Review - MelonDS Version 0.8.2 for For Nintendo Switch CFW

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to EmulationStation and melonDS)
Gaming
37 37%
63% 63
Emulators
37 37%
63% 63
Gaming Tools
35 35%
65% 65
Online Games
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare EmulationStation and melonDS

EmulationStation Reviews

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melonDS Reviews

Best DS Emulator: Are These Emulators Safe And Legal To Use?
MelonDS also offers high-performance graphics and sound emulation, making it a great choice for gamers who want an authentic DS experience.
Source: appletoo.us
5 Best Nintendo DS Emulators for PC
When we talk about best DS emulator for PC, we can’t avoid MelonDS. MelonDS is also one of the best Nintendo DS emulator. It has the following advantages:
Best emulators for Android in 2023
The Nintendo DS has such a wide back catalog of games to play, many of which are both incredible and not very computationally taxing. melonDS is the best way to enjoy those games on the go, and that's thanks to its ease of use. It's a free emulator that you can download from the Google Play Store, though it's not an official port (as melonDS is made for PC originally), and...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, melonDS should be more popular than EmulationStation. It has been mentiond 32 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

EmulationStation mentions (13)

  • Anyone using a launcher?
    In my opinion the ideal situation would be a backend that any developer could build a frontend to that would suit their approach. For example there are many Retroarch frontends like Highscore, EmulationStation, etc. These all suit the needs for what some person may want. Source: about 1 year ago
  • SteamDeck Windows 11 Guide - Installed Win 11 on the SteamDeck and don't know what to do next? This is for you.
    Replacement for the epic EmuDeck. It utilises EmulationStation. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Is there a user interface that will load all roms from NES up through GameCube?
    I use EmulationStation on a lot of devices. It would cover what you're looking for. Other frontends I like are RetroArch and Daijisho. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Gifting an old pc to my handicapped grandson.
    If you want to piece meal and customize it RetroArch and Emulation Station is the way to go. Also have a robust wiki. Source: over 1 year ago
  • First ever “setup” im very poor
    Helpful link https://emulationstation.org/. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

melonDS mentions (32)

  • help with bw roms
    Use MelonDS instead, it's the most recommended DS emulator. Source: 10 months ago
  • Pokémon emulators
    You mean emulators running on PC? It took some doing, but I finally got DS Download Play to work on MelonDS. First you need to get DS firmware files. I found one on Retrostic that did not work for me. Melon told me it was an old hacked dump, and trying to boot it just got me a white screen. I found another on the Internet Archive that works. Source: 11 months ago
  • I feel like people put down MelonDS too much here
    MelonDS is actually doing a lot of really cool stuff. I can't speak too much on the Android build, but on PC they have actually gotten multiplayer too work flawlessly and they are currently working on implementing netplay. You can keep up with their progress here. Source: 11 months ago
  • Hi, new to emulators. I had a question, can I run gba and nds games on this?
    No, you can use mGBA for GBA games, and MelonDS for NDS games. Source: 11 months ago
  • Completely new to emulation
    AFAIK randomizers are usually romhacks, and so they should work on most DS emulators, I personally use melonDS, however you can find a list of DS emulators here. Source: about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing EmulationStation and melonDS, you can also consider the following products

RetroArch - RetroArch is a frontend for emulators, game engines and media players.

DeSmuME - DeSmuME is a freeware emulator for the NDS roms & Nintendo DS Lite games created by YopYop156.

Batocera.linux - Batocera.linux is an open-source and completely free retro-gaming distribution that can be copied to a USB stick or an SD card with the aim of turning any computer/nano computer into a gaming console during a game or permanently.

LaunchBox - LaunchBox is a portable, box-art-based games database and launcher for DOSBox, emulators, arcade cabinets, and PC Games. Download it free!

Drastic - Drastic is a Android DS Emulator

Playnite - Source code generated using layoutit.com