Software Alternatives & Reviews

melonDS VS mGBA

Compare melonDS VS mGBA and see what are their differences

melonDS logo melonDS

A Nintendo DS emulator with support for commercial games.

mGBA logo mGBA

mGBA is an open source emulator of the Game Boy Advance. The goals are speed and accuracy.
  • melonDS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-10
  • mGBA Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-06

melonDS

Categories
  • Gaming
  • Gaming Tools
  • Emulators
  • DS Emulators
Website melonds.kuribo64.net
Pricing URL-
Details $

mGBA

Categories
  • Gaming
  • Emulators
  • Gaming Tools
  • Gaming Software
Website mgba.io
Pricing URL Official mGBA Pricing
Details $

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

mGBA videos

PS Vita MGBA Emulator Version 0.8.1 Test! (Latest Update)

More videos:

  • Review - PS Vita MGBA Emulator! UPDATED! (Improved Frame Drawing)
  • Review - mGBA Emulator for PC: Full Setup and Play in 2 Minutes (The Game Boy Advance Emulator)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to melonDS and mGBA)
Gaming
53 53%
47% 47
Emulators
53 53%
47% 47
Gaming Tools
57 57%
43% 43
Gaming Software
52 52%
48% 48

User comments

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Reviews

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

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...

mGBA Reviews

We have no reviews of mGBA yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, mGBA should be more popular than melonDS. It has been mentiond 70 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.

melonDS mentions (32)

  • help with bw roms
    Use MelonDS instead, it's the most recommended DS emulator. Source: 9 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: 10 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

mGBA mentions (70)

  • Cheats on Visualboy Advance for Mac
    Visual Boy Advance is actually outclassed these days, use mGBA instead. Source: 9 months ago
  • I must know, how do you emulate fire emblem on a windows laptop?
    Which game do you want to emulate? If you're talking about fe7 (localized as just Fire Emblem in the west), you're gonna need a ROM which I can't link here but I can PM to you if you need it, and an emulator. I recommend Mgba (https://mgba.io/) for GBA games. Source: 10 months ago
  • Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble (D-Pad Controls) (GBC Hack)
    Install the GBA emulator called “mGBA” on your 3DS (You can install it through Universal Updater or heres a link to it: https://mgba.io [v0.10.2] ) It should be a cia file to install through FBI. Source: 10 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
  • If you had to use the 4.5 navis to create a team, who would you choose?
    Here's the thread for the Real Battle Network Gameplay patch, here's the English translation patch, and here's the emulator I recommend where you can just slot in the Navi of your choice to unlock them immediately. The ROM you'll have to scare up for yourself, but I'm sure you can handle it. Source: 12 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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

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

VisualBoyAdvance - VisualBoyAdvance (VBA) is a free software (GNU GPL) emulator targeted for the Game Boy, Super Game...

Drastic - Drastic is a Android DS Emulator

Citra - Citra is a work-in-progress emulator for the Nintendo 3DS.

ePSXe - ePSXe (enhanced PSX emulator) is an emulator of the PlayStation video game console for x86-based PC...