Software Alternatives & Reviews

melonDS VS RetroArch

Compare melonDS VS RetroArch and see what are their differences

melonDS logo melonDS

A Nintendo DS emulator with support for commercial games.

RetroArch logo RetroArch

RetroArch is a frontend for emulators, game engines and media players.
  • melonDS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-10
  • RetroArch Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-22

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

RetroArch videos

RetroArch - Getting Started! Your Ultimate Retro Gaming PC! [Setup and Demonstration]

More videos:

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to melonDS and RetroArch)
Gaming
18 18%
82% 82
Emulators
18 18%
82% 82
Gaming Tools
25 25%
75% 75
Gaming Software
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using melonDS and RetroArch. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

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

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...

RetroArch Reviews

Best DS Emulator: Are These Emulators Safe And Legal To Use?
RetroArch also supports a wide range of controller types, making it a great choice for gamers who want to use their favorite controller.
Source: appletoo.us
5 Best Nintendo DS Emulators for PC
It has highlights like RetroArch are shaders, netplay, rewinding, next-frame response times, run ahead, machine translation, blind accessibility features, and much more.
Best emulators for Android in 2023
RetroArch is a popular open-source front-end for emulators. If you’re into playing retro games, RetroArch is your one-stop shop for all your emulating needs. It's not an emulator by itself but instead allows you to add "cores" that act as the backend to emulate several legacy consoles. While most of its most popular emulators are already covered here by dedicated apps, it...
5 of the Best GameBoy Advance (GBA) Emulators for Android
RetroArch is a poster child worldwide of emulation, specifically due to the fact that it’s not precisely an emulator. The retroArch is best refer to as a solitary, unified application where you can communicate with other emulators.
4 Free Open Source Game Emulators For Windows PC, Linux, and macOS
In addition to this, you are able to run original game discs (CDs) from RetroArch. RetroArch has advanced features like shaders, netplay, rewinding, next-frame response times, runahead, machine translation, blind accessibility features, and more! What systems does it play?

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, melonDS should be more popular than RetroArch. 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.

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: 12 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

RetroArch mentions (20)

  • RetroArch cannot be found on the PlayStore, the first result is a copycat. It is just me?
    No, isn't just you. Every 64-bit phone haves the Play Store Retroarch available, the 32-bits no. But you can still download the 32-bit version on the Retroarch website. Source: 12 months ago
  • Cause of the intrusion has been found and isolated. Sites are operational again.
    It was only the download links on retroarch.com on the Platforms page that got (briefly) redirected for a few hours. That should all be safe now. Source: 12 months ago
  • Malicious download links?
    Yes, only the retroarch.com and libretro.com websites were affected. Source: 12 months ago
  • Recent update from supposed hackers
    I went to retroarch.com and it said "discord.gg/evaderz is big haxors" its unrespectable. Source: 12 months ago
  • Latest RetroArch on Xiaomi Mi box
    I've got installed RetroArch Plus from Google Play on my Xiaomi Mi box 4k and I want to update it to the latest version. I downloaded apk from retroarch.com but when I use apk installer to update it say is not compatible. I removed version from Google Play but fresh install 1.15.0 is not compatible too. I tried 32 and 64 version. What I'm doing wrong? Is any other AndroidTV version? Source: 12 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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

OpenEmu - Console and Arcade video game emulator for macOS.

Drastic - Drastic is a Android DS Emulator

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

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

BSNES - bsnes is a Super Nintendo (SNES) emulator focused on performance, features, and ease of use.