Pico DS - NDS / DS Emulator

Our take

Using MelonDS as the emulation core is the right call, it’s the most accurate DS core available, and the autosave feature is genuinely useful for portable play. But at 500-plus installs and a 3.5 average, this is clearly a small, early-stage tool compared to the bigger names in Android emulation.

About Pico DS - NDS / DS Emulator

PicoDS is an easy to use DS aka NDS emulator for your Android device. It allows you to play backups of your favorite games, or explore new indie games developed for the console.

• Highly accurate. Emulation is based on the highly accurate MelonDS core, so games play exactly as you expect.

• Uber-saves. Automatically save and resume your games at any point. Even if the game doesn’t support saves. Now you can resume your games like you never put them down. Even if your battery dies.

• Touch optimized controls. A touch screen presents certain challenges versus physical controls. Certain techniques that are easy on a physical controller are hard on typical touch screens. To fit two screens onto a smartphone, we’ve made it possible to switch between showing both, the top only, or the bottom screen only.

• Controller support. While touch controls are convenient for being built in, sometimes you want to hold a real controller. PicoDS supports all popular controllers. If yours is not supported, send us an email and we’ll do our best to make it work.

• Contribute to emulator development. The EmulationOnline team contributes to the state of the art of emulator development, both through research and education. For an example of research, see our chiplab at https://chiplab.emulationonline.com/6502/ For an example of education, you can learn all about the NES at https://emulationonline.com/systems/nes/

• Play on your own schedule with automatic save / pause / resume. Any time you close a game, your progress is saved. Whether you just want to switch games, your phone battery dies, or you just need to get back to real life, your progress will be saved.

Disclaimer: Games are not included. PicoDS is not affiliated with Nintendo.