The Best DS Homebrew
August 8, 2007, by Erlog After the last article we posted on Nintendo DS homebrew we were inundated with interest from forumgoers, friends, and search engines. So, we’ve decided to take a more in-depth look at some of the best, most professional, homebrew available. In no particular order, here is a list of DS homebrew that will have you wondering just how you lived without it. Click on the title of any section to go the official web page for that homebrew.
Moonshell
Moonshell is the single most useful application available for the DS. It plays mp3’s, reads txt files, and plays back movies encoded with DPG. On top of this, it is a very customizable program. You can control the sound, look, and feel of it almost any way you want. Also of note about Moonshell is that it has an amazingly reliable resume function for movies and mp3’s. Like, better than my iPod good. Unfortunately, this could bite you in the ass if you’re testing out Moonshell with some video clips of ill repute and then decide to show your family. Don’t do this. Be careful with your Moonshell.
File Explorer in Moonshell w/ skin support.
DSOrganize
Ever wanted a PDA that only half works? Well, DSOrganize is for you. It’s kind of like Moonshell, but it’s a little more polished in some areas and a little less in other areas. It has notes, calendar, and painting functionality while also having basic text editor and file browsing capabilities. I keep it around for editing configuration files for other homebrew I keep on my card. DSOrganize seems to work very well for some people, but I’ve never understood the love for it. It’s got a few good things combined with a few bad things. Still useful, but it’s far from a panacea.
SNESEmulDS
SNESEmulDS is the confusingly-spoken name of the only current and regularly updated SNES emulator available for the DS. While lots of stuff still doesn’t work, there have been reports of people getting quite a few RPG’s to work along with stuff like Zelda and Super Metroid. It supports most of the standard emulator stuff like save states, SRAM support, and configuring emulation specifics.
nesDS
nesDS is a fantastic NES emulator. It kind of languished for a while, unupdated and barely working, but that time is now over. nesDS has been updated to improve the overall functionality of the emulator. It supports save states, SRAM, and even fast-forward/rewind. Good times.
ScummVM DS
ScummVM DS is one of the most polished applications available for the DS. It has been regularly updated since the project was started, and it has very good documentation. For those of you living under a rock for a number of years, ScummVM is an open source project that seeks to make playable the back catalog of LucasArts adventure games on modern systems. This includes games like Sam ‘n Max, Monkey Island, and Day of the Tentacle. Playing these on the DS with touch screen support and full speech is an amazing experience.
The Secret of Monkey Island playing in ScummVM DS.
LemmingsDS
LemmingsDS is, quite obviously, a port of the PC classic Lemmings to the DS. It supports quite a number of control schemes, and includes all of the levels from Lemmings, Oh No! More Lemmings, and all Xmas Lemmings games. This gives you more than ~200 levels to play on the go, and is a pretty amazing example of how feature-complete some homebrew can be when developers give the projects the attention they deserve. Except for the control-scheme adaptations and zoom support, playing Lemmings on the DS feels exactly like playing it on a PC.
DSReader
For those of you who enjoy cracking open a book from time to time, there is one good option available to you. Now, I know you theoretically could use DSOrganize or Moonshell to read your text files, but I can guarantee you that it wouldn’t be as nice an experience as using DSReader. DSReader is made with the express purpose of reading eBooks on the DS. It only supports txt files for right now, but it has the ability to render TrueType fonts. This means you can drag and drop your favorite fonts into it improving readability over that of DSOrganize or Moonshell. It also has the standard book reader bookmarking functionality which is often overlooked, but extraordinarily handy.
Okiwi
Okiwi is a promising homebrew web browser for those people not wanting to drop the exorbitant, over-the-top, unprecedented $29.95 for the official web browser. It works okay, but should work better in the future. Right now, it’s a little slow and the controls need a little work. It’s a little too easy to accidently click links when trying to move around. One cool feature is that it can render HTML files located on your flash cart. So, right now, it’s one of the only reliable ways to view appropriately formatted text on the DS. People may be able to get some mileage out of that.
DSAim
DSAim, like the name implies, is an AOL Instant Messenger client. I’ve never used it, but I have heard that people have used it reliably and it works. I have no idea how well it works or why you would want to use it. The DS doesn’t support HTML log-in pages for access points or WPA encryption, and so there are severe limits on how useable DSAim is for most people. It just won’t work in most public places, but if you find yourself reliably in a place where you can connect to an access point with your DS then this might just be for you. For you Canadians, there is an MSN-flavored program called beup.
DiceWarsDS
I’ve only played the fun flash version of this timewaster, but I could see getting some very good play out of the recently released DS version. It’s a territorial game that is a slightly more fleshed out version of the board game Risk. Your mileage may vary, and I have yet to play it. But, this is what homebrew is all about anyway. It’s about finding new things, trying them out, and telling your friends. God speed.
Dicewars DS
DLDI
A special note here for a homebrew application that doesn’t usually get its due. It’s not an application for your DS, but it makes a lot of homebrew possible. It wraps flash cart file functionality to DS applications. This allows things like Moonshell to access your flash cart. In the days before this wonderful system, developers had to make a version for each individual flash cart available. This meant that lots of things didn’t work for a lot of people. DLDI fixes all of this. Developers, now, only need implement the standardized DLDI functions in their homebrew. The users then get a tiny file for their flashcart that is then applied to the homebrew to make it work. DLDI sits between the homebrew and the flash cart, and makes everything easier. Thank you so much, Chism!
Conclusion
Conclusion is not a DS homebrew program. It is an all-too-obviously named section of a document, and it is what I am writing at this very moment. There is a whole mess of DS homebrew available. Some of it is good, and some of it is not. These are only a few of the very good DS homebrew applications available. You can find out more about homebrew on your own by paying attention to sites like Drunken Coders. Have fun.
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