melonDS vs. DeSmuME—Which Is the Best DS Emulator?

DS emulation has been around for quite some time, but these two emulators are still at the forefront and are considered by most players as the go-to options for their NDS gaming sessions. 

That’s why the question arises: Which is better? melonDS or DeSmuME?

While they may appear to offer the same stuff, these two emulators actually give you significantly different experiences. 

One offers sharper visuals and wireless trading, while the other packs in cheats and beginner-friendly menus.

In this expert review, I’ll share my experience of over 10 years playing DS games on various emulators and compare the two top players. 

After this showdown, you’ll find out which DS emulator is the best for you.

More emulator content from Pokemoncoders:

• How to Trade Pokemon on MelonDS
• 7 Best Nintendo DS Emulators for Cheating
• DraStic DS Emulator Review For Playing Pokemon DS Games On Android
• 15 Best Pokemon DS ROM Hacks

melonDS vs. DeSmuME: Head to Head

DeSmuME is the older and more used one, while MelonDS is the more modern alternative. Each has its own pros and cons, so we’ll be using multiple important factors to judge these two emulators. 

Performance

For most players, this is the most important factor in choosing an emulator. In the end, we just want fast and stable gameplay, right? 

When it comes to speed and performance, here’s what I observed from hands-on use:

DeSmuME:

Stable but slower. Games like Black/White sometimes dip in frame rate on low-end PCs. Frame skip can help, but it sacrifices animation quality. I notice this especially on big maps such as Castelia City. 

MelonDS:

MelonDS is designed to work smoothly even on low-end devices. Thanks to its built-in JIT compiler, even my old Intel Celeron laptop can run Pokemon games stably. 

Enabling JIT makes Pokemon games run at 60+ FPS consistently. Overworld navigation and battles feel snappy. So if raw performance is what you’re looking for, MelonDS is the clear winner.

Verdict: MelonDS offers faster and smoother performance. DeSmuMe isn’t bad at all, but it falls short compared to the newer emulator. 

Graphics and Visual Quality

I don’t know about you, but DS Pokemon games seem to have better overworlds and visuals than more modern games. That’s why I always make a huge deal about graphics quality in emulators.

DeSmuME:

Brighter and more lively. It offers upscaling and OpenGL rendering. 4x is the sweet spot for me when it comes to the GPU scaling factor.

MelonDS:

Offers the same graphics features and upscaling. Colors are less saturated. It scales beautifully at 4x native resolution.

Verdict: Tie. Both emulators can give you sharp and vibrant graphics. They definitely look way better than the original DS. It all comes down to personal preference.

Features and Quality of Life

In all honesty, the previous categories were neck-and-neck matches, and you can’t go wrong with either of these emulators. 

However, the difference in features between them will most likely be the deciding factor for you.

1. Cheats

DeSmuME: Cheats are very important, especially if you mainly play Pokemon games, and I love how simple and efficient DeSmuME’s cheat interface is. 

Just hit Ctrl+C on your keyboard and put in any code you want. You can easily add and manage GameShark, Action Replay, and CodeBreaker codes. 

The interface is clean, cheats can be toggled on and off, and the emulator very rarely crashes due to code use.

MelonDS: Cheat support is there, but it’s more limited and less polished. Codes sometimes require manual formatting, and the system isn’t as user-friendly.

Verdict: DeSmuME is the clear winner. If you rely heavily on cheats, it’s the more practical option.

2. Save States

Both emulators support:

• Traditional in-game saving (Pokemon Centers).
• Multiple save states let you reload progress instantly.
• DeSmuME: Offers more advanced save state management, with options for renaming and scripting. However, there’s an error sometimes where DeSmuME stops responding if you instantly load state before it finishes the intro screen of a Pokemon game.
• melonDS: Keeps things simple but effective.

Verdict: It’s a tie. DeSmuME is more polished when it comes to save states, but because of the error, they’re evenly matched.

3. Trading and Battling

DeSmuME: Sadly, even after being around for over a decade, DeSmuME still doesn’t support DS-to-DS wireless connectivity. That means no in-game trades, no battling friends, and no evolving trade-based Pokemon.

MelonDS: It supports local wireless and Wi-Fi emulation, letting you trade and battle just like on original hardware. Want to evolve Kadabra into Alakazam or swap exclusives between Diamond and Pearl? You can actually do it here.

Verdict: MelonDS. No brainer. It’s the only emulator with the most reliable wireless connection emulation.

Final Verdict: Which DS Emulator Should You Choose?

In the end, choosing the better emulator all comes down to personal needs and preferences. Here’s a checklist you can use to finally decide between DeSmuME and melonDS.

Conclusion

In the end, both DeSmuME and MelonDS are awesome emulators. They allow us to travel back in time to simpler times when we were genuinely happy, even with simpler games. 

Their reliability, performance, and features are all worth giving a shot. But with our guide, you can be sure which one suits your needs best.

If you’re looking for cheat-heavy, casual runs, DeSmuME is the more practical choice. But if you’re leaning towards multiplayer, trading, battling, and a future-proof experience, MelonDS is the modern solution.

Here at Pokemoncoders, we help trainers all over the world in making the most out of their Pokemon journeys. If you have any questions, make sure you comment down below.