Handheld gaming saw a new dawn in 2004 when gaming tech giant, Nintendo, announced its next handheld gaming console, the Nintendo DS, or NDS for short. The NDS was a successor to the Game Boy Advance and rose to immense popularity due to its upgraded graphics over its predecessor and a superb library of games to go with it. The NDS’ dual screens made way for an economical gaming experience with the use of touch input via its stylus.

Must Read: Best Android Emulators for Gaming

It’s been well over a decade and a half since the first NDS systems hit the shelves, and if you’ve somehow lost it to the years gone by or for any other reason, and you wish to experience it all over again, you’ve come to the right place. Today, we’ll be looking at some of the very best NDS emulators for android

1) RetroArch

RetroArch is one of the best NDS emulators for Android. It is a free, all-in-one emulation system with support for tons of other gaming systems and NDS is one of them. You’ll need an NDS core to get RetroArch working but when you do, it’s an absolute charm. The settings and navigation through it can be a bit daunting, but features like different shaders, netplay, and graphics enhancement options among other things coupled with an intuitive GUI, provide a solid NDS Gaming experience overall.

2) Happy Chick emulator

Happy Chick emulator stands out as the ultimate solution for gaming enthusiasts looking to delve into NDS games. Renowned for its versatility and user-friendly interface, Happy Chick eliminates the hassle of complex settings and programming issues often encountered with other emulators like Retroarch. Offering an extensive library of classic titles, from Pokemon to God of War, this emulator ensures a seamless gaming experience with its outstanding soundtrack and graphics. With support for 18 different consoles, cloud synchronization, custom gamepads, and more. Happy Chick revolutionizes portable gaming by allowing users to record and share their best gaming moments with friends.

3) DraStic DS Emulator (Paid)

If you want to play NDS games with maximum fun, and no buggy or glitchy experiences, then DraStic is the best Android NDS emulator for that. Developed and well-updated by Exophase, this is a superb Android NDS emulator that runs effortlessly on pretty much all devices, with no kind of lags or latency. It provides options for better graphics settings if your device can handle it. It comes with a database of cheat codes. With save states and quick-save features, you can pick up right where you left off. The emulator can support an external controller as well if the device itself can do that. The only caveat is that it isn’t free; you’ll have to pay $5 for it but let me assure you, these would be the best $5 you’ll ever spend. The experience and the ease of use itself make it bang for the buck!

4) Fast NDS Emulator

If paying isn’t for you, then this free and the next most optimal Android NDS emulator is what you should go for. Android NDS Emulator or FreeDS as it was called earlier, is a solid emulator that can provide you with the best glitch and lag-free experience without paying a cent. Like DraStic, this too can run well on most Android devices and has more or less the same features. You can upscale the graphics, use fast-forward, and access its cheat codes too. However, this Android NDS emulator runs ads on it (well some form of compensation has to be done) and they’re not a problem either if your mobile internet connection isn’t on. I think this is a fair trade-off.

5) NDS4Droid

NDS4Droid is a pretty old Android NDS emulator and actually one of the first ones to pop up in the free NDS emulation scene. It hasn’t received an update in a while, however, it is perhaps the next best thing you can get. It has some issues with lower-end devices, like lag, latency, and just generally a bit unstable, however, it does get the job done. The best part is that it is open-source, and you could use the code to build something on top of it or make some adjustments yourself to see how things work.

6) Emubox

EmuBox is an NDS emulator with a bunch of compatible systems. Nds being one of them. It also includes PlayStation and SNES. This is one of the few Nintendo DS emulators with a Material Design that makes it look really good. There are some occasional bugs if you use a lot of cheats but otherwise, it works pretty well. It has ads though which can be avoided by playing offline only.

7) Lemuroid

It is as beginner-friendly as DS emulators come you can simply install it and start playing.

8) SuperNDS

SuperNDS is a great NDS emulator for Android with over a million downloads. Many gamers use this as their Nintendo DS replacement. This Nintendo emulator needs a compatible game rom to work.

You need to copy your NDS game files to an SD card or internal memory, load up the SuperNDS emulator, and you’re ready to play the game you loaded.

9) Citra Emulator (early access)

Citra emulator is another great new emulator available on their own website. It has a beautiful user interface and is very simple to use to many other emulators. You can also listen to music during the gameplay. It’s fun and free to use.

10) NDS Boy Emulator

NDS Boy! is a Nintendo DS emulator for Android that lets you play all the games from this impressive hand-held gaming console from Nintendo. The emulator has a pretty high compatibility rate, which means that practically every game will work correctly. That said, the fluidity of most roms depends on your Android model. Some games are pretty demanding in terms of performance, and if you have a device with less than 2 GB of RAM, then it’s possible that it might have lag issues.

11) FrieNDS Emulator

FrieNDS emulator is a pretty well-known NDS emulator. It was originally made by Citra and later acquired by Green Leaf World. It was recently updated and comes with a bunch of great features for playing your favorite NDS games. Its apk is available on the APK Pure website.

12) The DS Soulsilver Emulator

The Soulsiver NDS emulator is a super fast and full-featured emulator to run NDS games. It has a lot of optimizations for running NDS games on Android with core rendering optimizations that ensure smooth gameplay. You need your own roms in order to play using this emulator. It also supports external controllers making it truly a beast. It also comes with bios emulation and does not require a bios file.

Summary: The Best NDS Android Emulators

1. RetroArch
2. Happy Chick Emulator
3. DraStic DS Emulator
4. NDS Emulator
5. NDS4DROID
6. EMUBOX
7. The N.DS Pocket of Simulator
8. SuperNDS Emulator
9. Citra Emulator (early access)
10. NDS Boy Emulator
11. FrieNDS Emulator
12. DS Soul Silver emulator

That’s all for this one. Hope this article on NDS Emulators has helped you get what you were looking for, and that you have an amazing time living the NDS experience on your Android device!