16th December 2024

Nintendo DS homebrew notes

I'd like to write a homebrew game/application for the Nintendo DS. This is currently a WIP - I have tried before but gotten seriously sidetracked, e.g. trying to create a Nix build process for devkitPro.

• The easiest way to compile homebrew on an Apple Silicon computer is currently to use devkitPro's docker images.
• DeSmuME does not run Nintendo DS homebrew ROMs - this is really annoying. Do homebrew developers test their programs by constantly taking out the SD card of their computer and putting into their console? The only other approach I know of would be to get hold of an Intelligent Systems development kit. These are rare and hard to obtain, which is unsurprising given that they were only made available to companies that officially developed Nintendo DS games. I bet that most copies either still live in the storage cupboards of existing games companies, or were destroyed...
• There aren't any schematics online for cartridges such as the R4DS...