Nintendo DS Emulation NEWS

Emulators for Nintendo DS

Name StellaDS

Author Chuckster

Description Atari 2600 emulator to the DS

Screenshots

Download v0.6.1 13th February 2006

I compiled in the latest version of chism's FAT library. Now StellaDS should support more devices such as the Supercard SD. Tweaked the menu to allow wraparound. Began using Subversion to manage my source code under the suggestion of StoneCydh from #dsdev.

StellaDS v0.6 4th February 2006

I integrated chism's FAT file I/O library into StellaDS to add the much needed support for high capacity flash memory devices. Create a directory called stellads in the root directory of your device and stash all of your ROMs in there. No need to recompile to get new ROMs! The buggy, awkward GBFS approach is no longer in use. Also, the menu now supports a near-infinite amount of ROMs thanks to the wonders of std::vector. Scrolling beyond the list works now as well. Directory traversal has not yet been implemented, however, so don't try selecting the dotted file names at the beginning of the list.

Included in the StellaDS download is a sample stellads ROM directory that you can copy onto your memory card to try out some free, public-domain Atari 2600 ROMs. Report any bugs to me via e-mail or on the forum, and have fun playing Adventure on your DS once again!

Freeware Atari 2600 Roms Here

Stellads-0.5.5 1st October 2005

Press START during a game to go back to the menu and play a new ROM.

I replaced the dubious official Atari/Activision ROMs with a collection of homebrew ROMs in the NDS file. If you want different ROMs, compile the emulator with a new set in the arm9 data directory.

Stella DS v0.5 24th September 2005

I got a lot of work done today. I painfully coded in embedded GBFS support. Then, I threw together a menu system. Because of the nature of WMB, you have to compile in the ROMs still, but at least you can choose which one you want to play.

Nothing like spending your Friday night programming.

StellaDS v0.41 29th August 2005

Split project into ARM7 and ARM9 parts. Waded through the TIA/SDL sound source code. It's going to be tough.

On the other hand, I added support for the Game Select/Reset switches so that games such as Adventure are playable. Use the L and R buttons respectively to invoke the switches. In addition, the screen is now scaled 1.5x horizontally to almost fill the whole bottom screen.

I've noticed the recent publicity that I have been getting. Thanks for supporting my project! As requested, I am now numbering releases and naming them accordingly. Stella DS 0.41 is the current version.

Alpha Version Updated 27th August 2005 (source included)

Information

Atari 2600 emulator for the Nintendo DS

So as you can see, I got controls working but the framebuffer still needs optimized. I will work on that now. Hopefully, the framebuffer is what's slowing things down. My plan is to only draw the updated portions each frame and to use an extended rotation background on Mode 5 instead of the FB0.

If the emulated processor or the C++ emulator core code are the bottlenecks and the code needs a drastic rewrite, this project will surely grind to a halt. I have no experience whatsoever with optimizing for embedded systems or even with ARM assembly for that matter.

UPDATE:
The emulator has been quite optimized and plays at a smooth playable speed now thanks to a faster framebuffer drawing routine. I will continue to work on it though and add sound.

I need to order a Wifi card to do more complete experimentation because there's pretty much no hope at all of getting a replacement Neo Flash.