Emulators

Every core is bundled in the app. There is nothing to download. Folder and tag names match NX Redux on the handheld.

System	Tag(s)	Core
Nintendo DS	NDS	melonDS DS
Nintendo 64	N64	Mupen64Plus-Next
PlayStation Portable	PSP	PPSSPP
Game Boy / Game Boy Color	GB, GBC	Gambatte
Game Boy Advance	GBA	gpSP
Game Boy Advance, Super Game Boy	MGBA, SGB	mGBA
NES / Famicom Disk System	FC, FDS	FCEUmm
Super Nintendo	SFC	Snes9x
Super Nintendo	SUPA	Supafaust
Genesis / Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear, SG-1000, Sega CD	MD, SMS, GG, SG1000, SEGACD	Genesis Plus GX
Sega 32X	32X	PicoDrive
Dreamcast, NAOMI, Atomiswave	DC	Flycast (see Sega Dreamcast)
PlayStation	PS	PCSX-ReARMed
Neo Geo Pocket / Color	NGP, NGPC	RACE
PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16	PCE	Beetle PCE Fast
Virtual Boy	VB	Beetle VB
Atari Lynx	LYNX	Handy
Atari 2600	A2600	Stella 2014
Atari 5200	A5200	a5200
Atari 7800	A7800	ProSystem
Pokémon Mini	PKM	PokeMini
WonderSwan Color	WSC	Beetle WonderSwan
PICO-8	P8	fake-08
Doom	PRBOOM	PrBoom
ColecoVision	COLECO	Gearcoleco
Arcade	FBN	FinalBurn Neo
Android	none	The game's own app (see Launcher Mode & Android Games)

Android shows as a console once you add Android games. They are apps installed on your phone, and the app starts them for you. They have no core and no folder.

Choosing an emulator

Two consoles have a second emulator, each with its own tag:

Console	Tags
Game Boy Advance	GBA (gpSP), MGBA (mGBA)
Super Nintendo ES	SFC (Snes9x), SUPA (Supafaust)

• A folder named with a tag, such as Game Boy Advance (MGBA), uses that tag.
• For folders without a tag, pick the emulator in Tools → Settings → Emulators → Default emulators.
• For one game, press MENU on it in a game list and pick Emulator. This choice wins over both.

The tag is where saves and settings are kept. To set a core's options outside a game, for a whole console or for one game, see Emulator Settings.

Sega Genesis

Sega Genesis uses the MD tag, and the app creates Roms/Sega Genesis (MD)/. Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, SG-1000 and Sega CD all run Genesis Plus GX. Only 32X runs PicoDrive.

Coming from a legacy GPGX folder

A legacy Sega Genesis (GPGX) folder from the handheld still lists under Sega Genesis and plays, with its saves in the legacy Saves/GPGX/. The app never offers the legacy GPGX tag as an emulator. Read the FAQ before you move those games to the MD folder.

Controller Type

Sega Genesis, Sega CD and 32X games have Controller Type in the in-game menu's Options → Console Settings:

Value	What the game sees
Auto (default)	A 6-button pad only for games made for one, else a 3-button pad
3 buttons	A 3-button pad
6 buttons	A 6-button pad

Some older games misbehave with a 6-button pad. The on-screen pad changes to match: A B C on a 3-button pad, plus X Y Z and Mode on a 6-button pad (Y and Z are on the shoulder buttons, and Mode is in place of SELECT). See Controls.

Nintendo 64

The Nintendo 64 maps a controller by name: the button printed A is the N64's A on every controller.

Controller	Nintendo 64
A, B	A, B
X	C-Left
Y	C-Down
L1, R1	L, R
L2	Z
START	START
Right stick	The C buttons

• The on-screen pad draws a C-button diamond, with Z on L2.
• R2 and SELECT do nothing on the N64.
• N64 has no Controller Layout setting. Every other console maps face buttons by position; see Controls.

BIOS files

Put BIOS files in Bios/<TAG>/.

• These systems need their BIOS: Famicom Disk System, Sega CD, PC Engine CD, ColecoVision (Bios/COLECO/colecovision.rom) and Dreamcast (Sega Dreamcast).
• The app checks for it before launch and names the missing file, such as Sega CD needs a BIOS: put bios_CD_U.bin (or bios_CD_E.bin, bios_CD_J.bin) in Bios/SEGACD/.
• PlayStation has a BIOS built in, and uses a real one when present.

More detail

A launch also reads the folders of tags that share its core. So a handheld's layout (Bios/FC/disksys.rom, Bios/MD/bios_CD_*.bin, Bios/PS/psxonpsp660.bin) works unchanged.

Zip and 7z files

An archive holding one game plays on every core. An archive with one game beside extras, such as a readme, plays too.

Archives with several games, a password, or a game the chosen core can't run are refused with a message.

More detail

The app unpacks the archive on first launch. Saves use the archive's name, as on the handheld. The unpacked copies are trimmed automatically; see Unpacked games cache.

Arcade sets are the exception. For FinalBurn Neo, NAOMI and Atomiswave the zip is the game, and it is never unpacked.

Multi-disc games

A multi-file disc (.cue, .gdi) or a disc list (.m3u) loads as one game.

To change disc, open the in-game menu. For a game with more than one disc it shows a Disc row under Continue, with the disc in the drive, such as 1/2. LEFT / RIGHT change the disc, as opening the lid and swapping it would. The disc choice is not saved.

Arcade (FBNeo)

• An arcade set's zip or 7z is the game and is never unpacked.
• Parent and BIOS sets, such as neogeo.zip, are read from the same folder or from Bios/FBN/. BIOS sets are not listed as games.
• A missing BIOS set stops the launch with a message. A missing parent set does not: the game is tried without it.
• Games show their arcade titles, with bracketed text dropped as on the handheld.
• Arcade has no cheats.

NAOMI and Atomiswave games run on Flycast instead, from the Dreamcast folder. See Sega Dreamcast.

Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS runs melonDS DS. The core draws both screens and the app lays them out.

The layout options are in the in-game menu under Options → Console Settings. Like the other options, they are kept per game or console with Save Changes. Screen Scaling and the screen offsets don't apply to the DS screens.

Portrait layouts

Layout (portrait) sets how the two screens share a portrait screen:

Layout	What you see
Auto (default)	Stacked when both screens fit the width, else Picture in picture.
Picture in picture	One screen big, the other small in a corner.
Stacked	One screen above the other.
Single screen	Only the big screen.

With a controller connected in portrait, the on-screen pad band goes away, so the screens get the full height. Layout (portrait, controller) is used instead. Its choices are the same, and its default is Stacked.

A clip-on controller that holds the phone keeps the pad band and the normal portrait layout. The GameSir Pocket Taco is recognised as one. The 8BitDo FlipPad is expected to be recognised too.

Landscape layouts

Layout (landscape) sets how the two screens share a landscape screen:

Layout	What you see
Side by side (default)	Each screen takes half the width.
Single screen	The big screen only, centred.
Picture in picture	The big screen centred, the other small in a corner.

Without a controller, the on-screen buttons sit over the game in landscape. Pad Opacity (landscape) in Options → Frontend sets how opaque they are: 100%, 60%, 40% or 25%, 40% by default.

Big screen and inset

These apply in both orientations:

Option	Values	Default	What it does
Big Screen	Top screen, Bottom screen	Top screen	The screen shown big in picture in picture and single screen, and first in stacked and side by side.
Inset Corner	Top left, Top right, Bottom left, Bottom right	Bottom right	Where the small screen sits in picture in picture.
Inset Size	Small, Medium, Large	Medium	The small screen's width: 25%, 33% or 40% of the big screen's width.
Inset Opacity	100%, 75%, 50%	100%	How opaque the small screen is. Below 100%, the big screen shows through it.

• The small screen in picture in picture never takes touches.
• Overlays are off while the DS screens are drawn apart. The Overlay row shows Unavailable.
• Shader presets apply to the big screen, and to both screens in stacked and side by side.

Hotkeys

With a controller or the on-screen pad:

Buttons	What they do
R2	Swap the big screen.
SELECT + LEFT / RIGHT	Change the layout of the orientation you're in. In portrait this steps through Picture in picture, Stacked and Single screen.
SELECT + UP / DOWN	Move the inset to the previous or next corner, clockwise.
L2	Turn stylus mode on or off, or start touch mode (see below).

A short label shows the new setting. The layout hotkeys (R2 and SELECT + a direction) are saved straight away, without Save Changes. Stylus mode and touch mode are not saved.

More detail

Saving a layout hotkey gives the game its own settings, copied from the console's if it had none. From then on the game uses only its own settings. Later Save for console changes don't reach it until you use Restore defaults in that game.

Stylus mode

In stylus mode, the d-pad or left stick moves a pen on the bottom screen, faster the longer you hold it, and A touches. Stylus mode is off each time a game starts.

Touch

You can touch the bottom screen whenever it is drawn full size. You can't when it is the small inset in picture in picture.

• Touch works in portrait.
• In landscape it works with a controller, or in touch mode.
• While the on-screen buttons sit over the game in landscape, the DS screens take no touches.

Touch mode: in landscape with the on-screen buttons shown and stylus mode off, L2 hides the buttons and shows the bottom screen big, so you can touch it. A Controls button in a free corner brings the on-screen buttons back.

• In single screen and picture in picture, the bottom screen becomes the big one. Side by side already shows it full size.
• Rotating the phone, or connecting or disconnecting a controller, also ends touch mode.
• R2 does nothing in touch mode, and touch mode is not saved.
• With stylus mode on, L2 turns stylus mode off first.

3D rendering

Internal Resolution in Core Options → Video upscales 3D: 1× to 8×, 2× by default. Some games slow down at 4× or higher.

More detail

• 3D renders on the GPU on devices with OpenGL ES 3.2, else in software.
• Internal Resolution works with the GPU renderer only. The 2D layers stay at native resolution.
• A Render Mode change in Core Options applies the next time the game starts, once you keep it with Save Changes.
• If the GPU renderer can't start, the game runs in software and the app shows GPU renderer unavailable — using software once. The next launch tries the GPU again.

Saves from other DS emulators

Battery saves from the older melonDS core and from DraStic carry over (converted to .srm on a game's first launch). Save states from the older melonDS core don't load.

More detail

Battery saves from the older melonDS core (.sav) and from DraStic (.dsv) are converted to .srm on a game's first launch.

Limits

• PlayStation .exe homebrew doesn't load.
• PICO-8 games have no save states, and don't resume where you left off.