No$GBA for Mac (Nintendo GBA/DS Emulator)

[Isair]

It is not actually a real port. I just compiled the latest version of wine, used a wrapper named Wineskin to make an app bundle that runs No$GBA via wine and made an icon that looks like No$GBA's original one. Voila, a smoothly working Nintendo DS emulator for Mac!

This one actually runs way better than desmume for mac, so I decided to share it here.

IMPORTANT: If you don't want your save files to disappear then don't quit the app by pressing Cmd + Q or by right clicking the app icon and selecting quit. Instead, close its window if you want to quit the app.

Download

If you happen to experience any problems, give me a description of the problem via the contact form on my site and I'll address it necessarily. Also any kind of feedback is appreciated.

Screenshots:

[Hydrocity]

is there a way to play these on a ipad/iphone?

[Isair]

Originally Posted by Hydrocity

is there a way to play these on a ipad/iphone?

Well there are no NDS emulators for iOS as far as I am aware (don't know about apps for jailbroken devices. There was a PSX emulator, so an NDS one should be possible). If you are talking about using wine on iOS to run windows software like this, theoretically? It is possible. But a big portion of wine would need to be rewritten to run on iOS. Lets assume that such a version of wine exists, even then

1) It wouldn't be accepted into the iOS App Store.
2) It wouldn't be logical to use it on an iOS device other than an iPad.
3) Wine has problems as it is, maintaining a forked version will be a pain.
4) Instruction set difference.

[jackerbacker]

I know this is kinda late, but how in the world did you get Soul Silver to load? LOL. Even when I change the "NDS- Cartridge Backup Media" setting it still fails.

[Isair]

Originally Posted by jackerbacker

I know this is kinda late, but how in the world did you get Soul Silver to load? LOL. Even when I change the "NDS- Cartridge Backup Media" setting it still fails.

Try running it with the default settings. Also it loads fine but it gets stuck right after character creation for me. Other games I have work fine though.

Also I uploaded build 4. It is better performance-wise and some bugs that caused a crash are fixed.

Edit: I forgot to change something in build 4, making a new build and uploading.

[jackerbacker]

Sorry if this is asking for too much, but could you try to make Pokemon White/Black work on this? LOL. It seems impossible to get those games working on No$ but on DeSmuME it works fine... well not really. DeSmuME lags and crashes like a bitch on Snow Leopard for me but it can play the games. Those two games require the 2048k byte cartridge backup media but im not sure if thats even possible for No$

EDIT: Nvm. Figured it out. Found a AR code to input and it works amazingly. All we need now is No$Zoomer.

Thank you for all your work Isair. This is so much better than DeSmuME.

[ash09]

Ah, this is awesome!
Thanks so much for this.
Any chance of a screen rotation option similar to the one in Desmume?

I'm playing Hotel Dusk and the rotation is 270°.
If not, I understand, just figured I'd ask.

Thanks again for this, totally kicks the crud outta Desmume.

[Isair]

Glad that you were able to find a fix jackerbacker. Also yeah I am going to include No$Zoomer in it soon but there are rendering related issues with it. Since No$Zoomer supports rotation it'll solve ash09's problem too.

[Kehaan]

Thanks.

Will test this one out

[ynksb1962]

Hey, I'm running Mac 10.5.8 and I've got a Golden Sun 3 file. I'm fairly certain that it works because I've played it using DeSmuMe for Mac. (It was annoyingly slow.)
I downloaded your emulator because no$gba was supposed to be superior, but I wasn't able to get the game to run. Would you be able to help me?
It might be a problem with the OS compatibility but it's also possible that I don't know what I'm doing - I'm not very experienced with emulation.
Thanks

[Isair]

Originally Posted by ynksb1962

Hey, I'm running Mac 10.5.8 and I've got a Golden Sun 3 file. I'm fairly certain that it works because I've played it using DeSmuMe for Mac. (It was annoyingly slow.)
I downloaded your emulator because no$gba was supposed to be superior, but I wasn't able to get the game to run. Would you be able to help me?
It might be a problem with the OS compatibility but it's also possible that I don't know what I'm doing - I'm not very experienced with emulation.
Thanks

You need a patched ROM for it to work with No$GBA, you can check some ROM sites for it or patch the current ROM you have.

[roadbloc]

An emulator in a emulator. What a novel idea.

[himatzs10]

As you know the roms for pokemon HG and SS have anti-piracy "checks". Desmume is able to get past those obstacles, and there is no need for a black screen ar code either. the problem is for me on my mac its way too slow. I changed the frameskip and everything its still ridiculously slow. NO$GBA cannot get past those anti-piracy obstacles. So i decided to download and use your version of the no$gba. It works great except it also crashes and has the same problem as the other no$gba emulators. At a certain part of the game you cant even play it, because there is a fatal error "rom-image crash". Is there anyway around it? I would use desmume but its too god damn slow. Please help

[DrugsterGenesis]

Originally Posted by jackerbacker

Sorry if this is asking for too much, but could you try to make Pokemon White/Black work on this? LOL. It seems impossible to get those games working on No$ but on DeSmuME it works fine... well not really. DeSmuME lags and crashes like a bitch on Snow Leopard for me but it can play the games. Those two games require the 2048k byte cartridge backup media but im not sure if thats even possible for No$

EDIT: Nvm. Figured it out. Found a AR code to input and it works amazingly. All we need now is No$Zoomer.

Thank you for all your work Isair. This is so much better than DeSmuME.

Can you please share the AR CODES with us? and can you also teach me how to do copy/paste on NO$gba, coz i doesn't allow me do command c/command v

Thanks,

[DrugsterGenesis]

Originally Posted by isair

if you happen to experience any problems, give me a description of the problem and i'll address it necessarily. Also any kind of feedback is appreciated.

i'm having problems with copy/pasting ar codes. I dont wanna type all the codes there. I see that you are from istanbul mukemmel bir icad seninkisi.

Thanks,

[Isair]

Originally Posted by DrugsterGenesis

i'm having problems with copy/pasting ar codes. I dont wanna type all the codes there. I see that you are from istanbul mukemmel bir icad seninkisi.

Thanks,

control + v kullan program icindeyken.

Originally Posted by himatzs10

As you know the roms for pokemon HG and SS have anti-piracy "checks". Desmume is able to get past those obstacles, and there is no need for a black screen ar code either. the problem is for me on my mac its way too slow. I changed the frameskip and everything its still ridiculously slow. NO$GBA cannot get past those anti-piracy obstacles. So i decided to download and use your version of the no$gba. It works great except it also crashes and has the same problem as the other no$gba emulators. At a certain part of the game you cant even play it, because there is a fatal error "rom-image crash". Is there anyway around it? I would use desmume but its too god damn slow. Please help

Check if there are patches on the internet.

[gkelly1117]

I just downloaded this EMulator. and its fast as hell.. and I downloaded a Pokemon game, Pokemon Diamond to be exact.

but how do I save?! thats my biggest issue as of right now

[jace88]

I think we're clearly venturing into the off-topic realm of warez/pirated software so be careful ladies and gents.

I'm amazed at people being able to play DS games on a computer- it just doesn't click in my mind as to how you can substitute finger/stylus with a touchpad/mouse. *shrugs*

[bo-waleed]

it doesn't work in 10.6.6

when i open it it automatically quit.

[gkelly1117]

yeah, i found out how to save anyways.

biggest issue now is the microphone wave in error. ANy idea how to fix that? Maybe No$Zoomer

[Emannyv93]

Hello, I saw your video on youtube & i downloaded the No$GBA, & i tried using the patched pokemon black, but it doesnt let me pass the blue screen... So ive tried copying the Ar code but its not letting me paste it -__-. Can anyone help me ?

Thanks a lot guys & happy new years :'D

[Isair]

Originally Posted by Emannyv93

Hello, I saw your video on youtube & i downloaded the No$GBA, & i tried using the patched pokemon black, but it doesnt let me pass the blue screen... So ive tried copying the Ar code but its not letting me paste it -__-. Can anyone help me ?

Thanks a lot guys & happy new years :'D

I have no such video on youtube, also as I wrote before that you need to press control + v instead of command + v in No$GBA in order to paste the contents of your clipboard buffer.

Originally Posted by bo-waleed

it doesn't work in 10.6.6

when i open it it automatically quit.

Weird, I have 10.6.6 and it works perfectly. Can you check your console messages for me and send the related ones via e-mail?

Originally Posted by gkelly1117

yeah, i found out how to save anyways.

biggest issue now is the microphone wave in error. ANy idea how to fix that? Maybe No$Zoomer

I'll have to either port No$Zoomer too or a new official version of No$GBA addressing that issue will work too.

Originally Posted by jace88

I think we're clearly venturing into the off-topic realm of warez/pirated software so be careful ladies and gents.

I try to not cross the line, and certainly hope that other people won't too.

[GFLPraxis]

Originally Posted by Isair

Well there are no NDS emulators for iOS as far as I am aware (don't know about apps for jailbroken devices. There was a PSX emulator, so an NDS one should be possible). If you are talking about using wine on iOS to run windows software like this, theoretically? It is possible. But a big portion of wine would need to be rewritten to run on iOS. Lets assume that such a version of wine exists, even then

1) It wouldn't be accepted into the iOS App Store.
2) It wouldn't be logical to use it on an iOS device other than an iPad.
3) Wine has problems as it is, maintaining a forked version will be a pain.

It's not even theoretically possible.

A Windows binary is written for the Windows API and then compiled for x86 processors. WINE is a wrapper that interprets those Windows API calls. You still have the "compiled for x86" problem; iOS runs on ARM processors.

That's the reason WINE never worked on PowerPC Macs. Apple solved that problem with Mac software by making XCode make Universal Binaries that had both x86 and PPC versions of software in them.

[Isair]

Originally Posted by GFLPraxis

It's not even theoretically possible.

A Windows binary is written for the Windows API and then compiled for x86 processors. WINE is a wrapper that interprets those Windows API calls. You still have the "compiled for x86" problem; iOS runs on ARM processors.

That's the reason WINE never worked on PowerPC Macs. Apple solved that problem with Mac software by making XCode make Universal Binaries that had both x86 and PPC versions of software in them.

Forgot the instruction set difference, thanks for reminding.

[Emannyv93]

Ohhh ok thanks , can you give me the ar code? so i know this is the legit one