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RetroBIOS

melonDS

melonDS emulates Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi. It reads 8 files, 4 of them required: without a required file it does not start games. A required file is needed only by the machines that use it. Each file below cites the line of source code that reads it.

Run on its own, the app reads its files from this folder:

<folder of melonDS.exe>/

Portable beside melonDS.exe when that folder exists. A build with the PORTABLE option off uses the Qt config location.

Source: src/frontend/qt_sdl/main.cpp:182-184 (upstream emulator), src/frontend/qt_sdl/main.cpp:196-205 (upstream emulator), src/frontend/qt_sdl/CMakeLists.txt:197-202 (upstream emulator)
About this profile
Detail Value
Type standalone + libretro
Classification Community fork
Source https://github.com/libretro/melonDS
Upstream https://github.com/melonDS-emu/melonDS
Version 0.9.3, stated in Makefile.common
Revision libretro/melonDS@66b5d2634cd0, melonDS-emu/melonDS@7d8dea42e221
Profiled 2026-03-24
Profile YAML, JSON
Cores melonds, melonds-sa
Systems Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi
Data folder (Windows) <folder of melonDS.exe>/
Data folder (macOS) ~/Library/Preferences/melonDS/
Data folder (Linux) $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/melonDS/, else ~/.config/melonDS/
Install this emulator's files

For melonDS inside RetroArch, Batocera or another setup. The installer finds your setup and its BIOS folder, then downloads only the files this emulator reads there and checks each one.

Open the Start menu. Type PowerShell and open it. Paste the line. Press Enter.

PowerShell
&([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://abdess.github.io/retrobios/i.ps1))) --emulator melonds
Technical notes

FreeBIOS fallback for DS mode (NTR), while DSi mode requires all native files. Libretro fork based on melonDS ~0.9.x era, validates size only. Upstream adds CRC32 validation on BIOS files (MemConstants.h). DSi SD card emulation controlled by melonds_dsi_sdcard core option.

Files

Section titled “Files”

8 files: 4 required, 4 optional. 3 have an HLE fallback.

In this collection: 8 in repo and 0 missing.

Required

Section titled “Required”
FileStatusHash

dsi_bios9.bin

DSi ARM9 BIOS

Hashes, validation and source
required for Nintendo DSi in repoCRC32 bae84f6c

dsi_bios7.bin

DSi ARM7 BIOS

  • System: Nintendo DSi
  • Contains eMMC key-Y at offset 0x8308 for NAND init
Hashes, validation and source
required for Nintendo DSi in repoCRC32 4316cc42

dsi_firmware.bin

DSi firmware image

Validation and source
required for Nintendo DSi in repo-

dsi_nand.bin

DSi NAND dump

  • System: Nintendo DSi
  • Any regional dump works. Nocash footer required (DSi eMMC CID/CPU at EOF-0x40 or 0xFF800). AES keys derived from ARM7i BIOS offset 0x8308.
Source
required for Nintendo DSi in repo large_file-

Optional

Section titled “Optional”
FileStatusHash

bios9.bin

ARM9 BIOS

  • System: Nintendo DS
  • FreeBIOS fallback (src/FreeBIOS.h), native needed for Key1 cartridge crypto
Hashes, validation and source
in repo HLE fallbackCRC32 2ab23573

bios7.bin

ARM7 BIOS

  • System: Nintendo DS
  • FreeBIOS fallback (src/FreeBIOS.h), native needed for Key1 init at offset 0x0030
Hashes, validation and source
in repo HLE fallbackCRC32 1280f0d5

firmware.bin

NDS firmware image

  • System: Nintendo DS
  • Generated 128KB firmware as fallback, native must be 256KB or 512KB for boot
Validation and source
in repo HLE fallback-

dsi_sd_card.bin

DSi SD card image

  • Standalone path: dsisd.bin, in the data folder
  • System: Nintendo DSi
  • Created if missing, requires melonds_dsi_sdcard core option enabled
Source
in repo-

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”
.

Maintained by Abdess on GitHub. Report a problem.

Packs from release v2026.10.10, .

MIT for the tooling and metadata. BIOS and firmware files are third-party system software, preserved for personal backup, archival and interoperability.