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RetroBIOS

NooDS

NooDS emulates Nintendo DS and Nintendo Game Boy Advance. It reads 5 files, none of them required: it starts games without them.

About this profile
Detail Value
Type libretro
Classification Community fork
Source https://github.com/jonian/libretro-noods
Upstream https://github.com/Hydr8gon/NooDS
Version none stated in the source
Revision jonian/libretro-noods@9a2665306927, Hydr8gon/NooDS@4cb1439c3302
Profiled 2026-03-24
Profile YAML, JSON
Cores noods
Systems Nintendo DS, Nintendo Game Boy Advance
Install this emulator's files

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 noods
Technical notes

Full HLE BIOS for ARM9, ARM7 and GBA SWI routines (hle_bios.cpp:24-60). All BIOS files optional when direct boot is enabled (default). When missing, HLE handler activated via special opcode at offset 3 (memory.cpp:139-168). Firmware auto-generated (128KB non-bootable) if not provided, with default WiFi config, touch calibration and user settings (spi.cpp:90-160). Native BIOS+firmware required only for firmware boot (non-direct-boot mode). Bootable firmware threshold: >128KB (spi.cpp:87). DLDI patching provides SD card access for homebrew via nds_sd_card.bin (dldi.cpp:29-77). File loading code identical between upstream and libretro port.

Files

Section titled “Files”

5 files: 0 required, 5 optional. 4 have an HLE fallback.

In this collection: 5 in repo and 0 missing.

Optional

Section titled “Optional”

bios9.bin optional in repo HLE fallback

ARM9 BIOS

  • System: Nintendo DS
  • HLE fallback for all SWI calls. Native needed for firmware boot and logo verification (copyBiosLogo)
Source

bios7.bin optional in repo HLE fallback

ARM7 BIOS

  • System: Nintendo DS
  • HLE fallback for all SWI calls. Native needed for firmware boot
Source

firmware.bin optional in repo HLE fallback

NDS firmware image

  • System: Nintendo DS
  • Auto-generated 128KB non-bootable firmware as fallback, native dump (>128KB) needed for firmware boot
Source
  • Asked for by: emulator code, libretro port
  • Source: src/spi.cpp:62-160 (emulator code, libretro port)

gba_bios.bin optional in repo HLE fallback

GBA BIOS

Source

nds_sd_card.bin optional in repo

DLDI SD card image for homebrew

  • System: Nintendo DS
  • Opened on DLDI startup() call from homebrew ROMs. User-created FAT image
Source

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”
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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.