Retro Porting Toolkit · Recompilation ecosystems for legacy games

Nintendo DS

ARM9+ARM7 · 2026

ndsrecomp, very early pre-alpha dual-CPU static recompiler research with one public game consumer.

ndsrecomp is static recompiler research for the Nintendo DS, targeting both of its CPUs: the ARM946E-S and the ARM7TDMI, recompiled to C. The project describes itself as "very early pre-alpha (v0.0.1)", "an experimental developer snapshot, not a ready-to-use emulator or a stable framework", a source-only developer snapshot with no compatibility promise.

What works today

The firmware-menu boot works. A bounded interpreter tier handles code the guest copies into RAM. melonDS is used as a validation oracle. BIOS and firmware are user-supplied and hash-verified, with an opt-in FreeBIOS path. The one public game consumer is Metroid Prime Hunters, which is in public alpha.

Enhancements

Adaptive 21:9 widescreen exists in the Metroid Prime Hunters consumer. The framework itself is too early for a general enhancement layer.

Known limitations

This is research, not a product: it is a developer snapshot with no compatibility promise, and it is not usable as a general DS emulator or framework.

Software

Reading

ndsrecomp distributes no BIOS, firmware, or game data; everything builds from your own legally dumped copies.

Links