I seem to be spending more time with SNES and NES Roms on my Nintendo DS rather than my 30-odd Nintendo DS games.

So here’s a report on what really works, what works somewhat, and what doesn’t work at all.

The hardware I’m using:

• Dark Blue Nintendo DS
• R4DS Slot-1 Flashcart
• 1 gigabyte Kingston Micro SD card (made in Japan)

The homebrew software I’ve been using:

• SNEmulDS 0.6 for SNES games
• nesDS for NES games

So lets start with the SNES games that I’ve been playing:

• Chrono Trigger – Seems to run pretty well. Text alignment is just a teensy-weensy off but otherwise performed well during my brief time with the game.
• Contra III: The Alien Wars – There were graphical glitches in the main menu, but once I got past that, the game ran smoothly. Difficult games are not really my cup of tea, so, little play time as well.
• Earthbound – This game is probably the best of the lot, but like most games, it does have some kinks here and there when it is run using the emulator. The first boss fight with Frankie didn’t go so well because a graphical glitch prevent me from seeing all the important stuff…only the pyschedelic background was showing.It was only after I fiddled with the emulator’s graphics settings that I was able to continue with the game. And it’s so far so good! Definately a must have.
• F-Zero – I always heard that this game was fast, but maybe the emulator and the small Nintendo DS screen were the cause of speed being lost in translation. It does run fine though.
• The Lost Vikings – Not working.
• Super Castlevania IV – A finicky game which runs when it wants to.
• Super Mario All Stars – This compilation of NES Mario games, re-skinned with graphics to take advantage of SNES hardware is one of my favourite games, along with Earthbound. This compilation consists of the three Mario games release in the US, Super Mario Bros 1, 2 and 3, and the previously unreleased (in the US) Japanese Super Mario Bros 2, now dubbed as Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels.The save system for Super Mario Bros 3 is abit cooky, and you’ll have to replay those levels that you have completed in a particular world again, so don’t forget to use the emulator’s Save State function instead to save your progress.
• Super Mario Kart – Not working.

I’m still running some tests on other games, but do stay tune for Part 2!