How to play Nintendo DS games on your iPhone and iPad?

Think the Nintendo DS is too outdated for your taste? Yet that memories of Mario, Sonic and Pokemon are haunting you always? Well now there is a way to play those classic Nintendo DS games on your iPhone or iPad. And the best part is that it works even without jailbreaking your device, yeah! Making this miracle possible is an emulator called NDS4iOS.

Note: The app might link to or promote the use of pirated softwares and ROMs but we at iPhone Captain do not endorse it in anyway and have a strict policy against piracy. It is advised that you use only the ripped copies of legally owned ROMS, for use with this app.

A. Installing NDS4iOS on jailbroken iOS devices

This is the easier way but works only with jailbroken iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads. If your device is not jailbroken, please skip over to the next section. If the term ‘Jailbreak’ doesn’t make sense to you or you need to know more about it, please read our article on  What is Jailbreaking?

Step 1 – Head over to AngelXWind Downloads page using Safari on your device.

Step 2 – Now you can choose one of the following methods. The first one is a bit lengthy but you will be able to update to newer versions when they are released. While the second method is quicker and easier but ignores updates. So choose the best one for you.

• Method 1 – You’ll see a tutorial on the website for jailbroken devices, follow it! viz. Add the source http://cydia.angelxwind.net/ to Cydia> search and find NDS4iOS > Click on Install and confirm.
• Method 2 – Ignore their tutorial > Scroll down to the section for non-jailbroken devices > Click on the button saying “Install NDS4IOS (Stable) via OTA” > It will automatically install the app to your home-screen

B. Installing NDS4iOS on iPhone or iPad without jailbreaking

Step 1 – Head over to AngelXWind Downloads page using Safari on your device

Step 2 – Scroll down to the section for non-jailbroken devices > Click on the button “Install NDS4IOS (Stable) via OTA” > Click Install on the popup.
Step 3 – It will take you to the home-screen and try to install an icon. It will fail with a popup error and the icon will be greyed out.
Step 4 – Now goto the Settings > General > Date and Time > Turn off the toggle for ‘Set Automatically‘ option > Change the date to Feb 8, 2014

Step 5 – Go back to the home-screen and tap on the error-struck icon > The installation will now complete successfully
Step 6 – You can now return to the Settings app and correct the date.

C. Getting the Nintendo DS ROMs into iPhone or iPad

As already mentioned, please donot use pirated ROMs but obtain a legal one, instead.

1. If from a website, you can download it via Safari and click on “Open in” option and select NDS4iOS from the choices.
2. If it is on your PC or Mac, you can connect your device to it and use iTunes file sharing to put ROMs into the app.
3. In either case, you can also upload the file to Dropbox and sync your ROM library to the app.

D. Playing the imported Nintendo DS games

All your uploaded ROMs will start appearing as a list in the welcome screen. Select one you like and dive right into it.

And as for something extra, the settings menu in the app’s side-bar gives quite alot of preferences like Frame rates, sound toggles, control pad styles and orientation.

So that’s how you play Nintendo DS games on your iPhone or iPad even without jailbreaking your device. Please note that this method uses a glitch in iOS which makes ‘Over the Air‘ installations possible. So download NDS4iOS now and enjoy your ROMs before Apple patches it up in their next update.