Sapphire Lair

Hi everyone! WatermelonDS 0.8.0.rc3 is now available, bringing lots of fixes for your games, more flexible controls, audio improvements, and the new WatermelonDS icon! This update is all about making the everyday DS experience better, with many of these changes coming directly from your reports and

Hi everyone! SeedlessDS 1.0.1 is now available. This update is focused on compatibility, graphics fixes, archive handling, external display behavior, and more stability when closing games. Plus, we officially have a final app logo! Here’s what changed in this release and what you should know before

While I’ve been spending time working on SeedlessDS, WatermelonDS hasn’t been forgotten! I’ve been working on fixing several rendering issues in WatermelonDS, particularly in the Vulkan renderer. Here are a bunch of before-and-after screenshots showing some of the changes. These comparisons cover di

Hi everyone! Development on SeedlessDS continues! I’m still working through bugs, improving compatibility, and looking for ways to improve performance across different games and devices. And today, I have another small but important fix to share. Dementium 2, No More White Screen Dementium 2 is now

Hi everyone! Today marks one of the most important milestones for SeedlessDS. SeedlessDS 1.0.0 is now available. And more importantly: For the first time, the source code of the DraStic-based SeedlessDS core is now public. What Does That Mean? This means SeedlessDS can finally move forward in the op

Hi everyone! WatermelonDS 0.8.0.rc2 is now available. This release focuses on smoother high-resolution Vulkan performance, important audio and graphics fixes, and several quality-of-life improvements for libraries, saves, and RetroAchievements. Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/Watermel

Remember the issues reported in the last WatermelonDS test builds? A lot of the feedback from Patrons was focused on performance, rendering, audio, and device-specific problems. Most of them have been solved! After working through the reported issues and testing the latest changes, I wanted to share

Help me choose the new WatermelonDS logo! Hi everyone! Now that the project has officially moved from melonDualDS to WatermelonDS, I also want to finalize one of the most important parts of the new identity: the new logo. My artist has been working on several logo concepts, and before I make the fin

Hi everyone! I want to share a public status update after reading and responding to the feedback from the last two posts: What I’ve Been Working On Lately and New WatermelonDS Test Build I want to share what is working, what still needs attention, and what I will be focusing on next. First of all, t

A major Vulkan FastPath update, nine months of SeedlessDS reconstruction, and my first RetroAchievements experiment on Game Bub. Hey everyone! A lot has been happening behind the scenes, so I wanted to share a broader progress update. But before getting into everything, I also have something excitin

This is a very special release because the project has now officially moved from the old melonDualDS name to its new identity: WatermelonDS!!!!! This is the first final release with the new name, new icon, refreshed visuals, and a much improved interface. Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodoni

Hi everyone! SeedlessDS 1.0.0-beta1 is now available. This is the first public beta release of SeedlessDS, my new Nintendo DS emulator project focused on low-power Android handhelds, physical controls, and dual-screen devices. SeedlessDS is built around the DraStic r2.6.0.4a core, with a new Android

Download the latest from here: https://github.com/iisu-network/iiSU/releases/tag/0.0.7.4 This is a major revamp to every single menu and UI element of the app. Some of the highlight features include Horizontal XMB provides a way to better use game heros as you browser. We call this "Carousel" in the

Hi everyone! melonDualDS 0.7.0 RC5 is now available. This release is focused mainly on RetroAchievements stability, Hardcore achievement reliability, leaderboards, and new offline achievement provider options. This is also an important release because it will be the last release using the melonDualD

Hi everyone! The new Dolphin Android public release is now available!!!!!! This update brings one of the most exciting Android-specific features I have worked on recently: GameCube + GBA Link support on Android. Compatible GameCube games can now detect an Emulated GBA connected to a GameCube control

Hi everyone! I want to share a new showcase of something I have been working on recently (6 months). This project is called SeedlessDS. SeedlessDS is an experimental Nintendo DS emulator project focused on low-end Android handhelds, especially devices where running melonDS can be too heavy for the a

Hi everyone! I am extremely excited to share this because this is one of those features that feels amazing to see running on Android. GameCube + GBA Link is now working on Dolphin Android! This means compatible GameCube games can now detect an emulated GBA connected to one of the GameCube controller

Hi everyone! I have been thinking about starting a YouTube channel focused on handheld consoles, emulation devices, Android gaming, and everything around this world. But I do not want it to be just a generic review channel. I would like to make something more useful, more specialized, and more conne

Hi everyone! CEMU Android v0.5.2 is now available. This is a small maintenance release, but it fixes an important issue for users using a custom data storage root. Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/Cemu/releases/tag/0.5.2 What changed? This version fixes how CEMU Android detects the Gra

Hi everyone! This week I will release a new version of CEMU with an important fix for Download Graphic Packs when a custom data root is enabled. This issue affected users who changed the default data location, causing the graphic pack downloader to not work correctly. With this new build, graphic pa

This is a smaller patch aimed to address the most common causes of crashes and slowdowns users have been experiencing!!!: Download: https://github.com/iisu-network/iiSU/releases/latest Changes - Fixes to several sources of launch crashes - Fixed RetroArch black screen issue - Fixed XMB title image s

After a long wait, iiSU 0.0.7 is finally here! This is our biggest release yet, with almost every major section of the app revamped, redesigned, or rebuilt.The main focus of this update is the new Home Menu experience. You can now personalize iiSU with new widgets, Android widgets, image/GIF widgets

This release is based on the latest upstream Android port and adds several important improvements for save management, portable data, external displays, and Odin 2 support. Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/Cemu/releases/tag/0.5.1 The main new feature is external save file sync, which m

This is the biggest 0.7.0 release candidate so far. Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/melonDS-android/releases/tag/0.7.0.rc4 RC4 focuses on fixing the remaining major Vulkan renderer issues, stabilizing RetroAchievements, improving DSi / DSiWare support, and adding custom Adreno Vulkan

Hiii!!, I wanted to share a quick update about what is coming this month, this month will have important updates for iiSU, melonDS-android, and CEMU. iiSU 0.7.0 public release!! A new renderer, widgets, more customization, and a lot of improvements are coming. A lot has changed since the last public

This second RC3 hotfix focuses on stability, user-reported regressions, and quality-of-life improvements found during the current release candidate testing cycle. This update fixes several issues related to BIOS and firmware booting, custom ROM settings, gamepad navigation, RetroAchievements menu cr

Android Backup ROM Launch Fix Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/melonDS-android/releases/tag/0.7.0.rc3.fix (also updated apk on the previus release) Important hotfix for RC3: This hotfix fixes a ROM launch issue caused by Android or Google Backup restoring old app data without restoring

Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/melonDS-android/releases/tag/0.7.0.rc3 Check out the GitHub release to see the Vulkan vs OpenGL comparisons! Main focus: This Release Candidate is focused on stabilizing Vulkan and fixing RetroAchievements. Vulkan is now the recommended renderer for the

A major Vulkan performance upgrade, support for RetroArch shader presets, requested features, and broader Vulkan compatibility improvements are now part of RC2. https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/melonDS-android/releases/tag/0.7.0.rc2 Main feature: One of biggest highlight of this release is the n

Version 0.7.0.rc1 is now available. Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/melonDS-android/releases/tag/0.7.0.rc1 This update starts a new release flow for the project. From now on, I will publish Release Candidates before updating the main release. The goal is to do proper public testing ro

Someone told me that tomorrow a first release candidate is dropping. Something about a melon… and a DS… on Android. I didn’t really understand what they meant. But it sounded important. - Sapphire 💙

Hey everyone!, I wanted to share a quick roadmap of what’s coming next and what I’ll be focusing on during this month. April Plans For April, the main goal is to continue pushing iiSU forward while also strengthening melonDS. A new iiSU build for supporters/Patreon is planned for release this month.

This release focuses on bug fixing and specific improvements from user feedback. If you're thinking, "wait, 0.0.6 released?", then yes! And this is the best way to try out the new build. While it was focused on performance and stability, we ended up adding quite a few features in between! Some of th

Hey everyone, A new version of melonDS-android v0.6.1 is now available. This update focuses on customization, RetroAchievements improvements, and syncing with the latest upstream changes. Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/melonDS-android/releases/tag/0.6.1 Note: Support for this new ver

Small bugfix to let SingleScreen users truly enjoy XMB after a new install or data reset: All other changes are the same, please visit: [iiSU Alpha 0.0.6](https://github.com/iisu-network/iiSU/releases/tag/0.0.6) - Moved Show Game Logo in XMB into Appearance -> Single-screen view, where it now belong

0.0.6 is another huge update for iiSU. This release brings a long-awaited overhaul to single screen mode! Single screen mode now has a brand new dedicated layout, looking just as beautiful as dual screen! Additionally, XMB mode is now available, showing your systems, games and roms in a beautiful ve

Version 0.6.0 is now available. Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/melonDS-android/releases/tag/0.6.0 This update introduces full RetroAchievements offline support for Softcore, plus a much more reliable submission / retry flow for Hardcore unlocks online. This is implemented entirely cl

Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/Vita3K/releases/0.0.1 Today I’m releasing a new Vita3K Android build with something I’ve been really excited to share: external display rear touch support. It’s a funny (and very cool) idea when you think about it: a device that feels closer to a 3DS-st

0.0.5 is the biggest iiSU update yet! This update includes a huge UI overhaul, better Dual Screen handling, and a lot of quality-of-life improvements that move iiSU much closer to the long-term vision. Download it here: https://github.com/iisu-network/iiSU/releases/tag/0.0.5 General Improvements Loa

I’m sharing a new TEST build of GameNative focused on experimenting with dual-screen input. This version introduces an option to swap screens and compability with the odin 2 Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/GameNative/releases/tag/0.0.2 What’s Included in This Test Option to Swap scree