Desmume, perhaps the best Nintendo DS emulator for Gnu / Linux

Gnu / Linux is not characterized by being friendly for the most gamer users. Its poor compatibility with PC videogames makes Gnu / Linux a little used operating system in the desktop computer, but little by little this is changing.

Currently, in addition to the Steam platform, Gnu / Linux users have the option of using game console emulators that allow us to play games from Sony's PlayStation or Microsoft's Xbox. Within the category of emulators, without a doubt DesMuMe is the most famous and popular emulator.

DesMume is a program that emulates Nintendo's portable game consoles, that is, Nintendo 2DS, DS and GameBoy Advance. This includes having the possibility of playing a lot of game titles as well as rescuing the old cartridges that we have at home, if we have used or had any of these consoles.

DesMume offers compatibility with gamepads and joystiks but the most comfortable is use our computer keyboard. For this we will use the Z and X keys as the A and B buttons on the console; the arrow keys as movement controls and the A and S key to emulate the Start and Select button. But this configuration can be changed to our liking and select any other key for those tasks.

DesMume is present in almost all Gnu / Linux distributions. So to install it it will be enough to use the software manager of the distribution. In all of them the command «desmume» is used to execute or install it. However, in no distribution will you find the installed games. To do this, we have to search for the game with the extension .ds or .gba. On the Internet you will find many roms for this emulator, but in Internet Archive there are the legal files.

The truth is that a Nintendo portable console looks little like a computer, but I have to admit that with both devices, we can spend hours and hours of fun. The graphics and performance are hardly different in DesMume and it can be a solution for those who want to rescue the games of the defunct GameBoy. It is certainly a great alternative for video game lovers who have few resources. Do not you think?