Nintendo DS - Revision history

DogToon64 at 07:08, 9 July 2026

2026-07-09T07:08:30Z

Poudink: /* NITRO File Formats */

2020-09-03T14:32:19Z

‎NITRO File Formats

Poudink: /* NCG, NCL and NSC */

2020-09-03T14:30:41Z

‎NCG, NCL and NSC

Poudink: /* .NARC or .ARC */

2020-09-03T14:28:44Z

‎.NARC or .ARC

Poudink: /* 3D-related: */

2020-09-03T14:27:21Z

‎3D-related:

Poudink: /* .SDAT */ nist doesn't exist.

2020-06-15T17:55:13Z

‎.SDAT: nist doesn't exist.

Poudink: /* NITRO File Formats */

2020-02-09T21:38:21Z

‎NITRO File Formats

Poudink: /* Common File Formats */

2020-02-09T21:37:24Z

‎Common File Formats

Poudink: /* Suggested Emulators */ Things I forgot about MelonDS

2020-02-08T21:01:17Z

‎Suggested Emulators: Things I forgot about MelonDS

Poudink: /* Suggested Emulators */ Complete rewrite. Previous version of the section was pretty awful, to say the least.

2020-02-08T20:58:10Z

‎Suggested Emulators: Complete rewrite. Previous version of the section was pretty awful, to say the least.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 * Every File Explorer (AKA EFE)
 * NDSHeader (aka NDS Header Viewer)
 * NSMBe (aka New Super Mario Bros. Editor) (Can view, edit and export NCG, NCL, NSC and NSBTX files and supports NARC/ARC archives. It can also view, edit and export icons.)
 * SM64DSe (aka Super Mario 64 DS Editor) (Can view and edit NCG, NCL and NSC files.)
@@ Line 70: / Line 71: @@
 ===.LZ===
 These are compressed files (using the Lempel-Ziv compression algorithm) - they can be decompressed through several means/programs, like DSDecmp for example.
 ===NCG, NCL and NSC===
 These formats serve the same purpose as the NCGR, NCLR and NSCR formats. They are used in New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64 DS. They can be viewed by MKDSCM and edited by NSMBe or SM64DSe. There are two variations of the formats, the .ncg, .ncl and .nsc variants which have a header and the _ncg.bin, _ncl.bin and _nsc.bin variants which don't have a header.
 ===BMG===
 Text files, often using NFTR fonts. Supported by MKDSCM.
 ==Suggested Emulators==
 The three currently leading emulators are No$GBA, DeSmuME and MelonDS.

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 * NSBMA (Nitro Sdk Binary Material Animation) → Material-change animations
 * NSBVA (Nitro Sdk Binary Visibility Animation) → Visibility animations
 The 2D formats can be ripped, viewed and edited by NSMBe, while the 3D formats can be ripped, viewed and edited by MKDSCM (in [[OBJ]] format) and Apicula (in [[DAE]] format). For ripping, Apicula is prefered since it can export several things MKDSCM can't, like skeletons.

@@ Line 74: / Line 74: @@
 ===NCG, NCL and NSC===
-These formats serve the same purpose as the NCGR, NCLR and NSCR formats. They are used in New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64 DS. They can be viewed by MKDSCM and edited by NSMBe or SM64DSe.
+These formats serve the same purpose as the NCGR, NCLR and NSCR formats. They are used in New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64 DS. They can be viewed by MKDSCM and edited by NSMBe or SM64DSe. There are two variations of the formats, the .ncg, .ncl and .nsc variants which have a header and the _ncg.bin, _ncl.bin and _nsc.bin variants which don't have a header.
 ===BMG===

@@ Line 55: / Line 55: @@
 The 2D formats can be ripped, viewed and edited by NSMBe, while the 3D formats can be ripped, viewed and edited by MKDSCM (in [[OBJ]] format) and Apicula (in [[DAE]] format). For ripping, Apicula is prefered since it can export several things MKDSCM can't, like skeletons.
-===.NARC or .ARC===
+===.ARC, .CARC and .NARC===
-NARC (Nitro ARChive) and ARC (ARChive) files are used to store compressed filetrees in one file (like any archive format: .zip, .rar, etc.). These files can be opened by MKDSCM and NSMBe.
+NARC (Nitro ARChive) and ARC (ARChive) files are used to store compressed filetrees in one file (like any archive format: .zip, .rar, etc.). NARC and ARC are actually the same format, with simply a different extension. CARC is similar but has compression. These files can be opened by MKDSCM and NSMBe.
 ===.SDAT===

@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 =====3D-related:=====
 * NSBMD (Nitro Sdk Binary Model Data) → 3D Polygonal Model data
-* NSBTX (Unknown) → Texture image and palette data
+* NSBTX (Nitro Sdk Binary TeXture) → Texture image and palette data
 * NSBCA (Nitro Sdk Binary Character Animation) → Skeletal animation data
 * NSBTP (Nitro Sdk Binary Texture Pattern) → Texture-swapping animations
 * NSBTA (Nitro Sdk Binary Texture Animation) → UV-change animations
 * NSBMA (Nitro Sdk Binary Material Animation) → Material-change animations
-* NSBVA (Unknown) → Unknown
+* NSBVA (Nitro Sdk Binary Visibility Animation) → Visibility animations
 The 2D formats can be ripped, viewed and edited by NSMBe, while the 3D formats can be ripped, viewed and edited by MKDSCM (in [[OBJ]] format) and Apicula (in [[DAE]] format). For ripping, Apicula is prefered since it can export several things MKDSCM can't, like skeletons.

@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 * SSEQ (Sound SEQuence) → Sequences. Can be either on their own or inside SSAR files.
 * SBNK (Sound BaNK) → Instruments
 * SWAR (Sound Wave ARchive) → Sound sample archives. These samples are used by instruments inside SBNK files
 * SWAV (Sound WAVe) → Contained inside SWAR files. Individual sound samples

@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 DeSmuME is the most popular emulator at the moment and has the most features (cheat codes, 3D enhancements, some debug tools, audio/video recording, savestates and TASing tools) but is the slowest and isn't as accurate as MelonDS. It has no DSi emulation of any kind.
-MelonDS is the most accurate emulator. While the emulator is somewhat lacking in features, it still has 3D enhancements through the OpenGL renderer and savestates. Thanks in part to the OpenGL renderer, it is faster than DeSmuME, but the OpenGL renderer suffers from a number of issues with various games, which is why the extremely accurate but slower software renderer is recommended. MelonDS also has partial DSi emulation on specific test builds.
+MelonDS is the most accurate emulator. While the emulator is somewhat lacking in features, it still has 3D enhancements through the OpenGL renderer, savestates and supports online multiplayer. It is also currently the only emulator with experimental local multiplayer emulation. Thanks in part to the OpenGL renderer, it is faster than DeSmuME, but the OpenGL renderer suffers from a number of issues with various games, which is why the extremely accurate but slower software renderer is recommended. MelonDS also has partial DSi emulation on specific test builds.
 No$GBA is by far the fastest of the bunch and has the best debug tools by far, however it is lacking in pretty much every other department and has pretty bad accuracy, similarly to most other No$ emulators. Using No$Zoomer alongside it is strongly recommended to make audio emulation more tolerable and changing the screen size. This is also currently the emulator with the best DSi emulation. Only use it if your computer is very slow, for debugging or to play DSi games.

@@ Line 77: / Line 77: @@
 ==Suggested Emulators==
-Despite being a popular handheld, DS emulation has not progressed very well. For years, the most popular one has been DeSmuMe however the developers of the emulator have a certain dislike to a popular series and has a result affected emulation of the handheld even making it worse just so people can't play Pokemon on it. People have been using Drastic on Android and ironically runs faster than DeSmuMe when using an Android emulator.
+The three currently leading emulators are No$GBA, DeSmuME and MelonDS.
-There is an emulator that is very early in progress called MelonDS. In the future, this will be recommended however currently it is at an early state so compatibility currently might be a bit low even though it can run many games, it might not be stable and is missing features even though it has WIP multiplayer functions. It also requires 3 ROM dumps (two for the ARM processors and a firmware one) to run.
+DeSmuME is the most popular emulator at the moment and has the most features (cheat codes, 3D enhancements, some debug tools, audio/video recording, savestates and TASing tools) but is the slowest and isn't as accurate as MelonDS. It has no DSi emulation of any kind.
 ==Specific Game Pages==