drastic-main-menu-continue-button

The Nintendo DS was one of my favorite consoles as a kid. Like so many other gamers, I spent countless hours curled up with Nintendo’s quirky two-screened console. Several DS games like Chrono Trigger, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, and N+ are some of my favorite games ever.

That’s why I was so excited to get my hands on DraStic, a new DS emulator for Android. A robust, fully featured app that places the DS’s massive library of classic games on my phone? Sign me up.

See Also: How to Play Classic Games on Your Android Device Using Emulators

Get Nintendo DS Games Library on Android

Phones are a good platform for DS emulation because of the common touchscreen. You can substitute your finger for a stylus and play most games perfectly well. I can’t think of any that need a pen.

“DS can also be a nicer fit for phones and tablets than some other consoles since at least some of the games are touch-heavy,” said developer Exophase.

However, emulating something like the DS is still a weird affair. Fitting two screens, eight buttons, and a directional pad onto one screen presents a real challenge.

disgaea-landscape-mode-black-bar-bottom-awkward

DraStic gets around this issue by letting you make the decisions. It offers several different configurations for the screens and buttons, letting you change them on the fly.

“DS emulation on a phone screen obviously has some unique requirements and the one setup that fits all games simply doesn’t exist,” said co-developer Lordus.

“Therefore it was the main goal from the beginning to give complete flexibility for the arrangements of screens and the virtual gamepad.”

The setup smooths the issues enough so that it’s… acceptable. I played through 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors three times (don’t ask) on DraStic and had plenty of time to test the different control schemes.

I ended up switching between them as I went, depending on what worked best for the situation. It’s an unavoidably awkward setup, but it works, and that’s impressive.

Digging into DraStic’s settings reveals a robust set of options as well. You can set the fast-forward speed (a lifesaving feature for 999’s slow-moving text) as well as the DS name and favorite color.

Performance turned out well. 999 requires little resources, so I didn’t get much of a sense of how this would handle something like Castlevania or Contra.

DraStic didn’t blink when I threw Disgaea, Advance Wars and 999 at it on my Galaxy S4. If you’ve got the hardware, DraStic works. How cool is that?

Drawbacks

As cool as it is to get the true ending of 999, DraStic frustrates in a few places. The developers have clearly done their best, but some of these are unavoidable.

For example, touch screen controls are mediocre at best. I don’t like tapping at tiny buttons at the bottom of my screen.

Hardware controls on a real DS will always be more responsive and user-friendly. If you’ve got a spare PS3 controller, I’d recommend that – though it doesn’t solve the touchscreen problem.

Lordus promises further development with external gamepads in the next version to make it “completely usable.”

Then there’s the screens problem. Ideally, I prefer to hold my phone in landscape while I play with my thumbs. It’s the most like a real Game Boy and it’s easiest.

disgaea-favorite-ds-game-advance-wars-addictive

However, the dual screens fit on the phone’s display best when played in portrait mode. This feels weird and is a definite drawback compared to apps emulating single-screen games.

On the topic of emulation as a whole, legality remains problematic. Despite what you’ve heard, emulators are still technically illegal. I know, I know. Logic and copyright are seldom seen in each other’s company.

Will you get in legal trouble from using it? Probably not. Just remember Nintendo would be totally within its rights to send a cease-and-desist letter.

Update: The developers sent me an email after this review was published further explaining the current law on emulators. They add some helpful details. I’d recommend giving it a read.

“We haven’t heard anything from Nintendo,” Exophase said. “I honestly have no idea what to expect from them, the only thing I know is that the other two highest-selling emulators on Android are emulating Nintendo consoles and have been there for years now.”

I can’t especially fault the developers for these problems, though, as they’re outside of their control.

Lastly, consider the price. DraStic will take $8 out of your wallet. It’s pricey for an app. A well-made, powerful app, but $8 nonetheless.

“For most people, we’re the only really viable option,” Exophase said. “There are tons of other DS emulators on the store, all derived from the open source DeSmuME emulator, but for most users, they just aren’t fast enough.

“So we can get away with a bit of a premium. I do honestly think we put in more raw work getting to where we are today than most have developing emulators for Android, but that’s not necessarily relevant. If people want to play DS games on their phones today they simply don’t have much choice outside of using ours.

“That said, we do intend to drop the price in the very near future. Up until now, I think $8 was the best choice for our sanity, just because the buyer volume was about at the limits of what we deal with.”

Coming Soon

In the future, Exophase and Lordus plan to add performance boosts to take advantage of multiple cores with 2D and 3D rendering.

They also want to add support for x86 and Tegra 2 devices, two hardware platforms which they had initially skipped.

In addition to bug fixes and patches, the developers want to look at WiFi emulation. “Going into the project we had no intention of ever doing it, but there’s been such a heavy demand for it that we don’t want to completely ignore the possibility,” Exophase said.

Final Thoughts

I like DraStic. It has problems, but I can’t think better solutions than the ones already implemented.

DS fans or anybody who needs a Phantom Hourglass fix on their phone will definitely appreciate DraStic. Just be ready to pay for it.

Download DraStic

Recommended Reading: From Xbox to 360 to One: Our Look at the Evolution of Xbox Over the Years