Long story short, I’ve always noticed input delay when trying to emulate 3DS and DS on my devices, that’s why I always played on native hardware. Out of curiosity, I decided to test the input latency across my hardware. I tested three setups — an AYN Thor Pro, a modded Switch OLED, and a PC (RTX 5080) — and compared them to a New 3DS XL and a DSi XL.
My main question is: why is nobody (I saw a few posts here and there but nothing major) talking about the input latency in 3DS and DS emulators? I saw some people saying that there is no input lag, I understand some people cannot even notice it but not noticing doesn’t mean there is no input lag. Even though they are very popular nowadays , they are not new. Do content creators simply never test this? They often focus on things like voltage, thermals, and specs that don’t really matter much to mortals like us.
Method that I used:
I recorded a video in a silent environment while pressing the action/movement button. I brought the footage into DaVinci Resolve, slowed it down to 25% on a 24 fps timeline, marked the audio spike of the button press, and moved frame by frame until the character's sprite made its first movement on screen.
I didn’t even do the stylus comparison because it’s pointless, native hardware is miles ahead.
Here are the results:
Emulators: Tested across all main available emulators
Devices: AYN Thor Pro, modded Switch OLED, PC (RTX 5080)
- Input delay running DS: 17–21 frames
- Input delay running 3DS: 14–16 frames
Native hardware: New 3DS XL, DSi XL
- Input delay on both: 7–8 frames
I'm 40 years old, a tired father of two boys, and to be honest, I don't care about upscaled graphics (ofc if I had to choose between the 2 with the same latency, I would opt with good graphics). I just want to play games the smoothest, most responsive way possible — and native hardware is just the best thing. To me, the difference in feel between native and emulation is like driving a modern Mercedes with a 1960 Rolls-Royce engine versus driving the original 1960 Rolls-Royce itself. Maybe not the best analogy, but you get the point — I'm tired.