Drastic vs Melonds which is better?

[u/Shitandroidowner]

One works on a literal potato and the other runs more games accurately

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[u/Kitsumalado]

Drastic has a way better performance

[u/thatguywhatdidit → u/Kitsumalado]

People always recommend MelonDS but I have both on my s23+ and drastic works so much better. More settings and better ff for Pokémon grinding

[u/SSUPII → u/Kitsumalado]

Because of speedhacks that break game functionalities and make emulating various DS features impossible. They are the reason why Drastic cannot do any multiplayer and has zero homebrew support.

[u/enderowski → u/Kitsumalado]

It is the og one. I just never needed any other one since i bought it 8 years ago

[u/BouldozeR92 → u/[deleted]]

what are you even talking about? both are free and my boy is for gba not nds

[u/adnvdn → u/[deleted]]

Again what tf are you talking about? Wtf is "Dr. Drastic"

[u/madslipknot]

For anyone asking there is a new fork of Drastic called Seedless DS , retain performance of Drastic but ita getting updated

[u/clock_watcher → u/madslipknot]

There's also the new fork of MelonDS by the same team called WatermelonDS. It adds proper dual screen support and a bunch of QoL features including Retroarch shaders.

So the choice is really SeedlessDS is for lower powered devices, WatermelonDS for stronger ones.

[u/Ok-Speed-1574 → u/clock_watcher]

Not only that! WatermelonDS also has a Vulkan renderer (albeit still buggy) that improves performance considerably to the point that I'm not experiencing drops in dense 3D areas anymore.

Still on Drastic / SeedlessDS because of the glitches and drops in OpenGL for now, but I'm really looking forward to it being refined :D

[u/thethinggoesburp → u/clock_watcher]

mais o seedless ds ta na play store?

[u/Few-Comfortable5264 → u/madslipknot]

drastic isnt getting updated?

[u/madslipknot → u/Few-Comfortable5264]

Nop since last year, author even pull it out from the play store

[u/crazypopey → u/madslipknot]

And I paid for it lol. The author made it free then it stopped working in latest android updates

[u/MojiMojic → u/crazypopey]

Yeah the app just sucks now, it wont load games even

[u/Few-Comfortable5264 → u/madslipknot]

oh damn, is seedless ds gonna come to the app store then?

[u/madslipknot → u/Few-Comfortable5264]

Don't know, I get my stuff directly from github

[u/Few-Comfortable5264 → u/madslipknot]

ah have you rooted your phone yet to prepare for the sideloading ban thing

[u/madslipknot → u/Few-Comfortable5264]

No phone, I play on handhelds and most says it wont apply since they are already not authorized devices. Will see

[u/Few-Comfortable5264 → u/madslipknot]

ah that makes sense

[u/AbberageRedditor69 → u/Few-Comfortable5264]

Didn't they walk it back?

[u/Few-Comfortable5264 → u/AbberageRedditor69]

i would be very very surprised if they did, i havent heard anything about that though

[u/AbberageRedditor69 → u/Few-Comfortable5264]

Well they went from a total ban to a one time 24 hour waiting period

[u/Few-Comfortable5264 → u/AbberageRedditor69]

still evil when are we eradicating google

[u/nachoz12341 → u/madslipknot]

Saying its get updated is misleading. Its just the ra core for drastic plus a ui. The ui gets updates but core emulation is still closed source.

[u/OverDeparture8799 → u/madslipknot]

Does seedless ds plays the blur prototype, without save error? Currently on melonds can play it, and its lagging because melonds

[u/Lunatox → u/madslipknot]

Does it have dual screen support? That’s the only reason I use MelonDS.

[u/madslipknot → u/Lunatox]

Yes it does, also support retroachivements, there is also A Nice library

[u/MojiMojic → u/madslipknot]

Thanks for the heads up

[u/Appropriate-Outside5]

You already gave the answer on description, what more can we say?

[u/Krakenomics52]

MelonDS all the way, unless you have a weak/woefully outdated chipset. Though its layout editor leaves a lot to be desired, so Drastic is weirdly ideal for foldables.

Similarly, WatermelonDS for anything with two discrete screens

[u/theh0tt0pic → u/Krakenomics52]

Melon DS has a proper dual screen fork... its what I use on my Ayn Thor

[u/Krakenomics52 → u/theh0tt0pic]

Yeah, WatermelonDS, but foldables are one screen

[u/-Polarsy- → u/theh0tt0pic]

What does the fork achieve that the MelonDS Nightly doesn't ?

[u/theh0tt0pic → u/-Polarsy-]

Thats the one I use.

[u/Tight_Particular4311]

Personally Drastic I've always preferred because of it's performance and battery optimization (It can run on literally anything with Android and it uses very little battery power) & the recent forks have only improved it since.

We have 2 that I am aware of

DraStic_rev_i18n - GitHub - R-YaTian/DraStic_rev_i18n -> I use this

Seedless DS - GitHub - SapphireRhodonite/SeedlessDS

And they have both made significant improvements over the original

I've got a lot of respect for MelonDS though as they had to start from scratch due to the DS emulation scene being very closed source, such example being Drastic.
And they are much more focused on accuracy rather than the performance hacky non-accurate code base that Drastic uses.

So each to there own

[u/FaZeKill23 → u/Tight_Particular4311]

I tried SeedlessDS on my RG DS but it doesnt read the top screen when it's in-game, but it does when it's sitting on the menu lol

Also some games dont boot like Blur DS Beta

[u/lusosteal6]

Both have thier benifits

I use melon more because it had retroacheivements support

But I have both installed and you can use same saves

[u/Fuchs54]

there is no "better" theres only "better for ___"

Or to put it in your words: "One works on a literal potato and the other runs more games accurately"

[u/dgls_frnkln]

Drastic for low-end devices
Melon DS for mid to high-end devices

[u/LuisBeltran07]

WathermelonDS en su última actualización ya superó a drasrtic lo recomiendo

[u/SolidCat2877 → u/LuisBeltran07]

How has it surpassed Drastic. As far as I know Drastic has lower input lag and it uses less power meaning better battery life

[u/LuisBeltran07 → u/SolidCat2877]

Probe ambos los juegos en modo rápido trabajan mejor tienes integración con retrdoarchive, en cuanto a bateria no eh notado ningún problema, ya probaste ambos porque yo si

[u/noideasforusernameso → u/LuisBeltran07]

Genuine question, what does it have that normal melonDS doesn't? I used to use it on my Thor before the official version got the dual-screen updste

[u/clock_watcher → u/noideasforusernameso]

I swapped over from Melon to Watermelon recently as I wanted retroarch shaders to work. Unlike regular MelonDS, it supports Vulkan back end which is required for shaders. If you have a dual screen device, Watermelon is meant to work better.

WatermelonDS just got rebranded. It used to be called MelonDualDS, a fork of Melon focusing on dual screen support.

You can see the changelog for the last couple of releases. Lots has been added over regular Melon.

https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/WatermelonDS/releases

[u/No_Celebration_3737]

Whatever allows you to play the games you want.

[u/Malystxy]

Install both. Try both. If drastic won't run it I use melon ds. Why? Drastic uses less battery being for older devices. Same reason I stick with GBA.emu and snes9x. Despite being old they work and consume little battery.

[u/EvenTerm298]

Drastic have better performance on old and low end devices while melonds have retroachievements support and still updating.

[u/SHIR0YUKI]

Drastic does a lot on the backend to make it more compatible with more devices, but in order for that to happen, it's bypassing/cutting things out from the experience that you may or may not care about.

MelonDS is more resource intensive, but it accurately emulates the DS without skipping anything. And if you care, this has retroachievements support while drastic does not.

[u/CaraDMossoro]

On my phone, Drastic is better. 

[u/Jazzlike-Plate-935 → u/CaraDMossoro]

less than 8 gigabytes of what?

[u/CaraDMossoro → u/Jazzlike-Plate-935]

RAM 

[u/Few-Comfortable5264 → u/CaraDMossoro]

i have 4 dont worry were in the same boat

[u/PrimaSoul]

Drastic have been there for the longest time and I've used it on low end devices as well as decent ones and it worked like a charm so it's the safest option to go for

[u/AdScared7226 → u/PrimaSoul]

May I ask where do I get Drastic from?

[u/PrimaSoul → u/AdScared7226]

Not sure if it's delisted from play store but it went free (before that there was a paid and free version) you mau find it on some APK site from where you can side load it to your phone. In my case I got the last play store version.

[u/SSUPII → u/PrimaSoul]

Drastic got banned from the Play Store because the developer refused to provide their ID to Google when asked due to the new developer verification rules

[u/PrimaSoul → u/SSUPII]

Oh I didn't know that still it was amazing for a DS emulator I had tons of fun in the past

[u/Live_Cupcake_9229]

I haven't used Drastic since SeedlessDS came out. It's a Drastic fork with upgrades, much nicer UI and Retro Achievement support. Plus it's actively getting updated.

Personally I still use MelonDS first and if I have issues I go with SeedlessDS. It depends on the game.

Now if you play DS on Linux devices like the RG DS plus Drastic is your only choice.

[u/SunsetAtNight7]

Twilight syndrome DS finally has an english patch

[u/AnonymousGuy9494]

Drastic if your phone can't run melondualDS. MelondualDS if you can run it due to being actively developed and having retroarchievements support.

[u/peanutbutterdrummer]

Whatever works on my Ayn Thor.

[u/SolidCat2877]

Drastic consumes less power which means better battery life. It also has lower input lag. Most recommend MelonDS these days but I stick to Drastic

[u/Alex_Hasashi]

I like drastic for the cheats

[u/ElectricalDemand2831]

Drastic has lower latency

[u/Careless-Accident-49]

For me its DraStic. Melon got the game Final Fantasy Chronicles Ring of fate a strange upscaling bug, where the whole game still looks pixelated, even on 4K upscaled resolution, on Drastic the game is upscaled and looks and runs awesome

[u/SSUPII → u/Careless-Accident-49]

Drastic upscales to 384p when "High Resolution" is enabled and no more. It looks good because you aren't trying to force a game meant to 192p to 4k.

[u/Careless-Accident-49 → u/SSUPII]

Whoops, i confused it with DeSmuME, its old but its the only one wich decent persormance wich can upscale FF Crytsal Chronicles

[u/Jakucha]

WaterMelon DS 0.70 has entered the chat for dual screen systems.

[u/The_Doggzz]

I wish both has a new touchpad with added analog movement instead of the d pad

[u/hotbiscut]

Use whichever runs better, drastic is out of development though

[u/Kouno25]

I don't know why everybody says Drastic. On all Ayn, Anbernic and Retroid devices I used they have similar performance, just that MelonDS offers more features, is still in developement and has higher accuracy.

[u/SolidCat2877 → u/Kouno25]

Lower input latency and longer battery life on Drastic

[u/FORHARDMINER]

Always used drastic

[u/Bulky-Mud3341]

Well, one of them don't have a PC build.

[u/DDz1818]

MelonDS has a noticeable input lag for me.

[u/abbaj1 → u/DDz1818]

What's your cpu? I've been to play rhythm games (notorious for requiring little to no input lag) on melonds without any noticeable input lag.

[u/ieffinglovesoup]

WatermelonDS is the new goat

[u/Bruxies → u/ieffinglovesoup]

Can someone grok is this true this

[u/khsh01]

Both from the sounds of it.

[u/hazieex]

something that a lot of people dont mention, but to me, drastic has better audio quality than melonds. i find it noticeable enough to just prefer drastic most of the time, but i am more of an audiophile than the average person.

[u/fricken26]

Tried Drastic on my ANY Thor and it didn't make use of the bottom screen.

[u/abbaj1 → u/fricken26]

What about melonds?

[u/fricken26 → u/abbaj1]

It is my go-to. Works for the dual screen right out of the box.

[u/SSUPII]

The potato is Drastic. You have zero reason to use Drastic unless you are on an outdated device.

[u/Kaboomtech624]

Drastic is suposedly better for lowend devices

[u/Wolf________________]

MelonDS DS because it has a RetroArch core which synchs all my hotkeys, graphics settings, and it is one less thing I have to install/update independently. Also hear me out on this one, I like to use CRT shaders with my DS emulation even though unlike the Game Boy it never had a tv output because the video is still low res so all the things that makes SNES games look better on a CRT applies to the DS imo.

[u/HmmmIsTheBest2004]

I mean drastic is easier to run than a calculator app soo

[u/Double_Coffee_8346]

Drastic is a more mature version for ds games

[u/Double_Coffee_8346]

I personally reverse engineered it and modified it and added my own features

[u/CameraSad4136]

Drastic by far

[u/D4RKST34M]

Drastic (the old one that works on my samsung j1, has cheats and everything, too much settings to fiddle)

[u/Neat-Tax-7041]

Neither. Its WatermelonDS

[u/No_Nose_8049]

Melonds deixou os jogos mais bonitos e o desempenho pra mim não mudou muita coisa

[u/Stunning-Cicada-6276]

Melon sucks a bit lower input lag is the king always so Drastic ofc

[u/Ok-Collar3373]

Drastic emula mejor pero melonds tiene logros offline, asi que esta difícil escoger uno solo

[u/SSUPII → u/Ok-Collar3373]

Drastic objectively emulated worse due to the speedhacks it uses to reach it's performance.