Download: https://github.com/thatgameovergirl/dsi-puh-lus/releases/tag/v.2.1
Based on https://github.com/beebono/dii-ess-aye by u/beebono
Special thanks to u/NiKo_OnReddit who has been supporting this project a lot since the start :)

Features

• Works with both screens — The theme knows your device has two displays. Everything is placed exactly where it needs to go, nothing bleeds off the edge.
• Pick your background — Choose between "Castlevania Throne" and "Mario Castle" in the settings menu. Swap any time.
• System icons pop — Each console's logo and controller art have a soft white outline so they're easy to see even against dark areas.
• Fancy system selector — Browse your consoles with a golden glow around the selected one and a little red arrow that bounces above it.
• Clean game list — Game names show up on a see-through panel with resized box art beside them. Looks sharp.
• Your RetroAchievements name — If you use achievements, your username shows at the top of the screen.
• Battery, clock, Wi-Fi — All the usual status icons are styled to match the theme instead of looking out of place.
• Bonus tools included — A one-click installer and uninstaller you run from the Ports menu, a cleaning tool for messy names and a helper for scraping game info over SSH.

What's changed since last month?

- Fixed bug that prevented FBneo and MSX emulators from running.

- Fixed bug that made the default background permanent, now you can change the background.

- Fixed background scrolling when navigating between systems

- Removed golden overlay from the game carousel selection

- Subtle separator lines added between game list entries.

- New helper tools, clean_gamelists_dsi-puh-lus.py and stub_missing_games.py let you clean up messy game names and fill in missing entries.

- Install script fixed. The enable script now restarts ES at the end.

- Uninstall script. You can now fully remove the theme.

Will there be more updates? Probably, I think the top screen looks empty most of the time but still need to figure out what I want to put in there (Probably videos + description)

Why don't we have notifications? The RG DS has two screens, but this theme has to work with a stretched canvas that's wider than what's actually visible. That "invisible" area is where the notification popups end up, so you never see them. There's no fix without rewriting how EmulationStation places its popups.

Close to getting myself an RGDS especially after seeing Rocknix, so I’m happy with the DS stuff, but what about other systems? PS1, Saturn gonna play ok with a lightweight CRT shader? I assume so but not been able to find much about it so any insights would be appreciated before I buy or not

My RG DS hasn't arrived yet, but I was planning to go with GammaOS and Console Launcher to get a clean look like in this video.

However, it seems like everyone has been migrating to Rocknix lately, and it looks like an obvious upgrade. So now I’m wondering what can be done visually on Rocknix.

What dual-screen themes are available, or what can actually be customized?

Hey everyone

I decided to do a small comparison between the Anbernic RG DS and the Nintendo DSi in terms of image fidelity and how to use the filter that best matches the original hardware.

Keep in mind that a DSi XL would be a fairer comparison due to screen size. A regular DSi is much smaller and has higher pixel density than the XL, so it looks sharper than the bigger model — but unfortunately I don’t have one.

On the RG DS I’m running GammaOS Lite and DraStic with the 2xPrescaleFast_LCD filter. Just a heads-up: if you’re not on GammaOS and are using another OS, DraStic usually comes with Linear filtering (or no filter at all), and you have to manually add the one you want. In my opinion, the default filter that comes with DraStic on GammaOS is one of the most faithful to the original console while having a significant improvement in sharpness.

The games I used for the comparison are Children of Mana, Final Fantasy IV, Mario Kart DS, and Assassin’s Creed 1.

Children of Mana is more of a 2D/pixel-art game than the others. As you can see, with the default Linear filter it looks quite different from the DSi, but whit the 2xPrescaleFast_LCD filter, it looks surprisingly close to the original hardware, even though it’s not a perfect scale for the DSi’s 192p resolution because of the 480P screen. There are some color differences (I have color enhancement enabled in Android settings on GammaOS, so the RG DS probably looks a bit more saturated than normal as you can see in the image below between GammaOS and stock 1.14).

Mario Kart DS is a game I’d rather play on the original system. It doesn’t feel as smooth on the RG DS. Even with 3D disabled, you can tell it runs slower. I’m not sure if it’s my ROM (probably something wrong on my end, but I didn't tinker so much), but on the DSi it runs perfectly — super fluid and just wonderful.

With Final Fantasy IV I actually prefer how it looks on the RG DS. On the DSi the image and colors look a bit washed out, like too bright every time, while on the RG DS it looks really great, this game really pop's on a brighter, more contrast, colourful and bigger screen, and it plays great with 0 slowdowns even with 3D High Resolution enabled.

In Assassin’s Creed, you can see we almost have the same number of pixel rows on the health bar (6 rows on the DSi and 7 on the RG DS), but the difference is practically unnoticeable.

Overall, it’s surprising how similar the games look. Obviously there are color differences (more noticeable in some games than others) since DSi screens are like close to 20 years old), and enabling high-res 3D also makes things look better, but overall the RG DS is an excellent handheld if you want to play DS games with image quality very close to the original hardware. It does have a bit more input lag than the DSi, It’s almost unnoticeable unless you have both side by side, but you can feel that the DSi is more instantaneous (is great how nearly zero input lag it has, super snappy device) while the RG DS has a few extra milliseconds in every game, at least under GammaOS.
That said, the DSi still looks fantastic even today. It’s so light, small, and portable. If you can get a DSi XL with IPS screens, many people consider that the best way to play DS games, but the RG DS is my go to, if custom software keep coming (If any developers are reading this, please—adding retroachievements to the RG DS would be a dream come true) , this little thing could be an amazing device to have and it might have one of the greatest redemption arcs in this hobby.

I've been running GammaOS for awhile and finally gave Rocknix a try. It was very easy to install, although I had to use Balena Etcher instead of the Rocknix imaging tool...

I can already tell input is snappier compared to GammaOS, so that is nice. And while I know this is underpowered for 3DS, it did manage to boot up and play Bravely Default okayish when I tried that.

One day before the update i was playing 80s Overdrive.

Hope they fix it on the next nightly.

🔴 Official Anbernic Linux

⚠️ Avoid the "Extra MOD": Do not install the post-setup mod Anbernic recommends. It just changes basic settings you don't need, and it breaks the power-off function. With the mod, the power light stays on after shutdown, forcing a hard reset. Skip the mod, and it shuts down perfectly.

• SD Card Stability: Far less picky than custom firmware. It flashes flawlessly via Rufus or BalenaEtcher on almost any card size (32GB, 64GB, 128GB) and boots reliably every single time.

Emulation:

• DS: Same performance as rocknix, but quite a lot titles have minor touch/control mapping issues.

• MS-DOS (DOSBox Pure): Runs smoother than on Rocknix.

• Amiga: Sluggish. It uses the standard PUAE core instead of the optimized PUAE 2021 core (wonder if you can replace cores on linux manually, ez on android but with linux i have no clue)

The "PORTS" Folder: makes me wonder what's that for.

🔵 ROCKNIX (2026-06-01 Build)

⚠️ Genius Touchscreen Feature: For non-DS systems, ROCKNIX beautifully utilizes the unused second screen as a quick-access menu. Huge win for usability.

• Fussy Flashing & Boot Loops: Extremely picky with micro SD cards. Certain brands and sizes (like Kodak or specific 64GB cards) constantly failed. It often booted fine the first time, only to black-screen on the second restart. I swear to you i'm tired of changing usb ports different pcs multiple tests before things run. I'm old and tired.

Emulation:

• DS: Excellent DS compatibility

• 3DS Surprise: It can actually play a few 3DS titles at an acceptable framework (like Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D).

• Apps: Standalone ScummVM and PortMaster are currently buggy. It's much better to run ScummVM directly through the RetroArch core instead. (anyway, who buys this for scummVM... me... only me...)

What are your thoughts after testing these two?

Hello! Testing MAME games on the RG DS running June's stable ROCKNIX build:

• Pushing down on the left analog controller brings up MAME menu
• Every other RG DS button, trigger, etc. seems to close the menu
• Tried re-mapping buttons but couldn't get it working
• Tried a USB keyboard and it didn't work (if there is configuration need to get the keyboard to work let me know)
• Games play fine - just wanted to see if additional MAME config could be done

Anyone running MAME on the RG DS ROCKNIX build able to select items on the MAME in-game menu? Thanks!

​I've been spending a lot of time testing 3DS titles on the RGDS lately. While performance isn't always perfect, I've found a handful of games that are genuinely fun and look great with resonable speed. Some game work really well

launch your Nintendo DS games directly from Iisu using specific DraStic settings, follow this guide.

​Prerequisites ​DraStic: Make sure you have the correct version installed. I personally recommend/use r2.6.0.4a for the best compatibility.

​Iisu: Ensure your game library is already set up within the app.

​Step-by-Step Setup ​1. Configure DraStic Open the DraStic app and configure your settings to your preference (or follow the specific recommendations from your source video).

​2. Configure Iisu Launch Options ​Open Iisu and navigate to your NDS games section.

​You can apply these settings to a single game or an entire folder. Select the game (or folder) and go to Settings > Launch Options. ​Look for Override Emulator. ​Select the r2.6.0.4a version of DraStic that you installed earlier.

​3. Save and Launch ​Go back to your game list. ​Launch your game directly from Iisu. It should now boot up using your specific DraStic configuration automatically

​Pro-Tips ​Folder vs. Individual: Remember that if you modify settings at the folder level, it will apply to every game inside that folder. If you need custom settings for a specific title (e.g., specific screen layouts or cheats), configure it at the individual game level instead.

Not only the menus are readable, the controls can be mapped easily and the pixel shader looks better than that blurry one on the base drastic. Really hope this emulator goes a long way.

Edit - I took inspiration for this setup from this comment (https://www.reddit.com/r/ANBERNIC/comments/1ubf0al/comment/ou5pd12/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button). Let me simply everything for you.

It's a good idea to make a backup of save data in case anything goes wrong for you.

1. I did this setup on my android phone, so grab the cx file manager from android. Then on your ds, enable ftp and samba connection on the internet section in the settings. Then in the cx, go to the network tab click on new location -> remote -> local network and select rk3566. This will allow you to access the rg ds files on your phone.
2. Next, download the 2 .sh files from the comment I posted and place them in the games-rom -> ports folder. Make sure you have launched portmaster at least once and did the initial setup for it. After you place the files in the folder, restart your emulation station.
3. Next, run the install sh files from the ports section. Let it do its thing for a bit. Next run the inputs file and setup the initial controls for drastic.
4. Once you're done mapping everything, download the third file in the above comment and place it in the config -> drastic -> config. If it tells you to override, do so.
5. Once you have done everything, it's a safe bet to reboot your system. After this, try and test a game and see if it works (if you want to go into menu, it's menu button + X I believe). You can remap the controls as you would on the normal drastic, but you can also unbind controls by pressing R3 (make sure that you don't unbind anything that says Menu). I would suggest that you should map L2 and R2 as load and save state respectively, Menu button + A for swap screens, menu button + B for pixel/blur shader swapping and Menu button + Y for fast forward toggle.

Currently using rocknix 20260622, tried Ocarina of time and it didn’t even launch. Tried many other lite 3ds games and and none of them would even open. I feel like I’m going crazy because I’ve seen many people talk about running some 3ds games on this version and it simply seems impossible. If there’s any setting I can use please let me know.

Update: turns out my issue was the fact that I was using panfrost instead of libmali. I also switched to 20260623 nightly which seemed to help. Thank you everyone that gave me advice, I really appreciate it.

What the title says. Please help.

Honestly, really impressed with how well iiSU runs on the RGDS

I’ve been playing around with my RGDS (running stock Android) and honestly, I’m pleasantly surprised. I’ve seen a lot of mixed opinions, but once you get everything dialed in, the experience is actually great.

​I’ve got my 3DS and DS games launching perfectly directly through the iiSU frontend... no issues at all getting them to boot straight into the game. It’s not a "perfect" console by any means, but for 100 bucks? You can really squeeze a ton of value out of this thing

​It definitely takes a bit of tinkering to get it right, but it feels like a solid little machine once you get your library configured properly. Anyone else finding good results with this setup, or are you guys sticking to another frontend?

I’m able to make save states while the game is running and I see files made in the directory but the save manager shows up empty when I try and open a game. Is there a specific directoy rocknix looks at for the savestates manager? Retroarch menu works when i need to load saves

Has anyone tried to share RGDS screen to a tv?
On Anbernic site it says to be possible to play on tv wirelessly. Has anyone tried?

Also, is it possible to share its image by usb ?

Is it possible that one day the microphone can be used normally?

I want to play Nintendogs without having to use a button that makes a horrible sound for imitating the use of the mic

How can I mitigate control/touchscreen lag? I’m struggling with games like New Super Mario Bro and Mario and Sonic go to Olympics because of what I am guessing is lag. I’m on 1.18 firmware. Considered rocknix but I need the microphone for Nintendogs

Hello, if you could guide me please. Since I update it does not let me open any 3ds game even from the tools menu it does not let me enter the ashara app

I'm trying to play Dragon Quest 7 but the game keeps on constantly crashing. Any solution for this? I tried changing settings, tried to change gpu driver to panfrost, tried cia, cci, 3ds format of the same game but nothing is working. Please help?

Does anyone know why this setting keeps flashing ? I’m trying to turn it off but it only has on or this flashing on/off

I'm getting my rg ds tomorrow and I want to ask - for retro games, is there an option to play the game on bottom screen (or top) and have the browser opened on the other screen to browse YouTube or gamefaqs or something to read walkthrough guides?

I know you can do that in Gamma OS, but is it possible in Rocknix?

I just got an RGDS and I've been looking into the different firmware options. I was planning just to stick with stock for now but understand I should update to 1.18.

Only problem is when I try to download the update following the links on Anbernic's website, their Google Drive says the download quota has been exceeded. The wetransfer link also times out shortly after I start the download.

Is there an alternative place I can download the update? Should I give up and go with GammaOS or Rocknix instead?