Homebrew Guide

Thanks to monkey_ninjas316 for inspiring this idea with his PSP Homebrew Guide!

What Is Homebrew?

Homebrew is software that is user made. This software can allow the user to do more than what was originally possible on the DS, such as play music, send emails, or even play homebrew games (the legal ones, of course).

How Do I Get Homebrew?

To run homebrew on the Nintendo DS, you must first get a cartidge that is built to run homebrew. The best kits available are the R4, the M3, and the DSTT. If you buy these, you must also get a Micro SD card to store all of your applications.

In the early days of homebrew, most applications were made to work on a slot-2 device. These fit into the GBA slot and ran using the GBA software. For this reason, many of the applications from the slot-2 devices are not compatible with the newer slot-1 devices which fit into the DS cartridge slot. For this reason, some of the homebrew kits are now compatible with a slot-2 expansion, and some of the developers of the early software have switched their applications to run on the slot-1 devices.

What Can Homebrew Do?

There are many homebrew applications available to run on your DS. Some programs, such as Moonshell, allows you to play movies and music on your DS. Others can virtually transform your DS into a PDA. Some even let you access your favorite Instant Messenger right from your DS!

There are also many games on the DS homebrew scene. Most are remakes of classic games, such as DSLemming, but others are original titles, such as Tales of Dagur.

Where Can I Download Homebrew?

There are many good sites for DS Homebrew, although most contain illegal ROMS that can't be linked to on Neoseeker. The Wikipedia article for DS Homebrew has some links to great homebrew applications.

Part Three: Applications and Games



A

B
Beup Live - Beup Live v0.3e is a Windows Live Messenger (Formaly MSN messenger) clone.*

C
Colors - A drawing program that offers the ability to play back the drawing process.

D
DiagnoSe - A program used to test the hardware of your DS.
DS2Key - Use your DS as a wireless remote for your PC or as a gamepad.
DS-AIM - A port of AOL Instant Messenger for the DS.
DSLinux - A Linux operating system ported to the DS.
DSOrganize - A DS organizer that includes a PDA, web browser, file browser, IRC client, calculator, and more.

E

F

G

H

I
IRCDS - IRCDS 0.3c IRC client with custom skin support*


J

K

L
LMP-ng - LMP-ng Music player, known as the iPod clone.


M

N
nDoS - A huge step towards PDA functionality for the DS. Well-made file manager and alot of tools to work with including Phone Manager, Paint, Reader, Contacts and much more.*
Nitrotracker - A music creation tool.

O

P

Q

R

S

T
Tales of Dagur - An original RPG
TxtWriter - Easy to use text editing program.

U

V

W
Whee! DS - An original racing game with randomly generating levels.
WinDS - A port of Windows for the DS.

X

Y

Z

Special thanks to Pitline810 for inspiring the layout of this post.

* - Covered by Pr3tzals



This message was edited by Tainted on Jan 09 2008.

Ok I've downloaded LemmingsDS, questions is, how do I patch it?

well a good patcher is lunarIPS oh and Tainted you want links for those because i will give you them

Where can I buy R4? Out of the 3 cartridges mentioned, which one's the "best"?

Something that has me completely stumped.
I'm trying to get Beup working, it's MSN for DS.
On this page, it tells me:

quote Beup

WARNING! You need to patch Beup with DLDI!
get the patcher at Chishm's website:

I'm lost at that point. I've been to that persons website, and it leaves me even more confused. How do I patch Homebrew games?

quote Dark Dom

I'm lost at that point. I've been to that persons website, and it leaves me even more confused. How do I patch Homebrew games?

You have to download the DLDI Win32 Patcher, but depending on what HB runner you're using, some games don't work.

Thanks soooo much Esh. I downloaded it, and I'm playing all the Homebrew I want. LemmingsDS = Freakin' awesome.
Cheers again.