[Feature Request] Merge "Nintendo DSi" into "Nintendo DS"

[guoyunhe]

Currently in database and thumbnails, Nintendo DSi is treated as a separate system from Nintendo DS. However, I think they could be merged into one system:

1. There are only 127 games are DSi exclusive in the history. Users may only have a few DSi games while it requires another playlist in the menu.
2. Many people don't even know the difference of DS and DSi (even those who own the hardware). Users can be confused.
3. Differences of DS and DSi games are not very noticeable. (Unlike 32X to Mega Drive)
4. DS and DSi rom format are the same.

[JesseTG]

Currently in database and thumbnails, Nintendo DSi is treated as a separate system from Nintendo DS. However, I think they could be merged into one system:

I appreciate the interest, but I'll have to disagree with you here.

1. There are only 127 games are DSi exclusive in the history. Users may only have a few DSi games while it requires another playlist in the menu.

There are smaller playlists, for both dedicated platforms and specific games (e.g. the ports of Doom and OutRun).

2. Many people don't even know the difference of DS and DSi (even those who own the hardware). Users can be confused.

I don't think this is enough to justify merging the two playlists, especially when DSi mode isn't universally supported by DS emulators. So having a separate playlist can help with core defaults (e.g. someone might prefer Desmume for DS games, and melonDS DS for DSiWare).

3. Differences of DS and DSi games are not very noticeable. (Unlike 32X to Mega Drive)

Not at a surface level, but the DSi has additional hardware that games make use of. The cameras, the SD card, the NAND, and the extra RAM all come to mind.

4. DS and DSi rom format are the same.

Yes, but using them isn't. The DSi ROM format is the same, but you can't run a DSi ROM as a DS cartridge. If you try, it'll fail as soon as it tries to load or save game data (DS cartridges can't access the DSi NAND).

[Chew]

I agree with the above. DSi is definitely different than DS. They're separate just like the Game Boy and Game Boy Color are separate (even though Nintendo merges these and the DS/i in their total calculations). DSi "games" are generally DSiWare which absolutely require the ROM/NAND as mentioned above, and are unplayable without a core like MelonDS DS (where DeSmuMe works fine for DS, but not for DSi). There are actually 630 DSiWare games, plus the handful of real games (I think it's like 5-10?), most of these are not indexed or picked up by the Emulator, unfortunately.