Nintendo DS

DS games work like every other system in Parlor — add an .nds file and play — with a few things that only a two-screen console needs.

No BIOS or firmware files

Parlor's DS core ships with a free replacement BIOS and firmware and boots retail and homebrew titles directly. There is nothing to supply, and no setting for it.

The touchscreen

Platform	How you touch
iPhone, iPad	Touch the drawn bottom screen directly
Mac	The mouse is the stylus: point and click
Apple TV	Right stick moves a stylus cursor; the left trigger taps
iPhone as controller for a TV	The phone shows the bottom screen live as a touchpad

Screen layouts

Tap the layout pill in the HUD: Stacked, Side by side, Corner (picture-in-picture) or One screen, with size, gap and position controls. Two-finger double-tap swaps the screens. Layouts are remembered per game, device kind and orientation, and sync. Full detail in Video filters and screen layouts.

On a TV

Settings → Nintendo DS on TV chooses what the big screen shows: Top screen only (default), Both screens, or Both, side by side. The iPhone keeps the touchscreen live. See iPad and external displays.

Save states

DS save states are larger and tied to the core version. Prefer the game's own save for anything you'd hate to lose; see the note in Saves and save states.

Link play

DS titles use their own wireless protocols, which Parlor doesn't carry. The link cable is for Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games.

Nintendo 3DS on iPhone and iPad

Parlor for iPhone and iPad also plays decrypted 3DS titles — .3ds, .cci or .cia — through a GPU-rendered core. Dumps must be decrypted with your own hardware first; an encrypted title imports but stops at launch with a message saying so. 3DS files are imported loose (not from archives), and the core isn't available on Apple TV or the Mac. Touch, screen layouts and the analog circle pad work as for DS.