Glossary of Terms

ROM or ROMs: An acronym for Read Only Memory. Basically, this is a set of instructions (the Game Cartridge) that a computer (in this case your Nintendo DS) can only read.  The DS cannot change (write) the contents of the instructions.

Emulator:  A set of instructions that tricks a game cartridge into thinking its running on its native system.  Game Boy games cannot be played on a DS normally.  If, however, you install a Game Boy Emulator on your DS, the Game Boy game will run, because the emulator fools it into thinking it’s running on a Game Boy.

The Nintendo DS and DS Lite and DSi are capable of running several different emulators.  One of them will let you play Game Boy and Game Boy Advance Games.  One of them will let you run Atari 2600 VCS games.  One will let you run NeoGeo games like King of Fighters or Metal Slug 2.  One will let you run Linux! 

In order to use these emulators, you will need a backup card.  They go by several names, R4, AceKard, M3, CycloDS, etc. 

You will also need a PC with a USB port, an SD Micro Card and a reader.  We will cover these in greater detail in later articles.