Balatro is now Playable on the 20-Year-Old Nintendo DS

Balatro’s addictive nature is hardly debatable anymore, but it seems some players are determined to bring it to every screen. After Steam Deck and mobile versions, this time the nearly 20-year-old Nintendo DS family has entered the fray. Of course, we’re not talking about an official DS version here; behind it is a highly creative community-made demake.

How Balatro Was Run on Nintendo DS?

Reddit user kooler_duck managed to run the fan-made Balatro demake, previously created for the Game Boy Advance, on a modded DSi. This was done using software called GBARunner2. GBARunner2 is a solution that allows Game Boy Advance games to run on DS, DSi, and 3DS systems.

Interestingly, the version running here isn’t a direct scaled-down version of the PC or mobile version of Balatro. Due to the Game Boy Advance’s rather limited hardware, the game has been significantly simplified. While some systems and visual details have been removed, the core card gameplay and Balatro’s retro aesthetic have been preserved as much as possible.

The developers of the project also explicitly state that this is a completely non-profit fan project. Demake has no official affiliation with Playstack or Balatro’s developer LocalThunk, and it’s not intended for sale. It’s more like a playable answer to the question, “What would Balatro have looked like if it had been released in the early 2000s?”

The Nintendo DSi was released in 2008. The fact that a modern game like Balatro can be run, albeit indirectly, on such an old device is quite impressive in itself. Moreover, it shows how far the community’s interest in the game has gone. If Balatro continues at this pace, it could even challenge Doom’s long-standing status as a staple of this type of experimentation.

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