melonDS Android v0.6.0 Adds Offline RetroAchievements in Softcore Mode

SapphireRhodonite’s dual-screen fork of melonDS for Android, released as melonDS-android v0.6.0, introduces offline RetroAchievements support in Softcore mode with approval from the RetroAchievements team, and the feature is available by sideloading the GitHub release. The change addresses a long-standing pain point for players who previously needed a constant connection to sync DS achievement unlocks, and it pairs the new offline option with a more reliable submission/retry flow for Hardcore mode unlocks.

Android Authority’s description of the flow explains the user steps in plain terms: “To use Softcore mode offline, gamers will need to open the game at least once with an internet connection, so that melonDS can fetch and cache the achievement set and its conditions. Once this initialization is done, gamers can play the game offline, and their achievements will still be tracked on their device. Periodically, gamers can sync their achievements, either on demand or at boot.” That one-time online launch fetches a ledger for each supported title and allows subsequent play without network access.

TheMemoryCore’s testing notes and the fork’s UI show how the ledger behaves in practice: the ledger is fetched the first time a game is launched and “sticks around indefinitely,” recording each offline unlock. Achievements recorded locally are shown with the label "In ledger" in the emulator UI, and those entries remain until the user syncs them back to RetroAchievements. This offline ledger requires no server-side changes to the RetroAchievements infrastructure.

On the security side, TheMemoryCore reproduces the tamper-evidence structure the developer implemented: Tamper-evidence: payloadHash, SHA-256(serialized payload), prevHash, signature, SHA256withECDSA, AndroidKeyStore. TheMemoryCore adds, “Note that the Android build uses the AndroidKeystore, but other platforms will use TPM,” indicating platform-specific key storage while retaining cryptographic checks for ledger entries.

To try the feature you must sideload the SapphireRhodonite fork named in the GitHub release entry "Release melonDS-android v0.6.0 · SapphireRhodonite/melonDS-android." The Play Store melonDS developer Rafael V. Caetano is listed as a contributor to this fork, and coverage has noted that his involvement makes Play Store adoption of offline RetroAchievements more likely in the future.

Community reaction has been active. A Threads post summed the update concisely: “This introduces full RetroAchievements offline support for Softcore Mode, plus a more reliable submission/retry flow for Hardcore Mode unlocks.” Retro Game Corps coverage drew high engagement, and NeoGAF forum threads include practical troubleshooting from users such as CasualPokePlayer, who wrote, “Usually, the reason you have this 'issue' is you're using the wrong version of the game, the European version is typically the one supported for RetroAchievements” (forum timestamp example: 05-25-25 05:17 PM).

Developer intent is forward-looking: the author plans to “release a guideline doc so any can follow it.” And of course I will port [it] over to other open source emulators. That roadmap, plus the ledger’s server-free design, positions this implementation to be portable to other emulators once testing on melonDS is complete.

Limitations remain explicit: Softcore offline tracking only works after the initial online initialization, the fork must be sideloaded from the GitHub release to use v0.6.0’s offline features, and the available notes do not include a definitive list of supported games — users reporting missing achievements should confirm they are using the ROM/version that matches the RetroAchievements set.