gminustwo/msr2ds

msr2ds is a fork of the Azahar 3DS emulator that narrows it into a dedicated player for Metroid: Samus Returns, presenting the game on one 16:9 screen styled after Metroid Dread. It is for people who already own a decrypted copy of the game and want to play it on a PC with widescreen HUD, higher frame rates and mod support.

What changes

The game's dual-screen layout is merged into a single widescreen view: energy, missiles, the Aeion gauge and beam slots sit in the upper left, while the map and DNA/Metroid counts sit in the upper right. Start still opens the game's own bottom-screen panel (map, inventory, options), and the right trigger cycles beams. The renderer squeezes depth-tested 3D draws by 15/16 horizontally before clipping to reveal more of the level, then stretches the result back to 16:9; 2D layers keep their full width. Output can go up to a 4K internal resolution and 30, 60, 120 or 144 FPS.

Convenience extras include a launcher that remembers your dump, an in-game settings overlay (F1 or Select), auto-morphball on the left trigger, and in-memory unlocks for amiibo galleries, Fusion Mode and the Fusion suit on any difficulty, plus infinite energy, missiles and Aeion cheats. Texture packs in Azahar/Citra format load from user/mods/textures/, with the first listed pack winning when two replace the same texture; changes take effect on game start.

Requirements and limits

No game files ship with the project. You need your own decrypted Metroid: Samus Returns (USA) dump in .3ds or .cci form; encrypted dumps are refused. The release build relies on Azahar's JIT CPU and a GPU with Vulkan. The first launch defaults to 4K internal resolution, which should be lowered on weaker hardware; the author suggests Steam Deck users stay near 4x (960p). Downloads are provided for Windows and Linux, with the Linux AppImage requiring glibc 2.38 or newer and running under X11/XWayland. Keep the install path short, since Windows' 260-character limit applies to save files.

A second, optional path recompiles the game's ARM code from your own dump into C++ ahead of time. That build embeds translated game code and is meant for personal use only; only the JIT build may be shared.

The HD texture pack is not included in the repository or its releases and is linked elsewhere. Saves live under user/sdmc and can be imported from a 3DS or another emulator; an import backs up existing saves before replacing them, and importing is only offered before the game starts.

License

The project is GPL-2.0, consistent with its Azahar emulator base.

Project source and documentation