Hardware Modders have managed to get select DSiware titles working on older DS models using a flashcart.

[Krvavi Abadas]

Yes, these photos are real.

To explain, the software being used here is nds-bootstrap. Normally it's used with the DSi or 3DS to run retail titles off an SD Card, but there's a "B4DS" version intended for the original models, mainly for flashcarts that intentionally block the ability to run commercial games on them, or have severely outdated firmware.

This new update improves compatibility on those old systems, by letting you run the following DSiware games.

• GO Series: 10 Second Run
• Ace Mathician
• Art Style: Aquia
• Aura-Aura Climber
• Art Style: BASE 10
• Dairojo! Samurai Defenders
• Dark Void Zero
• Dragon's Lair
• Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp (USA version only)
• DS WiFi Settings
• Famicom Wars DS: Ushinawareta Hikari
• GO Series: Defense Wars
• Game & Watch: Ball
• Game & Watch: Chef
• Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr.
• Game & Watch: Flagman
• Game & Watch: Helmet
• Game & Watch: Judge
• Game & Watch: Manhole
• Game & Watch: Mario's Cement Factory
• Game & Watch: Vermin
• Mighty Flip Champs!
• Space Ace

Needless to say, there's some obvious limitations in place here. None of the games (Except for Famicom Wars) are able to save currently,
and the DS is comparatively lacking in RAM and CPU Speed compared to the DSi, plus lacks any sort of camera outside of an obscure accessory, so any titles that make proper use of them will not ever work even with the RAM expansion cart. Aura Aura Climber also has a tendency to crash in endless mode due to said RAM limitations.
These six games are also compatible, but require dev hardware (Which already had extra RAM built-in compared to retail units).

• G.G. Series: All Breaker
• G.G. Series: Assault Buster
• BlayzBloo: Super Melee Brawlers Battle Royale
• Mighty Milky Way
• Nintendo DSi XL Demo Video
• Nintendo DSi XL Demo Video: Volume 2

From a historical perspective, there actually was at least one set of DSiware titles that got backported to the original systems in retail form. The "GG Series" (Which as you may notice, has a few individual titles now somewhat playable using this method.) received a Japan-only physical collection entitled "G.G シリーズコレクション+"

 

[Whelt]

My biggest take away here is that there was once a BlazBlue game localized as BlayzBloo?? lol

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

In case anyone wants exact numbers, the Original DS has it's ARM9 CPU running at 67 MHz while the DSi is clocked at 133 MHz. As for the RAM, i'll provide a table.

Nintendo DS	Nintendo DS (With RAM Expansion cart)	Nintendo DS Devkit	Nintendo DSi
4MB	12MB	8MB, probably larger on later models.	16MB

Of the memory expansions, the devkit almost certainly came first, and was rather specifically meant to give developers extra space to store debug tools.
The RAM Expansion cart (inserted into the GBA slot.) was inexplicably only made for a DS web browser, no proper commercial games actually used the space.

In terms of future compatibility, i suspect anything that was originally designed for the old models before getting cut down or shifted to DSiware (I.E. Nintendo's Express/A little bit of series) will work just fine. In fact, that's what the Famicom Wars game is.
For whatever reason, Japan never got Days of Ruin initially. So Nintendo eventually just turned the game into a DSiware title over there, exclusively available as a Club Nintendo reward.

The closest western equivalent was them handing out Warioware Touched in a similar form (The codes only worked on the 3DS, but it was functionally a DSiware game.) as an early bonus for registering to My Nintendo.

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BTW, as a quick PSA (Not related to the DSiware support) for anyone that downloaded the application. The developer just put out a important hotfix that fixes a severe bug that broke support for retail games using the 2.0 SDK (Which includes major launch titles such as Super Mario 64 DS.) So make sure to update as soon as possible.

 

[poochy]

Wake me up when Bird & Beans is playable

 

[MSnap]

Are we able to run games off of the SD slot on the DSi yet?

 

[Dcubed]

Very impressive work, pretty incredible that they got these games to run on a standard DS with the Expansion pack!

Are we able to run games off of the SD slot on the DSi yet?

Has been a thing for a good few years now.

 

[MSnap]

Has been a thing for a good few years now.

Nice. Might be time to dig out the DSi. I remember wanting that to be a thing back in like 2010.