Azahar drops Anbernic RG DDS support over emulator fork
Azahar says it will not support Anbernic hardware after the RG DDS was promoted with an unofficial fork of the 3DS emulator.
The team behind the Azahar 3DS emulator says it will no longer support Anbernic hardware after the company featured an unofficial fork of the emulator in promotional material for its upcoming RG DDS handheld. The dispute puts a question mark over long-term software support for a device whose selling point is Nintendo 3DS-style dual-screen emulation.
What Azahar is objecting to
Anbernic’s official promotional video for the RG DDS presents the handheld as a multi-platform device with dual-screen play, local multiplayer and other expansion features. The video is published on the company’s official YouTube channel and identifies the product as the RG DDS. 2
According to Android Authority, the Azahar team says Anbernic promoted an “unofficial piracy-focused” fork of the 3DS emulator, calling it “Azahar Plus”, in that advertising. Azahar said on 26 October that it would not support the RG DDS or other Anbernic devices, and that it would not investigate or fix bugs connected to hardware from the manufacturer. 1
That is a sharper position than simply refusing to provide technical assistance. It means prospective owners should not assume that an Azahar issue on the RG DDS will receive the same attention as a problem on a supported device. The emulator team recommends looking for alternatives for anyone who wants guaranteed support.
What this means for the RG DDS
The RG DDS is expected to ship on 10 December 2026, with pricing leaks reported in the region of $300 to $365. 1 Its dual-screen design is clearly aimed at systems such as the Nintendo 3DS, where the shape of the hardware is part of the appeal. That makes the choice of emulator and the relationship between Anbernic and upstream developers particularly important.
An open-source project can be forked, but the existence of a fork does not mean the original developers are responsible for it. A manufacturer can also choose how it describes software in a product demonstration. The disagreement here is therefore less about whether a fork can legally exist and more about trust, attribution, maintenance and the consequences for customers when promotional software diverges from the upstream project.
Buyers should also separate the announced hardware from the software claims made around it. The official video shows what Anbernic wants to demonstrate, but it does not guarantee that every emulator feature will remain reliable after launch. The Azahar statement is a direct warning that support should not be assumed.
Our opinion
This is precisely the sort of dispute that makes a handheld’s software stack as important as its screen, controls and battery. Anbernic’s RG DDS may still be an interesting piece of hardware, but an emulator-focused selling point becomes less persuasive when the upstream project publicly distances itself from the device. Until Anbernic explains what software it used, how it intends to maintain that fork and whether it will work with the Azahar team, buyers should treat the RG DDS’s 3DS support as a manufacturer claim rather than a dependable long-term promise.