Noob Needs a Little Help Buying a Flash Card/Cart

[BIGtrouble77]

I'm completely new to the NDS/GBA homebrew scene... I just got my DS last week. I have a couple questions about which flash Card/Cart to get.

 

First off, I do want to be able to play GBA backups, so I assume that the new flash cards like the 'M3 DS Simply' and the 'Super Card DS' won't be sufficient. I also read that some games may not work properly with these cards if I don't have a fast enough microsd card. The best solution seems to be the 'M3 Perfect Lite'. From what I gather, this flash cart will copy the game off the sd card and play it from the cart eliminating those sd speed issues? So I can have, say, 5 DS game backups on my 2gb microsd card and have the ability to easily load any one of them at any time (what I'm getting at is whether I need my pc to load a new nds game)? Also, does the M3 Perfect Lite need a passthru card? If it does, does the M3 come with one?

 

Finally, my biggest interest is homebrew. I'm assuming the scummvm, nes, snes, tg16, genesis, etc. will all work fine and that movies will play fine too? I think that about covers it. Is there anything else I should know about? Is there anything cheaper than the "M3 Perfect Lite" that can accomplish the same thing and still fit cleanly in the DS? It's been really hard sorting through everything and knowing what's still relevant and what's dated info.

 

TIA!!!

 

-BT

[Mooney]

You are correct in assuming that Slot-1 flashcarts and memory card adapters cannot play GBA games. Although I have not heard about slow speed from slow SD cards, I do know that the M3 requires a computer to put new ROMs on, and it has its own software for that. However, after you put the NDS games onto the SD card, you can load them from the M3's built in menu. I have at least 50 games on mine. And yes, to play NDS games with an M3 Lite you DO need a passthru device, and you can find bundle packs online that include a passkey or another device with the M3.

 

Now, as for the systems you listed, NES is the only one I have heard of working well. SNES and Genesis are not emulated very well right now. As for movies, the M3 has software for converting movies, music and photos for viewing/listening on your DS. The only cheaper alternative I know of is the Supercard, but I have no experience with them.

[BIGtrouble77]

Mooney, thanks for the response. This is what I'm thinking about getting:

http://www.divineo.com/cgi-bin/div-us/dd-ds-m3lpass

 

Do you know of any other places that have it in stock? I only know about Divineo because I used to buy my xbox mod chips from there.

 

Thanks again,

-bt

[Mooney]

Here's the official "Where to Buy" from m3adapter.com

http://www.m3adapter.com/global_sell_net.htm

 

Here are some places that sell NDS equipment:

www.natrium42.com

www.kicktrading.ca

www.jandaman.com

[BIGtrouble77]

Thanks again.

 

-BT

[BIGtrouble77]

Well, I still haven't bought anything because I'm frustrated with understanding how the GBA compatibility works. I was going to get the M3, but I realized that doesn't support GBA Games either. I have quite a few GBA backups that I would love to use so I don't want to loose them.

 

I checked through the usenet and I noticed alot of what appears to be GBA games that are released as .NDS games. Does this mean that GBA games are converted to .NDS and are supported as if they are a native NDS game? I'm assuming that these games will run on a 'M3 DS Simply' with no problems. If that's the case then that solves my problem because all of my GBA games (as NDS files) are posted there. Can someone confirm this for me?

 

Thanks,

-BT

[Mooney]

Alright, let me explain...

With the M3 Lite (The cart you said you were buying earlier) GBA ROMs WILL work. The only way playing GBA games differs from playing NDS games is that you don't need the Passcard to play them. Just insert the M3 Lite into your GBA slot, and leave your NDS slot empty (or put in one of your original games), boot up the DS, and choose "Start GBA Game" from the main screen.

 

I myself have never heard of GBA games being converted to .nds games, and I do not think this is currently possible. You may be seeing NDS games with the .gba.nds extension, which is just another format of NDS ROM. If I were you, I would not trust these game backups.

[Private Biscuit]

I got interested in buying one of these but right now I'm between these 3:

EZ V

M3 Simply

R4

 

Can someone (Mooney) tell me which one is better, or are all of them the same?

Also if I can play GBA and NES games on them.

Thanks ^^

[Mooney]

Well, according to many sources, the M3 and the R4 are exactly the same thing. Even so, I would recommend either of them over the EZ-Flash V (Actually, it looks as if the EZ V is roughly the same thing too... ).

 

Since these are all slot-1 cards, you will NOT be able to play GBA games, and you'll have to use an emulator (such as NesDS) to play NES games. NO GBA ROMs/homebrew/emus will work on a slot-1 card.

[Private Biscuit]

So there's absolutely no way to play GBA games on those... isn't there a emulator like NesDS that can run GBA games on DS?

[Mooney]

So there's absolutely no way to play GBA games on those... isn't there a emulator like NesDS that can run GBA games on DS?

No, the only way you can play GBA games is off of a slot-2 flashcart.

[Private Biscuit]

All right, thanks mooney.

[iq_132]

I hate to resurrect an old thread, but I've recently come into some funds and I'd like to get myself a flash card.

 

What I absolutely need are:

DS backup ability (I would hate to have to switch back and forth between my actual carts and a flash)

Save ability (proper saving, without patching of NDS games (and extraction of the save area of games I own).

GBA compatibility (good gba homebrew scene )

Expandable memory -- SD cards or something that I can swap in/out read/write

Affordable (I don't want to spend more than $50USD on just the cart, and don't want a SD card included [at a premium])

 

I suppose that I can get a single-slot solution for NDS and another card for GBA later.

 

Now that these single-slot solutions are more readily available, what cards are the best (according to my reqs)?

 

TIA!

 

*edit*

Thinking about this one:

http://www.divineo.com/cgi-bin/div-us/dd-ds-simply

[Mooney]

What I absolutely need are:

DS backup ability (I would hate to have to switch back and forth between my actual carts and a flash)

When you say backup "ability" do you mean the ability to play NDS ROMs or to dump your actual game carts? If you mean the ability to play NDS ROMs, just about every flashcard out there can do that, but some require more equipment than others (Slot-2 flashcard require a pass device to play NDS homebrew). If you want to be able to dump your own game carts, then you'd need a custom firmware called FW Nitro.

 

Save ability (proper saving, without patching of NDS games (and extraction of the save area of games I own).

The M3 Perfect (slot-2) can save your games without a patch (unless you want real time saving) and the software includes a tool to import/export saves from your ROMs. Slot-1 cards never require patching at all, and no software either, so I'm not sure if you could import/export saves. As for getting the saves off of your own games, you'll need an app called Rein.

 

GBA compatibility (good gba homebrew scene )

If you want GBA compatibility, you'll need a slot-2 device (and a pass device, for playing NDS stuff).

 

Expandable memory -- SD cards or something that I can swap in/out read/write

Just about every slot-1 and -2 device there is requires a memory card. The most commonly used are CF, SD, miniSD and microSD. Depending on which flashcard you choose you'll know which you need. There are a few cards that do not require a memory card, such as the DS-X, but they do not have very much built in storage.

 

Affordable (I don't want to spend more than $50USD on just the cart, and don't want a SD card included [at a premium])

For less than $50, your options would probably be a SuperCard or a CycloDS. The M3 is well over $50. If you want slot-1, the R4DS usually goes for around $45

 

I suppose that I can get a single-slot solution for NDS and another card for GBA later.

 

Now that these single-slot solutions are more readily available, what cards are the best (according to my reqs)?

Again, a slot-1 flashcard will not work with GBA stuff, so unless you don't really need that, I'd say go with slot-2. That said, the best slot-1 card out there is probably the R4DS (the M3 Simply is an exact clone of this).

 

I'll have a buyer's guide to NDS flashcards up soon, so you may want to take a look at that as well.

[iq_132]

Quotes are broken for me, apparently ^^

 

When you say backup "ability" do you mean the ability to play NDS ROMs or to dump your actual game carts? If you mean the ability to play NDS ROMs, just about every flashcard out there can do that, but some require more equipment than others (Slot-2 flashcard require a pass device to play NDS homebrew). If you want to be able to dump your own game carts, then you'd need a custom firmware called FW Nitro.

I know all flashcarts (for ds) have ds rom ability, I mean making backups of my legit carts. I honestly can live without this as I'm sure these roms are available somewhere.

 

The M3 Perfect (slot-2) can save your games without a patch (unless you want real time saving) and the software includes a tool to import/export saves from your ROMs. Slot-1 cards never require patching at all, and no software either, so I'm not sure if you could import/export saves. As for getting the saves off of your own games, you'll need an app called Rein.

I would really like a slot-1 device, and later a slot-2 one, thanks for that Rein link, I'll save that for sure.

 

If you want GBA compatibility, you'll need a slot-2 device (and a pass device, for playing NDS stuff).

I think I'll get a slot-2 later one :S

 

Expandable memory -- SD cards or something that I can swap in/out read/write.

Just about every slot-1 and -2 device there is requires a memory card. The most commonly used are CF, SD, miniSD and microSD. Depending on which flashcard you choose you'll know which you need. There are a few cards that do not require a memory card, such as the DS-X, but they do not have very much built in storage.

I think mini/microSD are the ones I'd rather use.

 

For less than $50, your options would probably be a SuperCard or a CycloDS. The M3 is well over $50. If you want slot-1, the R4DS usually goes for around $45

I really like the looks of the M3 Simply / R4DS, I think I may go with one of those (and get a slot 2 dev. later). They are both $44.99 on Divineo.

 

Again, a slot-1 flashcard will not work with GBA stuff, so unless you don't really need that, I'd say go with slot-2. That said, the best slot-1 card out there is probably the R4DS (the M3 Simply is an exact clone of this).

Are there any differences at all? Better company/support maybe for one?

 

I'll have a buyer's guide to NDS flashcards up soon, so you may want to take a look at that as well.

That'd be cool!

Fixed quote problem - R

Edited March 10, 2007 by Robert