Hacking GBA Games - SCDS2, EZ3in1, or EZIV?

[zygie]

Hi, it's me again about playing GBA games, again, but now I'm considering other options.

So I've narrowed myself down to the 3 best & obvious choices, namely the Supercard DSTWO (slot-1, GBA Emulation), EZ Flash 3in1, and EZ Flash IV.
Right now I'm only on an NDS Lite, and R4DS w/ Wood/RGF YSMenu. So I still considered the slot-2 ones.

I've been thinking of the pros and cons, if you would like to add to these, please, do so, and help me decide once and for all! I would only get one, that's my limit, but as for the issue of price, we'll not bring that up as a deciding factor.

Supercard DSTWO

Pros:
- All-in-one (no more fuss with slot-2)
- Great upgrade from my current flashcart
- 3DS-proof (as of now, if I ever get a 3DS)
- SDHC compatible, so I can just use a bigger SD card for all my games
- Won't lose the save file if the battery in the slot-2 ones fail
- Lots of other features

Cons:
- Compatibility issues (due to it just emulating?)
- Heavier battery consumption (how many hours would I lose emulating GBA games? I'm always on lowest brightness and low sound/headphones. DSL has a lot of battery life on those settings)

Comments: Most expensive of the three, and somehow I can't find the games I play on compatibility lists, I hope they were just not played.


EZ Flash 3in1

Pros:
- (Near?)perfect GBA compatibility
- Can keep one game in NOR for long term/no slot-1 cart usage(confirm?)
- Has RAM (homebrew, DS Browser use) and Rumble as well

Pro/Con:

- No external memory expansions. Pro, saves you from buying another SD card, con, for a time when I would want more memory... I guess. I'm on a 2GB SD because of R4DS.
- Needs slot-1 to load game into NOR... and RAM? I'm not sure myself. Is Wood+ExpLoader enough?

Cons:
- Battery dies eventually, resulting in lost saves (any way to go around the dead battery issue without replacing? I heard about soft-resetting to the cart firmware, and something about hard resets, and power cycling) I'm off to some college out of the country and I won't be at reach of stuff, and on a tight budget, so I can't really just buy a new one, so yeah.

Comments: Very good, except I do just worry about the SRAM battery thing. If there's a way around that even if it's dead, it'll get more persuasion points!


EZ Flash IV - The GBA-size one, the DSL dustcover size is too expensive to purchase+ship

Pros:
- (Near?)perfect GBA compatibility
- The GBA Loader? I'm only gonna use it for GBA anyway, so I can play without the slot-1? Is this correct?
- That NOR and PSRAM and all that jazz as well.

Pro/Con: Expandable memory, for when I would want more memory, but that means I have to get a miniSD card.

Cons:
- Kinda sticks out a DS Lite.
- That battery problem as well. Circumvention methods aside from changing the battery?


That's all I can think of at this hour (1:50am here) so... any more suggestions, protips, and recommendations, please do. Thanks, temp.

 

[Terminator02]

you'll lose approximately 1/3 of your battery life when using the gba emulator on the ds2

the ez flash 3-in-1 requires a slot 1 card, and the saves are saved on the microsd card on your slot-1, so even if it does die, you should still have your most recent save in your microsd card

also, the battery will last a long time, it's not something that you need to worry about (you'll probably move on to something else by the time the battery might be about dead)

and yes, wood+gbaexploader is enough with it


however, with the ez flash IV you don't need the slot 1 card IIRC


i'd personally go with either the 3-in-1 or the ds2

 

[Melter]

so what would be better for playing GBA games on a DS Lite, the 3in1 or the EZ4 Lite? can someone explain the differences between them?

 

[Schicksalsheld]

On DS Lite:

Supercard DSTWO:
Bad Compatibility and losing battery...

EZFlash 3in1:
Needs an Slot 1 Card but allows using of Homebrews that needs more RAM and DS Browser

EZFlash 4:
Needs nothing, but allow only GBA Homebrew and ROM's...

 

[Melter]

On DS Lite:

Supercard DSTWO:
Bad Compatibility and losing battery...

EZFlash 3in1:
Needs an Slot 1 Card but allows using of Homebrews that needs more RAM and DS Browser

EZFlash 4:
Needs nothing, but allow only GBA Homebrew and ROM's...

so which is better for GBA games, an EZFlash 4 or 3in1?

 

[zygie]

you'll lose approximately 1/3 of your battery life when using the gba emulator on the ds2

the ez flash 3-in-1 requires a slot 1 card, and the saves are saved on the microsd card on your slot-1, so even if it does die, you should still have your most recent save in your microsd card

*snip*

Thanks for the estimate. I read somewhere that the 3in1 writes your save file from the battery-powered RAM to the microSD card when you next turn on your DS, so if it can't retain the file due to the battery being dead, you'll lose it before it can be written to the card.

@Schicksalsheld -- I thought DSTWO has one of the best compatibilities due to it being able to emulate being like a real cart, so even if they don't update the firmware that fast, you can just enable this "AAP" or bypass.

 

[Terminator02]

On DS Lite:

Supercard DSTWO:
Bad Compatibility and losing battery...

EZFlash 3in1:
Needs an Slot 1 Card but allows using of Homebrews that needs more RAM and DS Browser

EZFlash 4:
Needs nothing, but allow only GBA Homebrew and ROM's...

so which is better for GBA games, an EZFlash 4 or 3in1?

they both play them perfectly, just that the 3-in-1 also has rumble functions and acts as a RAM pack for some homebrew that use it, while the EZFlash IV can be run without any slot-1 flashcart
basically, the 3-in-1 is better if you already have a slot-1 flashcart

QUOTE(Terminator02 @ Apr 21 2011, 02:27 AM)

you'll lose approximately 1/3 of your battery life when using the gba emulator on the ds2

the ez flash 3-in-1 requires a slot 1 card, and the saves are saved on the microsd card on your slot-1, so even if it does die, you should still have your most recent save in your microsd card

*snip*

Thanks for the estimate. I read somewhere that the 3in1 writes your save file from the battery-powered RAM to the microSD card when you next turn on your DS, so if it can't retain the file due to the battery being dead, you'll lose it before it can be written to the card.

@Schicksalsheld -- I thought DSTWO has one of the best compatibilities due to it being able to emulate being like a real cart, so even if they don't update the firmware that fast, you can just enable this "AAP" or bypass.

the DSTwo does have perfect compatibilty, I believe he's referring to the emulator, which is very decent but runs some games slow, and doesn't run a few at all (you can see a compatibility chart over here)

yes it does, but again, the battery isn't something to worry about, it should be fine for a few years, then you might want to start making some backups

 

[trumpet-205]

@Schicksalsheld -- I thought DSTWO has one of the best compatibilities due to it being able to emulate being like a real cart, so even if they don't update the firmware that fast, you can just enable this "AAP" or bypass.

The compatibilities you are referring to is DS games. OP is talking about GBA emulation, which for SCDS2 is about 90% compatibilities (whereas 3in1 is about 99%). Some games like Sonic Advance 2 are unplayable under GBA emulator offered by SCDS2. Unfortunately, SC team seems to be neglecting GBA emulator so it is unknown if they'll ever improve it.

 

[FAST6191]

@Schicksalsheld I will mention that the EZ4 is in Lick's ram API and thus works for homebrew. There is no browser patch for the standard EZ4 but I contend that the homebrew web browsers and client programs far surpass it anyhow.

Equally if you like dumping roms and saves without fiddling around with wifi or swapping cards then an EZ4 is quite nice to have.

As for circumvention in the event of power loss you can soft reset and SRAM does hold for a couple of seconds otherwise (a quick power off, power on).

Re DS lite- the original EZ4 does stick out and the first model EZ4 lite is out by a couple of mm but the EZ4 lite deluxe should look like the dust cover.

I hate to think how much shipping would be on top of an already high price and unfavourable exchange rate (edit a quick check has you clocking nearly 2700 php between shipping and fees let alone what customs might want) but you apparently can still get an EZ4 lite deluxe http://shop.01media.com/brand.asp?ID=434
Bonus is they use microSD.

I would also argue SDHC is not that much of a problem- the average GBA rom is between 8 and 16 megs with many below that- if a couple of hundred roms all on at once is not enough then......

Sidenote- you do not want an EZ4 lite compact.

 

[Terminator02]

ur link didn't work, try this one

 

[Melter]

ur link didn't work, try this one

the problem with this is that it comes out to $76 shipped to the US, that's a ridiculous price imo. Is there any other site that sells this cart?

 

[Deleted-236924]

Really, get an EZ-Flash IV.
If the SRAM battery ever dies, you can simply soft-reset to firmware when you're done playing and it will save to the .sav file.

 

[Terminator02]

ur link didn't work, try this one

the problem with this is that it comes out to $76 shipped to the US, that's a ridiculous price imo. Is there any other site that sells this cart?

it's just an expensive cart, if you want to go cheaper get an ez flash 3-in-1, it should work perfectly fine

 

[Melter]

Really, get an EZ-Flash IV.
If the SRAM battery ever dies, you can simply soft-reset to firmware when you're done playing and it will save to the .sav file.

I want to get the EZ4 but theres just no way im going to pay $76 for a flash cart, I can get a gameboy micro for that price. Will the GBA size EZ4 work on the DS Lite? I think those are still available

 

[Vigilante]

Supercard is still the best.
If you are done with the GBA emulator,you can still use the near perfect Snes emulator and other great features.

 

[machomuu]

Supercard is still the best.
If you are done with the GBA emulator,you can still use the near perfect Snes emulator and other great features.

Uh, the SNES emulator isn't near perfect. It's more "pretty good, but it has a ways to go".

 

[Terminator02]

but hopefully the next version of CATSFC will make it near perfect