Hacking Supercard SD slowdown?

[shoving_tacoz]

I've read a bunch about the Supercard SD. It looks like the card for me. I want a flash card for my micro, and my EZFlash IV is corrupted, so I've got a bad taste in my mouth from it. I'm working on figuring it out, but I want to get a 2nd card. You can read about it here:

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=162...p;#entry2072729

I also have a 128Mb card with a 25 pin parallel linker, but it's way too small for my tastes, and I'm using it as a backup card.


Can anyone with firsthand experience comment on the slowdown- how bad is it, what games do you notice it in, and can the unit handle the 16Mb and 32 Mb games like Kingdom Hearts and Mother 3? All in all, how have you enjoyed the unit? Does it still work?

The reason I'm asking- there's a wide variance on the internet regarding this card, and I'm just looking for 1st hand experience.

Thanks for all the advice!

 

[Schizoanalysis]

I have both a purple SuperCard miniSD and a EZ Flash IV miniSD --

Briefly comparing the two...

-I hate the PC software for both...
-Supercard has a better plastic case & build quality...
-Supercard has "real time save" -- I couldn't get EZ Flash IV to do this...
-Supercard is not skinnable and has no NOR (quick access long term memory)

RE: Slowdown... I never really noticed... so it can't be so bad.

I have a problem with saving "Mother 3 (Translation)" on SuperCard, on EZ it works fine...

The battery for my Supercard has lasted at least 3 years now... so it is going well... I just got my EZ IV...

 

[DanTheManMS]

The slot-2 Supercards are amongst the best slot-2 devices you can get. For DS games. GBA-wise, it's not nearly as good due to the slowdown that you're talking about. There used to be a GBA compatibility list for the Supercard out there, and it was actually rather appalling to see all the games it couldn't run at full speed. Personally I never really use my Supercard for GBA gaming, so I don't have much personal experience with the slowdown, other than trying Metroid Fusion for a few minutes before giving up and going back to my actual cartridge of the game. There are ways to combat the slowdown slightly, as seen at http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/SupercardGBASlowdowns, but the consensus is that if you're only going to be using the device for GBA gaming, the Supercard is not where you want to look. Consider the EZ-IV instead.

 

[shoving_tacoz]

Thanks, already have an EZflash IV. It's corrupted. I'm going to only use the card for GBA games, so perhaps the Supercard SD isn't for me.

My requirements:

SD (full, micro, mini, whatever) or USB linking

not an EZ Flash IV (already have a broken one)

Must fit in Gameboy Micro

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[Rayder]

If you can find a place to get it, get the M3 Perfect (NOT the Pro....Pro doesn't support GBA). I have one and it makes the Supercard slot2 (which I also have) look very sad in comparison. In fact, I got the M3 Perfect to replace the Supercard because I hated the slowdowns in the Supercard that much and I only used it for GBA gaming. The M3 Perfect DOES NOT slow down in ANY GBA game and has 100% compatibility. Unlike the Supercard, which has more like 85% compatibility and definite slowdown in many GBA games.

Problem is finding one. I think the M3 team quit producing them, which is really a shame as it was the best of its kind on the market. If you DO find one, expect to pay a high price. I payed $70 for mine when they were easy to find.

The M3 Perfect has various sizes....I bought the miniSD version, which will sit flush in a GBA SP. They did make a micro version that will sit flush in the DSlite. Never actually messed with a GBA micro.....I don't know how GBA carts fit into them to know which you'd want for that.

Basically, you only have 2 real choices; M3 Perfect and EZFlash IV, as far as I know for no slowdown and good compatibility. I don't know if there are any other slot2's that are worth bothering with. If you can't find an M3 Perfect, it might be in your best interests to get another EZFlash.

I don't know why the Supercard team never fixed their Supercard slot2's, just seems lame to leave it like it is. Sure, it plays DS games fine, but I have a slot1 cart for DS games, they needed to fix the slowdown issue for GBA gaming. It was for this reason that I didn't buy an SCDS1 when I upgraded away from the old R4 and bought a CycloDS instead. I felt burned by the Supercard slot2 and wasn't about to give them any more of my money.

 

[shoving_tacoz]

Bummer. the M3 Perfect looks almost impossible to track down. I guess I'll think about getting another EZFlash IV and hope it doesn't crap out.

LOL I tihnk I'm going to get the supercard anyways and then hope I can fix my EZflash IV someday, although the thing is fried, I think

 

[Rayder]

Yeah, it kinda sucks that one of the only slot2 carts still produced and supported has slowdown and poor GBA compatibility. I think it was a mistake for the M3 team to drop support for the M3 Perfects, at least until DSlites are no longer sold and the DSi completely takes over. I've been very happy with my M3 Perfect. The thing is damn near flawless.

I'm not familiar with EZFlash products at all. Do they still actually produce the EZFlash IV? How was the GBA compatibility on that cart before it crapped out on you? I know at least 3 people who need a good slot2 cart.

 

[Schizoanalysis]

By the way...

Supercard has an annoying Button Combo for saving...

L+R+Select+(either A or B)

These must be used in game...

Supercard can also save on re-startup (within a few minutes - not longer, or save will disappear)...

 

[shoving_tacoz]

Compatability was pretty good, althouth the GUI is kind of ugly.

Patching was easy, and I got like 60 games on it. If you want more, you have to break them into categories, as too many games not in folders will cause the games to not load.

Flashing to NOR memory allowed me to play Mother 3. Although this is what (I think) eventually bricked my card. But while it worked, I was playing patched Mother 3 no problem.

I got mine from realhotstuff.com, which is a US retailer. They add $10 onto MSRP, but you're dealing with a US customer, not some dude from HK.

Like I said, It worked great for me, until it died. No one else seems to have the problems I did, though, so I still think it's worth a try.

I think I'm just going to get the supercard SD so I don't have to deal with mini sd memory anymore.

 

[Schizoanalysis]

My EZ Flash IV has mini-SD...

BTW -- EZ Flash's ugly menu can be skinned... I put a nice Mario skin on mine... looks better than the plain Supercard one...

 

[shoving_tacoz]

Ya I have a bunch of SD cards laying around, and my miniSD reader is crapping out. If I got another ezFlash, I'd have to go get a new card reader/adapter as well.

You are right, you can skin it, I didn't get around to it before it bricked on me.

 

[Schizoanalysis]

I hope my EZ doesn't brick -- I started playing Mother 3 on it too!

There's nothing so bad about the Supercard... I never noticed slowdown -- I played all the may through Minish Cap with no problems... it has served me well over the years... but with Mother 3, the save function is weird -- I can only "real-time-save" -- so I wanted to try another card...

 

[shoving_tacoz]

Ya I loved the EZ for was. I also have a 128m card that can only flash 2 games thru a 25 pin parallel port, an old school GBA, and some chinese software that only works on an old computer. The EZ flash is a THOUSAND times better than any of the non-removable flash media.

 

[Schizoanalysis]

I've got an old Flash2Advance Ultra 512 cart -- it's great for loading on a single game -- but the computer software is really quite painful when you load on several games --

 

[Rayder]

As far as miniSD.....my M3 Perfect is the miniSD version. I just use a microSD in a miniSD adapter. Never had any problems using it that way, so that's an option. Every time I've ever bought microSD's, I make sure they came with adapters, just so I'd have them if I ever needed them. I only have 1 actual miniSD card, a 2gig, and that's in my old Supercard miniSD (SCminiSD) slot2. I use that in a GBA SP with the improved backlight.

As for games that slow down in the SCminiSD.....the Castlevania games slowdown.....the Atari arcade compilation that has Centipede not only slows down, but will crash after a couple minutes of play. The Sega Arcade compilation works, but one of the 4 games won't work, and which game that is will depend on the patch method (restart, no restart). The Final Fantasy games (not sure exactly which, if not all) run slow.....

I have 214 GBA games in my SCminiSD, so you could ask about particular games and I could check them for slowdown if I have them on it. Make a list in this thread and I will check all the ones in the list that I have on my SCminiSD and I'll report whether they slowdown or not.

 

[shoving_tacoz]

OK, any problems with:

A large game (32MB) like Kingdom Hearts or Mother 3 or Riviera

Mario games ( Mario World, Yoshi Island, etc)

Pokemon Ruby/Emerald

Advance Wars 2

Mario Kart (I hear this one is slow)

Tony Hawk (any of em)


that's pretty much my sweet spot right there. I'm expecting the 32mb ones to lag, I may just play those through an emulator on my PC.

Luckily I'm more of a puzzle/action player than a RPG player, so FF lag doesn't bother me.


Oh, and Thanks! I must say I'm impressed at how helpful everyone is here

Oh and it seems to be the less patches/options put on the game, the less slowdowns and glitches come up, correct?

 

[Rayder]

OK....most of the games you listed I don't play and therefore don't have on my SCminiSD. Here's the ones I do have...

Riviera - Seems to run fine.
Mario Kart - Runs fine at 50cc, but has a sort of stuttering slowdown at the higher cc's.
Advance Wars 2 - completely incompatible. (Advance Wars 1 works though and runs full speed)

Sorry I couldn't be of more help with the other games, but to my defense, I do tend to have an odd taste in games compared to most members.

As for options affecting slowdown.....it's really a game-by-game thing. Generally, if you use the Restart option while patching, it can help a game not slowdown, but it's no guarantee. Then there are some games that won't run with the Restart option at all and must be patched without it, resulting in slowdown....sometimes There is a method to add the restart-like speed fix to some games, but it's hit-or-miss. Like I said, it depends on the game. This was the most frustrating thing about the SC slot2, all the trial-and-error patching to get games to work at all, let alone the possibility that the game will run slow.

A little tidbit of advice.....please don't make consecutive replies in a thread, it's against the rules. Either edit your previous reply if you have something to add or wait until someone else replies first. As a MOD, I'm obligated to tell you this. I won't give you any warns (other than this verbal one), but I'll merge your previous double posts.

 

[shoving_tacoz]

Gotcha, thanks. Glad to hear a 32mb game works. I'll get the card, meethinks.

And one more question- do you use the GB/NES emulators? How's compatability with these?

thanks again

 

[Rayder]

OOH! OOH! Check it out! An M3 Perfect Lite!

http://www.ishopvideogame.com/M3-Perfect-Lite-p-1610.html

 

[shoving_tacoz]

Looks cool, do you know where they ship from? Also, are those larger cases designed to fit in a traditional GBA slot? I don't think the micro can use a lite adapter

*EDIT*


as good as it looks, It's a .CN store. I've had more than my fair share of international store/paypal boondoggles... I think I'll stick to US retailers. Thanks, though!

edit

http://shop.01media.com/info.asp?ProductID=16473

is this what I want? I'm tempted...