Minox_IX

The R4i-SDHC 3DS is a new revision of R4i-SDHC Team's older flashcarts which is aimed at both 3DS and DSi compatibility, unlike the previous ones which only supported the DSi. Click the link below to read the full review.

R4i-SDHC (3DS revision) review

GBAtemp.net review of the...

R4i-SDHC (3DS revision)



Also known as: R4i 3DS
Manufactured by: R4i-SDHC
Review written by Minox_IX

Review Contents & Index:

• Introduction
  - Official Feature List
  
• Packaging and Contents
  - Box Contents
  
• Cart Design
  
• Setting Up & Using
  
• NDS ROM Compatibility
  
• Homebrew Compatibility
  
• Additional Features
  - NoPass Functionality
  - Cheat Support
  - Soft Reset
  - DLDI Support
  - Multi-save Handling
  - WiFi Download
  
• Conclusion

Hi and welcome to this review of the R4i-SDHC 3DS, a flashcart produced by the R4i-SDHC team. The R4i-SDHC 3DS is a new revision of R4i-SDHC Team's older flashcarts which is aimed at both 3DS and DSi compatibility, unlike the previous ones which only supported the DSi. Worth noting is that compatibility in this case means access to running games/homebrew in a sandboxed DS compatibility mode on the 3DS/DSi. So despite this cart being able to boot in these newer systems it still can't utilize any extra hardware capacity provided by either and is therefore just a normal DS flashcart with a bootloader that bypasses the security functions of a 3DS/DSi.

All testing done in this review has been done on a Nintendo DS Lite in conjunction with one 4GB Kingston Taiwan class 4 microSDHC and one 8GB Kingston Japan class 4 microSDHC. The testing was not done on a Nintendo 3DS due to the fact that at the time of performing these tests I did not own or have access to a Nintendo 3DS. This however should have little to no impact at all since the R4i-SDHC 3DS is limited to Nintendo DS/DSL hardware capacity even when run in a Nintendo 3DS. I have since then gotten access to a Nintendo 3DS and while I have not redone the tests I have confirmed that it indeed does boot and will launch DS games and homebrew on said system.

Throughout this review testing period Nintendo has released several updates aimed at blocking flashcarts on both the Nintendo 3DS and the Nintendo DSi, each update being bypassed through the means of new R4i-SDHC 3DS bootloaders being released and exploiting new games. As well as releasing bootloader updates the R4i-SDHC team has also been releasing updates to the operating system, improving compatibility for problematic games.

Like many other flashcarts clinging onto the former success and fame of the R4 you have to ask yourself what this particular flashcart does differently from all the others. Does it offer amazing game and homebrew compatibility? Awesome desirable features maybe? What makes this particular flashcart shine over all the other available flashcarts out there? What makes it worth buying? Personally I had no idea when I first started reviewing the cart. However in this review I will try my best to provide an accurate description of what the R4i-SDHC can and can not do.

Last and not least I would like to give my sincere thanks to R4DS-DS.com for providing me with the review sample used in this review.

Official Feature List:

• Support the latest Nintendo 3DS perfectly.
• Realtime skin/themes change function (support random skin/themes selection mode).
• Able to memorize and restore to the previously selected game or application after restarting
  machine and soft reset.
• Able to recognise and display SD card type, volume and type of formatting.
• Sleep mode function, for power saving and longer standby time.
• User friendly interface, easy to operate.
• Uses MicroSD card FAT16 or 32.
• Supports any MicroSD card speed with no lag in game.
• Supports Clean ROM drag and drop. Works on any OS.
• Built-in NoPass.
• Supports Moonshell and other homebrew. Open I/O interface.
• Supports the WiFi-game, DS Rumble Pak, DS Browser.
• Supports the Soft Reset.
• Integrated latest MoonShell 2.0 Beta version.
• DLDI auto-patch.
• Users are just one click away from playable games download.
• WiFi search engine function available with NDS/NDSi/NDSiLL. Users are able to search and download
  the games and the latest game information according to their own preferences anytime, anywhere.
• You will be able to manage your NDS/NDSi/NDSiLL download by distance control through WiFi once
  you install our Wi-Fi Engine Assistant on your computer.
• Users only need to click on the games they want to download on NDS/NDSi/NDSiLL and the games
  can be downloaded automatically to the assigned computers.
• This can avoid the annoyance of waiting during the download process.
• Through our PC-based Wi-Fi Engine Assistant software, it is able to download our website's NDS
  games quickly and easily.
• Core upgrade automatically through WiFi of NDS/NDSi/NDSiLL to avoid tedious upgrading steps.

The package provided to me in this review is to my understanding the R4i-SDHC 3DS luxury package. There is no explanation on their website how this package differs from the other packages so I will just have to take a guess that the so called 'luxury' in this package would be the four 3DS styli and that one wrist strap they include with the flashcart. I'm not so sure I understand what's so luxurious about that, but no matter. The R4i-SDHC 3DS comes shipped in a rather nice-looking red box with a plastic inlet holding the flashcart and the accessories in place. On the box itself you'll find an official list of R4i-SDHC 3DS features written in rather poor English and a link to the website where you will want to download the operating system (R4i-SDHC 3DS menu) from.



Box Contents

• 1x R4i-SHDC 3DS
• 1x microSDHC reader
• 1x Small case for the R4i-SDHC 3DS
• 4x Styli
• 1x Wrist strap

The microSDHC reader provided with the R4i-SDHC 3DS is made out of dark blurry plastic and looks rather odd due to the way it's shaped. The first thing I noticed when examining it was smaller pieces of plastic remnants from the shaping process of its shell sticking out. These could easily be removed, but thanks to them it gives the microSDHC reader a really really cheap feeling. The microSDHC reader also comes with a smaller cap to protect the USB connector, the problem is that said cap does not fit too well and the cap tends to fall off defeating its intended purpose. Performance wise this microSDHC reader is of the rather slow kind and it can take a fair share of time before you've transferred your data using this device. It does work, but pretty much any other decent microSDHC reader will outperform it. During usage it also gets really hot, something which is fairly common among cheaper microSDHC readers.

After a week or two's usage of this microSDHC reader it actually ended up falling apart. A short fall to the ground from my desk and it lay there with the different shell parts scattered on the floor. The microSDHC reader still worked after trying it, but it now doesn't have a shell to protect itself against damage anymore.

The R4i-SDHC 3DS comes in a smaller case made of plastic with silicon inlets. It's not very sturdy and opens easily if. for example, was dropped to the ground. Since you're likely to keep the flashcart in your 3DS/DSi/DS most of the time I see little use for it. So after you've opened it and removed the R4i-SDHC 3DS from its insides it has pretty much served its purpose and can be thrown away unless you really like it.

The four 3DS styli come in the colors white, bright blue, pink, and black. The quality of these styli is questionable due to a very small edge close to the tip. At first sight you probably won't notice it, but if you look very closely and feel the tip you're going to discover it rather quickly. This edge does not exist on official Nintendo 3DS styli and I suspect it could do more damage than good if used on a touchscreen and as of such I would not recommend using these at all.

The little wrist strap is a wrist strap, it's bright blue and there's little else to say about it.





Unlike the rest of the items provided with the R4i-SDHC 3DS, the cart itself feels very well built. The sticker is slightly skewed, but that is of little importance.





The R4i-SDHC 3DS does not have a spring-loaded microSD slot, meaning that you really need to use your nails to get your microSD out. Some people prefer it this way, and some people don't. Personally I'm not a big fan of this kind of design since I often do not have long enough nails and I've found it to be really tedious at time to get the microSD out.

When inserted into the microSD slot I found the microSD sticking out slightly, maybe by a few millimeters. Wriggling the microSD a bit made it go in slightly further though eliminating the issue.

On the back side you'll find a small silvery sticker which when removed reveals an identification number that you can use on their website to verify that it is indeed a genuine R4i SDHC 3DS you've got yourself.


Most R4i-SDHC 3DSs should come pre-flashed with the latest available bootloader. If so then setting your R4i-SDHC 3DS up is as simple as downloading the appropriate operating system files from R4i-SDHC.com and unzipping them to the root of your microSD. In the event that your R4i-SDHC 3DS does not come with an up-to-date bootloader and you're unable to boot it on your 3DS/DSi, then you will need to get access to a Nintendo DS Lite or a Nintendo DS so you can update your flashcart with the latest bootloader first. The latest bootloader should be included in the operating system files archive and after starting up your 3DS/DSi/DS you should be able to find the upgrade option under the settings menu.



Once you have the appropriate operating system files setup you're ready to go. At this point you just need to copy whatever games, homebrew or media you want access to on your system. When you first start it up you should be greeted by an R4-esque menu prompting you whether to open the list of games/homebrew, start moonshell to play supported media or enter the settings menu. There should also be a smaller round WiFi "ball" spinning in the bottom right corner which takes you to the WiFi download feature.

Entering the list of games/homebrew will bring you to a menu system which according to my research should be almost the same as the menu that the DSTT has. In here you will find all the .nds files for the games and homebrew you've copied over to your microSD. It does not really matter where you copy the files since this menu will display all .nds files no matter where they are on the microSD. The strange thing is that even though it will always display all files, it still has a system where you can select the folder you want to browse, although that will only lead to the first file it can find in that folder. It will actually not sort out anything that isn't in that folder.

Every time you open up the game list it will take a few seconds before the list of games and homebrew show up, and scrolling said list after it shows up will give you a very sluggish impression. Every time you scroll down to a new game there is a noticeable amount of lag, and when scrolling through larger lists it can take ages to get to what you actually want to open. Not only that, but if you end up moving the selection too fast after the list appears you may end up with a completely frozen menu forcing you to restart your console and try again.

The menu handling itself is strange to say the least. Normally one would expect A to be 'accept' and B to be 'back/cancel', right? Wrong. A is indeed what one might expect it to be, but what I'd expect to be B is in fact the Y button. The X and B buttons are used for up/down, respectively, when going through the different options on the top screen for the currently highlighted ROM. This all feels very odd, but I figure that you will grow used to it if you use it for extensive periods of time.

On all the menus you will also find the sleep mode function if you don't touch your system for a few seconds. Essentially it turns off the screen when nothing happens, but while it may be useful if you forget your system on while in the menu it will actually end up annoying you whenever you stand in the menus for "too long". Disabling this feature can be done in the settings and is something I'd really recommend if the sleep mode function annoys you as much as it annoys me.


For NDS ROM compatibility I've tested 50 different games for the Nintendo DS. As the R4i-SDHC 3DS is limited to a sandboxed DS compatibility mode it can not run DSi or 3DS ROMs and as of such all tested games are Nintendo DS ones. Some of these games are known problem games in regards to lag in-game or annoying anti-piracy measures, some are favorites of mine and others have just been selected randomly to see how they perform.

• Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth - Pass
• Advance Wars: Days of Ruin - Pass
• Atari Greatest Hits: Volume 1 - Pass
• Bomberman - Pass
• Bomberman 2 - Pass
• Brothers in Arms DS - Pass
• Call of Duty: World at War - Pass
• Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - Pass
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - Pass
• Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin - Pass
• Clubhouse Games - Pass
• Contra 4 - Pass
• Dementium II - Pass
• Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie - Pass
• Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts - Pass
• Elite Beat Agents - Pass
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time - Pass
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring Of Fates - Pass
• Geometry Wars: Galaxies - Pass
• Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - Pass
• GoldenEye 007 - Pass
• Inuzuma Eleven - Pass
• Kirby Super Star Ultra - Pass
• Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass - Pass
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story - Pass
• Metal Slug 7 - Pass
• Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 - Pass
• New Super Mario Bros. - Pass
• Ninjatown - Pass
• Okamiden - Pass
• Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan - Pass
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Pass
• Plants VS Zombies - Pass
• Prey The Stars - Pass
• Radiant Historia - Pass
• Retro Game Challenge - Pass
• Scribblenauts - Pass
• Soma Bringer - Pass
• Space Invaders Extreme 2 - Pass
• Super Scribblenauts - Pass
• Tetris DS - Pass
• Tetris Party Deluxe - Pass
• WarioWare: Touched - Pass
• WarioWare: D.I.Y. - Pass
• Yosumin - Pass
• Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney - Problems (Save corruption encountered)
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars - Problems (Save corruption encountered)
• Mario Kart DS - Problems (Save corruption encountered)
• River King: Mystic Valley - Problems (Save corruption encountered)
• Jump! Ultimate Stars - Fail

Having tested all these games I've got to admit that I'm surprised that pretty much all games with the one exception being Jump Ultimate Stars appeared to launch and play as they should. I had been expecting at least a few more games to not launch, but as it turns out I was proven wrong. I did however encounter something very nasty within a few of the tested games, from time to time these games' saves got corrupted prompting you to start again from the beginning.

A game not launching is one thing, because at least then you won't expect much or anything at all from it. In this case the games did launch and appeared to work as they should have creating a false sense of security, but after one or possibly a few restarts the saves were not working anymore. Nothing I did to try to save these save files appeared to work and in the end I just had to deal with the loss of these save files. In order to see if this was something that happens often, I replayed these games again, saved and loaded some more and unfortunately the same problem appeared over and over again. This sort of problem could potentially be extremely annoying if you have been playing for a longer amount of time only to find out that you have to redo it all over again. Even if you do end up redoing everything you did there's no guarantee that it will actually save your progress properly this time either, creating an endless circle of uncertainness which may eventually cause you to completely lose interest in the game.

Putting that aside, I did not encounter any issues whatsoever regarding the multiplayer aspects of the games that supported it. Download Play worked as it should, multi-cart local multiplayer worked and I did not encounter any issues regarding online multiplayer either.


Homebrew also known as user-made applications and games exists in a lot of flavors for the Nintendo DS. In this test I've tried 50 assorted homebrew games and applications to find out just how well the R4i-SDHC handles them.

• AmplituDS - Pass
• Anguna DS - Pass
• AriaDS - Pass
• Arsenal - Pass
• Back From Ashes - Pass
• Bloxavoid - Pass
• Cherophobe - Pass
• Chronoclon - Pass
• CLIRC - Pass
• Comicbook DS - Pass
• DS Mines - Pass
• DS Reader - Pass
• DS2Win - Pass
• DSLiero - Pass
• Dual Slot Browser - Pass
• Earth Shaker - Pass
• Fireworlds - Pass
• IKU Reader - Pass
• Jezzball DS - Pass
• Jump Beat - Pass
• Knytt Story DS - Pass
• Lameboy - Pass
• Lemmings DS - Pass
• LMP-NG - Pass
• Lockjaw - Pass
• Lode Runner Origine - Pass
• MCinfoDS - Pass
• MegaETk-TD - Pass
• Moonshell 2.10 - Pass
• Nyan - Pass
• Nyan Cat Is Spreading - Pass
• Pocket Physics - Pass
• Puzzlemaniak - Pass
• Setsuzoku no Puzzle - Pass
• Still Alive DS - Pass
• SunOL - Pass
• Super Smash Bros Crash - Pass
• TetattDS - Pass
• Video Games Hero - Pass
• World of Sand DS - Pass
• Morning Timer - Problems (Input lag)
• Stella DS - Problems (Scrambled graphics)
• And's PDF - Fail
• Boondoggle - Fail
• Geo Wars - Fail
• MindMaze - Fail
• MrRobot - Fail
• Red Temple - Fail
• RUADS - Fail
• Space Impakto DS - Fail

The homebrew compatibility for the R4i-SDHC appears to be fairly decent since about 80% of all tested games and applications work as they should. There is still room for improvement but it's certainly not the worst flashcart regarding homebrew compatibility at all. Morning Timer and Stella DS both displayed rather weird behavior when used with the R4i-SDHC 3DS. Morning Timer had a noticeable input lag regarding all actions while Stella DS had a completely scrambled GUI. Among the homebrew that failed to launch I found something fairly interesting during the testing. All of these games and applications complained about the file system not initializing properly. Curious if this was somehow solvable I ended up trying to boot these problem homebrew using Homebrew Menu and to my surprise they all launched as they should with no issues whatsoever. Launching Stella DS and Morning Timer through Homebrew Menu didn't change anything at all though, they still suffered from the same issues.

So if you take that into account only two pieces of homebrew actually weren't (fully) usable, however having to launch another menu just to launch a homebrew game or an application is an unnecessary step that shouldn't have to be made by the end-user and it isn't even something that's properly documented on their own website. Personally I just feel like it would be a nice thing if they would work on the native homebrew compatibility so that another menu wouldn't be needed.


NoPass Functionality
NoPass is a pretty standard function for a normal DS flashcart. It allows you to boot slot 2 flashcarts when used in a Nintendo DS or Nintendo DS Lite. This function used to appear even when the R4i-SDHC 3DS was used in a 3DS or a DSi even though it served no purpose there due to the lack of a second slot. In later versions of the operating system this function has been removed altogether and you will therefore not find it at all.

Cheat Support
Action Replay cheat codes are supported through the use of usrcheat.dat files. Highlighting a ROM and going to the cheat tab gives you the chance to enable your choice of available cheats for said ROM. I found the cheat function did not work often even though the cheats were supposedly enabled when launching the game. Certain codes worked while others did not and that gives me the impression that the cheat implemention for the R4i-SDHC 3DS is rather flawed.

Soft Reset
Once again a standard feature for most flashcarts nowadays. Basically it allows you to return back to the R4i-SDHC 3DS menu by the press of a button combination rather than having to do a complete restart of your 3DS/DSi/DS. The reliability of this feature was not very good at all, I often found myself stuck with a frozen system when attempting to go back to the menu.

DLDI Support
Automatic patching of homebrew files which in theory should allow all homebrew applications and games boot correctly.

Multi-save handling
Multi-save handling allows you to manage several different save files for one single game. Up to 5 different save files are supported for each individual game.

WiFi Download
As one of the highly advertised features of the R4i-SDHC 3DS, the WiFi download function intends to allow you to download updates for the operating system, the bootloader, as well as actual NDS ROMs. This feature is distributed as a separate application that is launched when clicking the round WiFi ball at the menu you see when you start it up. In order to use this feature it is required of you to have a shared wireless access point that supports connections made by DS homebrew. Setting one of these up can in some cases be pretty annoying since even though normal NDS games work online you may still need to change additional settings for your wireless access point in order to have access to the Internet.

Now I know what you're thinking. GBAtemp doing a review on a flashcart which allows illegally distributed ROMs to be downloaded? Don't worry, if that feature had actually worked I would not have mentioned it in such a way but it doesn't. Not once did I manage to even download 1% of the smallest game listed in their database. You can browse all the games that are supposedly there, but it never actually manages to download anything. I started a download of a 8MB file and even after more than one hour it was still stuck at 0%. If you're considering buying this flashcart for this function then don't, it does not work at all and is therefore a very worthless function even though it was advertised as something good.

Something that did work however was the download of updated operating system files as well as updates for the bootloader. Both these downloaded just fine in a very quick manner. The operating system was updated automatically after this procedure, however the reflashing of the bootloader had to be started manually from the upgrade option in the settings menu.


I would not recommend the R4i-SDHC 3DS to anyone. The overall experience I am left with leaves a lot to be desired. Sure, most games start but thanks to the save corruption I experienced in a few games I can honestly not say that I would want to rely on the R4i-SDHC for any kind of actual gaming. Suddenly losing all progress in a game thanks to save corruption can and will kill interest in games that might otherwise be very fun and interesting to play through. Soft-reset is flaky at best and so is cheat support, these functions are far too unreliable and are definitely in need of improvement.

The whole menu system feels sluggish and clunky, with illogical button mappings and skins that seem slightly out of place. Having a folder system but still showing all games and homebrew on the microSD no matter what you do makes no sense whatsoever. Usually folder systems allow you to organise things to your liking, but not in this case.

Despite all this the homebrew compatibility is actually fairly good if combined with the use of Homebrew Menu, but relying on third party applications to achieve compatibility is something that should not have to be done. It would be much nicer if all these homebrew games and applications could be launched without issues from the actual R4i-SDHC 3DS menu.

Do yourself a favor, buy something else.

Pros:
+ 3DS & DSi compatible
+ Most of the tested ROMs launch
+ microSD/microSDHC compatible
+ Clean ROM support

Cons:
- Save corruption
- Inconsistent soft-reset & cheat functionality
- Clunky and slow interface
- WiFi download does not work as advertised
- Not flashable through external means





Links:
Official Website
R4DS-DS.com

This review was written for GBAtemp.net ONLY. The article and all included photos are property of GBAtemp.net
If you see this review on any other site please let me know via e-mail - minox_ix [@at@] gbatemp [.dot.] net

AKAIO has been upated to 1.8.8. This new version brings numerous game fixes as well as other changes that can be found in the changelog below.

Download
AKAIO Homepage
AKAIO WIKI