# GBAtemp's official DSTT review



## Opium (Dec 26, 2007)

*GBAtemp's official DSTT review*
Slot-1, SDHC, cheat, auto dldi...




The much awaited official GBAtemp review of the DSTT is now up! Check it out to see how well this card stacks up.

The DSTT is a new, cheap slot-1 flashcard that boasts a lot of the latest features like SDHC, cheats, soft reset, saving directly to MicroSD and GBA support with the optional GBA expansion pak. It enters the market out of relatively nowhere but already has an impressive list of features. Few cards come to the market with this sort of functionality upon initial release. Yet, does it actually perform well enough to win people over in this highly competitive market? Read the review to find out!





DSTT Review



Official Website


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## H8TR (Dec 26, 2007)

Looks real promising. Maybe I should pick one up (or just enter the contest).


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## BoneMonkey (Dec 26, 2007)

very nice review and cart 

now i want a dstt :-)


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## JPH (Dec 26, 2007)

Very nice review, Opium.
I too want a DSTT


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## Opium (Dec 26, 2007)

Good thing we're giving away 20 then


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## pgfreak (Dec 26, 2007)

how do I enter the giveaway?

Could the support for Contra 4 be fixed in a FW update?


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## Urza (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE(pgfreak @ Dec 25 2007 said:


> Could the support for Contra 4 be fixed in a FW update?


Most likely yes.

I should have mine when I get back from my trip in a few days, so if anyone has any further questions feel free to drop a PM or ask here.


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## Opium (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE(pgfreak @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> how do I enter the giveaway?
> 
> Could the support for Contra 4 be fixed in a FW update?



1. Click here

2. I'd imagine so, yes. Probably just something they overlooked. There is no fix yet though.


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## Spikey (Dec 26, 2007)

Sounds like a really great cart! I hope I get one, otherwise when I get home will have to get back on trying to find a cart to get. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 I wants to play my DS again. And Opium, great review, you do good work.


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## PikaPika (Dec 26, 2007)

Since Contra 4 has a problem creating the save file, have you tried creating a save file on another cart (like the R4)and then copying it over to the TTDS?


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## helpme (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> Could the support for Contra 4 be fixed in a FW update?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Rankio (Dec 26, 2007)

It looks and sounds like an N-Card + R4.  Good combo.  If I didn't own both already I would get this cart.


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## Awdofgum (Dec 26, 2007)

I really hope i win the competition, these look really awesome.


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## RexNebular (Dec 26, 2007)

Can it run dslinux?  Many newer cards fail at even running the WMB version of dslinux, so should be tested in reviews.


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## MaHe (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> Quite possibly one of the best features of the DSTT is that it does not have any sort of battery for retaining saves what-so-ever. When you save a game in-game the save is automatically written to the MicroSD card then and there, rather than be temporarily stored to an onboard chip to be written to the MicroSD next time you boot up the DSTT. This cuts out the middleman so to speak and speeds things up considerably. On the EZ-Flash V you would have to wait some time before each game loaded for the last save to written to your MicroSD and the new game’s save to be retrieved from the MicroSD and written to the onboard chip. Not having these load times made a night and day difference.


I don't want to sound like a jerk, but why the hell is this praised so much?
Even the SLOT-2 SuperCard and M3 Professional had this feature. Not to mention N-Card, R4, M3 Real and G6 Real (OK, not 100% sure about those two), CycloDS, DSLink, eWin2 and so forth. This is a very standard feature, so why did you list it on the 'pros' of this card?


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## Giangsta (Dec 26, 2007)

i already oredered 2 of these for a friend and im quite pleased to see that this card got a fairly impressive review, i'll make sure to slip in a manual .sav for contra 4 before i give it to him. =)

--------------------------------------------------------===============
Check out my entry for the DSTT's


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## Opium (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE(MaHe @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> QUOTE said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



All EZ-Flash and all G6-Flash cards (including EZ-V and G6 Real) keep save data in an onboard chip. Not sure about the M3 range because I don't have one.

Having dramatically shorter loading times and direct save to microSD is a great feature wouldn't you say? Not all the latest cards have it. It is certainly a big pro for the card. As you can probably tell I was mainly an EZ-V user before the DSTT so the difference was quite big.


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## FAST6191 (Dec 26, 2007)

Nice review, minor niggle under the official feature list 32Gbit=4GBytes (rather than the 32Gbytes of SDHC).


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## Satangel (Dec 26, 2007)

Great review, was waiting for this.

Will there come an NEOFlash TTDS review?

And seeing the GBA pak is the same as the Ewin Expansion pak, I'm guessing its also compatible with other flashcards?


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## shaunj66 (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE(Satangel @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> Will there come an NEOFlash TTDS review?


There's really no reason to. They're EXACTLY the same (so far).


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## DjoeN (Dec 26, 2007)

It's strange, Contra 4 works perfect on my TTDS with 1.07 Kernel.

No, i didn't create the sav manually.


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## Costello (Dec 26, 2007)

Excellent review, Opium! Great work, as always! The GBAtemp reviews are the best!
This card looks quite good indeed, especially if compatibility is really 100% (seems like the contra issue can be solved somehow?)
Anyway.. thanks a lot Opium. Very interesting read.


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## ganons (Dec 26, 2007)

dealextreme delayed shipping of this as there was a mix up of rumble pak colours, i ordered about 2 weeks ago and they will try and ship this week.


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## Giangsta (Dec 26, 2007)

yeah i got an email about the delay, thanks for clearing that up for me.

btw my status just changed to packaged so im assuming they should be shipped on friday or monday at the latest


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## Masta_mind257 (Dec 26, 2007)

I need a TOPTOY now santa didnt leave me 1. LET ME WIN. hopefully god (and the judges) are on my side, and they like the thought of santa grog.


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## pgfreak (Dec 26, 2007)

About the spring loaded mini SD slot...

so what happens if the spring does break? Will it make it so you cant load the cards anymore?


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## Doggy124 (Dec 26, 2007)

Might buy this...if I don't get one from the contest : )


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## DjoeN (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE(pgfreak @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> About the spring loaded mini SD slot...
> 
> so what happens if the spring does break? Will it make it so you cant load the cards anymore?



The springloading slot is one of the best i've had in my hands!

Doesn't feel cheap and breakable, it feels good!


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## pgfreak (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE(DjoeNtje @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> QUOTE(pgfreak @ Dec 26 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > About the spring loaded mini SD slot...
> ...



good news then!

with the r4's that had the spring broken.. what happened then? could you still put the card in and out properly?


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## MaHe (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE(Opium @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> Not all the latest cards have it. It is certainly a big pro for the card. As you can probably tell I was mainly an EZ-V user before the DSTT so the difference was quite big.


Yes, I agree - to certain extent. But it's not mentioned as pro in ANY other flashcard review; my flashcard history isn't really big, but it isn't really small either (GBA Movie Player (you know, that special rare firmware made by Chishm 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 ) -> SuperCard miniSD -> M3 Lite Perfect -> R4 DS -> CycloDS Evolution) and they ALL boasted this feature, but hardly anyone mentioned it. I think it's should be marked as a con in other reviews, not as a pro in this one (since it makes it sound like it's the only card with this ability). To me, it also gives the impression of unnecessary text, just used to make the review longer (note, I'm not saying that's the truth, nor do I think so). Anyway, this is just my opinion. No hard feelings.


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## Sinkhead (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE(MaHe @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> QUOTE(Opium @ Dec 26 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > Not all the latest cards have it. It is certainly a big pro for the card. As you can probably tell I was mainly an EZ-V user before the DSTT so the difference was quite big.
> ...


A review is by an individual, with opinions included. If the reviewer feels strongly about a certain feature they will write more about it. For example, I care very much about the presentation of the product, ie. how much 'polish' there is, all the little touches that make a smooth user experience. Many people don't care for these efforts, and have a 'well it works, and that's good enough for me' attitude, so will not qrite about them at all, or will mention them less.
I believe that reviews _should_ have opinions and differences in them, as reviewers get to test quite a lot of kit, and can therefore compare them easily and will have a good knowledge of how certain aspects of the kits differ.


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## BoneMonkey (Dec 26, 2007)

contra runs on the dstt will the review be changed ?


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## Urza (Dec 26, 2007)

How exactly is the DSTT disassembled? I can't tell from the pictures.


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## shaunj66 (Dec 26, 2007)

QUOTE(Urza @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> How exactly is the DSTT disassembled? I can't tell from the pictures.


Early sample units have two small screws underneath the label. New units are simply glued shut.


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## coolbho3000 (Dec 27, 2007)

If one game out of the entire library of DS game doesn't work, then the cart has about 99.9466% combatibility, (assuming there are 1874 dumped games out there), not 99.99%.


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## jumpman17 (Dec 27, 2007)

QUOTE(MaHe @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> QUOTE said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Because when the battery dies in the card, you would no longer be able to save anymore since it would try to save to a dead battery (which if not dead, would then save to the sd card upon reboot). So this is a big deal actually.


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## TrolleyDave (Dec 27, 2007)

Does the TopToy suffer from slowdown while playing Tony Hawks Downhill Jam? I've heard it runs Portrait Of Ruin better than the R4 on slower cards so it made me wonder about THDJ.


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## moshii (Dec 27, 2007)

I never knew packaging was such a big feature of flash carts...


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## Urza (Dec 27, 2007)

QUOTE(moshii @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> I never knew packaging was such a big feature of flash carts...


Can't really have a professional review without a description of the packaging.


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## BoneMonkey (Dec 27, 2007)

whats the white thing in the box ? looks like a extension for usb ?


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## Urza (Dec 27, 2007)

QUOTE(BoneMonkey @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> whats the white thing in the box ? looks like a extension for usb ?


Its a USB charger for the DS.


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## moshii (Dec 27, 2007)

QUOTE(Urza @ Dec 27 2007 said:


> Can't really have a professional review without a description of the packaging.



Anything more than "It comes in box" is excessive.... if the packaging somehow caused damage to the product, or caused cancer of the anus or something it'd be worth mentioning. The box's level of perceived shininess is a bit of a non-factor in a review of a backup cart.

TBH. The current generation of carts are so similar there isn't much point writting verbose reviews about them. Compatibility = Good, Max card size = XXGb, Build Quality = Shit would do.


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## Urza (Dec 27, 2007)

QUOTE(moshii @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> Anything more than "It comes in box" is excessive.... if the packaging somehow caused damage to the product, or caused cancer of the anus or something it'd be worth mentioning. The box's level of perceived shininess is a bit of a non-factor in a review of a backup cart.
> 
> TBH. The current generation of carts are so similar there isn't much point writting verbose reviews about them. Compatibility = Good, Max card size = XXGb, Build Quality = Shit would do.


And thats why you aren't a GBAtemp reviewer. Details make the difference between an only decent review, and an exemplary one.


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## Jaejae (Dec 27, 2007)

I found the review biased.
While I think that opinion is a good thing in a review (when stated as opinion), there needs to be a standard to which all reviews stick to. None of the other reviews praise saving directly to the MicroSD as highly (if at all) as you have in this review.
Overall, a good review, sans the afforementioned fault.


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## moshii (Dec 27, 2007)

QUOTE(Urza @ Dec 27 2007 said:


> And thats why you aren't a GBAtemp reviewer. Details make the difference between an only decent review, and an exemplary one.



Ok, here's my application to be a GBAtemp reviewer... This is my review on a bottle of juice I just drank.


Kirin's Junsui Budou (Translation; Much happiness tasty juice of large grape) comes in a fantastically shiny bottle. If you're attracted to shiny things like myself you are sure to love this product for the bottle alone! You may even keep it in your family collection to show future generations!!! Aside from that the bottle is a rare transparent colour that allows you to actually see what's on the otherside of the bottle without moving it. I think this a very clever design.

The contents of the bottle, in line with most current juices, is a liquid of a drinkable consistency. However, it has the unique quality of being grape flavoured; Yes you heard right! It tastes like grapes! I was just as shocked as you are to find out that a drink with grapes all over the label is in fact grape flavoured.


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## retiredjerk (Dec 27, 2007)

i have this card in my hand and i have been using a lot over the past 24 hours. All i can say is WOW. This card is amazing. The first time you load a game it takes about the same amount of time as the R4 or other cards. The second time and each time after that is where the loading time gets fast. Some games can load in 1 second, others take a few, but overall the loading is the fastest i have ever seen and i own every flashcart. the build quality is very nice however i do not like the fact there is no screws to take the cart apart. it is spring loaded and im hoping this wont be a problem like the R4's spring was. Another thing to note is that the microSD reader is the worst i have ever seen. It will fit very very tight in your PC usb slot, but the really scary moment was when i couldnt get my MicroSD card out of the reader. I pretty much had to take apart the reader to get the microSD out. It that bad! My card was also rumble/ramless so i cant test out those features. I never thought i would say this but i think i may give away my R4 and switch to the TTDS. I should note that im using a very early Sandisk MicroSD HC card as well as a kingston 4GB Class 4 MicroSD. Both perform flawlessly. When i first heard about this card i figured it would be just another mediocore flashcart but man was i wrong. I will try 6 and 8 gb microsd later this week. I also had a 114 *.nds files on the card and it didnt choke like my early chinese M3 Real would if there were too many files in a directory.


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## Urza (Dec 27, 2007)

QUOTE(moshii @ Dec 26 2007 said:


> Ok, here's my application to be a GBAtemp reviewer... This is my review on a bottle of juice I just drank.
> 
> 
> Kirin's Junsui Budou (Translation; Much happiness tasty juice of large grape) comes in a fantastically shiny bottle. If you're attracted to shiny things like myself you are sure to love this product for the bottle alone! You may even keep it in your family collection to show future generations!!! Aside from that the bottle is a rare transparent colour that allows you to actually see what's on the otherside of the bottle without moving it. I think this a very clever design.
> ...


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## euphemism (Dec 28, 2007)

QUOTE(Urza @ Dec 27 2007 said:


> Your description of the grape flavoring was quite lacking. Better luck with your satire endeavors in the future.



Agreed.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





   This sounds like a decent card, I will hurry up on my entry for the Christmas Competition.


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