# GBAtemp's acekard 2 Review



## Urza (Mar 21, 2008)

*GBAtemp's acekard 2 Review*
Official GBAtemp Review


 




Team Acekard has really refined their offerings from the original acekard cart offered back in 2006. Now they've essentially taken their flagship product, the RPG, and ripped out the flash memory. Does acekard now have a formidable foe to the established brands in the budget market? Or is this gimped RPG going the way of Alf and "pogs"? Find out in the review below!

Feel free to leave your comments and questions in response to this thread.




GBAtemp acekard 2 Review



acekard Homepage


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## DrKupo (Mar 21, 2008)

Personally, I'd just get the RPG, but I guess this is good for a budget flash card.


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## DespizingU (Mar 21, 2008)

Looks like a pretty great cart. I'm debating to get one of these or the RPG. I'll probably pay a little more and get the RPG.

I really like the GUI, and all the options in the Start Menu. Hoping it gets the more advanced features that a couple other carts have.


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## Urza (Mar 21, 2008)

Price difference between this and the RPG is 30-40USD in case you were wondering.

I also apologize for how poorly written this review is. Unfortunately its the best I can muster right now, so bare with it.


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## Normmatt (Mar 21, 2008)

The only reason the cheat menu doesnt have touch screen support is because when I made it i didn't really have touch support in mind, I may in the future add touch support but i like it as it is at the moment, about the extra features those will come eventually.


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## Destructobot (Mar 21, 2008)

You really should use thumbnail images instead of making the full size images small with size tags. The page would load about 50x faster, and that's not an exaggeration. You have images that are over 1200KB displayed at the size of a 20KB thumbnail.

Real thunbnails look better than browser scaling anyway.


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## golden (Mar 21, 2008)

Looks great. Another fine job Urza. So I guess it is safe to say anything the AK2 has right now the RPG already has too right? What I mean is, the last time I checked MKDS DL play with RPG's 4.06 firmware it didn't work but now with 4.08 already out and your review of the AK2 passing MKDS DL play I want to know if the RPG also offers this better DL play support.

EDIT: Urza happy 3000th post.


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## DespizingU (Mar 21, 2008)

Normmatt said:
			
		

> about the extra features those will come eventually.



Good to hear.


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## Slowking (Mar 21, 2008)

What is the performance with the castlevanias? I've read that they lag even with fast SD(HC) cards...


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## Urza (Mar 21, 2008)

Slowking said:
			
		

> What is the performance with the castlevanias? I've read that they lag even with fast SD(HC) cards...


Only the intro video.

Lagged with 1/2GB Japanese Kingston; played fine with a 4GB Class 6 A-Data MicroSDHC,


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## Psy-Phi (Mar 21, 2008)

I was hoping this would have the opensource OS too 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




.  Still, if I can't find an AceKard RPG in a US retailer in the coming months I may get this anyway.  I dig the GUI, and don't really want the features that the Cyclo has over this.  

C'mon US retailers >_


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## tinymonkeyt (Mar 21, 2008)

more competition in town 
wonder if i should buy when prices are low and in stock...


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## neonix (Mar 21, 2008)

The acekards are really nice. If I was to get one, it'd be the ZRPG though. But I'm waiting to see if it can catch up with all of the Cyclo's *exclusive* features. For now, my R4 is still truckin


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## sueil (Mar 21, 2008)

Well this certainly looks like it *might* be the new budget card to recommend.


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## OzModChips (Mar 21, 2008)

It really is impressive
I had someone come over today that wanted 4 flash cards for his kids. I set up 4 Acekards for him and gave him a run down in a couple of minutes. He was a happy chap. 

My only suggestion to AceKard is to make their website less Chinese, or split it into 2. 
Chinese and English on the same page looks too confusing to me


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## fli_guy84 (Mar 21, 2008)

Woah, it's pretty good for a budget cart.

Edit: Okay, now I'm waiting for M3's budget cart review and I'll buy whichever that's better.


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## Slowking (Mar 21, 2008)

Urza said:
			
		

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Well that's good to know. 
But could anyone that has it allready test the AK2 with a Class 4 SDHC and these games? I'm just curios since Class 4 cards are much more cummon.


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## Jdbye (Mar 21, 2008)

I think it would be worth mentioning under cons that it isn't open source, since the AKRPG was, and they're basically the same minus the NAND.


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## shaunj66 (Mar 21, 2008)

Good review Urza 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Nice work as always


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## laminaatplaat (Mar 21, 2008)

Cool GUI, sdhc, fast... If my r4 would breakdown this one would be high on my toget list


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## Giangsta (Mar 21, 2008)

Too bad it's sold out at Dealextreme.

And how come this gets a gold award? it doesn't even run the Castlevania intros properly.


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## Salamantis (Mar 21, 2008)

I must say that UI looks very sexy.


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## martin88 (Mar 21, 2008)

Aww not in stock at DealExtreme.


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## Sinkhead (Mar 21, 2008)

Good review Urza, I wouldn't have given it Gold Award myself, but it was an interesting read nevertheless.


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## nightwalker (Mar 21, 2008)

martin88 said:
			
		

> Aww not in stock at DealExtreme.



http://www.emvee.ca/acekard2.php they can be found there

that guy bought all of them off DX and now sells it for double the price 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





his entire site consists of marked up DX products...


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## 4playgaming (Mar 21, 2008)

The prices I've seen at particular places are a bit expensive. Obviously barring DealExtreme, which is conveniently located in Asia. As for North America, my local business has 150+ of these on order at the moment. I can openly let you all know they can be comfortably let go in North America for probably $35-40 without much hassles or worries.

The emvee.ca seller has a ridiculous overhead on his units! I'd obviously recommend either buying straight from Asia or at least from a seller who doesn't put them up at about 150% premium.


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## Bri (Mar 21, 2008)

@Urza

How do you like the Acekard 2 compared to the Edge?

-Bri


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## cutterjohn (Mar 21, 2008)

Apparently DX will be selling them for $31 which is a FAR more reasonable price than the c. $40 @ bamboogaming for what this cart is.  Unfortunately they seem to be sold out already.  (It seems like every new cart that they get is sold out immediately.)

The only thing that they could do to push this over the top would be to discontinue the RPG, and open source the AK2's firmware.  I'm already thinking about picking up one of these over the Edge cart, and would up my purchase to the next couple of months if the open sourced the firmware for this cart as well, otherwise I'll wait until around the end of the year or until one of my other carts dies randomly before then.


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## 4playgaming (Mar 21, 2008)

cutterjohn said:
			
		

> Apparently DX will be selling them for $31 which is a FAR more reasonable price than the c. $40 @ bamboogaming for what this cart is.  Unfortunately they seem to be sold out already.  (It seems like every new cart that they get is sold out immediately.)
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> The only thing that they could do to push this over the top would be to discontinue the RPG, and open source the AK2's firmware.  I'm already thinking about picking up one of these over the Edge cart, and would up my purchase to the next couple of months if the open sourced the firmware for this cart as well, otherwise I'll wait until around the end of the year or until one of my other carts dies randomly before then.



As a consumer of flash cartridges, I was never one to mind ordering from Asia. The prices were low and that alone deemed it a good choice.

As a business owner that sells flash cartridges, and currently based in North America, I can tell you that they can be comfortably sold even in North America for about $35-40. I have about 150 of these on order, but none of the R.P.G. I simply don't see an audience for it's predecessor, the higher-end version of the two. Yes, it is open-source, but most people cannot validate purchasing a card for $60+ before shipping.

I personally love this card and advocate it. I'll be replacing my own Supercard DS One with it solely for the menu. I'm a whore for looks, so this will do it just right as I don't use any of the premium features in either the CycloDS or the Supercard DS One. IMO, I believe the menu system within Acekard products (minus the first-generation one of course) is league's superior than any other one out there. This is the first card where I felt the GUI wasn't just 'tacked on' or was an afterthought, but rather, made a priority.


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## mrbass (Mar 21, 2008)

I believe it be a good budget choice for the masses (speaking of myself too here).
Acekard, EDGE, and possibly M3 budget card yet to come out.


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## Bri (Mar 21, 2008)

DSTT is also a pretty good choice for a budget cart.  It will be even better when and if they add file sorting to the menu.  YSMenu is already available to do that.

Edge will be better when the cheat database can be updated by the user and when they fix that menu that comes up every time you launch a game with cheats enabled.

Sounds like the Acekard 2's biggest drawbacks are the somewhat flimsy hardware and the way you have to rebuild the cheats for each game when you update them.

Do any of these carts run GBA games without a loader (this is listed as a "con" on the DSTT review, but do the other two do this)?  YSMenu for the DSTT comes close, but still has some bugs with saving (it does launch the browser without having to use the GBA Loader to patch the expansion cart).

-Bri


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## gbaguy (Mar 21, 2008)

It's no wonder that DX is always almost immediately sold out: that a$$ emvee is hoarding them to unload them at ridiculous prices!  So unfair.  He often posts at the DX forums by the way as "emvee1".

I really like your review Urza, thanks for doing it.   Please give us your take on the Edge vs this one.

Thanks


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## tinymonkeyt (Mar 21, 2008)

hey um how good does the acekard 2 save up on battery?


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## Urza (Mar 21, 2008)

The "awards" are fairly arbitrary, I wouldn't base too much on them. The reason I gave it a "Gold" award is due to its fantastic user interface (as mentioned in the review). It simply is the best in that aspect, which I think is worth something.



			
				QUOTE said:
			
		

> I think it would be worth mentioning under cons that it isn't open source, since the AKRPG was, and they're basically the same minus the NAND.
> While it is disappointing, its not really (or at all) a standard feature among flashcarts, therefore it seems hard to justify it as a "con" when none of the competing carts have one.
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Because I'm not going to buy a cart for sitting around watching the intro movie. Personally, I never found it to be a very relevant benchmark anyways. No slowdown was experienced during the day or so of testing.


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## golden (Mar 21, 2008)

cutterjohn said:
			
		

> The only thing that they could do to push this over the top *would be to discontinue the RPG, and open source the AK2's firmware.  *I'm already thinking about picking up one of these over the Edge cart, and would up my purchase to the next couple of months if the open sourced the firmware for this cart as well, otherwise I'll wait until around the end of the year or until one of my other carts dies randomly before then.


That has got to be the most illogical thing you have posted cutterjohn. Why would they discontinue the RPG when it is doing so well not to mention many people have bought it that expect good support. If the RPG turns into a DSX then acekard will probably go out of business. And just so you know, the AK2 isn't OFFICIALLY open source but it will have all the open source releases that the RPG gets so it technically still gets all the goodies of open source.


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## Urza (Mar 21, 2008)

golden said:
			
		

> And just so you know, the AK2 isn't OFFICIALLY open source *but it will have all the open source releases that the RPG gets* so it technically still gets all the goodies of open source.


What are you basing this on?


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## golden (Mar 21, 2008)

Urza said:
			
		

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Forgive me for not going back and quoting my source but I saw smith's or normmatts post a couple days ago about the AK2 and they(can't remember which, smith or normmatt or another person here that helps with the firmware) said that their releases for the open source RPG will also be implemented in the next release of AK2 firmware.


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## sk3tch (Mar 21, 2008)

Urza said:
			
		

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Some of the people working on the RPG have confirmed that the Acekard team has contacted them to get permission to use their work on the Acekard 2.  One could safely make the assumption that they will continue this RPG > 2 relationship.  Hopefully they'll take the "best of the best" from RPG's open source dev and migrate it to the 2.


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## golden (Mar 21, 2008)

sk3tch said:
			
		

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Ya, thanks. That's what I was talking about Urza. Except, I don't know who said it. I think it might have been smith or normmatt. Can't remember.


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## azotyp (Mar 21, 2008)

For me they could close source of acekard rpg and bliss normatt and smith could only make a custom firmware for it, everyone would be happy, and all acekards would have the same new cool features at one time.


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## golden (Mar 21, 2008)

azotyp said:
			
		

> For me they could close source of acekard rpg and bliss normatt and smith could only make a custom firmware for it, everyone would be happy, and all acekards would have the same new cool features at one time.


Hmm, so you are also suggesting closed source for the AKRPG. What's up with this.... I guess it's just me that like the RPG's open source. wow.....


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## gratefulbuddy (Mar 21, 2008)

golden said:
			
		

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You're not the only one. I think its great having options. And the good folks already mentioned (and moogle too) have been churning them out for the RPG. Choice is a beautiful thing.


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## azotyp (Mar 21, 2008)

I didnt mentioned that open source is bad, but acekard 2 is closed source propably because in future it may have some options that acekard team dont want to share with other competitors. Eaven if they would closed source of both acekards they would open it for vips like smith/normat/bliss so that vips would make wonderfull things with it and everybody would be happy. As for me open or closed source it is no matter, because I dont make customized stuff for any flashcarts, just taking goodies out of it 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





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## Urza (Mar 21, 2008)

Keep in mind that one reason I'm sure they decided to release the source for the RPG is because of the unique hardware. Clones are abundant (as you've seen with the EDGE/N5/E7/etc), and releasing the source code is essentially saying "heres what you need to pirate this cart!". The RPG got away with being open source because its hardware is quite difficult to duplicate, but the ak2 has a much more standard design. 

I'm not surprised in the least that its closed source, or that it will probably remain closed source officially.


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## bollocks (Mar 21, 2008)

cutterjohn said:
			
		

> Apparently DX will be selling them for $31 which is a FAR more reasonable price than the c. $40 @ bamboogaming for what this cart is.  Unfortunately they seem to be sold out already.  (It seems like every new cart that they get is sold out immediately.)



hopebuy has it for $30.90, they don't do free shipping though... suppose it depends if you're willing to pay shipping rather than wait for DX to get it back in stock.


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## dsrules (Mar 21, 2008)

One thing they didn't mention is that, like some other slot1 cards, certain AR Type cheats doesn't work on the acekard2 also. I would like to buy a card that supports all AR Type cheats.


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## cutterjohn (Mar 21, 2008)

golden said:
			
		

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Hardly illogical, but I guess to Acekard's #1 fanboy it's a little hard to absorb.  When a flash cart company says something like sales of X were disappointing/low/etc. what they really mean was that they were disastrous, especially in this case.  Look at how many e-tailer bothered to pick it up: 2 or 3. meanwhile cheap carts like DSTT come up and popup all over the place within a matter of weeks of release.

Next point, since it's a given that the RPG is just not selling, why bother to keep trying to push.  Discontinuing would be MUCH simpler, and for those of us whose only interest in the RPG was open-source, but found c. $70 (or more) from the few sellers of it to be WAY OVER the top for a flash cart, which until recently, really wasn't a very good cart.  Featurewise compared to SCDS1 and Evolution it still isn't a good cart and does absolutely nothing to justify a c. $70 price tag, or $100+ price tag if it were to be sold by some US vendors (inferred from some comments made on various vendor sites, when they also mention AK2).

Lastly, I STRONGLY doubt that the AK2 will get ANY of the better features that MAY or may NOT come out for the RPG.  Why?  If Acekard wishes to continue hawking the RPG they're go to NEED to do something that differentiates it from the cheaper AK2 -> AK2 features WILL be limited by necessity as long as AK tries to sell the RPG.  Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the RPG goes away after their current inventory is sold off, as the reasoning behind the AK2 as presented by AK makes it sound like the RPG was a boat anchor around their neck since the carts weren't moving, and justifiably so.

IOW it sounds to me from everything that I've heard:
1. RPG was a dud, and probably costing Acekard since stock wasn't moving
2. Acekard 2 was slapped together and put out, while not initially featuring all of the RPG "shell" features, probably to keep the RPG selling ATM
3. AK decided not to open source the AK2 "shell", primarily I believe of #2.  Just have to differentiate the two current slot-1 carts, but I really believe that the RPG is dead once current stock is gone, and would tend to believe that the "shell" of the AK2 will be open sourced at that point.
4. It's hardly likely that the RPG will be DSXed as you put it, simply because it seems that the RPG and AK2 firmware MUST be very close.  The RPG "shell" is already open sourced, and IF AK opensourced the AK2 firmware after discontinuing the RPG it would be relatively simple(potentially) for people to keep the RPG tree in sync with the AK2 tree.  Even if AK were to NOT open source the AK2 firmware it still would be possible for third parties to continue working on the "shell" on their own.
5. Even if 4 didn't work, well you backed a losing horse and acted like the prototypical fanboy even BEFORE you ordered the overpriced thing, which I know from personal experience, after all it wasn't that long ago when your answer to, literally, EVERYTHING was "buy an Acekard RPG".


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## azotyp (Mar 21, 2008)

I think that acekard 2 is big competition to stuff like dstt look on dealextreme it was sold out in first hours of arrival because of very low price comparing to rpg 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 But RPG is just a flashcart I wont cry if they will cut the firmware support , as long as it play games I dont care about support very much 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 (maybe a little cose I regulary upgrade that merged love firmware because I'm always eager about new features 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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## 4playgaming (Mar 21, 2008)

azotyp said:
			
		

> I think that acekard 2 is big competition to stuff like dstt look on dealextreme it was sold out in first hours of arrival because of very low price comparing to rpg
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Support is absolutely vital to the existence of a card during this day and age. It's clear Nintendo is finding ways to circumvent the playing or dumping of roms, so extensive support is a big plus and an absolute necessity feature wise, as there is no promise that future games will prove to be 100% compatible (e.g., FF:CC). Hence, it's a valid step to judge the quality of a card by the progressive and frequency of it's support. No purchase should undermine this fact.


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## Urza (Mar 21, 2008)

4playgaming said:
			
		

> Support is absolutely vital to the existence of a card during this day and age. It's clear Nintendo is finding ways to circumvent the playing or dumping of roms, so extensive support is a big plus and an absolute necessity feature wise, as there is no promise that future games will prove to be 100% compatible (e.g., FF:CC).


Hardly a valid point, as almost every anti-piracy method put into place is cracked by the developers in the community before the flashcart teams release their own fixes.


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## Destructobot (Mar 21, 2008)

gbaguy said:
			
		

> It's no wonder that DX is always almost immediately sold out: that a$$ emvee is hoarding them to unload them at ridiculous prices!  So unfair.  He often posts at the DX forums by the way as "emvee1".


He's a member here, too. He goes by the username qwertyasdf, and all he does is advertize his store. I don't know why he hasn't been banned yet.


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## Urza (Mar 21, 2008)

Destructobot said:
			
		

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He's been on suspension for about two weeks now.

I'll recommend him for a ban.


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## 4playgaming (Mar 21, 2008)

Urza said:
			
		

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Are you kidding me? Support not being a valid point? That just baffles me. Are you saying that flash cartridges and their game fixes are completely pointless? That all the owners of said flash cartridges don't care if a fix is to be made?


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## Urza (Mar 22, 2008)

4playgaming said:
			
		

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Of course not, but something thats "a valid point" is not the same as "absolutely vital to the existence of a card". If a couple games require third party patches, I know I don't consider it a big deal if the cart is still superior in other respects.


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## nightwalker (Mar 22, 2008)

Urza said:
			
		

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he also advertises on a few other boards under the exact same username too...i hope he gets banned everywhere and ends up eating those acekard


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## Bri (Mar 22, 2008)

I just hope dealextreme gets a HUGE shipment in and sells them at their usual price and he's stuck with hundreds of dollars of inventory that he can't get rid of.

-Bri


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## c2ironfist (Mar 22, 2008)

Not sure if this has been asked but how does the card compare to the CycloDS Evo? :-)


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## Awdofgum (Mar 22, 2008)

The Interface is awesome, if i didn't have a flashcart already, id totally get this.


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## golden (Mar 22, 2008)

I can see where you are coming from cutterjohn but they would never open source the AK2 as the only reason I can see to keep the source closed from the very beginning is if they want to implement some exclusive features for the AK2 and don't want it to be easily pirated as Urza said before. Discontinuing the RPG doesn't seem like something that's going to happen since I saw DSXGoru  post a month or two ago that DSX's are still being shipped.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




And yes, if you ever want to complete your life, all you have to do is buy an RPG.


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## 4playgaming (Mar 22, 2008)

Urza said:
			
		

> Of course not, but something thats "a valid point" is not the same as "absolutely vital to the existence of a card". If a couple games require third party patches, I know I don't consider it a big deal if the cart is still superior in other respects.



That would be dependent on the game and would go back to the point of support being vital. If Nintendo branded games suddenly had a method of circumventing the use of playing the games on a flash cartridge and the negligence of a team to not determine or fix the issue in due time, this pretty much makes the use of said flash cartridge negligent for a large majority of players whom would play these games. I think the review on the Acekard 2 was great, but I think you're undermining the validity of future support. I wouldn't solely put this ideology to strictly flash cartridges but more so to any product I buy. Future support, driver compatibility, etc. is a vital part to the usability of a product.. If it doesn't have dedicated support, what good is the hardware or features if you can't even use it for its intended purpose? Hence, support is quite important.


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## imperfectimage (Mar 22, 2008)

4playgaming said:
			
		

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This brings a question to mind.  I don't know much about flashcarts (or the developers), so I was wondering, how is the support of AceKard.  I went to their site a few days ago just to check it out, and the vast majority of the posts were in Chinese.  And what little posts were in English, a person (I assume part of the development team) would reply back in very broken English with answers that didn't really seem to help.  Either that or directing the people to email someone in AceKard directly.  So I was wondering, is/was Acekard good about responding to criticisms/problems, or do they just ingor the majority and go at their own pace/liking?


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## Trulen (Mar 22, 2008)

It's a great time to get into the Flashcart game.

My older sister has been looking at one, but at the time, all I could reccoment were the R4 and Cyclo.  She wanted the Cyclo 'cause I had one and if she had a problem, she would want to come to me (What could I do?  The thing barely messes up (as most flashcarts..) and when it does, it's more than likely out of my hands).  But I didn't want her paying for the cyclo for features she'd never use.  

But my goodness.  Flashcarts are so cheap, and at the same time, realiable nowadays.  

I'd reccomend the Acekard 2 to her.  
If it was in stock.

If anything was in stock.


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## Urza (Mar 22, 2008)

4playgaming said:
			
		

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I have to disagree. If a product works well on launch, theres often not a huge need for continued support. The exception to this is when (of course) an outside variable appears which breaks compatibility or prevents the intended function. However, the community built around flashcarts is nothing short of amazing, and like I already said, you'll likely have a third-party fix before any of the manufacturers have tackled the issue.

I think the post on support was long-winded and sound-looking from a distance, but I think you're undermining the validity of community support


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## spiritos (Mar 22, 2008)

I agree with URZA, the community for the current gen handhelds is amazing, just take a look at the FFCC patch that came out only a day or two after the US release, and the "moogle" was dead 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



Frankly I wish I could get the AK2 through DX, but they were sold out at the time, did manage to snatch mine off bamboo, still waiting for it to come, 
I do wonder how does it perform on SanDisk Ultra II 2gb and what are the correct speed settings


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## kristijan08 (Mar 22, 2008)

damn that emvee dude is a jackass. always takes one idiot to spoil it for everyone else. what an ass-clown


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## 4playgaming (Mar 22, 2008)

Urza said:
			
		

> I have to disagree. If a product works well on launch, theres often not a huge need for continued support. The exception to this is when (of course) an outside variable appears which breaks compatibility or prevents the intended function. However, the community built around flashcarts is nothing short of amazing, and like I already said, you'll likely have a third-party fix before any of the manufacturers have tackled the issue.
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> I think the post on support was long-winded and sound-looking from a distance, but I think you're undermining the validity of community support



I don't agree. This is a fully commercial product, and no matter what the community does itself, does not justify the quality of any said cart in its original state. No products should be judged by what the community does for it, but rather but what the manufacturer and development team does for their products. I've never seen a review of a new Linksys router, for example, based on its performance on running DD-WRT. What a product is judged by is what's in the box and with the possible hope of what is to come from the original manufacturer.

Surely many carts can be improved by community support.. But honestly, what's the point of reviewing a product if you're taking account development by an outside source? If all carts could be improved by such large dividends by a community, I honestly don't see why there is such a divide in support. I don't deny that the outside community has done tons to help improve the industry, but it's unfair to judge something by that argument alone.

Anyways, let's just drop the issue.. Acekard 2 is a good cart.


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## Urza (Mar 22, 2008)

4playgaming said:
			
		

> Surely many carts can be improved by community support.. But honestly, what's the point of reviewing a product if you're taking account development by an outside source? If all carts could be improved by such large dividends by a community, I honestly don't see why there is such a divide in support. I don't deny that the outside community has done tons to help improve the industry, but it's unfair to judge something by that argument alone.
> Then we're getting into a completely different argument here, as these reviews don't take into account future support at all. Its only a review of the hardware.
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> QUOTEThis is a fully commercial product, and no matter what the community does itself, does not justify the quality of any said cart in its original state.


Except we aren't talking about its "original state", we're talking about future anti-piracy code which breaks full compatibility. In its "original state" is has no such issues.


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## 4playgaming (Mar 23, 2008)

Urza said:
			
		

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> 
> ...



I just don't see how future support shouldn't be considered a vital part of a purchase. If you want to get back to the original argument, than there hasn't been a valid point that's been made to defuse this.. But anyways, let's just drop the issue and conclude that the Acekard 2 is a good, low cost flash cartridge that shouldn't be overlooked.


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## mitchsan (Mar 24, 2008)

Does the AceKard 2 support the homebrew application scummvm ds?


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## Giangsta (Mar 25, 2008)

so this was tested on a Kingston SC-C01G Japan and it lags on Castlevania intros right?


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## MrBubbles (Apr 2, 2008)

I doubt the editor will get word of this, but could you please re-size the images? This is the only review I could not read because the images war FAR too big and were loading and stretching so I had to scroll left and right to read through it.

The other reviews had perfectly sized pictures, resizing them (I'm on DSL), it's not just about loading it, it's an annoyance when you're trying to read the review and you have to scroll to the right then back left because the text is forced to stretch alongside the the pics.


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## jons2ann (Apr 4, 2008)

I just bought the Acekard2 for my sis. I got dual white screens after loading up Trauma Centre Under the Knife (US)(Game 122). The rom isn't screwed. It's been tested on the emulator and works just fine. I shall try and get the EU version to see if that's buggered as well. Looks like the rom compatibility now is 99.9996 or less


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## jeklnoo (Apr 4, 2008)

jesus christ, learn2thumbnail!
page takes forever to load, and i have to keep scrolling back & forth to read since the HUGE images expand it way out


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## techforumz (Apr 6, 2008)

Umm, is it just me or are those images about 2560x2048? And no my monitor is not set to 640x480 (1280x1024)

EDIT: Oh, didn't wait for frames to load.

UPDATE: OMG, Emvees site looks like an RHS clone, but with marked up DX stuff, and sky-high prices. Since when is a DSTT worth $60, even with a good brand-name 1GB uSD?


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## Raymomofo (Apr 17, 2008)

Urza said:
			
		

> The "awards" are fairly arbitrary, I wouldn't base too much on them. The reason I gave it a "Gold" award is due to its fantastic user interface (as mentioned in the review). It simply is the best in that aspect, which I think is worth something.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Any update on that Wii  DS linkage?


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## nathaniel_rulz (May 5, 2008)

whenever i try to play a game on this system it says processing... dont turn off the power, but it never loads can anyone help??


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## Topfragger (May 5, 2008)

why is it that just about everyone here is only talking and complaing about the Acekard 2 not having






I mean who needs it? it's a budget card....


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## melon_55 (May 27, 2008)

hey where can i download some backgrounds for the acekard 2. also if possible is there any kind of program where you can make you own backgrounds for the acekard thanks


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## s0ldats (May 27, 2008)

i believe they are available on the acekard site.  they are for the RPG, but they will work on the ak2.


I just ordered an AK2 along with an a-data class 6 SDHC... hoping all goes well.

anyone have updates as to how good the AK2 is with recent firmware?


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## lewjay (May 28, 2008)

s0ldats said:
			
		

> i believe they are available on the acekard site.  they are for the RPG, but they will work on the ak2.
> 
> 
> I just ordered an AK2 along with an a-data class 6 SDHC... hoping all goes well.
> ...


http://skin.acekard.com/skin

That's the exact combo I have and so far it works perfect, no slow downs.  Just received my Ewin 2in1, need to play with it later tonight.


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## Whiternoise (Jun 2, 2008)

Ten quid from dealextreme 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 (inc delivery of course!)

I would highly recommend the acekard, my R4 got lost and i bought one of these as a replacement.  For the price, it's extremely reasonable and it's got all the stuff that more expensive cards don't 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




At this price point, it'd be silly to buy an RPG for the built in memory when flash memory is falling in price like a stone.  When i got my R4, 2GB would cost about 25 - now that's the same price for an 8GB


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## ToddlerTN (Jun 5, 2008)

One of the things I like about CycloDS is how you can hide folders and files without an NDS extension.  My kids are young and I don't want them confused by menus or options they don't need, or that could mess up their configuration.  Would anybody disagree that CycloDS is the best option for my scenario?


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## Mazor (Jun 20, 2008)

ToddlerTN said:
			
		

> One of the things I like about CycloDS is how you can hide folders and files without an NDS extension.  My kids are young and I don't want them confused by menus or options they don't need, or that could mess up their configuration.  Would anybody disagree that CycloDS is the best option for my scenario?


You can do this with Acekard 2 as well.


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## 0wn3d (Jul 19, 2008)

Been using the ace 2 now for about a week And guys and gals it's the one to buy, instantly saves no issues as yet that i have come across and runs every thing i throw at it, even a few emulators, been playing a blast from the past again, Paperboy 2 hell yeah lol. Also compat whit slot 2 solutions as well, And skinable if ya want to mess about with that kinda stuff, good for all you home brewers out there

But seriously you can speed the gui loading up by dropping to list form but tbh you can hardly notice, And not really noticed any lag on vids or the games as such,

1 piece of advice though update your card to the latest software before saving any thing as they wont work after the update and you'll need to start your game all over, But this is more common sense than a con.

Last few words before i go and leave you all to it, If your thinking about buying this card do it, if not why not,

Acekard team great card keep up the good work, you guys rock and cyclo jog on

Acekard 2
2 gig kingston msd
crystal cased dsl


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## ambet2k (Jul 25, 2008)

mine freezing when loading games forvever  it happens when i put a new cheats and it broke


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## Whiternoise (Aug 10, 2008)

Ok so mine's FAT erroring at the moment.  I'm going to try to see if a windows format will fix it, but if not then i'm going to buy an EDGE.


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## vectra (Aug 24, 2008)

Many Thanks for your prompt reply will try this.Top Forum


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## Helldiver (Aug 27, 2008)

I bought 2 acekard few weeks ago (first one and after 2 days the second one).

I am very impressed how easy to use they are. Plus with the Micro SD price going down I hope to get a 8GB or more for Christmas.

For the moment I manage to put around 85 games (leaving 100 MB for the saved games file) on a 4GB SD micro (SDHC) card. I have also install Moonshel for playing video and MP3, and it works great.

I have try something like 200 DS games and none have lag. (3 or 4 games don't work but I don't think it is the card but more the way the games were ripped). I possess around 20 original games and have try the same on the Acekard:  NO differences!

The kids are also playing in wireless multiplayer mode (Between 2 DS - I play scrable with may wife,Chess with my father in law, 4 in a row or battleship with the kids) and also interacting with the Wii (Pokemon games played on TV screen) and it work like the original games would.

I would definitly recommend the Acecard 2. (For 38,00Euro per piece + 18,00Euro per 4GB SD Micro card it's really a bargain - I know you can find it cheaper but where I leave I didn't have to much choice).

Hope these few comments help.

Best regards 

Helldiver

PS: Do follow the instruction exactly as said in the manual. I have try first my way and it didn't work! My wife went to read the few line of the Acekard manual and .... she made it! (shame on me) :-)


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## sturmen (Sep 30, 2008)

With the latest firmware (4.09), does it have native support for AR codes in the .dat or .xml format? It says so in the changelog… but flashcard manufacturers have a habit of overselling themselves.


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## Hachibei (Oct 22, 2008)

Sorry if this question has been asked a billion times already, but a lot of people are saying the AK2 has a very high failure rate. Is this true?


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## MARKISHA 78 (Nov 2, 2008)

Help this is my first post i just bought the acekard 2 for my son, and i can't figure out how to extract the file and save to the root of my sd card. Please someone help me he's really dissappointed, and trying not to show it


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## thegame07 (Nov 2, 2008)

MARKISHA 78 said:
			
		

> Help this is my first post i just bought the acekard 2 for my son, and i can't figure out how to extract the file and save to the root of my sd card. Please someone help me he's really dissappointed, and trying not to show it



1. Download winrar
2. install it
3. right click the acekard folder 
4. click  extract here
5. copy all of the contents that went to the place you extracted to onto the acekard.


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## airdom (Dec 19, 2008)

got my acekard a few weeks ago...it's amazing! i love this little device now!


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## dinomoalec (Dec 22, 2008)

I think the Acekard 2 is definitely the best...
Its inexpensive (I picked it up for $68 AUD)
Its simple, useful and great if you are having trouble with money (especially with the finacial market)
I like it you open it up on the Computer dwnload you games onto it and off you go...


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## lvt06 (Jan 1, 2009)

dinomoalec said:
			
		

> I think the Acekard 2 is definitely the best...
> Its inexpensive (I picked it up for $68 AUD)
> Its simple, useful and great if you are having trouble with money (especially with the finacial market)
> I like it you open it up on the Computer dwnload you games onto it and off you go...



$68....

I just got mine for $15 AUD.


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## Another World (Jan 1, 2009)

dinomoalec said:
			
		

> I think the Acekard 2 is definitely the best...
> Its inexpensive (I picked it up for $68 AUD)
> Its simple, useful and great if you are having trouble with money (especially with the finacial market)
> I like it you open it up on the Computer dwnload you games onto it and off you go...



sure you didn't buy the RPG?

-aw


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## jjgp08 (Jan 5, 2009)

which memory card is recommended for the AceKard?? Is it essential to use class 4 and 6 only?

I use SanDisk, has anyone had problem with using SanDisk and AceKard??

Comments Please??


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## Tomy Sakazaki (Jan 16, 2009)

I know this is a very old review, but there's anybody with both AK 2 (the original) still alive and 2.1 that can make a test of comparison of battery consumption between original cart, AK2 and AK 2.1? Thanks in advance.


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## Surexius (Jan 25, 2009)

Is there much difference between the Acekard2 and Acekard2i, for a DSL user I mean. Would I be better to get the Acekard2 or pay the extra and get an Acekard2i?


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## Advi (Jan 27, 2009)

I just bought my Acekard 2 on DealWoot.

Not only am I making a great upgrade, but I can give my M3 to my brother. He'll be so happy  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




And it'd better be worth the $30 *or I'll be pissed like a mother cunt fucker*


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## 1159skunk (Jan 28, 2009)

Had four of these Acekard 2 flashcarts for customers only one turned out to be good and that was using a patriot 4gb micro sdhc class 6, the other three that i used a kingston class 4 8gb micro sdhc with take about 3 minutes from start up to get to the menu but do eventually load n once loaded play fine. I wouldn't buy one for myself and have stopped buying them for my customers due to the long bootup times. Still i have also bought 4 DSTT and all turned out to be faulty booting up once and then freezing on start up screen 99% of the time or not booting up at all , Edge Card no problems works fine, R4VIII had 8 of these no problems great card even if it is allegedly a clone although cheat menu is in chinese but still the most reliable and best card i use only topped by the cyclods but not so much profit to be made as its nearly twice the price from my supplier with that one so its for good friends only.


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## robochrono09 (Mar 9, 2009)

my acekard 2 runs fine maybe you got a bad batch?


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## Spindle9988 (Apr 28, 2009)

Does A 4 gig micro sd card work with the acekard 2?


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## joepie91 (May 21, 2009)

The review says that R4 saves and Acekard2 saves are interchangeable; however, I found that that was not the case with my saves. I was using an original R4 (it's quite old), and my Acekard2 doesn't seem to recognize these save files, and just overwrites them.


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## ddt (Jun 18, 2009)

yes 4 gig will work with acekard2


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## tallandirish (Sep 29, 2009)

I have an acekard and a dstt card and i really love my acekard better I have it now for 2years and i have had no trouble.  The only difference there is really between the two cards is that the acekard puts the games in alphabetical order rather that making a new folder and cut and pasting them on the dstt card everytime i want them in order.


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## tallandirish (Sep 29, 2009)

yeah a 4gb card does work that is what i have and i have 75 games on it and i still have 1gb left so it is worth getting a 4 gb ok


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## Avatar33 (Nov 6, 2009)

a very good flash cart only had it for one day and love it


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## alphanemisis (Feb 13, 2010)

do the new dsi cards play gba backups on the ds since dhs dsi has no gba slot?
acecard2i compatable with m3 gba pack?


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