Hacking Should I Overpay for a EZ Flash 4 or go with Alternatives?

[scottg1234]

Hi all!

I am on a crossroad here. I am not sure if I should overpay for an EZ Flash 4 and play GBA games on my actually GBA SP OR if I should just go with an alternative and just play GBA games on my Nintendo DSi via the DSTwo Supercard (I believe they have a built in GBA Emulator to play GBA games).

What do you guys think?

I honestly like the graphics on my SP better than my DSi. They look more sharp and the frame rates look smoother. Plus I have the first SP Model, and I really like it's backlit (it's very soft and the color blending looks awesome to me compared to the new backlits on the DS and newer SP model).

I'd consider just buying a DSTwo Supercard (or something else?) if they can play all the GBA games easily on my DSi. Is there something else better out there to play GBA games on a DSi?

If I want to play on the SP, what other alternatives are there for the EZ Flash 4?

 

[Count Duckula]

GBA emulation on the DSTwo isn't too bad, but its far from perfect. I guess it depends how much playing the games just as they were designed to be played is worth to you.
DSTwo is the best DS cart in terms of GBA emulation, others dont have the in-cart CPU to boost emulation somewhat.

Personally I dont think you can beat a real GBA, either a later model backlit SP (AGS-101) or an original GBA (AGB-001) modded with a backlit screen.

In terms of flash carts other than the EZ-Flash IV, there really arent any others worth having available new at all.
Avoid supercard SD and supercard miniSD, they have horrible slowdown.

See FAST6191's posts in this thread for more info on other GBA flash carts (Basically you want an EZ-Flash IV or one of the older style flash carts that you'd have to find used): http://gbatemp.net/threads/gba-flash-cart.351995/

 

[TyBlood13]

Well, the Supercard DSTWO is probably the way to go. While to EZ-Flash IV is superior and has near perfect compatibility, the price, to put it simply, TOO DAMN HIGH! You could try buying another GBA flashcart, but the really good ones are even more expensive than the EZ-Flash IV. Whatever you do, do NOT buy a Supercard Mini SD (It WILL be a clone and they suck cos of really inferior hardware)

Also, the GBA emulator of the DSTwo, TempGBA, is still in active development. So you may have some problems with certain games.

Finally, have you considered other methods of emulating GBA? Like your computer (I realize you probably want portability), a PSP (Has a very near perfect GBA Emulator), or a smartphone?

 

[Count Duckula]

Finally, have you considered other methods of emulating GBA? Like your computer (I realize you probably want portability), a PSP (Has a very near perfect GBA Emulator), or a smartphone?

That's a good point, gpSP for PSP is pretty damn good. Exophase did some excellent work there. The DStwo GBA emulator is based on his code also, as are most GBA emulators that run at good speed on lower power host platforms.
I got a PSP go 6 months or so back for $50, not all that much more than a DStwo and you get a lot more than GBA emulation with a custom firmware.

I really like playing on the oringinal hardware, but it depends how much that perfect accuracy is worth to you personally.

 

[scottg1234]

What about this...

I was thinking about trading in my DSi for a DS Lite. I don't use any of the DSi functions at all. All I do is boot and play the games.

How is the Slot 2 function on these R4i 1.x? Is it a near perfect emulation of GBA games?

 

[Count Duckula]

What about this...

I was thinking about trading in my DSi for a DS Lite. I don't use any of the DSi functions at all. All I do is boot and play the games.

How is the Slot 2 function on these R4i 1.x? Is it a near perfect emulation of GBA games?

DS flash carts other than the Supercard DSTwo do not have a processor in the cart, so do not get the speed boost that the GBA emulator for DSTwo gets
Even the DSTwo emulator is not full speed/perfect by any means, so other GBA emulators that run on other DS flash carts are worse.

If you mean using just an R4 then its not a 'slot 2 function', that would imply it is running the GBA code directly. It is an emualtor running in DS mode and the DS is not a very powerful host to emualte other systems on.
If you mean an R4 and something like a EZ-Flash 3-in-1 in slot 2 then the ROMs are running directly just like an original GBA game in a DS, so that is pretty much perfect.


The fact that you use the term 'near perfect' suggests you care to play them accurately, so it sounds like you're going to want a GBA flash cart or a platform that can emulate GBA pretty well.

 

[Deleted-236924]

While to EZ-Flash IV is superior and has near perfect compatibility, the price, to put it simply, TOO DAMN HIGH!

Still cheaper than buying all of those GBA games separately.

 

[Heran Bago]

Never settle for anything less than playing on the real hardware. It's the real thing and you will be happier with yourself for doing it.

If you must go the emulation route you won't find anything better than visual boy advance. Just enjoy your GBA games on the PC

For a portable middle ground I recommend purchasing one of these which comes with its own unique flash cart:
http://www.k1gba.com/gba-console-c-22.html?osCsid=d4k4tim3s8nbvse0i33jaoghn4

A final option is to collect real GBA games and hardware. Being a collector is expensive and rewarding.

 

[Shadow#1]

get EZ Flash IV and best to get a full MiniSD card here

http://www.oempcworld.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=miniSD2048

 

[Ericthegreat]

That's a good point, gpSP for PSP is pretty damn good. Exophase did some excellent work there. The DStwo GBA emulator is based on his code also, as are most GBA emulators that run at good speed on lower power host platforms.
I got a PSP go 6 months or so back for $50, not all that much more than a DStwo and you get a lot more than GBA emulation with a custom firmware.

I really like playing on the oringinal hardware, but it depends how much that perfect accuracy is worth to you personally.

Although I like gba on psp, I still gotta say that it isnt perfect. On kh the enemys just stand still at times, one of the battle networks freeze toward the end, these are the ones I know of....

 

[Darkipod]

Although I like gba on psp, I still gotta say that it isnt perfect. On kh the enemys just stand still at times, one of the battle networks freeze toward the end, these are the ones I know of....

Damn, really? I mean Iv bought flash carts anyways, but I was hoping that my psp would be useful for this too.

 

[assassinz]

You could buy a brand new M3 Perfect CF card for perfect GBA compatibility but they are expensive.

 

[Ericthegreat]

Damn, really? I mean Iv bought flash carts anyways, but I was hoping that my psp would be useful for this too.

As I said, I like it. The screen is nice. And if you have any probs with a game, just play it on a emulator past the part thats broke (so still save at save points dont depend on save states)

 

[Shadow#1]

You could buy a brand new M3 Perfect CF card for perfect GBA compatibility but they are expensive.

where?

 

[assassinz]

Where? From me. I have some new-in-box M3 CF Perfect cards with Passcard 2.

Never been used. I might be the only one in the world who has these new.

........

 

[Count Duckula]

Although I like gba on psp, I still gotta say that it isnt perfect. On kh the enemys just stand still at times, one of the battle networks freeze toward the end, these are the ones I know of....

Oh certainly it is not perfect (didn't think I suggested it was). It runs the majority of games I've tested at reasonable speed, but some will have slowdown and compatibility issues are bound to be found.
If you want games to run perfectly, you need a good flash cart or a more accurate emulator that most likely requires a much higher end host platform than a PSP (eg PC).

 

[Darkipod]

Oh certainly it is not perfect (didn't think I suggested it was). It runs the majority of games I've tested at reasonable speed, but some will have slowdown and compatibility issues are bound to be found.
If you want games to run perfectly, you need a good flash cart or a more accurate emulator that most likely requires a much higher end host platform than a PSP (eg PC).

I mean a long time ago I used to play AdvancedWars on them and never had a problem. I didn't know there were games it did have a problem with.

 

[Heran Bago]

Where? From me. I have some new-in-box M3 CF Perfect cards with Passcard 2.

Never been used. I might be the only one in the world who has these new.

Wow cool. You don't happen to have any fat sized EZ 3-in-1s do you?

 

[assassinz]

No EZ 3-in-1s. Just the M3CF and Passcard 2s.

 

[Count Duckula]

I mean a long time ago I used to play AdvancedWars on them and never had a problem. I didn't know there were games it did have a problem with.

Most games run quite playably but most of the time you need some level of frameskip. Compared to previous GBA emulators it was/is amazing considering the power of the PSP, thanks exophase's dynamic recompiler vs an interpreter like other emus.

With emulation, getting from 90-95% accuracy to 99%+ is often the hardest part. You either need to go for pure accuracy (e.g. bsnes/higan on the PC) and require one hell of a powerful host platform or spend a damn long time working around bugs in games as they are found in a less accurate but far more efficient design.

You may play the games you like and find you never notice any bugs/slowdowns, even if its not running exactly as it did on original hardware.
For me the choice of a flash cart and original hardware is not just because of the bugs I may notice notice in an emulator, its also the knowledge that there could be issues I'm not aware of . I know its running just as intended and it's worth the cost to me (but may not be for you).

Then again I had a GBA when it was new and I was younger, so I guess its partially just nostalgia also.