Hacking DSTWO vs EZ flash (GBA on DS phat)

JamiChan

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(English is not my native language and I have not been practicing it for a while. I hope my question is understandable.)

I want to play GBA-games on my DS phat. I've been searching around and I have seen that the Supercard DSTWO and EZ flash are preferred. Which of these two emulates GBA games best on the DS phat? Mainly Zelda Minish Cap.
Compared with each other, what advantages and disadvantages do they have? My first thought was that it seemed best to play gba games through slot-2. Since it is, after all, a GBAslot. But I have no idea.

I also have a 3ds to play on, but since it has no gba slot and can be quite complicated because of updates / firmware I thought there was no reason to mention it in this question. But if there are any other good opportunities to play gba games on the 3DS, I'm open to that too.
 

Yepi69

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EZ-Flash IV without a doubt, EZ-Flash IV doesn't use emulation, its all pure hardware running on the DS Phat's GBA code, so it means it runs your GBA backups perfectly without lags or slow downs, as for the Supercard DSTWO emulation it has its ups and downs, but currently its the only way to emulate GBA on a 3DS or DSi, but if you have a DS and you want great GBA experience then just get yourself an EZIV, and do it quick because the production for those shut down so it *might* be rare to find one for sale now.
 

FAST6191

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First I would not worry about your English, that was basically flawless and certainly better than a lot of what I see from the native speakers around here and other places.

As for the question at hand mostly what the others said. I am mainly here to mention that the EZ4 had a new run late last year (not sure if it is still ongoing) so I would not pay the over the odds prices that were being asked for late last year (I see this new model for just over 50 Euros).

However I should mention you could buy a 3 in 1, the full GBA slot sized one is rare as anything these days but you can case mod a DS lite sized one easy enough (they seem to go for just under 30 Euros). They are managed via the DS slot flash carts so if you are already buying a DS flash cart (and the DSTwo is a fine one) then consider that.

Also do not get an EZ4 lite compact as it does not have great GBA capabilities. The other models in the EZ4 range are fine but not that.
 
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FAST6191

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IMO, you can buy dstwo, after all,it was the best gba card, it comes with GBA emulator, ezflash has stopped update for ages ,and if you want play gba games with other cards,such as r4 cards , you still need a ezflash 3 in 1, so compared these factors, dstwo is the best choice.

What? The GBA capability of the entire GBA/GBA slot supercard line is well known to be significantly worse than quite literally everything else out there (give or take clones the early cyclo cards and some of the very first ) -- on everything else if you can fit it on the cart then it will play, maybe with an otherwise universal patch needed.

On the DS side of things it is emulation that sees it work on the DSTwo. Now this emulation allows you to play a serious chunk of the GBA library, and I will certainly not turn my nose up at it, as well as gain a couple of features you might be lacking on flash carts (savestates and the like). The expansion packs are real hardware, again the emulation is far better than most would have expected but it is no PC emulator.
 

Shicky256

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I have a DS Phat as well, and I use my EZ Flash IV all the time for GBA games. The catch is that there's no DS Phat versions of the EZ-Flash, so I have to remove the front cover and put some duct tape onto the back so I can pull the EZ Flash out if need be. It works, but it looks ugly.
 

Acidflare

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for a DS phat you could always shave the case down a bit of an ez-flash 3in1 kit buy a triwing screwdriver from nds-card.com it also comes with a percision plus-head screwdriver open your ds phat using the 2 screw drivers and throw the gba card in the slot close up your ds and you have rumble/ram/gba built-in essentially and really why would you need to remove the ez-flash 3in1 kit unless you plan on dumping some gba games but you can always open the ez-flash cart throw some dental floss in there as a string to pull on make sure it comes out on both ends so you can pull on both ends of the cart with the same amount of strength so it comes out easily

I'm going to be ordering a ez-flash 3in1 kit very soon and will be doing this very same thing except I have access to a ds lite(girlfriend's) so I can use that to dump gba games if I go and buy any at a local pawn shop but I will be shaving down the ez-flash 3in1 kit I buy to fit it into my ds to permenantly install GBA/Ram Expansion/Rumble Pack into it
 

FAST6191

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They did actually manufacture some more EZ4s late last year, there have even been a couple of software updates.

However yeah if you are going DSi/3ds then you need a DS slot cart with an inbuilt emulator to do it any justice, and the only one that still gets updated to work on newer kernels (to say nothing of having the better GBA emulator thanks to third party efforts) is the DStwo
 

lava123

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I wouldn't get an ezflash tbh. I got mine to play a bunch of dif games, but mostly pokemon roms and rom hacks, most of which are to big for the psram and have to be flashed to the nor. When flashed to the nor i get about 15 mins of gametime and then to the slightest touch the whole thing freezes and makes that horrible noise. i've taken it apart and rubbed the copper etc etc.. I wouldn't reccomend this.
 

Acidflare

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I wouldn't get an ezflash tbh. I got mine to play a bunch of dif games, but mostly pokemon roms and rom hacks, most of which are to big for the psram and have to be flashed to the nor. When flashed to the nor i get about 15 mins of gametime and then to the slightest touch the whole thing freezes and makes that horrible noise. i've taken it apart and rubbed the copper etc etc.. I wouldn't reccomend this.

that's your console's pins that are bad not the card itself try taking your DS apart if you have a triwing screwdriver if not order one from nds-card.com their $1.99 USD http://nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=241 clean out the gba slot with a can of compressed air, a Q-Tip with some rubbing alcohol(Let it dry for 30 minutes) never hurts either. If this doesn't work then the plastic casing is damaged somehow, I broke one of the wires to the rumble motor so I swapped the insides of my EZ-Flash 3in1 with an old Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World cartridge. Besides no rumble which I didn't use other than with Space Invaders Extreme 2 the EZ-Flash 3in1 works perfect now.
 

lava123

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that's your console's pins that are bad not the card itself try taking your DS apart if you have a triwing screwdriver if not order one from nds-card.com their $1.99 USD http://nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=241 clean out the gba slot with a can of compressed air, a Q-Tip with some rubbing alcohol(Let it dry for 30 minutes) never hurts either. If this doesn't work then the plastic casing is damaged somehow, I broke one of the wires to the rumble motor so I swapped the insides of my EZ-Flash 3in1 with an old Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World cartridge. Besides no rumble which I didn't use other than with Space Invaders Extreme 2 the EZ-Flash 3in1 works perfect now.

how do i take apart the ds lol? im a newb and i dont want to break it
 

lava123

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How do you figure? your taking it apart to clean it out because you probably have some pet hairs and dust/dirt stuck in there.
sketchy would be 3 homeless people sitting in an dark ally smoking crystal meth

good point... Would they have a tri-wing at best buy do u think?
 

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