Hacking Best flash card for playing DS games on 3DS?

[Dalrint]

So I have CFW now and it's all set up and perfect. But my ancient CycloDS card apparently can't really be read by this system (I don't think it ever even worked on DSi honestly) so I find myself in the market for a replacement for it.

I'm not worried about playing 3DS games since I have CFW, so what's my best option for a cart for DS stuff? And I suppose emulators?

 

[Megaben99]

Ive been really happy with the R4 Dual Core SDHC White edition. Under $20 USD, no compatibility issues.

 

[MCFX2]

I sprang for the Supercard DSTWO+.
I could give an in-depth review, but here's the rundown of what I liked and didn't like (and didn't try)

Pros:
-Card has good build quality compared to Action Replay DSi (not hard to beat) but is much worse quality than a retail game cartridge.
-Everything is on the microSD, so no need to worry about gamecard firmwares not being able to update due to your DS not working
-Onboard processor allows for more advanced features, like game slowmo/speedup as well as cheat code creation

Cons:
-Drains the battery faster even when not in use
-Processor is covered by only the sticker, so better hope it doesnt come off.
-Cartridge is noticeably larger than a normal cartridge and can get stuck in the gamecard slot if not inserted properly
-microSD card has a tendency to get stuck inside the flashcart. I ALWAYS have to pry it out. No damage to the flashcart so far, but avoid inserting and removing it too much.
-microSD card is absolutely required to use the flashcart, and is not included

Overall I'd recommend. It's lasted quite some time and has served me well. It pairs very nicely with a class 10 16/32gb microSD. That lets it fit a few hundred DS games (assuming you aren't just putting a lot of copies of B/W2, which are 512MB each) with saving and loading in games taking noticeably less time. The creators also stand behind their card very well and I don't expect support to be dropped in the near future.

I ordered from modchipsdirect, average service (about 5 days from order > arrival).

 

[BARNWEY]

I sprang for the Supercard DSTWO+.
I could give an in-depth review, but here's the rundown of what I liked and didn't like (and didn't try)

Pros:
-Card has good build quality compared to Action Replay DSi (not hard to beat) but is much worse quality than a retail game cartridge.
-Everything is on the microSD, so no need to worry about gamecard firmwares not being able to update due to your DS not working
-Onboard processor allows for more advanced features, like game slowmo/speedup as well as cheat code creation

Cons:
-Drains the battery faster even when not in use
-Processor is covered by only the sticker, so better hope it doesnt come off.
-Cartridge is noticeably larger than a normal cartridge and can get stuck in the gamecard slot if not inserted properly
-microSD card has a tendency to get stuck inside the flashcart. I ALWAYS have to pry it out. No damage to the flashcart so far, but avoid inserting and removing it too much.
-microSD card is absolutely required to use the flashcart, and is not included

Overall I'd recommend. It's lasted quite some time and has served me well. It pairs very nicely with a class 10 16/32gb microSD. That lets it fit a few hundred DS games (assuming you aren't just putting a lot of copies of B/W2, which are 512MB each) with saving and loading in games taking noticeably less time. The creators also stand behind their card very well and I don't expect support to be dropped in the near future.

I ordered from modchipsdirect, average service (about 5 days from order > arrival).

He already has CFW, so a lot of the features are not needed for him. If DS roms are what he wants, he should just get a R4i, Acekard, or DSTWO (not the plus).

 

[nechigawara]

@Crystal the Glaceon recommend: http://www.nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=149
Support R4 Wood kernel with RTS + Cheat
@gnmmarechal recommend: http://www.nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=146
Support RTS + Cheat

 

[Dalrint]

Okay so looking through all the cards people are suggesting, I guess the R4i 3DS is what I'd go with?

What's R4 Wood kernel though? Just the best firmware? Since my old DS card was a cyclods I never really had to learn all the R4 stuff.

 

[nechigawara]

Okay so looking through all the cards people are suggesting, I guess the R4i 3DS is what I'd go with?

What's R4 Wood kernel though? Just the best firmware? Since my old DS card was a cyclods I never really had to learn all the R4 stuff.

The kernel that support Genuine R4 DS that support lastest NDS era, allow support flashcard to run all DS games for sure.
That's my understanding, may be you need @Crystal the Glaceon to answer this correctly.

 

[Dalrint]

Okay so the more I research the more it comes down to the R4i 3DS and the DSTWO. The DSTWO seems like it can do a little bit more? But I can't seem to find it for sale anywhere, only the DS2+

So I guess for my purposes, the R4i will do...

 

[StarTrekVoyager]

Ive been really happy with the R4 Dual Core SDHC White edition. Under $20 USD, no compatibility issues.

This one is a scam, the flashcart's FW softbricks past one year and you must change your date in the system settings after that.

 

[gnmmarechal]

Okay so the more I research the more it comes down to the R4i 3DS and the DSTWO. The DSTWO seems like it can do a little bit more? But I can't seem to find it for sale anywhere, only the DS2+

So I guess for my purposes, the R4i will do...

For a 3DS, the extra features of the DS2 are fairly useless, not to mention it heats up a lot more and spends way more battery. I would go with an R4i-SDHC 3DS RTS from r4i-sdhc.com (not r4isdhc.com, those have timebombs, these are the ones with an year) or an R4i Gold 3DS RTS from r4ids.cn.

Sent from my cave of despair where I collect souls

 

[Dracari]

like @gnmmarechal suggested but i'd add ontop of it, AceKard 2i its "Blacklisted" entry in Allowed DS Carts isnt an issue w/ Modern CFWs and tend sto go a bit cheaper. the ONLY extra feature of the DS2/DS2+ left relvant these days is near full GBA Compatability for the games that dont work in VC or in the gba emus we have from retroarch (N3DS).

stay the F* away from the knock off R4s of the "R4 SDHC Dual Core/Quad Core (Insert random year here)" the RTS functions of them and the "Dual/Quad core" of em are total BS lies + thier own fw's have less compatibility than an original R4.

 

[xmang]

like @gnmmarechal
stay the F* away from the knock off R4s of the "R4 SDHC Dual Core/Quad Core (Insert random year here)" the RTS functions of them and the "Dual/Quad core" of em are total BS lies + thier own fw's have less compatibility than an original R4.

You can change the firmware to ysmenu and bypass this making this card cost effective since its cheaper. Also their newest version doesnt have timebomb anymore, when i changed the year to 2050 it still worked.

 

[gnmmarechal]

You can change the firmware to ysmenu and bypass this making this card cost effective since its cheaper. Also their newest version doesnt have timebomb anymore, when i changed the year to 2050 it still worked.

That is still a timebomb if you needed to change the date lol, not to mention it is just a bad practice and as such I wouldn't buy from them.

Sent from my cave of despair where I collect souls

 

[nechigawara]

If you're already have it, yes, you can bypass that problem.
But, why would you suggest other persons to buy it and become another victims like you?

 

[gnmmarechal]

If you're already have it, yes, you can bypass that problem.
But, why would you suggest other persons to buy it and become another victims like you?

It's not like the r4ids.cn and r4i-sdhc.com cards are expensive lmao. They're all around the same price anyway.

 

[nechigawara]

It's not like the r4ids.cn and r4i-sdhc.com cards are expensive lmao. They're all around the same price anyway.

Yeah, that's why i'm curious. Does he wants a friend who got into the same situation or somethings?

 

[xmang]

That is still a timebomb if you needed to change the date lol, not to mention it is just a bad practice and as such I wouldn't buy from them.

Sent from my cave of despair where I collect souls

What I meant to say is it doesnt break until 2050.

If you're already have it, yes, you can bypass that problem.
But, why would you suggest other persons to buy it and become another victims like you?

I got the card for a cheaper price although its only a $5 difference. With a little bit of research you can save money and get the same benefits as the original cards. Just like any advice, theres good and bad, you just have to be smart and choose the ones appropriate to your situations.

 

[nechigawara]

I got the card for a cheaper price although its only a $5 difference. With a little bit of research you can save money and get the same benefits as the original cards. Just like any advice, theres good and bad, you just have to be smart and take time considering options.

$5......
Even my country has a lot lower income & Expense than most of the world ($5 = 3 meals here).
I still think that those different is too little compare to becoming another victim.

• R4i GOLD 3DS RTS = $17.99
• R4i-SDHC 3DS RTS = $13.99
• R4 SDHC Dual-Core 2017 = $8.99 No RTS
• R4iSDHC RTS LITE 2017 = $13.99 with RTS
• DSTT = $7.99 No RTS like Dual-Core

The price info from http://www.nds-card.com
Cheap?

 

[The Catboy]

Okay so looking through all the cards people are suggesting, I guess the R4i 3DS is what I'd go with?

What's R4 Wood kernel though? Just the best firmware? Since my old DS card was a cyclods I never really had to learn all the R4 stuff.

Wood R4 is a modified version of the Acekard Kernel to run on R4, M3 Simply, and R4i Gold (r4ids.cn.) It's basically praised for introducing all of the Acekard features so it basically had almost all the same features as akAIO. The only feature it didn't have was individual loader updates. Otherwise it had basically everything else.
I always suggest it because it's extremely light on the battery, the ROM performance is perfect, the RTS is stable and simple, it's easy and highly customizable, homebrew soft-reset, and so many other features. I personally think it's the best kernel next to akAIO and it's also why I always suggest the R4i Gold over other carts.
http://www.nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=149

 

[Dalrint]

Well, all of that is very hard to argue with, so I'll go with the R4i Gold.

But I have to be careful where I order it from, essentially? The only reason I hesitate to use the site you suggested is because they say shipping will take between 10 and 50 days. Which seems...excessive.