Hacking What is the best flash card to run DS and 3DS games with ease ( on a 3DS obviously)?

[Adrian-E-C]

obviously there are lots of threads on here about this, but what was best a year ago, or even 6 months ago might not be the best option now.

So what is my best bet for running DS as well as 3DS backups off a single cart? bonus points if it also does GBA.
I saw that the Supercard DSTwo plus was a thing, but is there ar flash card that does it better?

I don't want to bother with custom firmware...even though I know a lot of folk prefer that method.

 

[Kubas_inko]

If you don't want CFW, then get ready to pay about $70+ for 3DS flashcard. Sky3DS and Stargate are viable options.
But any DS flashcard, which can be used for NTRBoot, will grant you the same power for about $10.

 

[Adrian-E-C]

If you don't want CFW, then get ready to pay about $70+ for 3DS flashcard. Sky3DS and Stargate are viable options.
But any DS flashcard, which can be used for NTRBoot, will grant you the same power for about $10.

I have a sky3ds ( with the single button) and it doesn't allow for DS games, not that I know of anyway.

Stargate lets you play DS and 3DS on the same cart?

And I am happy to pay 70 bucks for a quality flashcard. Heck my Everdrive GBC and GBA cost more than that.

 

[Kubas_inko]

I have a sky3ds ( with the single button) and it doesn't allow for DS games, not that I know of anyway.

Stargate lets you play DS and 3DS on the same cart?

And I am happy to pay 70 bucks for a quality flashcard. Heck my Everdrive GBC and GBA cost more than that.

I think Stargate should be able to play DS games. But if you already have sky3ds, why can't you have 2 flashcards? One for 3ds and the other one for DS and emulators?
But you can't put CFW on gameboys...

 

[Adrian-E-C]

I think Stargate should be able to play DS games. But if you already have sky3ds, why can't you have 2 flashcards? One for 3ds and the other one for DS and emulators?
But you can't put CFW on gameboys...

You are right, gameboys don't get the CFW, that is a good point you make.. I simply prefer the cartridge to have my backups on. No other reason than a preference.
As for wanting one for DS and one for 3DS, I want a card that does both so I don't need to swap cards repeatedly.

 

[SCOTT0852]

So what is my best bet for running DS as well as 3DS backups off a single cart?

Your best bet is an R4i Gold 3DS + and Luma CFW.

bonus points if it also does GBA.

With Luma, you can play GBA games with near-if-not-100% accuracy.

I saw that the Supercard DSTwo plus was a thing

With that, you're locked to a very old firmware, unless you want to get bricks from the latest GW firmware, which only goes up to 11.2.

I don't want to bother with custom firmware...even though I know a lot of folk prefer that method.

Why? Custom firmware and Luma is $80 cheaper ($98 cheaper if you're fine with worse DS game compatibility through Seedminer and DSiMenu++) and does even more. You can effortlessly run homebrew, install games, and use cheats on the latest firmware without messing with creating frankenfirms or shelling out ridiculous amounts of money just so you can have your games not installed on your internal SD card.

 

[The Catboy]

obviously there are lots of threads on here about this, but what was best a year ago, or even 6 months ago might not be the best option now.

The best flashcart on the market has to be the R4i Gold Plus along with Luma3DS.

So what is my best bet for running DS as well as 3DS backups off a single cart? bonus points if it also does GBA.

The Supercard DSTWO Plus requires running an extremely outdated CFW to run 3DS ROMs, it doesn't work on stock OFW. As well you can accomplish using GBA injections by installing a CFW, which is a far cheaper option.

I don't want to bother with custom firmware...even though I know a lot of folk prefer that method.

It's the preferred method because the benefits greatly outweigh everything else. It's far cheaper and provides for more options.

I have a sky3ds ( with the single button) and it doesn't allow for DS games, not that I know of anyway.

Stargate lets you play DS and 3DS on the same cart?

And I am happy to pay 70 bucks for a quality flashcard. Heck my Everdrive GBC and GBA cost more than that.

You aren't actually paying 70$ for a quality cart. The Stargate was launched with several issues that have never been addressed, coupled with the cart not seeing an update since the first and only update at launch. There's also the issue that majority of issues can be fixed by install a CFW, but then you lose features like DS-Mode (and the modified versions of the CFWs Luma3DS/Rei-Six haven't been updated to support 11.8.) Basically the alternatives to a CFW+R4i Gold Plus are outdated, expensive, and no longer recommended.

 

[Arecaidian Fox]

If I can chip in my own two cents here, what @Lilith Valentine and @SCOTT0852 are saying is pretty much dead-on. Your best bet is honestly just using CFW for 3DS games and emulators/homebrew/Virtual Console injects, in combination with a flashcart for DS games. The R4i Gold Plus cart that's been mentioned a few times can even "hack the 3DS for you," on top of running DS ROMs. If you don't want CFW, then, yeah, be prepared to ironically put in even more work and money than normal. Now, I actually have an old first generation DSTWO, meaning it only does DS games, and honestly a CFW in combination with a good DS flashcart is the way to go. If you don't want a flashcart and CFW (But why wouldn't you?), then CFW and DSiMenu++ is the next-best thing. DS games won't run as nicely (some minor audio crackling, long-ish load times) and not all work, but it is free.

 

[Rj.MoG]

The r4i gold plus is a trash card. I’ve had multiples that all have spotty connections and often just don’t work outside of NTR mode. I Don’t know why people keep recommending it when it’s only redeeming feature is the preflashed NTR boot. The Acekard 2i or the white R4 SDHC I linked below are both excellent inexpensive options if you don’t need NTR boot currently. If you do I’d recommend getting the r4i gold plus just for that and one of the cards I suggested.

https://nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=507

Edit:the DSTT is also a really high quality cheap card. I’ve also never had issues with my DS Two and it had a lot of nice features. It also drains the battery like crazy and is expensive though.

 

[lAkdaOpeKA]

The r4i gold plus is a trash card. I’ve had multiples that all have spotty connections and often just don’t work outside of NTR mode. I Don’t know why people keep recommending it when it’s only redeeming feature is the preflashed NTR boot. The Acekard 2i or the white R4 SDHC I linked below are both excellent inexpensive options if you don’t need NTR boot currently. If you do I’d recommend getting the r4i gold plus just for that and one of the cards I suggested.

https://nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=507

Edit:the DSTT is also a really high quality cheap card. I’ve also never had issues with my DS Two and it had a lot of nice features. It also drains the battery like crazy and is expensive though.

iirc ntrboot now supports the R4SDHC Dual Core. That, or take the R4SDHC Gold PRO, which is $1 more, which has always been supported. The biggest issue with both of those (and all carts from r4isdhc.com) is that they have a timebomb, but that can be defeated. Another issue is that the RTS seems to be broken

 

[Rj.MoG]

The r4i gold plus is a trash card. I’ve had multiples that all have spotty connections and often just don’t work outside of NTR mode. I Don’t know why people keep recommending it when it’s only redeeming feature is the preflashed NTR boot. The Acekard 2i or the white R4 SDHC I linked below are both excellent inexpensive options if you don’t need NTR boot currently. If you do I’d recommend getting the r4i gold plus just for that and one of the cards I suggested.

https://nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=507

iirc ntrboot now supports the R4SDHC Dual Core. That, or take the R4SDHC Gold PRO, which is $1 more, which has always been supported. The biggest issue with both of those (and all carts from r4isdhc.com) is that they have a timebomb, but that can be defeated. Another issue is that the RTS seems to be broken

The R4SDHC Dual Core doesn't have a time bomb actually. I've pretty thoroughly tested it. I have a bunch of flash carts that i've tried out and my old acekard 2 is still working and is my absolute favorite. The newer 2i is pretty good quality too

 

[SCOTT0852]

The r4i gold plus is a trash card.

Personally, it's worked with every rom I've tried (which are all clean, non AP-patched dumps), and NTRboot has worked on the dozen 3DSes that I've hacked.

 

[Adrian-E-C]

If I can chip in my own two cents here, what @Lilith Valentine and @SCOTT0852 are saying is pretty much dead-on. Your best bet is honestly just using CFW for 3DS games and emulators/homebrew/Virtual Console injects, in combination with a flashcart for DS games. The R4i Gold Plus cart that's been mentioned a few times can even "hack the 3DS for you," on top of running DS ROMs. If you don't want CFW, then, yeah, be prepared to ironically put in even more work and money than normal. Now, I actually have an old first generation DSTWO, meaning it only does DS games, and honestly a CFW in combination with a good DS flashcart is the way to go. If you don't want a flashcart and CFW (But why wouldn't you?), then CFW and DSiMenu++ is the next-best thing. DS games won't run as nicely (some minor audio crackling, long-ish load times) and not all work, but it is free.

Lets get this out of the way...free is not an issue for me. I have a nINTENDO account and i often buy games. I would like to keep my nintendo account an continue buying games, using a flashcart to play backupsand DS games without needing to swap out cards, but still maintaining my official firmware.

I don't want to launch slow loading buggy DS games, that would launch faster and easier with a flashcart.

I already know for a fact that the Stargate card requires little more than dragging and dropping the provided DSmenu and roms to fully function for 3DS and DS roms, and works on all current firmwares. Essentially this is the easiest option, and can be swapped around between the several 3DS units in the house, including my girlfriend's and daughter's who wouldn't allow me to install CFW even if I wanted to.

I didn't start the thread so you could try to sell me on CFW. I know it exists, I know it isn't the most difficult thing to install. But with a grand total of 7 DS and 3DS models kicking around my household, I want a flashcart solution. Personally I like running official Nintendo Firmware and purchasing my games. And using a flash card for backups of games I own as well as adding a DS option so I can play without needing to swap cards.

I don't judge folks who go the piracy route, but I have little need for CFW, and little desire to install it. I use CFW on my Vita because i want to play my PSP library and for some crazy reason they don't allow games like mega Man Powered up or Metal Gear Acid on the official firmware, so for that reason I saw fit to install CFW. I have no such reasons to do so for my 3DS.

Stargate works amazingly well, but since there are so may flash carts out there, I started this thread to see if there was an even better cart.

As for your opinion that somehow a drag and drop card is going to be more troublesome than installing custom firmware, and then installing my desired emulators, and then dealing with bugs and emulation issues....you realize that your opinion that it is "easier" is simply you confusing "easy" and "preferred"...because in no way it that easier.

 

[Tac 21]

The r4i gold plus is a trash card. I’ve had multiples that all have spotty connections and often just don’t work outside of NTR mode. I Don’t know why people keep recommending it when it’s only redeeming feature is the preflashed NTR boot. The Acekard 2i or the white R4 SDHC I linked below are both excellent inexpensive options if you don’t need NTR boot currently. If you do I’d recommend getting the r4i gold plus just for that and one of the cards I suggested.

https://nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=507

Edit:the DSTT is also a really high quality cheap card. I’ve also never had issues with my DS Two and it had a lot of nice features. It also drains the battery like crazy and is expensive though.

I have an r4i Gold original... I love it,works super well for me- but I CFWed my 3DS awhile ago so I never had to install NTRboot on it

 

[Arecaidian Fox]

Lets get this out of the way...free is not an issue for me. I have a nINTENDO account and i often buy games. I would like to keep my nintendo account an continue buying games, using a flashcart to play backupsand DS games without needing to swap out cards, but still maintaining my official firmware.

I don't want to launch slow loading buggy DS games, that would launch faster and easier with a flashcart.

I already know for a fact that the Stargate card requires little more than dragging and dropping the provided DSmenu and roms to fully function for 3DS and DS roms, and works on all current firmwares. Essentially this is the easiest option, and can be swapped around between the several 3DS units in the house, including my girlfriend's and daughter's who wouldn't allow me to install CFW even if I wanted to.

I didn't start the thread so you could try to sell me on CFW. I know it exists, I know it isn't the most difficult thing to install. But with a grand total of 7 DS and 3DS models kicking around my household, I want a flashcart solution. Personally I like running official Nintendo Firmware and purchasing my games. And using a flash card for backups of games I own as well as adding a DS option so I can play without needing to swap cards.

I don't judge folks who go the piracy route, but I have little need for CFW, and little desire to install it. I use CFW on my Vita because i want to play my PSP library and for some crazy reason they don't allow games like mega Man Powered up or Metal Gear Acid on the official firmware, so for that reason I saw fit to install CFW. I have no such reasons to do so for my 3DS.

Stargate works amazingly well, but since there are so may flash carts out there, I started this thread to see if there was an even better cart.

As for your opinion that somehow a drag and drop card is going to be more troublesome than installing custom firmware, and then installing my desired emulators, and then dealing with bugs and emulation issues....you realize that your opinion that it is "easier" is simply you confusing "easy" and "preferred"...because in no way it that easier.

You might want to rethink your definition of "easy." There's a reason it's the preferred method, it's also the one that's the most supported. Ease is more than just the act of getting your unit set up, whether that's flashcard or CFW. It comes down to how many headaches you can eliminate in the future, and as Lilith said in her post...

You aren't actually paying 70$ for a quality cart. The Stargate was launched with several issues that have never been addressed, coupled with the cart not seeing an update since the first and only update at launch. There's also the issue that majority of issues can be fixed by install a CFW, but then you lose features like DS-Mode (and the modified versions of the CFWs Luma3DS/Rei-Six haven't been updated to support 11.8.) Basically the alternatives to a CFW+R4i Gold Plus are outdated, expensive, and no longer recommended.

I'll clarify there on the end in case it's not obvious (no offense to Lilith)... The CFW that Stargate 3DS runs is broken and outdated and further has not been updated to support the new 11.8 official firmware, nor newer games. Installing CFW to fix these issues also breaks Stargate 3DS' DS mode. It just sounds to me like taking the "easy" road now will land you in more trouble than it's worth later. And hey, you did ask.

 

[Adrian-E-C]

You might want to rethink your definition of "easy." There's a reason it's the preferred method, it's also the one that's the most supported. Ease is more than just the act of getting your unit set up, whether that's flashcard or CFW. It comes down to how many headaches you can eliminate in the future, and as Lilith said in her post...

I'll clarify there on the end in case it's not obvious (no offense to Lilith)... The CFW that Stargate 3DS runs is broken and outdated and further has not been updated to support the new 11.8 official firmware, nor newer games. Installing CFW to fix these issues also breaks Stargate 3DS' DS mode. It just sounds to me like taking the "easy" road now will land you in more trouble than it's worth later. And hey, you did ask.

Sounds to me like Stargate is exactly what I want. Looking at games running on it, seems most backups for 3DS and DS roms run quite well. And if the tradeoff is losing the DS mode...I will stick with the Stargate, as a proper DS/3DS mode is one of my most sought features.

also my firmware is 11.5 so I think im good.

 

[lone_wolf323]

Sounds to me like Stargate is exactly what I want. Looking at games running on it, seems most backups for 3DS and DS roms run quite well. And if the tradeoff is losing the DS mode...I will stick with the Stargate, as a proper DS/3DS mode is one of my most sought features.

also my firmware is 11.5 so I think im good.

if free isnt a worry? Why buy a over priced piece of shit and buy all your 3ds games digitally? Buy a decent priced ds flashcart for the ds games?

 

[Adrian-E-C]

if free isnt a worry? Why buy a over priced piece of shit and buy all your 3ds games digitally? Buy a decent priced ds flashcart for the ds games?

I am not worried about the cost. Heck it is worth buying a decent cart to hold my DS/3DS backups.

Your question makes no sense at all....I mean, why don't I just run citra on my GPDWIN2 and not bother with a 3DS at all? essentially getting a "free"3ds that is still portable. Why don't I just throw out my GBA, GBC, Backlit gameboy Horror and PSP and just emulate all of them? Sure would save me a lot of money on portables if I just emulated everything on a mini laptop with a built in xbox controller ya?

The answer is because it isn't about money, it is about having the exact experience I want on the device of my choosing. I don't want to swap carts to use DS games, I don't want to lose DS functionality by installing CFW, and I would like to keep using my eshop account for the foreseeable future to legitimately buy games. I am sure CFW can give you access to the eshop, but who knows when Nintenedo might come up with a way to detect CFW and ban you from using online services.

All in all, it is worth the extra bucks to provide me with precisely what I want. As I said, this thread doesn't exist so you can try to sell me on CFW. That just aint happening. For several reasons. If you are too poor to buy games legit, and need to pirate to play, I don't judge. But I have a decent job and enough money to buy 20 flashcarts without feeling wasteful...of course I buy other crap instead.

So thanks for the input. Seems like Stargate 3ds is what I am indeed looking for!

 

[The Catboy]

Sounds to me like Stargate is exactly what I want. Looking at games running on it, seems most backups for 3DS and DS roms run quite well. And if the tradeoff is losing the DS mode...I will stick with the Stargate, as a proper DS/3DS mode is one of my most sought features.

also my firmware is 11.5 so I think im good.

But there are still several issues with Stargate, like several games not working on it and the Gateway team still hasn't updated nearly a year later. I understand your stance, but you are basically paying more for so much less. It's also worth noting that being on 11.5 doesn't solve your issues, if anything it only adds more issues as Nintendo starts adding more requirements to their games/features. You are basically setting yourself up with something that is actually more complicated than just using a CFW+R4i Gold Plus.

The r4i gold plus is a trash card. I’ve had multiples that all have spotty connections and often just don’t work outside of NTR mode. I Don’t know why people keep recommending it when it’s only redeeming feature is the preflashed NTR boot. The Acekard 2i or the white R4 SDHC I linked below are both excellent inexpensive options if you don’t need NTR boot currently. If you do I’d recommend getting the r4i gold plus just for that and one of the cards I suggested.

https://nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=507

Edit:the DSTT is also a really high quality cheap card. I’ve also never had issues with my DS Two and it had a lot of nice features. It also drains the battery like crazy and is expensive though.

I've also have multiple R4i Gold (Plus) carts as well and I haven't had a single problem with any of them when it comes down to their contacts. This compared to my Ak2i which is completely unusable for me since they've all had contact issues.
I recommend the R4i Gold Plus because it's actually the best cart on the market for DS games. It runs Wood R4, which has perfect ROM compatibility, RTS, homebrew software, and so much more. This compared to the spotty ROM support and requirement to ysmenu just to bypass the timebomeb for the R4i-SDHC cart(s)
I really wouldn't suggest any product from the R4i-SDHC team. Buying their products only pays them to continue their horrible practices like the timebomb and literally making the same cart with different price tags.

 

[Rj.MoG]

But there are still several issues with Stargate, like several games not working on it and the Gateway team still hasn't updated nearly a year later. I understand your stance, but you are basically paying more for so much less. It's also worth noting that being on 11.5 doesn't solve your issues, if anything it only adds more issues as Nintendo starts adding more requirements to their games/features. You are basically setting yourself up with something that is actually more complicated than just using a CFW+R4i Gold Plus.


I've also have multiple R4i Gold (Plus) carts as well and I haven't had a single problem with any of them when it comes down to their contacts. This compared to my Ak2i which is completely unusable for me since they've all had contact issues.
I recommend the R4i Gold Plus because it's actually the best cart on the market for DS games. It runs Wood R4, which has perfect ROM compatibility, RTS, homebrew software, and so much more. This compared to the spotty ROM support and requirement to ysmenu just to bypass the timebomeb for the R4i-SDHC cart(s)
I really wouldn't suggest any product from the R4i-SDHC team. Buying their products only pays them to continue their horrible practices like the timebomb and literally making the same cart with different price tags.

The specific cart link does not have a time bomb and uses wood r4.