The EverDrive GBA X5 Mini is now available to order

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There's a new revision of an old GBA flashcart hitting the market. Krikzz has just announced that their latest release, the EverDrive GBA X5 Mini, can finally be ordered through their official website. The X5 Mini comes in a smaller form factor than the previous version, and will retail for $99. It'll support all save types, has 256Mbit ROM memory, can be used with the GameCube Player through use of the super Retro Advance adapter, and can play NES, GB, and GBC backups through an emulation mode.

Features:
  • All save types supported, no ROM patching required
  • Fast Loading (most games load within 1 - 2 seconds)
  • 256Mbit PSRAM (32MByte) ROM memory
  • 1Mbit SRAM (128KByte) save memory
  • Real-time clock support
  • Low power consumption
  • micro SD cards are supported. Tested with micro-SD cards up to 64GB
  • FAT32 support
  • Supported with GameCube player, some revisions of Super Retro Advance adapter and other GBA accessories
  • NES, GB and GBC ROM formats are support (emulation mode)

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FAST6191

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1 Quality work Not from china.
2 High compatibility within the 95-99% conservative estimate
3 no need to patch the roms using dodgy software just drag and drop the raw roms into a sd card
4 Real save memory types all compatible games will save properly they will then be copied to the SD card
5 even the phat model has low power draw compared to the older flash cards meaning alot longer battery life
6 RTC support for those that use it like pokemon.It is also 100% replaceable and all batterry saves are placed on SDcard like the rest
7 Fast flashing of the rom it doesnt take 30 seconds to flash the rom from the sd card to the onboard rom chip.
8 homebrew/emulators are bootable
9 not advertised but rom hacks will work its an lesser talked about unofficial feature
10 A good amount of OS updates a direct support forum to the maker and a good warranty,and program diagnosis roms to check all the major components if you feel like DIYing it should something break or just to give more info on the issue.

Also for those wanting savestates planned on the X7 everdrive will have it unknown if what else he will add to that the gyro and light sensor has been mulled about but given he was able to shrink the X5 the x7 might not be as big as he feared it would with all the crazy things the GBA carts tacked on.

1) The M3 was a solid little flash cart family on the GBA. If not having it made in China is a thing then OK.
2) Compatibility is the same for most things that are not supercard or a clone thereof. http://gbatemp.net/threads/buying-a-gba-flash-cart-in-2013.341203/page-18#post-4756995
Unless they are going to do something like make those Shrek videos work, stick a tilt sensor, stick a light sensitive device to play boktai, or spend all the time and effort to get that GBA personal organizer there really is nothing in it.
3) That would be a perk over the M3 at least. Drag and drop is pretty common right now though, and I am not sure it counts as an absolute huge win as most of the save functionality was easily replicated by other means.
4) A nice feature and way I would design a modern cart but more or less kicks the battery issue to the clock. It is not like saves before could not be fired around between flash carts, emulators, real carts and beyond.
5) I will have to find numbers here, and don't have any for the M3, but some of the older stuff was in the official cart or sub official cart range.
6) The GBA slot M3 was one with RTC. The EZ4 line was the one that dropped it, also there are patches that get most of the way there. Not having to solder when the battery might die in a few years is nice too.
7) A minor perk but a perk never the less.
8) From the cart itself? A nice feature if GBA emulators are still your thing.
9) The only ROM hacks I have seen that will not work (assuming they fit on the cart in the first place) are ones that will not work on hardware in general and also some emulators, this usually being when someone makes the hack using an inaccurate emulator. No flash cart is going to change this.
10) M3 do seem to be a bit absent these days but as far as problem ROMs go then for the most part that was all over probably around the time we got the last EEPROM save type (there was one before but most met it with a Harry Potter game), which is to say ancient even when that now ancient 2013 post above was being made.
 

Tomy Sakazaki

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How much for one that just plays GBA games?
It would cost the same, the GB/GBC emulators use GBA hardware, the everdrive x5 is programmed to chainload the GB/GBC rom and the emulator together so you won't need to create GBA packages that contains both the roms and the emulators.
I wish this mini design existed to begin with. My OG GBA X5 still sticks out of my DS Lite. But since MiSTer FPGA, I rarely use it anyway.
I always wanted an EverDrive that wouldn't stick out the GBA or my DS Lite.
Unfortunately for DS lite users it will still stick out because it's the same size as a standard GBA cart (but way less than the older x5 model though).

Are the NES classic gba games supported?
Yes, you can use the original roms, no patching required.
 

raxadian

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It would cost the same, the GB/GBC emulators use GBA hardware, the everdrive x5 is programmed to chainload the GB/GBC rom and the emulator together so you won't need to create GBA packages that contains both the roms and the emulators

But does not this thing gave it's own RAM?
 

realtimesave

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Problem with this product is the price. If he was able to lower it to compete with the Ez Flash Omega, then it would be some fierce competition. Otherwise, not so much. I got the ez flash omega and have no problems with it.
 

cvskid

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Problem with this product is the price. If he was able to lower it to compete with the Ez Flash Omega, then it would be some fierce competition. Otherwise, not so much. I got the ez flash omega and have no problems with it.
Quality doesn't come cheap, and krikzz is well known for having the best flashcarts on the market.
 

isoboy

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Omega draws twice as much power as a normal game. The previous ED (not this new one) draws 20% more than an original game. The tests are out there.
 

JCR1

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I think I wait until black friday for discount, I already have the original model, well, just maybe, now barely use it.
 
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Sizednochi

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That's true I mean he never sacrifices quality in his products. Especially for N64. Never ever buy an Everdrive64 clone. They are pure garbage.
Define "pure garbage". I have one one for over 4 years now and it works great.

hmm, I'm still using my EZ-Flash IV, I'll probably upgrade from it at some point.
I have one too, and you probably shouldn't upgrade. No real benefits to upgrading when everything works on it, unless it dies out or something, which might be never. lol
 
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FAST6191

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That's like 20 bucks plus shipping. Is it good?
GBA flash carts don't suffer half as many problems as the likes of the NES, SNES, N64, megadrive, GB/GBC, master system.... when it comes to having special chips that need to be emulated/replicated.
The list of trouble games pretty much sits at
http://gbatemp.net/threads/buying-a-gba-flash-cart-in-2013.341203/page-18#post-4756995
Most of those being the devs bolted on some random sensor or a clock that most don't care too much about. There is no this game had 10x the storage capacity, more audio abilities and extra graphical options courtesy of the devs including a bunch of extra processors on the game cart and thus many of the best games (see SNES special chips and to a lesser extent some megadrive stuff) won't work.

At the same time the GBA, or at least the DS which fed from the GBA and played it along with having flash carts run DS code, is new enough that cart designs from the time (which the EZ4 is) kind of still hold up.
On most of the older consoles most flash carts were either ancient in actual age, based around hacking up existing carts, or based on ancient designs, limited in capability... and thus krikzz was able to walk in, make modern designs and clean up.
The GBA however had none of the downsides, and was new enough that designs were more or less modern.

To that end EZ4. Is it a bit rough around the edges compared to some super slick modern embedded devices? Sure.
These days though can you play basically all the GBA library (trouble games noted in link above), indeed probably carry most of the library around with you at any one time, at the speed they would have been played on the original console? Yeah, and barring the introduction of drag and drop in more recent times you could have since the GBA was still getting new games.
 
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Sizednochi

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both, actually.
the omega one cuts playtime in half
What do you mean by straining the system? It really only draws more juice from what I understand.

Btw have the original EZ Flash IV (micro SD version), not the Omega. I also have a IPS screen moded GBA, which consumes more power than even the AGB 101 mod. I still get over 8 hours of gameplay before the console dies, playing from NOR Flash. Without NOR, it's a bit over 7 hours.

With original games I get 12 hours overall. So not that bad if you ask me. That's with Sony rechargeables AAs which aren't even the best ones around. Now would getting ~3 hours more of gameplay justify paying $100? Probably not if you ask me.

I heard the Omega draws more battery than the original EZIV, though. And I guess that on a GBA SP, where you can't use newer high-duty AA rechargeables, the battery life is probably abysmal, maybe even less than 3 hours. So yeah in that case I'd recommend the Evedrive.

Dang!
and is omega using stolen Krikzz development? Or its own thing?
EZ Flashes have nothing to do with Krikzz. They existed way before the GBA Everdrive was a thing. That's also why they are a bit outdated as far as speed and power consumption go, but if I can play all the games, I honestly don't see the need to "upgrade". If mine dies, then sure, maybe, but it's been 4 years and it works like new.
 
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Pokemon_Tea_Sea_Jee

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I am surprised that it is 2020 and GBA still does not have a decent flashcart that doesn't drink battery and is reasonably priced.

Now I am glad that I sold my cheap but properly functioning used GBA that I bought, instead of refurbishing and modding it like I had originally envisaged.
 

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