Hacking Shopping for flash cart for GBA

RhiGhost · Jan 22, 2009

Hey guys, I just got a GBA and I'm looking to buy a flash cart for it. I've had a look around but I've found all the different types a bit confusing.
I want the cart to play most GBA roms, with a save capability. It doesn't matter if its SD card or not, but I'd need at least 1GB of space.

Which one would you recommend? Thanks.

DanTheManMS · Jan 22, 2009

The EZ-Flash IV seems to be the most highly recommended, but it might be difficult to find one nowadays, at least one that actually plays all GBA games (rather than the versions that only play games up to a certain size). Following that would be the M3 Perfect (not Pro) which may also be difficult to find. The non-Rumble Supercard would probably be the easiest to find, and cheaper than the M3 Perfect, but then you get slowdowns in some GBA games so it's not a very good option.

unknownworlder · Jan 23, 2009

EZ-flash III is probably the best Gba flash cart (besides the m3 of course) IMO, but we can't really help you until you tell us what games you plan to play. If you play pokemon, EZ3 and m3 are good as they have rtc built in.

Diosoth · Jan 24, 2009

EZ-Flash IV is still easy to find.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11179
http://www.realhotstuff.com/ezflash-size-p-294.html

It will take up to an 8 GB SD card. Mini SD isn't very common, but many Micro cards come with adaptors. As far as compatibility, it's high. Mother 3 requires being moves to NOR, though. I've played through Castlevania HoS and Metroid Zero Mission with no hassles.

You'll miss out on the rumble and RAM of the 3-in-1, but this will work in all GBAs, DS, DS Lite, and Gameboy Player, advantages I consider important. I'm mainly using it in my GB player anyway.

My only gripes? The firmware updating is a bit annoying, it's more than a hassle to update the damn skin on the thing(by default it has a Star Wars Ep 3 skin) and you'll have to use a loader program to put games onto the card, which renames everything. It also lacks the Real Time Clock feature used by Pokemon.

The 8 GB allowance is also a bit much. Out of a 2 GB card, I'm using 650 MB for ROMs, sticking mostly to stuff I'd actually play.

skroooagh · Jan 24, 2009

If you've got a DS then I suggest the EZ-Flash 3-in-1 as it's cheap and also functions as a rumble pack and an expansion RAM cart. Of course, it has to be used in conjunction with a slot-1 flashcart to load new games; you can copy games to it via NOR mode and play them on an actual GBA, but it'll only hold one game at a time and you'll need a DS to change it... kinda wondering why I even brought it up.

RhiGhost · Jan 24, 2009

Hey thanks for the replies! I do have a DS but I already have a fash cart for it. I'm looking for one to use only with my GBA.
What about a SuperCard? I can get the SD version from bamboo gaming for $37.
Do they have good rom support? The games I am looking at playing are pretty random. Broken Sword mostly and alot of rpg games.

DanTheManMS · Jan 25, 2009

Slot-2 Supercards are known for having slowdowns with certain GBA games. As long as you've got alternatives, I'd suggest against it.

unknownworlder · Jan 26, 2009

DanTheManMS said:
Slot-2 Supercards are known for having slowdowns with certain GBA games. As long as you've got alternatives, I'd suggest against it.

Yup, Supercards have a problem with ram, but they are as cheap as dirt.

But the only slow down come in a few games like mario kart advance, tekken, etc.

santorix10 · Feb 3, 2009

In my personal opinion, on the Supercard Mini SD games without slowdown are the exception, not the rule.

And the EZ-Flash IV can support Mini SDHC? I thought it could only support FAT16, and therefore only 2GB cards.

NoCAshBob · Mar 5, 2009

I have not been able to get any cards above 2GB to run on my EZIV. The packaging meant 8Gbit or 1GByte, as it's been around a long time, and 1GB was considered huge at the time.

Who knows, maybe I'm wrong and SOME are supported above 2GB, but I can't be bothered to reformat my card and recopy everything over, so I won't be checking if the latest loader supports Fat32, and therefore some SDHC at best could work(as said, none of mine work)

Edit: definitely the EZIV though, it's a great card, I recommend the 'Mario' skin. I'm waiting for a SuperCard Lite to arrive so I can case mod it to a 'Phat' shell (replacement shells for M3 lol), and If it works good in my GBM, I'll let everyone know. (Created a post asking for comments, etc earlier)

DanTheManMS · Mar 5, 2009

The only slot-2 device that supports SDHC is the M3 Perfect/Pro, and even then it's only supported for media files using its built-in media player, not for games.

unknownworlder · Mar 26, 2009

Even so, GBA games aren't very big. The largest one is to my knowledge 32MB.

And with the proper math, i think you can store almost 65 32 MB games in one 2GB mini SD card.

Edit: DAMN, I didn't realize this was an old thread.

Hacking Shopping for flash cart for GBA

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