Hacking Bye-bye R4, time for a replacement.....

Rayder · Jul 30, 2008

I'm looking to replace my now (IMO) obsolete R4. I consider the CycloDS and SCDS1 as the #1 and #2 slot1 flashcarts currently on the market respectively and I'm very much considering the Cyclo, but I worry that their popularity might cause them to soon be attacked as the R4 was and I'd end up with another obsolete cart with no support. (yes, I know that saying the R4 is obsolete, or that Ninty had anything to do with their rumored demise is very speculative, but let's run with that for the sake of this discussion, mmkay?)

Who would you guys say is #3 right now? Or maybe a better way of putting it, what's a flashcart that is relatively obscure, but VERY good. Or should I just stick to my original plan of getting a Cyclo?

Main REQUIRED features:

SDHC
High (100%?) DS game compatibility (duh)
Supports DLDI auto-patching
Excellent homebrew support
Supports loading a full-featured slot2 card (NOT just a 3in1....a SCminiSD or M3 Perfect...something like that)
Supports (or comes with) Moonshell or otherwise plays DPG's and MP3's well.
Supports the official GBAtemp cheats
Constant support from its firmware team.
Not ridiculous with silly options that you have to fiddle with to do basic stuff....an intuitive UI. (this is the main reason I'm not considering the SCDS1...or has most of that been fixed?)
Not a lame clone.

Bonus features (if possible):
Real-Time Save
Skin support

Do you think my worrying about the Cyclo ending up like the R4 is baseless? Would I be stupid to even consider anything other than a Cyclo since I can afford one easily? Do any other flaschcarts even come close to the feature lists of the Cyclo or SCDS1? Is the SCDS1 really that ridiculous with it's options?

I'm DEFINITELY buying a new flashcart within the next couple weeks and it probably WILL be the Cyclo, but any recommendations, speculation or discussion of what I said above is welcome.

Heh, and NO I will NOT be buying a DSX.

Narin · Jul 30, 2008

I suggest the CycloDS and if you are worried about Nintendo attacking flashcards, then go with an AceKard RPG, its open sourced so even if the developers do get axed, people can still work on it and create firmware for it. Though don''t expect much on Nintendo's part, they are going after all the flashcard retailers in Japan at the moment. They hold very little power in China where the flashcards are being produced. It would be impossible for Nintendo to shut down the flashcard scene unless China suddenly starts passing new anti-piracy laws and starts regulating piracy which I don't see happening anytime soon.

Also to get back on topic, I suggest the CycloDS out of the two. The SCDS1 cheat engine is by far, the worst cheat engine of any Flashcard. Currently it doesn't support the GBATemp Cheat Database unless you use a custom firmware/loader at the cost of some of the stock SCDS1 features not working/being supported on the custom firmware.

Without a custom loader, every game on the Supercard has to have its own scc cheat file, meaning that to have all the Cheat Database cheats, you have to have over 800 cheat files. Also the names, descriptions and notes of the cheats are limit to 13 characters total, thats it. If the information is longer than 13 characters, it gets cut off. So you need to have an in game guide file or a text file for every game as well that list all the cheats and how to use them.

Also on the Supercard, some of its features like slow motion and such are actually cheats that have to manually be added to the games you want those features for and activate them manually in the cheat system I described above.

While the CycloDS cheat engine isn't perfect, its bar far better than the Supercard's cheat engine. The problem with the CycloDS is that it limits the number of cheats a game can have. I believe every game can only have 100 or so cheats which is not a problem since most games fall under that. Also with the current stable firmware, teheres other bugs and limitations, like some code types not working (Similiar to the R4) so some codes won't work and so on. Though the new beta version of the firmware has an overhauled cheat engine that does fix a lot of these problems.

pokemongalaxy · Jul 30, 2008

the acekard team has made a firmware for all acekards which allows cheat updates connecting to Narin's database. And supercard is a feature rich card, dare I say the rival of cyclo

hope that helps

ojsinnerz. · Jul 30, 2008

Rayder said:
I'm looking to replace my now (IMO) obsolete R4. I consider the CycloDS and SCDS1 as the #1 and #2 slot1 flashcarts currently on the market respectively and I'm very much considering the Cyclo, but I worry that their popularity might cause them to soon be attacked as the R4 was and I'd end up with another obsolete cart with no support. (yes, I know that saying the R4 is obsolete, or that Ninty had anything to do with their rumored demise is very speculative, but let's run with that for the sake of this discussion, mmkay?)

Who would you guys say is #3 right now? Or maybe a better way of putting it, what's a flashcart that is relatively obscure, but VERY good. Or should I just stick to my original plan of getting a Cyclo?

Main REQUIRED features:

SDHC
High (100%?) DS game compatibility (duh)
Supports DLDI auto-patching
Excellent homebrew support
Supports loading a full-featured slot2 card (NOT just a 3in1....a SCminiSD or M3 Perfect...something like that)
Supports (or comes with) Moonshell or otherwise plays DPG's and MP3's well.
Supports the official GBAtemp cheats
Constant support from its firmware team.
Not ridiculous with silly options that you have to fiddle with to do basic stuff....an intuitive UI. (this is the main reason I'm not considering the SCDS1...or has most of that been fixed?)
Not a lame clone.

Bonus features (if possible):
Real-Time Save
Skin support

Do you think my worrying about the Cyclo ending up like the R4 is baseless? Would I be stupid to even consider anything other than a Cyclo since I can afford one easily? Do any other flaschcarts even come close to the feature lists of the Cyclo or SCDS1? Is the SCDS1 really that ridiculous with it's options?

I'm DEFINITELY buying a new flashcart within the next couple weeks and it probably WILL be the Cyclo, but any recommendations, speculation or discussion of what I said above is welcome.

Heh, and NO I will NOT be buying a DSX.

Get a CycloDS. Faster updates, and lots of updates that actually matter very much. The newest firmware that came out for the SCDS1 added the multi-skinning function, which is limited, and a few game fixes. It took them about 4 months to do that. None of the problems of the GUI has ever been fixed, to my knowledge. Supercard "fixes" the problems by adding in even more features. That's how they have the Homebrew soft-reset, but never updating it, or so I think.

I have a SCDS1, and it does fit everything you've mentioned, except the UI part. The UI is still pretty slow (Not as every thinks it is, but everyone has their own opinions), and not perfectly accurate with the touchscreen. If you DO get it, you do need to "set it up" but it only takes about 3 seconds, because you just need to press the button that puts everything at a suitable setting. And if you don't like that, you can just use the YSmenu.

I had trouble with the RTS just once, but out of all the times I've used it, the chance of getting this problem is slim to none. It happened when I was playing EO. I used RTS, and it shut off all of a sudden. When I turned it back on, and loaded the file, it kept turning off. I tried it over and over. Same result. Still, after 4 months of usage, that happened once, and what happened to me probably never happened to anyone else, so it's not too bad.

The Cheat menu is pretty annoying as well. It's the green text with a black background. It's very ugly looking, and if the names for the cheats are long, they get cut off. I hate how the SC team never fixed something that could be solved so easily. Of course it doesn't matter if you don't use cheats, but for those who do use it, it'll be annoying.

And the cheat files are made separately made for each game, so you have to look for the cheats when you need it.

Well, the ups for the SCDS1, is that the support team won't stop giving it improvements. That's what they've been famous for to begin with anyway. It still has a whole lot of features, just as many as the Cyclo. A few good things are the In-game Cheat menu, which lets you toggle through cheats during in-game. There's also the tripple loader, which is very neat for people who don't like the SCDS1's GUI. It's also useful if you have a slow-micro sd.

Here's what the SCDS1 does well.
- Features
- A good support team
- Game compatibility
- Plays music photos and videos without launching moonshell (Videos not recommended.)

The bad things
- Slower than a few other carts
- Even thought it has a great support, the firmwares don't come too often. (IMO)
- The GUI
- How ugly the cheat menu looks.

If you don't mind any of those, or low on budget, get a SCDS1. I'm not regretting my purchase, because I'm pretty confident it'll get better in the future.

If you do mind them, get the CycloDS.

I could go farther in, if requested.

Narin · Jul 31, 2008

@ojsinnerz
I believe the latest beta firmware for the CycloDS added support for an in game menu.

ojsinnerz. · Jul 31, 2008

Narin said:
@ojsinnerz
I believe the latest beta firmware for the CycloDS added support for an in game menu.

If that's the case, the only "feature" that is on the SCDS1 but not on the Cyclo, is multi-save.

Well, OP, the answer is clear. Get a CycloDS.

Tanas · Jul 31, 2008

The cyclods sort of does have multisave if you count the Normal and Alternative save method.

Rayder · Jul 31, 2008

OK. Thanks everyone. So according to you guys, my REAL choices are CycloDS and AcekardRPG (or is that Acekard2?)

I'll go for the Cyclo. I'm likely going to order both a CycloDS and an M3 Perfect when I make my order. I'll be ordering from RHS because I've used them successfully about a half dozen times in the past and have NEVER had a problem with them. My old R4 will just end up holding old favorites and my old SCminiSD will go into an ancient GBA as a bathroom unit. It really bugged me that the SCminiSD slowed down in many GBA games, which is why it's getting replaced.

For the time being, I'll just use the microSD's I used for the R4 (I have 3 2gig Kingston Japan cards) in the Cyclo and I'll get an SDHC card for it later.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't buying into something that would burn me.

Rayder · Aug 1, 2008

Ordered my CycloDS and M3 Perfect today. Should be here by the middle of next week.

Thanks again to all who replied.

coral · Aug 1, 2008

lol. Get a Cyclo DS is a good choice.

CycloDS Evolution is a multi-functional Micro SD adapter for NDS and NDS Lite (Slot 1) which allows you to play games, listen to MP3`s, view images, read e-books and enjoy the vast collection of homebrew applications for NDS. You can also take advantage of the inbuilt cheat code system to enjoy more freedom with your favourite games with unlimited energy, ammo, etc.

And I recommend u Depot888.com if u oder next time. I bought there, great service!

papyrus · Aug 1, 2008

Good choice man. Cyclo FTW! I wish i had one. hehe. I'm getting one soon..

Rayder · Aug 1, 2008

DAMN! They shipped it QUICK!!! I ordered them this morning, I get home from work to find it has already shipped. WOOT! I might have them by Monday!

Now I gotta hunt down all the necessary utilities for those cards.

Hacking Bye-bye R4, time for a replacement.....

Mostly lurking lately....

The Cheat Master, kupo!

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The Cheat Master, kupo!

Damned

Well-Known Member

Mostly lurking lately....

Mostly lurking lately....

Banned!

Well-Known Member

Mostly lurking lately....

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