Suprcard DS1 mini review by Sarah (using clean roms only, no patching)
Mine arrived this morning from www.supercardstore.com
The card
It comes on a red PCB, but comparing it to the Ninjapass X9 the TF slot is slightly cheaper on the DS1. The chip that sticks through the casing is identical on both cards. (I'm told they both come from the same factory)
Getting Started
The box just containst the DS1, there is no software provided and you will need to download and install the operating system for the DS1 (from here http://eng.supercard.cn/soft_scdsone.htm ) and put it onto a microSD flash card (microSD and USB 2 card reader not included)
The GUI is a modified version of Moonshell 1.41 and looks very smart, it also starts up without you having to touch the health and safety screen. But on the downside a couple of "info" screens pop up to annoy you.
The icons are taken from within the roms on your TF card and displayed by the OS. Selecting the games can be done with the stylus or the navigation cross and "A". The DS1 has a hidden list of the games and their .sav types which you can add and alter using the "Options", "File Info" window and using "Change" and "Save" on that window. The games name is listed in the GUI by using the lookup table, so you get the full "scene release" name whatever you call the actual file on the microSD card.
Castlevania PoR (Euro) just happens to have the .sav type listed (4k) which is wrong, here I am on my way to correcting the entry (512k) using that screen.
If you leave the DS alone for a while, up pops the clock screensaver.
Does it work
It's pretty much the same as the Ninjapass X9 for playing games, same problems (same games problematic), same microSD card problems (select the wrong speed and it hangs on loading, get a slow flash card and it has slowdowns) but most of the games seem to work. It does create it's own game save files, so no save management needed by theuser. Here are just a few of the games I picked out totest with it.
"My Animal Centre in Africa" was released after the DS 1 software, so it can't be saved and crashes at the save point untill you add/change the .sav type.
"Metroid Prime Hunters" crashes at the load at default 3x speed, loads at 2x speed.
"42 All Time Classics" the game work but download play not working
"Brain Training" the game works but download play works
"Zoo Keeper" everything including download play works
"Point Blank" everything including download play works
"CastleVania POR" the game works but you get the same random crashes (press select or start repeatedly to hurry a crash)
Music and picture player
MP3s play without any problems, no special bitrates or conversion needed, the tracks play using left shoulder to pause and right shoulder for next track. X and Y control the volume.
Photos load up as well and look pretty good.
Memory cards to use
Sandisk 1 gig TF card ............. everything a bit slow
Kingston 512 MB card (Toshiba) ......... speed fine
There are small but different problems with each card, Animal Crossing won't work on the Kingston, FF3 has problems on the Sandisk.
Conclusions
Nice GUI!
I didn't like the "INFO" screens popping up at the start so a slight change to the global.ini file (hiddenInfoWindow=1) removed that. You can change the look and skin on the DS1 fairly easily. I suspect by next month there will not be much to choose between this and the X9 (now the X9 loader has been updated to cure it's original save problems, and a new GUI promised for January). Do you want a nice GUI immediately or do you want a USB reader and spare shell because that's the only difference between them at the moment (IMHO)
Mine arrived this morning from www.supercardstore.com
The card
It comes on a red PCB, but comparing it to the Ninjapass X9 the TF slot is slightly cheaper on the DS1. The chip that sticks through the casing is identical on both cards. (I'm told they both come from the same factory)
Getting Started
The box just containst the DS1, there is no software provided and you will need to download and install the operating system for the DS1 (from here http://eng.supercard.cn/soft_scdsone.htm ) and put it onto a microSD flash card (microSD and USB 2 card reader not included)
The GUI is a modified version of Moonshell 1.41 and looks very smart, it also starts up without you having to touch the health and safety screen. But on the downside a couple of "info" screens pop up to annoy you.
The icons are taken from within the roms on your TF card and displayed by the OS. Selecting the games can be done with the stylus or the navigation cross and "A". The DS1 has a hidden list of the games and their .sav types which you can add and alter using the "Options", "File Info" window and using "Change" and "Save" on that window. The games name is listed in the GUI by using the lookup table, so you get the full "scene release" name whatever you call the actual file on the microSD card.
Castlevania PoR (Euro) just happens to have the .sav type listed (4k) which is wrong, here I am on my way to correcting the entry (512k) using that screen.
If you leave the DS alone for a while, up pops the clock screensaver.
Does it work
It's pretty much the same as the Ninjapass X9 for playing games, same problems (same games problematic), same microSD card problems (select the wrong speed and it hangs on loading, get a slow flash card and it has slowdowns) but most of the games seem to work. It does create it's own game save files, so no save management needed by theuser. Here are just a few of the games I picked out totest with it.
"My Animal Centre in Africa" was released after the DS 1 software, so it can't be saved and crashes at the save point untill you add/change the .sav type.
"Metroid Prime Hunters" crashes at the load at default 3x speed, loads at 2x speed.
"42 All Time Classics" the game work but download play not working
"Brain Training" the game works but download play works
"Zoo Keeper" everything including download play works
"Point Blank" everything including download play works
"CastleVania POR" the game works but you get the same random crashes (press select or start repeatedly to hurry a crash)
Music and picture player
MP3s play without any problems, no special bitrates or conversion needed, the tracks play using left shoulder to pause and right shoulder for next track. X and Y control the volume.
Photos load up as well and look pretty good.
Memory cards to use
Sandisk 1 gig TF card ............. everything a bit slow
Kingston 512 MB card (Toshiba) ......... speed fine
There are small but different problems with each card, Animal Crossing won't work on the Kingston, FF3 has problems on the Sandisk.
Conclusions
Nice GUI!
I didn't like the "INFO" screens popping up at the start so a slight change to the global.ini file (hiddenInfoWindow=1) removed that. You can change the look and skin on the DS1 fairly easily. I suspect by next month there will not be much to choose between this and the X9 (now the X9 loader has been updated to cure it's original save problems, and a new GUI promised for January). Do you want a nice GUI immediately or do you want a USB reader and spare shell because that's the only difference between them at the moment (IMHO)
