Review cover Cobra BlackFin (Hardware)
Official GBAtemp Review

Product Information:

The Cobra Black Fin. This device could be compared to flashcards - it enables the user to play pirated or their own dumped Playstation Vita games. The technique behind it is quite interesting. Via P2P (Peer-to-Peer) for non local games, A user can play the games others share on the Black Fin servers.
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Packaging and Contents

Our review sample was delivered via DHL and was carefully packaged to prevent any damage.
The review sample was provided by SnapUpHots. Check out their other products: ZENBLU High precision gaming mouse.

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Below you can see what the pakage looks like and what's inside:

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As you can see, the contents include a Blackfin card reader with 7 slots, a Blackfin game card emulator, a Blackfin USB dongle and a Mini USB cable for BlackFin card reader. No manuals are included but it can be downloaded on their website.

How it works & setting it up

The games are not shared as a whole of course, that would be really bad for traffic (especially if yours is limited). So how does it work exactly, you may ask? You Rip your own, or download the game ISO's, put them on a MicroSD card. Now you put that card into the Black Fin Flashcard which you put into your Vita.

Now you connect to the Black Fin server if the game is not in your Fin (if you own one as it is not included in the Lite version), let the device authenticate your game by matching the ISO to an actual game Card, which is running on another person's Black Fin reader, which is connected to the Black Fin server. If the game Serials data match, you can play the Game. Unfortunately, if that game is not currently on the server you can't play and you do need to have an active internet connection to be able to play ISOs via Black Fin.
if hosted localally or a private network is created with trusted friends that all own different games your golden as you can host your own server as the files are included to do this.

The reason behind the whole authentication thing is simple: PSVita games are highly encrypted in a security Authentication Chip. When the Black Fin was produced and released and still currently as of writing, there is no other way to load Game Images.

For the Black Fin to work, your PSVita needs to be on Firmware 3.57 or lower currently . I couldn't test its PSTV compability (mine is on 3.60), I currently do not know if it works with it or not, but would assume so (if someone could clarify that would be fantastic).

I tested a couple games. While most of the games seemed to worked fine, one game was not recognized by the card reader at all.

  • Sorcery Saga: The Curse of the Great Curry God (USA)- PASS
  • Final Fantasy X HD Remaster (EUR) - PASS
  • Ys: Memories of Celceta (USA)- PASS
  • LittleBigPlanet (EUR Vita version)- PASS
  • CRIMINAL GIRLS: Invite Only (EUR)- PASS
  • LEGO The Lord of the Rings (USA)- PASS
  • Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (JPN)- PASS
  • DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS (JPN)- PASS
  • Hatsune Miku Project Diva X (JPN)- PASS
  • Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed (KOR)- PASS
  • Dramatical Murder Re:Code (JPN)- FAIL (reader failed to recognize the game to dump but would say it would authorize to no avail)
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Personal impression

Now to my thoughts on the hardware...

The casing of the Black Fin and flashcard feel weak and flimsy. When I first unpacked the items i noticed a Fin inside the Fin was loose inside, opening it to refit the fin broke a small plastic lock (there was 2). The boards however are pretty nice and solid, I'd question getting a 3D printed case to replace it.
it has 4 Light settings that I noticed, Red (bad read), Orange (Flashcard), Blue (game inserted but not authenticated), Green (game inserted & authenticated)
has a Day 1 Firmware Update that takes a few minutes to install.

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The flashcard was a very neat and tidy little board that the MicroSD fitted nicely into and worked a treat, only downside to it was that I couldnt close the flap on the gamecard slot on my Vita Slim Model, though that may hinder the connection to the PC Dongle.

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Well this doesn't look very glamorous but this little USB 2.0 RF Dongle, connecting to the Flashcard to authenticate the games, it does the job though it feels cheap with nasty casing but I couldn't seem to open it without causing damage so i left it. Installing the custom Drivers for it is the fun part though.
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Wrapping up

Overall the device works as it says on the website. Your firmware should be up to 3.57, but according to latest news it might work on 3.60 soon-ish (with some help from Henkaku apparently).

The Guide on the Website States it works on Windows 7 but the software also works on Windows 10 though installing the Drivers was much more of a pain due to the security settings of the OS, but is indeed doable.

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The Cobra BlackFin Team have announced the Lite version, but how it is going to work since it comes without the Cart Emulator, which you normally need to write the ISOs to the MicroSD card in the Flashcard. I guess time will tell.

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • Simple to Use
  • Almost perfect compatibility
  • Super-fast loading
  • No Patching Required
  • Can setup Private Network with Friends
What We Didn't Like ...
  • Requires P2P network for non owned Games
  • 3.60 and above OFW not Supported
  • Homebrew not Supported
  • Mods not Supported
8
out of 10

Overall

It does what it says, and loads Vita games from the Micro SD card only downside was the Cheapness of the Plastic used, the 1 game it failed to read that I found, hopefully with a firmware Update this can be rectified
Nice review! This should be perfect for those that just want to pirate games but don't want to buy Sony's expensive proprietary memory
 
Thanks for the good look at this crazy thing :)
Its a bit DOA but still an interesting flash cart solution with pretty good pros.
If they can sell just the flashcart with henkaku support that would be amazing if its cheaper than the official memory of course
 
V
I'm damn well glad I didn't waste a large amount of money on one of these; I was almost adamant on purchasing one the very day it released on flashcard sites as well.
But I think it was HENkaku that pretty much drove me away from that commitment... I just knew that software piracy tools would surface not long after its debut, and look! Now we have Vitamin and TheFloW apparently announcing hundreds more games compatable with the tool in the 1.2 release!

The only thing that the Black Fin would really be good for, in my opinion, is if you absolutely value your ePSP/ePS1 hacks (TN-V, ARK, PSOne Loader) and don't want to lose them, but even then updating to 3.60 and purchasing a PSP for a cheap-ass price is sometimes a better move in the long run!

Anyway, I digress. Not a good place for me to start bitching about the more suitable options...

Oh, and a very nice review indeed; great to see more "official" member reviews rolling onto the front-page! And the overall score was a shocker for me too! Didn't think the Black Fin would get enough positive reception after its release.
 
Good riddance to this cheap ass product. This in my opinion is in the same category as the "Tru-Blue PS3 dongle for the PS3 imo, which was load of crap too with it's DRM to cash in on the free methods at the time.
 
Good riddance to this cheap ass product. This in my opinion is in the same category as the "Tru-Blue PS3 dongle for the PS3 imo, which was load of crap too with it's DRM to cash in on the free methods at the time.
But this isn't that. They use a completely different method from the free solutions, and the way it works literally requires the hardware.
 
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But this isn't that. They use a completely different method from the free solutions, and the way it works literally requires the hardware.

Didn't exactly say it was, my point was that it is useless like the Tru-blue was and look what happened to that. Other reviews I have seen have slated it rotten and not worth owning one due to it's shoddy workmanship on the hardware, along with bugs and what not with the software.

Even if Henkaku/Vitamin didn't exist, I would never have entertained this and would just buy the games.
 
Henkaku and Vitamin have made this obsolete before it was even released. A stillborn product isn't worth even half of its' 80$ price tag. Its' only use might be if it offers more storage space for Henkaku users on the microSD instead of the asinine proprietary memcards.
 
Meh. Vitamin rips the majority of my Vita cart games already, and the forthcoming versions promise even better compatibility - TheFloW has great skill, and he's not done with that or VitaShell yet by a long shot. Why I'd pay the equivalent of what they are worth to get something that can do what I can already do more easily and direct to memory card? I'd rather wait for more Vitamin releases and give him some beer money, seems like a better use for $80 or whatever donation I PayPal across to him.
 
Maybe someone can re the game cart, other than that there is no point this now, not that there was in the first place
 
vitamin dumps are far from perfect, I can't wait until we can install real drm pkgs straight from Sony. literally we could make CIAngel for vita.

custom plugins are cool, but 100% compatability with the untouched files working is cooler. sad that with vitamin even official updates don't work, they have to be decrypted too.

if we use the real files just like we do with ps3, everything would be neater. updates would just work.

i hope that we aren't stuck with vitamin for long, but maybe no one will put effort in to installing pkgs because we have this...

cobra is cool, the only bad thing was the p2p verification, but combined with the kernel hacks vitamin has, i hope we can use it just like sky3ds. :)
 
The Cobra Black Fin predates Vitamin so the comparison is unfair. Vitamin does of course make the Black Fin obsolete, but it was a remarkable technical achievement at the time. No point buying one now though, of course.
 
8 out of 10 is too generous. It's interesting to see this review as a curiosity, if nothing else.
 
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