Hi, fellow members! This will be the first review I'll make, and depending on how it goes, I'd gladly do another. I do realize it's one of flashcards with the most reviews, but it's also the one I've used the most. Now, the review will be different from the others, because, frankly, I do not have any camera that can catch a good shot of the DSTWO, and, moreover, I've lost the box >.> Finally, I want to say thanks to iFish, who's kinda sparked the idea of writing this review. And, finally good read =D
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><u><b>Introduction</b></u><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
The SupercardDSTWO is the successor to the DSONE, the most recent flashcard from the Supercard Team. It's one of the most hyped flashcards, and maybe the costliest on the market. And, let's also note that the SNES emulator isn't included yet (but will in the near future) nor is the XVID movie player. Does it live up to all the expectations we've had? Let's see, up in the next sections.
<u><b><!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto-->The packaging and its contents <!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--></b></u>
The DSTWO is delivered inside a nice little box, with DSTWO written at the center with a stylized font. Mine was in perfect order, but missed the blue wrist strap that should be contained inside. The flashcard itself is delivered inside another little container/tray in which also lies the USB card Reader 2.0. Finally, the DSTWO Manual was included along an installation guide burned on a CD, with the EOS Software. Unfortunately, since I didn't keep the boxes and its contents, I've gotten this pic from Google.
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><u><b>The Flashcard's system</b></u><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
Once inserted in the DSiXL, the flashcard appears in the menu as "Fish Tycoon; Majesco Entertainment". Booting it up leads to a menu certainly based off of the DSiMenu, and shows icons which, when tapped on or chosen, opens the designated homebrew, emulator, or the main DSTWO menu to launch DS Games. The common options at first should be DS_Game; NDSGBA; Moonshell; iReader, and soon, the SNES Emulator. The GBA emulator only works on this flashcard (and the iplayer) because they have built-in Cpu chips, which is why the build quality isn't exactly good. But we'll get to that later. Anyways, any icons unused, in the latest EOS version, are identified with a question mark, and going through them activates an endless loop which brings the user back to DS_GAME, or any icon you've placed first.
The EOS, the Evolution Operating System, accessed through DS_GAME; has a pretty and extensive GUI. It's colorful, and lists only files with the .nds extension and folders. Games are listed and recognizable by their icons placed side by side, or listed by their names. The official GUI can't display some game's names fully at the top screen though, because their internal name is too long. Scrolling through the list is quite fast too. Game loading is terribly fast, and game compatibility is extremely high.
Here's the game I've tested:
- Chrono Trigger<b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--> runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Katekyo Hitman Reborn Flame Rumble XX <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Might and Magic Clash of Heroes <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Art Academy <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Fire Emblem 12, Honshou no Mazo <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Dragon Quest IX <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- All Final Fantasy existing on the DS <!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><b>run normally</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
- Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar runs normally
- The SRW Games all <!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><b>run normally</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->, the Masou Kishin one too.
Also worthy of note is that every game can be run either in Clean Mode or patch mode, and both has different ways of loading a rom:
- Clean mode runs the rom as it should normally run on its real game card with its integrated Cpu, thus bypassing the Ap in some particular roms.
- patch mode tries to block out the Ap contained in the rom.
I've only tested some homebrew, but many of them worked quite well, even though DS DOOM and other game ports as well as original games had some problems with the DLDI patching. All the more, there were sometimes small bugs but could be ignored easily.
The SNES Emulator and the XVID player weren't included, even though it was clearly written on the box they were. It's like false advertisement. However, I don't see this as a major problem, so let's move on.
All in all, NDS Games loads perfectly well. Now, onto the GBA emulation, which does have some issues.
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><u><b>The GBA Emulator, NDSGBA</b></u><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
Many GBA games worked fine, but some suffered weird slowdowns in uncommon places. While I was going through the grass in pokemon, the game slowed down a lot. Here is a more complete list for other games having suffered some problems. I don't think I really need to list the games that worked for me, since they'd be the same as the one on GBATemp's official DSTWO review, so here goes:
- Both Golden Sun suffered terrible slowdowns, surely because of the 3D graphics
- Both Metroid suffered slowdowns when text scrolled through the screen. Fusion didn't go so well when Samus received instructions from the AI
- Mother 3 was playable but didn't run at full speed.
- Rpgs like Final Fantasy have some slowdowns when graphically-demanding special attacks were dulled out.
- Gunstar Super Heroes lags for a while when there's too many enemies on screen and objects exploding.
- Yoshi's Island 3 doesn't run at full speed.
- SRT Original Generation suffered slowdowns when the mechas exploded, or when they unleashed laser attacks or high speed sword strikes.
-
That's all I've managed to try out. Next up, we're going through its Real Time System.
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><u><b>The Real Time System incorporated</b></u><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
It's pretty neat. While in game, the users could activate the menu through the buttons they'd chosen in the main DSTWO menu. There, you could load or save a game state, activate or deactivate cheat codes, regulate the lighting levels, activate the slow motion feature (which I've never gotten to work for no clear reason), the free cheat function which permits the user to create his own cheats while playing (although it's not that easy to use). You can also go through a Game guide you've previously put on the SD. It should support images too. Finally, you can go back to the main EOS menu, what we usually call a Soft-Reset. All these functions, to me, are quite useful.
And now, about the two other homebrew pieces.
<u><b><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->iReader and Moonshell 2<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--></b></u>
The iReader allows the user to read text files using the most common of file extensions. So, it permits the reading of .txt files, and so on. It also loads images easily. But, what makes it special, is its user friendly menu, the fact that it can load .pdf files, and that it supports .Zip files (it takes less space that way). But, pages containing images may, or may not load. Even if it does load, it takes a lot of time for the text reader to display the page.
It can also zoom in on the text/image, but that is all it gives. No funky functions.
The Moonshell 2 video player is the original one, there really is no new exclusive features apart from the Exit button which leads you back to the icons menu. That is the only tweak mentioned by the team, anyway.
Up next, the flashcard's weak build quality.
<u><b><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->The DSTWO's build quality<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--></b></u>
To be honest, its build quality suffered from all the features the team had tried to include in their flashcard. The thing has awesome and neat features, but needs many chips that aren't in a standard card like the Acekard or the R4. You can clearly see there is one sticking out under the sticker. You literally have to ram it into the DS Slot, since it's so big. But, it's still isn't that bad a card, since its features compensate for its build quality.
<u><b><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Conclusion<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--></b></u>
All in all, despite some small problems, this flashcard is totally worth its price. The team will certainly manage to fix all these issues later on, and moreover, they've made it this far with all their products, and now that the SDK is released and that the SNES emulator is going to come, this flashcard is a must.
And here are the images! >.<
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><u><b>Introduction</b></u><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
The SupercardDSTWO is the successor to the DSONE, the most recent flashcard from the Supercard Team. It's one of the most hyped flashcards, and maybe the costliest on the market. And, let's also note that the SNES emulator isn't included yet (but will in the near future) nor is the XVID movie player. Does it live up to all the expectations we've had? Let's see, up in the next sections.
<u><b><!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto-->The packaging and its contents <!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--></b></u>
The DSTWO is delivered inside a nice little box, with DSTWO written at the center with a stylized font. Mine was in perfect order, but missed the blue wrist strap that should be contained inside. The flashcard itself is delivered inside another little container/tray in which also lies the USB card Reader 2.0. Finally, the DSTWO Manual was included along an installation guide burned on a CD, with the EOS Software. Unfortunately, since I didn't keep the boxes and its contents, I've gotten this pic from Google.
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><u><b>The Flashcard's system</b></u><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
Once inserted in the DSiXL, the flashcard appears in the menu as "Fish Tycoon; Majesco Entertainment". Booting it up leads to a menu certainly based off of the DSiMenu, and shows icons which, when tapped on or chosen, opens the designated homebrew, emulator, or the main DSTWO menu to launch DS Games. The common options at first should be DS_Game; NDSGBA; Moonshell; iReader, and soon, the SNES Emulator. The GBA emulator only works on this flashcard (and the iplayer) because they have built-in Cpu chips, which is why the build quality isn't exactly good. But we'll get to that later. Anyways, any icons unused, in the latest EOS version, are identified with a question mark, and going through them activates an endless loop which brings the user back to DS_GAME, or any icon you've placed first.
The EOS, the Evolution Operating System, accessed through DS_GAME; has a pretty and extensive GUI. It's colorful, and lists only files with the .nds extension and folders. Games are listed and recognizable by their icons placed side by side, or listed by their names. The official GUI can't display some game's names fully at the top screen though, because their internal name is too long. Scrolling through the list is quite fast too. Game loading is terribly fast, and game compatibility is extremely high.
Here's the game I've tested:
- Chrono Trigger<b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--> runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Katekyo Hitman Reborn Flame Rumble XX <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Might and Magic Clash of Heroes <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Art Academy <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Fire Emblem 12, Honshou no Mazo <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- Dragon Quest IX <b><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->runs normally<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>
- All Final Fantasy existing on the DS <!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><b>run normally</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
- Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar runs normally
- The SRW Games all <!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><b>run normally</b><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->, the Masou Kishin one too.
Also worthy of note is that every game can be run either in Clean Mode or patch mode, and both has different ways of loading a rom:
- Clean mode runs the rom as it should normally run on its real game card with its integrated Cpu, thus bypassing the Ap in some particular roms.
- patch mode tries to block out the Ap contained in the rom.
I've only tested some homebrew, but many of them worked quite well, even though DS DOOM and other game ports as well as original games had some problems with the DLDI patching. All the more, there were sometimes small bugs but could be ignored easily.
The SNES Emulator and the XVID player weren't included, even though it was clearly written on the box they were. It's like false advertisement. However, I don't see this as a major problem, so let's move on.
All in all, NDS Games loads perfectly well. Now, onto the GBA emulation, which does have some issues.
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><u><b>The GBA Emulator, NDSGBA</b></u><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
Many GBA games worked fine, but some suffered weird slowdowns in uncommon places. While I was going through the grass in pokemon, the game slowed down a lot. Here is a more complete list for other games having suffered some problems. I don't think I really need to list the games that worked for me, since they'd be the same as the one on GBATemp's official DSTWO review, so here goes:
- Both Golden Sun suffered terrible slowdowns, surely because of the 3D graphics
- Both Metroid suffered slowdowns when text scrolled through the screen. Fusion didn't go so well when Samus received instructions from the AI
- Mother 3 was playable but didn't run at full speed.
- Rpgs like Final Fantasy have some slowdowns when graphically-demanding special attacks were dulled out.
- Gunstar Super Heroes lags for a while when there's too many enemies on screen and objects exploding.
- Yoshi's Island 3 doesn't run at full speed.
- SRT Original Generation suffered slowdowns when the mechas exploded, or when they unleashed laser attacks or high speed sword strikes.
-
That's all I've managed to try out. Next up, we're going through its Real Time System.
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><u><b>The Real Time System incorporated</b></u><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
It's pretty neat. While in game, the users could activate the menu through the buttons they'd chosen in the main DSTWO menu. There, you could load or save a game state, activate or deactivate cheat codes, regulate the lighting levels, activate the slow motion feature (which I've never gotten to work for no clear reason), the free cheat function which permits the user to create his own cheats while playing (although it's not that easy to use). You can also go through a Game guide you've previously put on the SD. It should support images too. Finally, you can go back to the main EOS menu, what we usually call a Soft-Reset. All these functions, to me, are quite useful.
And now, about the two other homebrew pieces.
<u><b><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->iReader and Moonshell 2<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--></b></u>
The iReader allows the user to read text files using the most common of file extensions. So, it permits the reading of .txt files, and so on. It also loads images easily. But, what makes it special, is its user friendly menu, the fact that it can load .pdf files, and that it supports .Zip files (it takes less space that way). But, pages containing images may, or may not load. Even if it does load, it takes a lot of time for the text reader to display the page.
It can also zoom in on the text/image, but that is all it gives. No funky functions.
The Moonshell 2 video player is the original one, there really is no new exclusive features apart from the Exit button which leads you back to the icons menu. That is the only tweak mentioned by the team, anyway.
Up next, the flashcard's weak build quality.
<u><b><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->The DSTWO's build quality<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--></b></u>
To be honest, its build quality suffered from all the features the team had tried to include in their flashcard. The thing has awesome and neat features, but needs many chips that aren't in a standard card like the Acekard or the R4. You can clearly see there is one sticking out under the sticker. You literally have to ram it into the DS Slot, since it's so big. But, it's still isn't that bad a card, since its features compensate for its build quality.
<u><b><!--fonto:Courier New--><span style="font-family:Courier New"><!--/fonto--><!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Conclusion<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc--></b></u>
All in all, despite some small problems, this flashcard is totally worth its price. The team will certainly manage to fix all these issues later on, and moreover, they've made it this far with all their products, and now that the SDK is released and that the SNES emulator is going to come, this flashcard is a must.
And here are the images! >.<
<img src="http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7672/cimg1377e.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/3052/cimg1378x.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8904/cimg1379.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/1566/cimg1380v.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/3450/cimg1383o.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/9510/cimg1384.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/2562/cimg1387z.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8585/cimg1388n.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/2808/cimg1389.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/5531/cimg1390.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1448/cimg1393n.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/6169/cimg1394.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/9679/cimg1395.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8397/cimg1397q.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/4348/cimg1398.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4042/cimg1399.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/9503/d2a.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4907/ssssddsdfs.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/3052/cimg1378x.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8904/cimg1379.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/1566/cimg1380v.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/3450/cimg1383o.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/9510/cimg1384.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/2562/cimg1387z.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8585/cimg1388n.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/2808/cimg1389.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/5531/cimg1390.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1448/cimg1393n.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/6169/cimg1394.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/9679/cimg1395.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8397/cimg1397q.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/4348/cimg1398.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4042/cimg1399.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/9503/d2a.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4907/ssssddsdfs.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
