About GBA Flashcarts, which is the best, which just does the job?

[Shadowmoon25]

I’m aware there’s a post like this recently posted. Anyways, back in the GBA I had a Flashcart, I forgot the name as I was a kid. I remember it didn’t use any micro sd and I think the cartridge was suppose to be put in some device that device would be connected to a pc. Anyways it did the job as far as play GBA. Right now as I do research I see that the top two are the EZ Flash Omega and the Everdrive X5. Now are these the only two that there are now? I don’t like how Everdrive is bigger than a regular size cartridge making it stick out and it’s expensive. The only thing I do not like about the EZ Flash Omega is that I heard it wastes more battery and I really hate charging. Why does it waste more battery? Why is that?

Is there any other Flash cart that’s cheap and/or does the job to play GBA games, I don’t care for new, GB, GBC, games and whatever else these carts do. Just want to play GBA games, save in the game like I was playing the real game cartridge.

Edit: after searching online and the cart I used back in the day was the EZ FLASH II. I don’t know if you guys know about that? Also why are they so expensive, they used to be cheaper back in the day? They are old and I’m sure there are better FLASHCARTS now.

 

[FAST6191]

Most GBA flash carts which are not supercards or clones thereof will do the job and no finger dance needed to save, my usual list of troublesome games which applies to everything (though some carts have greater or lesser amounts of inbuilt/inline patching, and some have RTC which obviously lessens issues with those games) http://gbatemp.net/threads/buying-a-gba-flash-cart-in-2013.341203/page-18#post-4756995

The only alternatives still vaguely available in shops would be the EZFlash 3 in 1, though you will want a DS and DS flash cart to manage it, and the EZ4 line (these days will include the redux, though the redux is a bit power hungry compared to the EZ4 lines). Up until Everdrive tried their hand and EZFlash came back with the Omega the EZ4 was the main flash cart people used (the link above originally being written with the EZ4 in mind). The EZ4 did also later have both SDHC support and GBA side patching added to it, it then becoming drag and drop rather than needing a client program to patch it (no drivers were ever necessary as it is just copying to a SD card). Don't buy an EZ4 lite compact if you see one somewhere -- they were designed as a cheap DS flash cart and have limited GBA capabilities.

Later updates did drop the current consumption of the EZ Omega somewhat, not quite as low as some others but pretty acceptable ranges. Reasons are probably the chip it runs on being rather programmable which tends to mean a bit more thirsty than some of the lesser chips, though said lesser chips still being able to do the job.

Have not looked at EZ2 prices in a while, assuming you were referring to prices of those. Back in the thread linked at the start flash carts were getting a bit rare and hard to come by (was later resolved with a new run of EZ4, and some tweaks to it) and ones with real time clock (which a couple of pokemon games like) had not been available in many years which meant they were somewhat sought after. For most it meant the M3 line (or at least all but its take on the limited GBA capabilities for cheap DS cart) was highly sought after but others looked further back and went with the EZ2 and EZ3 (note a different thing to the later 3 in 1. Similarly the EZ2 was not quite the gold standard during the GBA era (it never played that well with pogoshell) but it later became the best example of the NOR era flash carts* for a lot of people and pogoshell's immediate relevance faded, especially if it is the 1024Mbit model.

*originally GBA flash carts went with the all NOR, all the time model. This topped out on size and expense quite quickly. This then moved to the NAND-PSRAM (or NAND-NOR in some rare examples) where things could be copied from the NAND to fast memory to run. After that onboard NAND was dropped in favour of external flash memory (still a type of NAND but with all the perks of external memory).

Short version.
If you have a DS and DS flash cart see if you can find an EZ 3 in 1. The EZ4 will also do well on the "can I play games" front (the link at the start being what I hope is the complete list of potentially troublesome games, and if not it will just be a random Japanese game with a peripheral I never heard of). Failing that then if you are wanting carts then the EZFlash Omega or the Everdrive GBA line will be it.

 

[JS7777]

I got a EZ FLASH II if you are interested but I don't know really how much it's worth those days.
i see like 200$ for 1 on ebay

 

[Rune]

I have a Game Boy Micro and faced a similar dilemma. I already have a EZ Flash IV, which is nice because the cart fits flush with the device, but of course the loading is slow as hell, the power consumption isnt great and the awkward saving makes it...well...awkward.
I'd like to get the Omega but the problem is that while game loading is quicker and the saves are handled better, the power draw is actually even higher than the EZ Flash IV that I already have.

Now the Game Boy Micro I own, seems to drain its battery very quickly with my EZ Flash IV (the red light on the device would start flashing within about 30 mins of using after a full charge), which was the primary reason why I started to consider a replacement in the first place.
This might be partly due to the fact that the battery inside the Micro may have aged over time and lost some juice, but then again its always been a small capacity to begin with (460 mAh is pathetic). So getting a Omega which drains it even quicker makes no sense. Battery life should IMO be your main concern with a device as small as the Game Boy Micro because you dont get much to begin with.
I feel like the Omega might have been worthwhile if I was maybe using it with a GBA SP or the Gamecube's Game Boy Player, where the battery life of the device isnt an issue.

So basically I have two realistic options. Either get a Everdrive and accept the larger cart size, or wait for a new flash cart to come out in the future (whether thats a new smaller Everdrive, or a EZ Flash with better power consumption).
The Omega is a good product, but just not for the Game Boy Micro IMO/

 

[DoItRight]

I have just ordered an EZ Flash Omega for my GBMicro, I will report back on battery life. (In 1-2 months when it gets here from China, feel free to remind me)

@Rune It sounds like you should put a replacement battery in your micro if you're only getting 30 minutes from a full charge, regardless of cartridge.

 

[Rune]

I get more than 30 mins of charge. Its just the red light turns on to indicate the battery is getting low within that time. I dont have that much of an issue if I use an original cart game.
I'm sure I need a replacement battery as I've had the original in there for like a decade lol. But my point was that the Gameboy Micro isn't supposed to have great battery life to begin with since its so small out of the box. So to then add a flash cart to the equation, its only natural for your battery life to drop even further.

 

[DoItRight]

I understand, and that's why I assumed people would like to know comparative gaming times! So I will test that when I get my new cart.

What battery life do you get on your micro with a normal cart vs the flash cart?

 

[Rune]

I'm actually in the middle of testing right now with a original cart. I'm not doing a like for like test so its not accurate, but at least it will give me a good idea of what we're dealing with.

 

[DoItRight]

If you're willing to do a side by side comparison, please do!

 

[Rune]

Was hoping to share some results but I think I might need to test the EZ-Flash IV again because I think something ain't right with my battery.
I ran Metroid Fusion and left it on the intro with the EZ-Flash. The red light on the Micro came on after about 35-45mins, and the battery ran out at around 3 hour 20 min mark. So right off the bat I'm wondering why it lasted so long after the red light turned on.

I then got my original Metroid Fusion cart, which has currently just passed the 4 hour mark (its still running right now), and the red light hasnt even come on yet.
I'm gonna run the EZ-Flash again after this current run.

 

[Rune]

Battery eventually died on 5 hours 55 mins on the original Metroid Fusion cart. The EZ Flash IV died at about 3 hours 20 mins. I wanted to give the EZ Flash another chance because my first test with it lasted 3 hours 5 mins, and then the second run it lasted an extra 15 mins. But realistically its not going to get that much more. Lets say I gave the EZ Flash a generous 10 mins extra and rounded it up to 3 hours 30 mins, you're still getting around 40% less battery life compared to a real cart of Metroid Fusion.

And then consider the fact that the EZ-Flash Omega has a little higher power consumption than the EZ-Flash IV. It wouldn't surprise me if the difference between that and a real cart is almost half the battery life.