Review Amazekard

Guild McCommunist · Sep 27, 2011

GBAtemp.net review of the...

Amazekard<img src="http://gbatemp.net/news/00_gemei_mps_a330_review_spacer.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /><img src="http://gbatemp.net/news/amazekard_review_main_header_image.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

Manufactured by: <a href="http://www.amazekard.com/html/main.asp" target="_blank">Amazekard</a>
Review samples supplied by: <a href="http://www.amazekard.com/html/main.asp" target="_blank">Amazekard</a>

Review Contents & Index:<ul><li><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#a">Introduction</a>
- <a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#a1">Official feature list</a></li><li><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#b">Packaging and Contents</a>
- <a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#b1">Box Contents</a></li><li><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#c">Cart Design and Impressions</a></li><li><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#d">Set-Up and Usage</a>
- <a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#d1">GUI (OS)</a></li><li><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#e">Performance</a>
- <a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#e1">ROM compatibility</a></li><li><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#f">Homebrew Support</a></li><li><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#g">Additional Features</a></li><li><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="#h">Conclusion</a></li></ul><div class="reviewbreak"><a name="a">Introduction</a></div>
A minor disclaimer to all. The folks at Amazekard did offer an incentive to simply do the review, but it in no way affected the score or outcome of it.

With the DS beginning to decline, it seems like you've got a pretty wide variety of flashcarts to choose from. You've got your high end, expensive flashcarts, you've got some middle range flashcarts, and you've got your lower end, cheaper flashcarts. With all this selection, the Amazekard pops into the race. It's technically a Galaxy Eagle clone, which is a clone of an R4 Ultra. The R4 Ultra was designed, manufactured, and supported unofficially by Team Acekard. However, it still features decent compatibility and features we'd expect from most budget flashcarts, while maybe not being the most fine-tuned piece of hardware on the market. Buying an Amazekard may not leave you severely disappointed, especially with DS releases dying rather quickly, because it plays most things thrown at it. In the end, the Amazekard offers you a rounded package of decent compatibility and what you'd expect from a flashcart in that range, but it won't give you anymore.

<a name="a1">Official Feature List (Taken from the back of the box):</a><ul><li>Supports DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSi XL/LL (currently supports up to 1.4.2, see note in Additional Features)</li><li>Supports SDHC memory cards (up to 32GB)</li><li>Multilingual menu</li><li>Supports DMA reading and no lag with any microSD card</li><li>Supports clean ROM and drag-and-drop transferring. Fast loading. Also AP/translation patches, hacks, etc.</li><li>Supports DS and DSi games (DSi games will play but cannot make use of DSi features).</li><li>Writes save files to TF card directly with no need to manually back up or restore them.</li><li>Autosave type detection and no need to update save type list database.</li><li>Supports moonshell and Homebrew soft reset of moonshell.</li><li>Power saving design (5-7 hours of battery life)</li><li>Dual screen UI.</li><li>Supports button and touch screen operation.</li><li>Supports Wi-Fi, rumble pack, and browser expansion pack.</li><li>Supports brightness adjustment (DS Lite and above only)</li><li>Supports soft reset in games (L+R+A+B+X+Y) and AR cheat codes (enabled before the game is loaded).</li><li>Supports DLDI auto-patching and download play.</li></ul>
<div class="reviewbreak"><a name="b">Packaging and Contents</a></div>

<div align='center'>[tn=200]http://pix.gbatemp.net/177066/amazekard%20boxed.PNG[/tn] [tn=200]http://pix.gbatemp.net/177066/amazekard%20unboxed.jpg[/tn] [tn=200]http://pix.gbatemp.net/177066/amazekard.PNG[/tn] [tn=200]http://pix.gbatemp.net/177066/amazekard%20back.PNG[/tn]</div>

<a name="b1">Box Contents</a><ul><li>1x Amazekard</li><li>1x microSD USB reader</li></ul>The Amazekard is boxed in a plastic tray (as seen above), which is inside a waxed paper box. An interesting side note pointed out by my friend, the box art of the card features an image from World of Tanks, which isn't even on the DS. But whatever, it's cool looking, and that's what matters in graphic design, right? "Amazekard" (sic) is plastered over this World of Tanks image in red text with a white border. It could use a bit of a contrasting color but I guess the border makes it stand out a bit more. Honestly, I've done the same thing for my own line of work, so I can't really judge. Underneath that is the Amazekard site (www.amazekard.com, obviously), with a nice little Engrish quote: "the real ultimate experience in your hand" (sic). Kinda funny, I guess, but most of these flashcarts aren't exactly known for their masterful grammar. There's a few little logos ideally portraying Games, Music, Vidoes Touchscreen, Notes, and Photos, from my interpretation, then followed by some generic bad ass looking guy with a gun underneath it. Again, probably not a DS game, but it's cool.

The right side of the box has the Amazekard site and slogan again, followed by the right one having the logo. The back has the features list (as typed above), some icons showing it supports microSDHC, WiFi, etc. The bottom of the box has the site URL and slogan again.

Everything fits snuggly into the tray and seems to be sufficiently packaged. The microSD reader is a bit different from the little "T-Flash" ones I've gotten with my past carts and worked fine, although was a bit slow on my first time using it. It can be a bit of a pain getting the microSD out but isn't too troublesome.

In total, the packaging was sufficient, attractive looking, and sturdy. I doubt any Amazekards will be dead on arrival because of it.

<div class="reviewbreak"><a name="c">Cart Design and Impressions</a></div>
The cart seems solid enough built and I haven't encountered any issues with it. It doesn't stick in the DS and seems well built. The microSD slot isn't springloaded either, which I do prefer. Compared to my Acekard on hand, I can't seem to find it built any worse than the Acekard, which has held up without a single issue since the day I bought it last year

The PCB is as follows. Provided courtesy of the Amazekard Team.

<div align='center'>[tn=200]http://pix.gbatemp.net/111084/Amazeckard%20PCB-1.jpg[/tn] [tn=200]http://pix.gbatemp.net/111084/Amazekard%20PCB-2.jpg[/tn]</div>

<div class="reviewbreak"><a name="d">Set-Up and Usage</a></div>
The Amazekard is set up like most any flashcart nowadays, simply requiring one to drag-and-drop all the cart files to your root.

<ul><li>Download the latest English kernel from <a href="http://filetrip.net/f26131-Amazekard-Kernel-2-1-ENG.html" target="_blank">Filetrip</a>, or download the other language versions from <a href="http://www.amazekard.com/html/DownList.asp" target="_blank">the Amazekard website</a>.</li><li>Unrar and open the "amazekard" folder.</li><li>Drag and drop the files inside to the root of the microSD card.</li><li>That's it!</li></ul>The Amazekard Team has recently come out with a 1.4.3 patch so it can play on the latest DSi firmware. You can download it off their official website <a href="http://www.amazekard.com/html/V1.43_Patch_amazekard.rar" target="_blank">here</a>.

<a name="d1">GUI (OS)</a>

<div align='center'>[tn=200]http://pix.gbatemp.net/177066/Amazekard%20GUI2.jpg[/tn] [tn=200]http://pix.gbatemp.net/177066/amazekard%20GUI.jpg[/tn]</div>

The GUI is essentially modeled after the R4 GUI. The Amazekard’s menu system will automatically bypass the DS Firmware and boot directly into its 3 icon menu. This behavior is identical to the original R4 and not the Acekard2i design for which this card is initially based. It has three panels for Games, Media, and Slot-2. Games will let you browse your microSD card for games to play. Media will load Moonshell (you can replace the moonshl folder with whatever build of moonshl you wish) for your general selection of media playing. Slot-2 will load whatever game is in your slot-2.

I found the GUI to be a little laggy and not as fluid as other GUI's, even my old R4 (which had essentially the same layout). I was still able to browse easily but it can be a bit distracting for the average flashcart user.

The GUI is also skinnable, although it only comes with one skin in the firmware. You can of course make your own or download your own. They seem to be 256x192 pixels for top and bottom screen.

With 3-in-1 expansion packs, the Amazekard has no native support for them. You'll need to use an app like <a href="http://filetrip.net/f10382-GBA-ExpLoader-0-58b0MX.html" target="_blank">GBA ExpLoader</a> to access your 3-in-1 and load games into the PSRAM and NOR. However, you can launch whatever game is in your NOR as though it was a GBA game. Otherwise, there is no inherent 3-in-1 support (save loading, game loading, etc etc) for the Amazekard.

<div class="reviewbreak"><a name="e">Performance</a></div>
<a name="e1">ROM Compatibility</a>

All ROMs were tested on my DS Phat, NTSC model, with a SanDisk 4GB SDHC microSD, properly formatted with the Panasonic formatter. All ROMs are clean unless labeled otherwise (such as translations).

Thanks to <a href='http://gbatemp.net/member.php?name=SignZ' target=_blank title='View profile for member SignZ'}>SignZ</a> for helping with game testing! Much appreciated!

PASS: Game plays just as it should on a real game card.
FAIL: Game doesn't even load or freezes before game play.
PROBLEMS: Game works but with issues.<ul><li>Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (Europe)
- FAIL: Won't load saves</li><li>Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 (USA)
- FAIL: Unable to complete necessary quest in the beginning</li><li>Kirby Mass Attack
- FAIL: Loads to white screen</li><li>Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes of Light (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Mario Kart DS (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Pokemon White (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Inazuma Eleven (Europe)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Tales of Innocence (Japan) (Translation Patch Applied)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Okamiden (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>YuGiOh! WCT 2011 (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Trackmania Turbo (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Tetris Party Deluxe
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>The World Ends With You (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li><li>Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! (USA)
- PASS: Plays and saves fine.</li></ul>
<div class="reviewbreak"><a name="f">Homebrew Support</a></div>
I found soft reset to not work on any of these titles.

<ul><li>Red Temple- PASS</li><li>SnEmulDS- PASS</li><li>NES DS EX- PASS</li><li>RUA DS- PASS</li><li>JenesisDS- PASS</li><li>Beup Live- PASS</li><li>Clirc- PASS</li><li>Lameboy- PASS</li><li>DS Notes- PASS</li><li>GBAExpoLoader- PASS</li><li>Warhawk DS- PASS</li><li>CommanDSKeen- PASS</li><li>5nake- PASS</li><li>Mario Paint Composer- PASS</li><li>SpaceImpaktoDS- PASS</li><li>StillAliveDS- PASS</li><li>Pocket Physics- PASS</li><li>PowderDS- PASS</li><li>DS Doom- FAIL Crashes when loading doom.wad</li><li>Boondoggle- FAIL</li></ul>
<div class="reviewbreak"><a name="g">Additional Features</a></div>
Cheat Support
The Amazekard has your standard Action Replay cheat code support. The database that I had with the firmware though didn't seem to appear for every game, although you can always get the latest database at the <a href="http://www.codemasters-project.net/" target="_blank">Codemasters Project DS Forums</a>.

Soft Reset
Soft reset is pretty standard in cards nowadays, and the Amazekard is no exception. I found it did not work for Homebrew, but every game I tested had soft reset working, unless the game was unable to work (such as Kirby Mass Attack)

MicroSDHC Support
Like most carts nowadays, the Amazekard supports higher capacity microSD cards. I tested all my games with a 4GB microSDHC and they all worked fine. It supports up to 32GB, according to the box.

DSi Compatible
The Amazekard Team has made sure to have their cart compatible with DSi's 1.4.3 firmware, and will probably update it to overcome any further firmware upgrades (if any). So fear not, DSi users.

Moonshell
Moonshell, a series of multimedia apps, is integrated into the Amazekard to cover DPG video playback, music playback, and so on. It worked fine for me and you can just swap out the moonshl files on your microSD for whatever Moonshell version you want. Simply hit the center button on the main Amazekard screen to open it.

Skinabble GUI
The GUI for the Amazekard follows the same design as the R4, so you can download any R4 skins to use. Here's some examples from Filetrip's selection.

<div align='center'>[tn=300]http://gbatemp.net/screenshots/%5B2596%5DPreview.png[/tn] [tn=300]http://gbatemp.net/screenshots/%5B5270%5DPreview.png[/tn]

[tn=300]http://gbatemp.net/screenshots/%5B1686%5DPreview.png[/tn]</div>

<img src="http://gbatemp.net/style_images/1/folder_post_icons/icon11.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" /> <a href="http://filetrip.net/f22970-R4-Theme-Creator-Alice-8-1-08-1-8.html" target="_blank">R4 Theme Creator</a>
<img src="http://gbatemp.net/style_images/1/folder_post_icons/icon11.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" /> <a href="http://filetrip.net/c119-R4M3-Skins.html" target="_blank">R4/M3 Skins on Filetrip</a>

<div class="reviewbreak"><a name="h">Conclusion</a></div>
Overall, I can't really say the Amazekard is a bad card, but I certainly can't say it will "amaze". It is what it is: a budget cart with decent compatibility that isn't quite heavy on the extra features. The cart is well designed, sturdy, and workable. The firmware is a bit laggy but workable and modeled off of the R4 GUI, so it won't be foreign to any former or current R4 users. Game compatibility is good, although some newer titles seem to not be working at this time and the firmware updates seem to be infrequent. Homebrew compatibility is also decent, but nothing spectacular. The cart works but it certainly doesn't go the extra mile.

What I will say though is that for this late in the DS lifespan, where game releases are dwindling and constant support for carts seems to dwindle with it, the Amazekard is adequate at working for your needs. It'll play most games released so far, minus a few new ones, as well as Homebrew. For a rather low price and for something that honestly struck me as a run-of-the-mill clone, I can say that you won't be disappointed. Maybe not thrilled, but you'll get the proper bang for your buck.

Pros
+ DS game compatibility works for most games
+ Homebrew support is adequate
+ Skinnable interface
+ Solid build quality
+ SDHC support
+ Auto DLDI patching
+ Save type detection
+ DSi support (1.4.3 update incoming)
+ Multilingual GUI

Cons
- Lack of Homebrew soft reset
- No native GBA ROM Slot-2 support
- Lack of game options
- Laggy GUI
- Infrequent updates (last update 8/24/11)

<div class="reviewbreak">
<img src="http://gbatemp.net/up/award_bronze.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
</div>

External Links:
- <a href="http://www.amazekard.com/html/main.asp" target="_blank">Official Amazekard Website</a>
- <a href="http://shoptemp.net/products/AmazeKard.html" target="_blank">Amazekard on ShopTemp</a>

machomuu · Sep 27, 2011

Well the box art and cover art is pretty good, and for an average DSi user it's not a bad deal, especially for just $8.

Wizerzak · Sep 27, 2011

Personally I'd rather buy an R4 for $2. I can't see much difference, plus R4 has WOOD support, unlike this.

DarkStriker · Sep 27, 2011

Amazekard... where have i heard that before?

konel01 · Sep 27, 2011

looks like a R4 clone. the only thing i worry about buying a new brand of flashcard is will it be supported in the future. i've seen plenty of cards come and go all the way back from the GBA days. the ones already on the market have been proven, supported and have a community built around them.

i think if a company wants to crack into the flashcard market they need to focus on the 3DS or offer sumthing we really havent seen before. I'm actually hoping the 3DS is cracked and wont need flashcards. Fingers Crossed for 3DSFlow running off of the systems SDcard.

AceWarhead · Sep 27, 2011

I'm quite surprised a clone even got Bronze award.

Urza · Sep 27, 2011

One sentence review:

"This is an R4 clone."

Not sure why you wasted the time to type all that other stuff.

SifJar · Sep 27, 2011

Urza said:
One sentence review:

"This is an R4 clone."

Not sure why you wasted the time to type all that other stuff.

Because they sent him a free card.

machomuu · Sep 27, 2011

AceWarhead said:
I'm quite surprised a clone even got Bronze award.

It's about its features, its status is irrelevant when giving it a grade, so to speak.

Dingoo-fan 32 · Sep 27, 2011

Good for its price (8$), but don't support OS like wood/akaio...

Guild McCommunist · Sep 27, 2011

The team over at Amazekard asked if we wanted to do a review and I said sure. I haven't done any official GBAtemp reviews and I felt this would let me get my feet wet.

Clone or not, it has decent compatibility, is DSi compatible, and I'm certainly not gonna call it terrible.

Gh0sti · Sep 28, 2011

well i think its ridiculous that its a clone of a clone of an unofficial cart made by the best flashcart company other than supercard and cyclops (but they suck at updates for their carts)

Demonstryde · Sep 28, 2011

konel01 said:
looks like a R4 clone. the only thing i worry about buying a new brand of flashcard is will it be supported in the future. i've seen plenty of cards come and go all the way back from the GBA days. the ones already on the market have been proven, supported and have a community built around them.

i think if a company wants to crack into the flashcard market they need to focus on the 3DS or offer sumthing we really havent seen before. I'm actually hoping the 3DS is cracked and wont need flashcards. Fingers Crossed for 3DSFlow running off of the systems SDcard.

lets hope at least not until they unlock all of its features so we dont miss out by not updating to loose the hack... i can honestly say im willing to wait 1-2 years before we even see a hello world.

jurassicplayer · Sep 28, 2011

I'm with Guild on this. Personally I hate clones with a passion and as there are better alternative at roughly the same price, I feel as though there is little need for clones at all, but with that said, the amazekard along with many other clones DO give the basic functions and are workable (well...maybe not something like the N5 with it's fuse-busting powers). Whether or not that deserves a bronze award...well I wouldn't put one since it IS just about the same as the other clones out there, but I don't think there is an award below bronze either ._. (mehbeh I would just skip it and act like I forgot :3)

Guild McCommunist · Sep 28, 2011

jurassicplayer said:
I'm with Guild on this. Personally I hate clones with a passion and as there are better alternative at roughly the same price, I feel as though there is little need for clones at all, but with that said, the amazekard along with many other clones DO give the basic functions and are workable (well...maybe not something like the N5 with it's fuse-busting powers). Whether or not that deserves a bronze award...well I wouldn't put one since it IS just about the same as the other clones out there, but I don't think there is an award below bronze either ._. (mehbeh I would just skip it and act like I forgot :3)

There is a "no award" but I think that's basically reserved for crap. I wouldn't say the Amazekard is crap, just maybe, erm, "unoriginal".

Another World · Sep 28, 2011

the team has worked hard to get someone to support their flash kit. there were talks with some of the top kernel developers but they all turned it down for one reason or another. the guys at amazekard really want the card to be successful and they know that these days its less about features and more about compatibility and frequent updates.

in our eyes this is how the award system works:
no award = card failed in many ways and can't be recommended
bronze = card works well enough, has some features (dldi, slot-2 support, sdhc, etc), and is recommended without being pushed
silver = compatibility is very high, has features and they work correctly, but had 2-3 points that really need to be addressed, as a result the card is recommended with some caution
gold = card has near perfect compatibility, card does what it says it will, card has excellent support, etc, as a result we recommend it

i also created the silver + award which was just a half way between silver and gold.

an award is given depending on how well the card performs during testing. the amazekard did something's correctly but suffered from the cons guild mentioned. it also relies heavily on hacked firmware based on old sources, so it won't always play the newest dumps or perhaps support the latest homebrew. i think guild nailed the award for it and after reading the review we can all see that there is room for improvement.

-another world

Daidude · Sep 28, 2011

I'm sure the r4i-sdhc is better than this but this card got a bronze award and the r4i didn't?

Another World · Sep 28, 2011

minox is an experienced tester and he found the r4isdhc to be full of problems. guild did not test the r4isdhc, nor did he have anything to do with that review.

really, your comment is a bit off-topic for this review. we are not debating scores in this thread nor are we comparing cards.

-another world

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