Hacking Choosing new, modern, DS flashcard

[SabreTeam]

Hi,

Please forgive old man's ignorance for asking obvious questions. I've been away from DS flashcard scene for last five or six years. I previously had M3 slot 1, which inexplicably died and R4i, which inexplicably died too, as I just found out. And as it happens it must be some wild clone as none of the firmwares I found online work on it. Or it just died, period.

I'm now looking for a replacement with main feature being RELIABILITY and long-term support. I'm not interested in extra features (real time saves & such). Good battery life appreciated.
It must support DS, DSi and 3DS (3ds only for ds games and homebrew -emulators mainly).

So, basically, most reliable DS card that will work on all incarnations of (3)DS, but for DS software only. Even if it doesn't work on 3ds, it's not a deal breaker really. But DSi(XL) support is crucial.

Oh yeah, one more very important feature - menu layout. M3 used to have great menu navigation, R4 was horrible mess.

The shop I'm checking out currently has these in stock:
- Cyclo iEvolution, 26€
- EZ-Flash Vi, 27€
- M3i Zero, 32€
- SuperCard DS TWO 38€ (but this one is kind of overkill in features)


But if you have some other option and know a reliable online store, please let me know and thanks for your suggestions!

 

[4coolday]

the 4 cards you listed were very popular in the past,
but now, only supercard dstwo still keep updating and popular.
So, DSTwo recommend to you.

Another, R4i Gold 3DS is another good choice, which is one of the most popular flashcarts,
which support all version DS, DSi and 3DS as you request.
More detail , you can check out store

 

[SabreTeam]

Thanks for the advice! Did some additional checking myself and yeah it basically came down to R4gold vs dstwo... I eventually ordered R4 Gold, although I'm very cautious when it comes to r4 cards, there's so many clones out there... I mean, I can get an "R4" in half an hour from a local store for less than $10 but good luck with updating that.... So I hope I get the genuine card this time.

DSTWO is an overkill really... and I have gba/snes stuff covered elsewhere too.

 

[FAST6191]

What the others have said. If you did not want 3ds and DSi support (or 3ds and DSi support with modern firmwares) you might have had some more options, many did not make it to the end of the DS new game releases before they stopped being updated but the last year or two was less out in a blaze of glory and more slow decline to shovelware and bad film cash ins (give or take things like Veggy world).

As you do want DSi/3ds support then you are limited basically to the DStwo, there are a handful of R4 named cards that do get updates but they have also been routinely killed every couple of 3ds updates which leaves you having to buy another and the build quality means you probably will not have a working one in 5 years even if you stopped updating. Though the DSi will probably not get any more updates its final one did gain something similar to the 3ds big flash cart killer update which starting checking game saves in addition to the normal checks which got bypassed every so often. It would be nice to have a standard (not so feature packed) flash cart to point to but it has not happened really, give or take some of the wood/akaio derived stuff, so by and large "you will not go wrong with a DSTwo" gets to be the party line.

Also, assuming it was not an update to the DSi that stopped your carts from working, both of those you own now have been seen to have dodgy solder joints. If you can reflow some of the joints it might spring back to life.

 

[SabreTeam]

Also, assuming it was not an update to the DSi that stopped your carts from working,

My DSiXL firmware is 1.4.4E. But I don't think I updated anything since I got it two years ago. This new killer update is 1.4.5 right?And do those updates actually disable the card (as in brick it) or just "ban" the card from that particular DS?
My current r4 doesn't work on DSLite either, and IIRC it didn't work on DSi when I got it, so I had to update it... maybe I put on wrong firmware or whatever, or maybe it just died.... might open it up a bit.

But yeah, those cards tend to crap out after a while regardless of how you use them. Might build up a stash of them and keep them in the freezer!
Joking aside, I've been building up my collection of original games that are worth it. That's why I haven't even noticed flash card dying... But there is some rare DS stuff worth playing that costs way too much on the secondhand market right now...

 

[FAST6191]

Yeah 1.4.5 is the flash cart killer. T

On bricking flash carts. Aside from what the occasional flash cart teams does to another when it comes to clones and rip offs there has never been a cart brick and probably never will be -- such things would be a legal nightmare in various parts of the world (flash carts are legit items in several places with what many would consider good IP law setups, Nintendo bricks those and they have now maliciously destroyed someone's property).

I am drawn to wonder if we will see a repeat of the GBA flash cart thing (where standalone ones became expensive and hard to come by) for DS carts though. It is quite hard to understate just how popular DS flash carts got, not to mention you could probably find plans to spin off another run easily enough (various R4 models had plans and schematics made available for sale inside the Hong Kong flash cart circles, I have not seen them on the public internet but it should not be too hard to find them otherwise).

 

[full-hopeness]

Yeah！The r4i gold rts card is the most popular card now,it always can directly support the latest firmware without any update, it is really the very popular card , If you want to buy it recommend you buy from the reseller of official website

 

[ABGX]

ive had a read through this thread, lots of help, hope im not hijacking!

im after a flashcart, solely for DS games on a DS

emulator support or anything else not needed. not even real time saves or cheats.

really only after max compatibility...and a site to import to the UK from

thanks!