Hacking Complete Guide to Flashcarts and Homebrew

[FifthE1ement]

FifthE1ement's Complete Guide to Flashcarts and Homebrew on the Nintendo DS!



"FifthE1ement's Complete Guide to Flashcarts and Homebrew" is a complete guide to the flashcart and homebrew scene on the Nintendo DS. This new version comes in Adobe Acrobat Reader "PDF" format and includes pictures, comparisons and information on every current and upcoming flashcart on the DS. The guide also contains information on how to get started with flashcarts and homebrew and how to go about buying, using, and getting the most out of your Nintendo DS. Find every Nintendo DS homebrew game and application and learn everything there is to know about flashcarts.

Download and more information:
http://www.xphilez.com/showthread.php?p=113352#post113352
http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.ph...7800#post217800

Enjoy,

FifthE1ement

 

[TheStump]

WOW, this will be incredible usefull for all the newbies coming into the scene, this should be like something every new member should read before they post. this would hopefully stop the amount of spam threads.

Great job
[note] in the homebrew section the games you listed as examples, the second one is wrong, you said it was glider but it's actually MegaETK [or something to that extent]]

 

[FifthE1ement]

Thanks for the praise and kind words S2561588 and I agree as it should be Noob standard, lol!

I checked the bug you mentioned but it is correct as you are talking about 2PongDS but the page directs you to the MegaETK site as he also makes this homebrew game. Thats why it looks like you are being directed to the wrong page when in fact its the right one.

Thanks for keeping me on my toes though but I went through that baby with a fine-tooth-comb before I released it.

FifthE1ement

 

[nintendofreak]

wow nice!! Answers ALOT of questions that many of us are tired of hehe
hope this gets stickied, i know it'll help, i even learned some new things (so much homebrew!!)
good work

 

[iza]

all i can say is sweeeet!

 

[calavera]

Great job... i've spent a lot of time searching around various sites and forums and this is the only thing i've found that answered all my questions simply and in one place. I ordered a supercard bundle from hopebuy after reading your guide... Thanks!

 

[FifthE1ement]

Thanks everyone and I hope many new and old users can use it before making a purchase! I also hope many newbs read it so we don't have to answer questions over and over, lol!

FifthE1ement

 

[UnknownBeast]

Awesome and very profesional looking.

Actually you need to click 2 times to get the guide, not 1

. 1st click to get to the site, 2nd click to download the file hehe

 

[SpaceJump]

Finally I read your "guide" and I was quite amused

I'd like you to comment on some points I have about your "guide":

Supercard:
- "The SuperCard Lite has the best DS game performance of any Slot 2 flashcart": No. And don't say Ult. Spiderman, you have to do the "Press Start" work-around just like with M3 and G6. The G6 is already perfect for DS games, how can something be better than perfect?

- "All models feature great performance and compatibility": Does this include GBA performance and compatibility? If yes, your statement is wrong. If no, your statement is wrong ("All models feature great performance and compatibility in DS games" would be correct then).

- "Best bang for your buck for all models": No. The Ewin 2 (Ewin 2 SD is only $22 at Winsunx!) is cheaper and has 100% DS compatibility.

- You call GBA support "ok": Advance Wars 2, Mario Kart, Metroid ZM, Jet Grind Radio, Medal of Honor Underground, Sigma Star Saga... are soooo slow. And then add the games with slowdowns here and there and at bosses: Castlevania AoS and Yoshi's Island only to name two. What's "ok" about this? In the same manner you also call EZ4's DS game support "ok"

- You write DS game support is "excellent" for SC, where M3's and G6's is only "great": Please explain...

- "DS save system": You give Supercard=1, M3=3, EZ4=2 and G6=1 (the smaller the better)

This is complete nonsense. First of all, M3, EZ4 and G6 have the exact same save system (automatic), yet they have different ratings

And why would the SC's save system be better. All devices save your game automatically, no need save anything manually.

G6 & M3:
- G6's and M3's "software isn't as easy to use as competing flascarts": Mmmm, no. Really this is a matter of taste and shouldn't find a place in an objective guide. You can ask many that use both softwares and you will hear different things.

- The G6's menu isn't skinnable, you can only change the wallpaper.

- M3: "All models, except the Lite, are too big and don't even fit in the DS phat flush": Isn't this also a con for Supercard?

- G6 has "Slow writing speeds": Where did you get this? It's a normal USB-device. Please show us your benchmarks that prove this.

- G6's "menu is clunky and slow": Eh no. When you turn it on, you emmidiatly see your DS games, simply double-tap your rom of choice and that's it. You can scroll down using the touchscreen or using the R-button, which is fast and responsive. Please explain.

- G6: "You can easily make a mistake formatting and the recovery software isn't that helpful": This one is the best, I had to laugh a lot when I read it

I really don't understand this. And it's everything else but not an objective statement. Please explain it.

- G6: "Corruption is starting to appear in many users G6 Lites...": Many? I don't think so.

EZ4:
- "Updates and support are few and far between if you can get their site to work": Weren't Lego Star Wars and Harvest Moon working on EZ4 before SC and M3/G6? Wasn't Megaman ZX saving on EZ4 before all others? Weren't you waiting more that two weeks for a new update, where the other flashcarts (EZ4, M3, G6 and Ewin 2) already were updated? Isn't the official Supercard site always hard to reach when an update is released --> then this should be a con for SC too.

- "Horrible homebrew support": It's not horrible, homebrew that doesn't need direct flashcart access work flawlessly.

- "... more expensive than SuperCard": No, EZ4 is only $33 and EZ4L is only $40.5, where SCL is $42.99 (Source: Winsunx).

Ewin 2:
- "Mediocre DS game compatibility and performance": No, it's 100% --> update!

To summarize, your "guide" is full of subtile fanboy statements. You make sound SC's flaws not so bad (eg GBA support) and other cart's bigger than they are (eg save system). Correct them and your guide will be fine.

 

[pte]

Ewin 2 lacks real support as it is. Some poor guy just posted on a couple of boards stating that a firmware update corrupted his card. That is what those products are all about. IMO the DS compatibility on SC/G6/M3 is perfect on each platform. I don't care a jackshit for the Ultimate Spiderman.

EZ4 seems to be a great card as it is. The support forum seems to be active and updated all the time.

I also read that the "burning speed" on G6 is kinda slow? Transferring files to it etc. Fifth also mentioned that he doesn't own all the products so you really can't blame him. If he had them all it would be a bit different so feel free to send him one of each. Most of the stuff you stated wrong has been said on various boards. He just based it on that like all of us who don't have the product tend to do.

Please, do not use Winsux as a price comparison shop. They offer you everything for cheap and charge like 20 dollars for the shipping. A few dollars here and there, who cares.

 

[SpaceJump]

Ewin 2 lacks real support as it is.
According to the recent GBATemp review it dioesn't lack support and DS comp. is 100%.

I also read that the "burning speed" on G6 is kinda slow? Transferring files to it etc.
You read, where?

Fifth also mentioned that he doesn't own all the products.
Imo this fact disqualifies him of being in a position to write a FAQ about all flascarts. People like Qrayzie can cause they have most of the flashcarts.

QUOTE

Please, do not use Winsux as a price comparison shop. They offer you everything for cheap and charge like 20 dollars for the shipping. A few dollars here and there, who cares.

Which shop do you recommend?

Btw, in his sig, there's the banner for his "Guide to all flashcarts", yet there are only pictures of a Superkey and a Supercard Lite. Coincidence or not? You chose.

 

[calavera]

well you can criticise his guide all you want (and you do bring up some valid points about bias, which I myself thought about when reading the pdf), but the fact is that it provides extremely valuable information to newbs like myself. I bought the supercard and have been very happy with it so far, no problems whatsoever with doing all the things I wanted out of a flash cart. As long as people don't use it as their only source of information before buying, I think this guide is great.

 

[SpaceJump]

I agree, it certainly is a great idea and I know he put a lot of effort into it. But shouldn't any FAQ, review or guide be objective. You yourself state it's biased. Fact is that it has a lot of useful information, and a lot of false information.

 

[pte]

Aren't you a bit childish right now? This freaking retarded brand versus brand set up is the most childish thing I have ever encountered and I have been involved in many things. Especially on these forums I sense nothing else but hostility... and why? COS YOU MIGHT OWN THE WRONG f.. PRODUCT! BINGO! I OWN THE WRONG PRODUCT! Let's all flame eachothers cos you BOUGHT something else than ME.

FFS. Grow up everybody.

I know that English ain't your native but I said that Ewin2 lacks real support. I meant that if you encounter a problem who is there to help you? If you read it again you would notice it.

The biggest problem I had when I decided to buy my product was that there wasn't any particular source of info. It was all scattered, I had to read tons of useless posts and such. If you aren't really braindead you don't count only on one source of information.

 

[kobewan]

Aren't you a bit childish right now? This freaking retarded brand versus brand set up is the most childish thing I have ever encountered and I have been involved in many things. Especially on these forums I sense nothing else but hostility... and why? COS YOU MIGHT OWN THE WRONG f.. PRODUCT! BINGO! I OWN THE WRONG PRODUCT! Let's all flame eachothers cos you BOUGHT something else than ME.

FFS. Grow up everybody.

I know that English ain't your native but I said that Ewin2 lacks real support. I meant that if you encounter a problem who is there to help you? If you read it again you would notice it.

The biggest problem I had when I decided to buy my product was that there wasn't any particular source of info. It was all scattered, I had to read tons of useless posts and such. If you aren't really braindead you don't count only on one source of information.

SpaceJump actually owns at least the SC and the M3. So what wrong product would he own?

Although I agree that the FAQ may be slightly (and I really mean slightly) biased, it is still a great FAQ and the best source of information for newbies. My main problem with it was that in the scoring table, the scores weren't weighted. For example, having a 1 in DS compatibility and a 4 in save system would give you the same overall score as having a 4 in DS compatibility and a 1 in save system. That doesn't really make sense, as compatibility is much more important than save system. Still, I recognize that it would be pretty hard to actually weigh the scores properly, I just hope that you look into that in the future. I guess that SpaceJump also has a few valid points. The ones that struck me that most is that EZ4 is cheaper than SC and that EWIN2 currently has 100% compatibility. However, he may be basing it on the experiences with past EWIN products, which had excellent updating at first but eventually abandoned all English support.

pte, "Some poor guy just posted on a couple of boards stating that a firmware update corrupted his card" doesn't really count as poor support. People have been complaining that the newest M3 FW corrupts their card (I don't know how they do it...), but does that mean that M3 has poor support?

 

[pte]

I meant the overall attitude I have seen over here. Nothing seems to be friendly, always some retarded kid comes around to say his smartass comment over everything. I don't mean this thread but on almost every other thread I have read. The main part of these forums is to pass your information on to others so that they might learn from your experiences. Not to pass on your judgement and all-mighty opinion.

I know that Fifth has a "small" tendency to highlight every good aspect of SC and even give a bit wrong impressions sometimes. It is just the fact that the guide helps people a lot. If that did not exist then people would be asking the same questions 24/7 like they did in the past.

Now they read the guide, read the links and start browsing the forum. That gives them the means to understand what people say on these forums from day one. When I started to read around I had no idea what is what and which manufacturer does what, are those passme devices the same, does that work together with that etc. Simple things but no one had cleared them out. No one is asking anyone to base everything on one guide but that guide sure helps people to get a good start.

 

[SpaceJump]

Aren't you a bit childish right now? This freaking retarded brand versus brand set up is the most childish thing I have ever encountered and I have been involved in many things. Especially on these forums I sense nothing else but hostility... and why? COS YOU MIGHT OWN THE WRONG f.. PRODUCT! BINGO! I OWN THE WRONG PRODUCT! Let's all flame eachothers cos you BOUGHT something else than ME.

It doesn't have anything to do with that, at least not for me. If you haven't already realized I own a G6 AND a Supercard. And EZ4 is a great product (I had one a month ago), M3 is a great product (had an M3 CF and M3 MiniSD)and Ewin 2 seems also like great product (according to the GBATemp review) as well as DSLink as well as... You should get my point. All I'm saying is that reviews, guides or FAQs shouldn't be biased but objective, and this one's cerntainly not. If he fixes it, it's an awsome thing for starters.

Isn't it everyone's right to criticize, or do we have to say amen? If any of my points are wrong, just tell my why. I say some of Fifth's points are wrong, you can say I'm wrong... It's all about discussion and critiscm. No hostality at all!

 

[pte]

True, they should not be. But why people with all these fancy carts aren't writiting guides then? Well it takes a lot of time. Then someone enthusiastic enough does one it should be good enough if there isn't anything else around. That guide is one of the most un-biased things Fifth has written

. I read it with certain criticism and I hoped he had released it few months ago when I was trying to find that exactly same info.

 

[kobewan]

I was actually planning on writing a guide, but the main problem was that I didn't want to write a guide without at least trying all the different carts, something which I have no means of doing.

Also, Fifth did a much better job than I would have, so its cool anyways. All we are asking is that he fix a few minor points in his next revision. The guide is going to have to be updated in the future anyways, with all the Slot 1 cards coming out. As SpaceJump said, "I say some of Fifth's points are wrong, you can say I'm wrong... It's all about discussion and critiscm. No hostality at all!"

 

[JoeB]

I think the bottom line is, if you want the best solution out there, get an M3. If you want the best newbie solution, get an M6. If you want a decent solution, get an EQ4lite.

If you want a no frills, cheap solution, get a super card.

A coworker of mine got the super card, and hates it. You almost need pliers to take the thing out of the DS lite, and he's afraid the TF card will fall out any minute!