Hacking Creating a Repro Cart?

[Aarmastah]

Hello, all! I've been messing around with DS flash carts for a while now, and I modified the Pokemon Deoxys Distribution 2008 ROM to send out a custom event. Though it's perfectly fine and usable on something like an R4, I want to somehow get this ROM onto a real cartridge of its own (primarily for the hell of it). Is there any way to flash the ROM onto a DS cartridge, or should I go for the absolute cheapest possible flash cart? If the latter is more feasible, where should I look?

 

[Plasmaster09]

Hello, all! I've been messing around with DS flash carts for a while now, and I modified the Pokemon Deoxys Distribution 2008 ROM to send out a custom event. Though it's perfectly fine and usable on something like an R4, I want to somehow get this ROM onto a real cartridge of its own (primarily for the hell of it). Is there any way to flash the ROM onto a DS cartridge, or should I go for the absolute cheapest possible flash cart? If the latter is more feasible, where should I look?

idk where to look but the first option is not a thing
think about what rom stands for

 

[Deleted User]

idk where to look but the first option is not a thing
think about what rom stands for

how do you think people make repro n64, snes and gba games lol, i'm guessing it's either by using a donor cart or using custom chips

 

[Uiaad]

While wholly possible to create your own repro carts in 2020, you cannot just go in and flash a cart to the game you would like. ROM stands for Read Only Memory. You would need a replacement blank ROM, a donor cart or repro cart and the tools to both program it and connect it to the board. The fact you are asking about you probably don't have the tools / equipment / experience to do this. I'm not saying this is like some form of black magic beyond people's understanding or reach but for 1 cart your probably just better off using a cheap flash cart and giving it a nice sticker at the end of the day you get what you want and there will be a lot less expense.

 

[Aarmastah]

Since it seems a cheap flash cart would be the best option, where would I go about finding one? I already have a few flash carts in my possession, but ideally I want to get another one, spend as little money as possible, and don't mind waiting a century for shipping.

 

[Uiaad]

Since it seems a cheap flash cart would be the best option, where would I go about finding one? I already have a few flash carts in my possession, but ideally I want to get another one, spend as little money as possible, and don't mind waiting a century for shipping.

Your best shot is probably ebay / aliexpress if you don't mind waiting that is

 

[zfreeman]

Since it seems a cheap flash cart would be the best option, where would I go about finding one? I already have a few flash carts in my possession, but ideally I want to get another one, spend as little money as possible, and don't mind waiting a century for shipping.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000512600874.html

 

[duwen]

Despite the negative comments you've received there ARE people out there that produce bespoke repro carts featuring whatever rom/rom hack you choose. While I haven't heard of anyone doing it for NDS carts, the prevalence of Chinese bootlegs would lead me to believe it's not impossible.
If you just want to get your Poké-dist manufactured and distributed, perhaps approach one of the many sellers of bootlegs on Aliexpress and see if they'd be interested in "bootlegging" the file.

...otherwise, go the cheap R4 clone route, plus smallest/cheapest sd you can get.

If you want it to look slightly more 'legit', combine the above with de-shelling the R4, creating a repro label, and popping it into a replacement cart shell...

...check ebay - they shouldn't cost more than a $ each.

 

[Aarmastah]

Despite the negative comments you've received there ARE people out there that produce bespoke repro carts featuring whatever rom/rom hack you choose. While I haven't heard of anyone doing it for NDS carts, the prevalence of Chinese bootlegs would lead me to believe it's not impossible.
If you just want to get your Poké-dist manufactured and distributed, perhaps approach one of the many sellers of bootlegs on Aliexpress and see if they'd be interested in "bootlegging" the file.

...otherwise, go the cheap R4 clone route, plus smallest/cheapest sd you can get.

If you want it to look slightly more 'legit', combine the above with de-shelling the R4, creating a repro label, and popping it into a replacement cart shell...
...check ebay - they shouldn't cost more than a $ each.

Ooh, those custom cart shells are nice! I'll get in contact with a couple sellers to see if they can make a custom cart, and if not, I'll buy a cheap R4 and get one of these shells to put it into. Thanks for your help, everyone!

 

[Ryccardo]

The main issue is that it's not just a ROM: since the GBA they also have built-in hardware for automatic sequential access, since the DS hardware encryption and a fundamentally custom interface, ...

While indeed older bootlegs (that weren't DSi compatible and therefore not simply made with original chips) prove it is possible to make custom DS cards, it's not really documented anywhere (unlike https://gb-archive.github.io/reinerziegler/GBA/gba.htm for example) and even the professional pirates are now selling instead bottom barrel flashcards with bottom barrel microSDs covered by a sticker...

 

[Uiaad]

I mean its all a matter of what you want to spend at the end of the day. This being said, you could use this as a springboard to gain the skills to make a whole custom cart from scratch. It all comes down to what you want to get out of it. You could probably find someone online that would do the whole package for you or you could go out and learn electronics and computers.
The second option even if can take a while can be very rewarding and opens up a whole new world, especially if you are a bit of a creative thinker and willing to put the effort in and really is worth it. I personally come from a place where i was very very lucky where from a young age i was infatuated with electronics and computers and wanted to learn how everything worked, so i ended up learning the basics very very early.

At the end of the day its all about what you want out of it. if you just want a functioning item, buying it is probably best. but if you want to learn and have to time (and money ) to invest go for it. It will take longer, you will have many roadblocks and failures but eventually you will get it working just the way you want it