Misc DS Flashcard History

[numberri]

Hello I've been trying to learn more about DS flashcarts, but I'm having a lot of trouble finding information about the history and evolution of DS flashcarts and homebrew. I'll put together some things that I've found, and if anybody else has more articles, threads, etc. that would be worth reading, then feel free to link down below

What I know:

• The GBATemp wiki has a lot of information on what carts are clones of others. I've heard that a lot of modern flashcarts are either based on R4i or DSTTi.
• For understanding the hardware of a flashcart, there's a decent amount of information in this thread: https://gbatemp.net/threads/gathering-ds-flashcard-knowledge-diy-opencard-idea.624757/
• This writeup has a lot of information about DS hardware, including a section on what the DS had for anti-piracy, and how that was mitigated.

What I don't know:

• Most things, really. I was talking to Apache Thunder on the DSi mode hacking discord, and the topic of N-cards came up, and it went totally over my head!
• Ultimately, more things to read are definitely going to help with my understanding of flashcarts, how they work, and the history of them

I hope this isn't asking for information that's readily available somewhere, because otherwise I'm probably blind, ahaha

 

[SylverReZ]

I've written some dedicated articles about DS/3DS flashcarts on ConsoleMods, if you'd like to read through them all. Done tons of extensive research on the matter by looking at old archives and asking the community.

https://consolemods.org/wiki/3DS:Flash_Cards#Gateway
https://consolemods.org/wiki/NDS:N-Card

 

[Deleted member 702243]

you might be interested in the older cards that were slot-2 and needed a special card in slot 1 that (mostly!) did nothing besides allowing you to boot into slot-2, but in ds mode

then you could play ds games from the slot 2 flashcard, this is how homebrew and roms worked on the ds before the technology for actual slot-1 cards existed. some gba flashcarts had support for ds mode specifically for this

the one caveat for the older slot 2 cards is that you kind of did need the passcard in slot 1, because ndspatch only patched rom reads, not save data writes... so games would save to slot 1 anyway. passcards generally had a save chip in them to hold save data, or if you had flashme, you could substitute the passcard with a regular retail cart, if you were okay with flashcart games overwriting the save data on the retail cart. newer slot 2 cards didnt have that problem (supercard, m3, ezflash 4), because they actually had patches for slot 2 saving

another thing about passcards, the older models had a cartridge slot on top of them, kinda like a gameshark, and you needed to put a legit game in it before the passcard would work. because back then the cartridge security hadnt been bypassed yet, so the passcard needed to borrow a legit cartridge's header (?) or the ds menu wouldnt accept it. some newer passcards like this one included the entire rom and save chip of a retail cartridge as some kind of workaround (but really it was the same thing, just the retail game was built-in.) later versions of passcards came after cartridge protections were broken, which was probably the first step to getting slot-1 flashcards to happen

most of those old flashcards are pretty rare to find nowadays, but the supercard in particular you might be able to find these days on ebay or aliexpress. I'm not necessarily sure if those still have ds mode functionality though, they could be a newer model that doesnt have ds mode functionality like what ezflash did with the ezflash 4

I don't really have too many links about this, but that should give you enough information for your own research I think

 

[SylverReZ]

Some newer passcards like this one included the entire rom and save chip of a retail cartridge as some kind of workaround (but really it was the same thing, just the retail game was built-in.) later versions of passcards came after cartridge protections were broken, which was probably the first step to getting slot-1 flashcards to happen.

They weren't originally called 'Passcards', it was known as 'PassMe'. Clones of the PassMe were made by other manufacturers like M3 and EWin with their PassCard and PassWe3/Dummy Card, which does not require a cartridge to be top-loaded.

most of those old flashcards are pretty rare to find nowadays, but the supercard in particular you might be able to find these days on ebay or aliexpress.

FlashMe took over which didn't require a NoPass or PassMe cartridge to boot, it's all firmware-based. That's why they're collectors items now.

 

[SylverReZ]

December 26, 2025 was the date that the first DSpico cart sold online which didn't come out from a group buy. It was manufactured by the people at WoodBeyond. The first batch was limited (approximately 12 of them iirc) and was sold out almost instantly after I got it (I was the second buyer). Other sellers on AliExpress, such as Game Parts Store and ChisCart were the second and third to release their own; ChisCart made the first injection-molded DSpico that isn't 3D-printed.

 

[Coderkei]

December 26, 2025 was the date that the first DSpico clone came out from the people at WoodBeyond just after Christmas. The first batch was limited (approximately 12 of them iirc) and was sold out almost instantly after I got it (I was the second buyer). Other sellers on AliExpress, such as Game Parts Store and ChisCart were the second and third to release their own; ChisCart made the first injection-molded DSpico that isn't 3D-printed.

How do you know you were specifically the 2nd person to buy a DSpico from that store lol?

Also a little bit weird to call them clones, they didn't copy the design, they just made them verbatim from the source files with no changes.

 

[SylverReZ]

How do you know you were specifically the 2nd person to buy a DSpico from that store lol?

You sent me the link for where to buy it a few months ago. I saw one item was sold when I looked at the listing as I went to purchase it from my phone.

Also a little bit weird to call them clones, they didn't copy the design, they just made them verbatim from the source files with no changes.

In my opinion, the way I see a "clone" is a design that is exactly the same as the original creator's work but was not sold by them and has no design changes at all. Or otherwise, in the case you described, however, there are designs, such as different chip placement and routing, and occasionally different hardware if the cloner decides to port the logic to another device or make it cheaper as a glob top. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[KidIce]

They weren't originally called 'Passcards', it was known as 'PassMe'. Clones of the PassMe were made by other manufacturers like M3 and EWin with their PassCard and PassWe3/Dummy Card, which does not require a cartridge to be top-loaded.


FlashMe took over which didn't require a NoPass or PassMe cartridge to boot, it's all firmware-based. That's why they're collectors items now.

Sorry but, you' re a bit off.

The first thing on the DS hacking scene were indeed the PassMe's. They required a donor cart to be slotted in them to bypass the DS's protections. It then redirected the DS to the GBA slot.

The pass card was a different thing, but only because it did not require a donor cart, because as said above it basically had enough of a game in it to bypass the DS's protections. It also redirected to the GBA slot.

Back in the day FlashMe was firmware protection. Nothing else. It was not a "jail break" and could not run commercial software from the GBA slot. GBA flash cart manufactures and pirate groups added that functionality buy building loaders you could put on your GBA flash cart that FlashMe would run. FlashMe seemed like surgery to a lot of people and it mostly never caught on.

And why would it? NoPass carts came out shortly after. Those are literally the carts you think of when some one says "R4"... You know, the DS flash carts we use today (or even back then). AceCard, EZ Flash 5, R4, etc., they are all no pass carts. No buying a tri-wing scredriver to open your DS. No tinfoil and paper clips. You just stick the thing in and it works.

I don't mean to discredit FlashMe (my launch DS fat is FlashMe'd), but it never really became a "thing"... And it certainly never "took over".

 

[SuffahBish]

Sorry but, you' re a bit off.

The first thing on the DS hacking scene were indeed the PassMe's. They required a donor cart to be slotted in them to bypass the DS's protections. It then redirected the DS to the GBA slot.

The pass card was a different thing, but only because it did not require a donor cart, because as said above it basically had enough of a game in it to bypass the DS's protections. It also redirected to the GBA slot.

Back in the day FlashMe was firmware protection. Nothing else. It was not a "jail break" and could not run commercial software from the GBA slot. GBA flash cart manufactures and pirate groups added that functionality buy building loaders you could put on your GBA flash cart that FlashMe would run. FlashMe seemed like surgery to a lot of people and it mostly never caught on.

And why would it? NoPass carts came out shortly after. Those are literally the carts you think of when some one says "R4"... You know, the DS flash carts we use today (or even back then). AceCard, EZ Flash 5, R4, etc., they are all no pass carts. No buying a tri-wing scredriver to open your DS. No tinfoil and paper clips. You just stick the thing in and it works.

I don't mean to discredit FlashMe (my launch DS fat is FlashMe'd), but it never really became a "thing"... And it certainly never "took over".

I think calling it "firmware protection" is also incorrect. It was the replacement/evolution of PassMe. It's just that slot-1 flashcards came out around the same time and made it irrelevant. Nobody was really installing FlashMe for firmware protection because unless you've modified your DS' PCB and permanently bridged the write protection pads then nothing can modify your firmware anyway. Literally the only people who would have had that problem are the people that installed FlashMe.

 

[KidIce]

I think calling it "firmware protection" is also incorrect. It was the replacement/evolution of PassMe. It's just that slot-1 flashcards came out around the same time and made it irreverent. Nobody was really installing FlashMe for firmware protection because unless you've modified your DS' PCB and permanently bridged the write protection pads then nothing can modify your firmware anyway. Literally the only people who would have had that problem are the people that installed FlashMe.

Incorrect. Taihen and DSBrick could indeed brick your DS w/o the bridge. FlashMe was a direct response to those trojans. FlashMe required the bridge to add recovery code to the DS low level firmware that malicious code couldn't touch w/o that bridge.

Taihen and DSBrick can most certainly brick an unmodified DS, and in fact that was why they exist, to show off that that they can.

On some forum like this an argument started about the DS's vulnerabilities. Two experts go at it and then one writes a DS bricker specifically to show that DS's can be bricked w/ software. DS software bricker wins... Yeah, software bricker. .

 

[SylverReZ]

The first thing on the DS hacking scene were indeed the PassMe's. They required a donor cart to be slotted in them to bypass the DS's protections. It then redirected the DS to the GBA slot.

The pass card was a different thing, but only because it did not require a donor cart, because as said above it basically had enough of a game in it to bypass the DS's protections. It also redirected to the GBA slot.

That is exactly what those two are about: PassMe was the first method to boot NDS games from the GBA slot using a slot-2 flashcart by inserting a DS cartridge into the slot of the PassMe to bypass the cartridge protection and redirect slot-2 access in DS mode. It was the subsequent clones built on PassMe that made it more popular among a larger user base. One example of this is that NeoFlash released a "flash kit" that included the NDS Magic Key (a PassMe device), a GBA flashcart in various sizes to accommodate the size of the games, and a USB reader to write games to the GBA cartridge booted with the Magic Key. I'm not sure if those were even successful, as overtime, these were succeeded by "NoPass" devices, which did not require a donor cartridge to boot, and it didn't help with the fact that NeoFlash sold it at an inflated price.

Back in the day FlashMe was firmware protection. Nothing else. It was not a "jail break" and could not run commercial software from the GBA slot.

Yes and no. Yes, the FlashMe firmware that is installed will only boot flashcarts from slot-2 in DS-mode by default. And no, you can use the "noauto" variant to retain the HOME menu and launch commercial GBA titles; it also omits autobooting from slot-2, unless you held down (A)+(B)+(X)+(Y) buttons on boot-up to force it.

 

[KidIce]

That is exactly what those two are about: PassMe was the first method to boot NDS games from the GBA slot using a slot-2 flashcart by inserting a DS cartridge into the slot of the PassMe to bypass the cartridge protection and redirect slot-2 access in DS mode. It was the subsequent clones built on PassMe that made it more popular among a larger user base. One example of this is that NeoFlash released a "flash kit" that included the NDS Magic Key (a PassMe device), a GBA flashcart in various sizes to accommodate the size of the games, and a USB reader to write games to the GBA cartridge booted with the Magic Key. I'm not sure if those were even successful, as overtime, these were succeeded by "NoPass" devices, which did not require a donor cartridge to boot, and it didn't help with the fact that NeoFlash sold it at an inflated price.


Yes and no. Yes, the FlashMe firmware that is installed will only boot flashcarts from slot-2 in DS-mode by default. And no, you can use the "noauto" variant to retain the HOME menu and launch commercial GBA titles; it also omits autobooting from slot-2, unless you held down (A)+(B)+(X)+(Y) buttons on boot-up to force it.

I am very aware of all the PassMe options that existed. I was researching, buying and using them back then. I was also picking up cheap "legit" carts that had the right kind of saver and capacity because the donor cart was where that particular hack made saves for the games off the DS game ran from the slot 2. My Madden 2024 cart has zero M2024 saves on it. It has POP saves on it, IIRC.

I did mention that I have a FlashMe'd OG DS. I can test all your claims. FlashMe does look for a GBA cart and does try to boot it in DS mode. To get to the DS menu you hold down Start Select while powering on. You don't need to do this if you don't have a GBA cart inserted, it can tell that there is no GBA cart. If it finds a GBA cart w/o DS code it white screens.

I mean... I guess thank you for telling me about a new FlashMe varient, but I do not FlashMe my DS's that I use now. I did that back in the day to ditch my PassMe only to realize running DS software from the GBA slot was garbage.

You are not telling me anything I have already lived through.