Hacking DSTWO or AceKard 2i + EZ Flash 3in1 for my kid

[tc154]

Currently, my 6 year old son has a DSlite with an Acekard 2i. He's a big fan of Mario, Kirby and Zelda games.

I like our AceKard 2i, (with Akaio) except for:
1. The SNES emulator I have on it requires a lot of 'babysitting' with the settings. He's only 6, and even I have a hard time getting the settings perfect.
2. There is no way to play GBA games. I'd especially like to run all the Super Mario Advance, Zelda, and Kirby games available (in order of priority)
3. I am having trouble getting Phantom Hourglass to work on it. (that's not a big one, but it would be nice if it worked. I've tried several different ROMs)

I was thinking of buying either a DSTWO to replace our Acekard 2i (and using it for the SNES and GBA emulation) or just buying an EZ Flash 3in1 to run the GBA games off of.
I do understand that the Mario Advance games pretty much cover Mario 1-Super Mario World. So if that is something to take into consideration as well. For instance, I might get by with just the EZ Flash 3in1 and not buy the DSTWO.

I guess I had a few questions and if anybody has any other insight, feel free to throw some in.

1. Will the DSTWO GBA emulator play all the Mario, Zelda, and Kirby games. I know there are compatibility lists, but some of them seem to differ on some of these games (or they are not listed).
2. I've heard there's an issue with saving the game "in-game". It's recommended to do a "save-state". I'm not sure if this will confuse him or not.... probably. Is the "in-game" saves a problem for all games?
3. Is the interface too confusing for a 6 year old? He's pretty smart, and most likely he'll just be turning it on, finding his game and then playing it. I wasn't sure if the GBA emulator would be more confusing than just running it off a slot 2 card.

I already know about all the advantages of the DSTWO (movie playback - someday, picture viewer, save states, cheats, whatever....). But I really just want the games to operate normally without too many bugs and very low maintenance on changing emulator settings.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Right now I'm leaning towards just the slot 2 EZFlash 3in1.

 

[nl255]

Currently, my 6 year old son has a DSlite with an Acekard 2i. He's a big fan of Mario, Kirby and Zelda games.

I like our AceKard 2i, (with Akaio) except for:
1. The SNES emulator I have on it requires a lot of 'babysitting' with the settings. He's only 6, and even I have a hard time getting the settings perfect.
2. There is no way to play GBA games. I'd especially like to run all the Super Mario Advance, Zelda, and Kirby games available (in order of priority)
3. I am having trouble getting Phantom Hourglass to work on it. (that's not a big one, but it would be nice if it worked. I've tried several different ROMs)

I was thinking of buying either a DSTWO to replace our Acekard 2i (and using it for the SNES and GBA emulation) or just buying an EZ Flash 3in1 to run the GBA games off of.
I do understand that the Mario Advance games pretty much cover Mario 1-Super Mario World. So if that is something to take into consideration as well. For instance, I might get by with just the EZ Flash 3in1 and not buy the DSTWO.

I guess I had a few questions and if anybody has any other insight, feel free to throw some in.

1. Will the DSTWO GBA emulator play all the Mario, Zelda, and Kirby games. I know there are compatibility lists, but some of them seem to differ on some of these games (or they are not listed).
2. I've heard there's an issue with saving the game "in-game". It's recommended to do a "save-state". I'm not sure if this will confuse him or not.... probably. Is the "in-game" saves a problem for all games?
3. Is the interface too confusing for a 6 year old? He's pretty smart, and most likely he'll just be turning it on, finding his game and then playing it. I wasn't sure if the GBA emulator would be more confusing than just running it off a slot 2 card.

I already know about all the advantages of the DSTWO (movie playback - someday, picture viewer, save states, cheats, whatever....). But I really just want the games to operate normally without too many bugs and very low maintenance on changing emulator settings.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Right now I'm leaning towards just the slot 2 EZFlash 3in1.

The main issue is that for normal in game (SRAM saves) you must exit the emulator or they won't be saved, you can't just turn off the DS. Save states don't have that problem. Other than that, there is no babysitting required other than setting the CPU frequency to 4 and (for the SNES emulator only) possibly changing the display mode to one that looks better.

 

[RoMee]

the dstwo is a good choice
I have a 5 year old and a 4 year old (both boys)
they know how to navigate around the dstwo pretty easily, I have more than 200 games in it and they have no problems finding their favorite games
only downside is that the snes and gba roms don't have icons so I'll have to help read the name of some of the games
the saves is simple, just tell him to exit the emulator before turning it off
my sons also play nothing but mario games and so far they all work pretty good

I would go with the dstwo

edit:
I also made the switch from the acekard to the dstwo, and it did not confuse them at all
it only took them a few days to get the hang of it

 

[trumpet-205]

DSTWO should be able to run those GBA games. Be aware that there may be slow down during the gameplay. Also because DSTWO always uses CPU (especially when using GBA/SNES emulation), it drains battery faster compare to Acekard 2i.

Last but not least, DSTWO is a bit thicker. For early models of DS Lite, this should not be a problem. But for late models (mine is a 2010 model), it is harder to insert DSTWO. I have to push it in with a bit of force. I think Nintendo changed the slot to be a bit tighter.

Bottom line - If GBA game is top priority then EZ-Flash 3in1 would be a better choice. Unless your son needs cheat for GBA game. (It is possible to use cheat in 3in1, but that requires patching the rom, permanent cheat)

Also, Phantom Hourglass works perfectly for me. I don't know which release group I am using though. Also, SNEmulDS can use 3in1 as a ram expansion pack to improve some SNES games.