Hacking First-time poster looking for GBA flash cart advice

[oldskoolnesgamer]

I've got a GBA SP and a couple of older EZ Flash carts, an EZ Flash I 512Mb, and an EZ Flash II Powerstar 256 Mb. My frustration is that I go long spurts without playing and the rechargeable batteries die and lose my saves. Then they stopped charging right altogether and the saves randomly disappear.

I'm pretty sick of battery-based flash carts. I'd like something that saves onto flash memory, ideally some form of SD like microSD, but it doesn't really matter. I just don't want to lose saves and I don't want to have to back up onto PC all the time. I don't want to worry when I turn off my GBA that the save will be gone when I turn it back on.

I mostly see myself using it to play GBA games like Advance Wars and Castlevania, and NES games with PocketNES and instant saves. Someday I may get an NDS, so it's a bonus if it'll be useful for NDS too.

Suggestions? Any clarification needed? Does what I'm looking for not exist? Should I just get an NDS + flash cart?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!

 

[bluesceada]

I think the "elink" can handle this but I'm just a beginner. I just had a GBC so far with transferer, and now got a GBA on ebay, bought elink from DX and waiting for both to ship now!

As much as I've informed myself, the newest elink firmware lets you save snapshots like an emulator does! So you can also save at ANY time in the game - it will take some seconds though. And it will save on the flash of course.

 

[Gaisuto]

I'd advise the older M3SD. It's ment for DS, but it works well on it's own for GBA games, too. Do it that way so when you upgrade to a DS, you'll have a DS cart already for you, as well!

And despite the M3SD's age, it has yet to let me down on any game I've attempted to play.

 

[oldskoolnesgamer]

I think the "elink" can handle this but I'm just a beginner. I just had a GBC so far with transferer, and now got a GBA on ebay, bought elink from DX and waiting for both to ship now!

As much as I've informed myself, the newest elink firmware lets you save snapshots like an emulator does! So you can also save at ANY time in the game - it will take some seconds though. And it will save on the flash of course.

Yeah, I was looking at that Elink cart on DX, but it seems just like the old ones I used to have that lost the saves if the battery got disconnected. I might get one as a temporary fix, but I was really hoping to find one that had more persistent data storage.

 

[jeklnoo]

I've been pretty happy with ezflash IV w/ miniSD in my GBMicro. It writes the saves to the miniSD the next time you enter the menu after playing a game, which adds a slightly annoying delay (max 5-10 seconds though). You can play games directly from the miniSD (with a loading delay of approx 1 second per MByte), or you can preload them to an internal 256mbit flash (slow to preload, about 10sec/MByte), and they load instantly. Haven't had any problems with any games I've played yet, going through Metroid Fusion right now.

 

[bluesceada]

Yeah, I was looking at that Elink cart on DX, but it seems just like the old ones I used to have that lost the saves if the battery got disconnected. I might get one as a temporary fix, but I was really hoping to find one that had more persistent data storage.

Yeah, check the updates for it! For the Elink there is now a free firmware update, so you can save the games ALSO on the non-volatile nor-flash memory!
Of course I couldn't test that so far, so I don't know how good it is...

 

[oldskoolnesgamer]

Yeah, check the updates for it! For the Elink there is now a free firmware update, so you can save the games ALSO on the non-volatile nor-flash memory!
Of course I couldn't test that so far, so I don't know how good it is...

Hmm... if that's true, then that might change my opinion of the Elink. I wish there were better instruction manuals and documentation for these things. So far, my thoughts are:

Elink - Pro: Non-volatile game saves; Con: no understandable labeling of game saves

EFA Linker - Pro: Nice game save organization; Con: bad compatibility with nForce/nVidia chipset mobos, probably no non-volatile game saves

EZFlash IV - Pro: More useful w/ DS, easy backup/transfer from miniSD card; Con: need to buy miniSD card in addition to flash card price

 

[bluesceada]

It does not exactly save the "real" gamesave to the flash.. it supports "real-time saving" now ...... this is like "save states" of an emulator, which is even better for most things... now you can even save your arcade games which normally dont support it

Of course for some people this might make a different because they need the "real" saves ..... but if you need them, just save them, and for safety reasons use the save state function

topic here: http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=74001
update on the official site, enter, then click "download": http://www.gbaelink.net/