Hacking Flashcarts for Nintendo DS/i. Advice on latest models?

[siulung]

So I haven't been in the scene for years, since R4 and M3 was the shitz. I need some help to find another recent modeled cart that is easy to use, with great support, compatibility and relatively low price tag.

I need some help from the community to suggest a few options and why you suggest those?

I just saw the R4i Gold cards, they are dirt cheap at $10 or so. Is that a good choice?

Help is much appreciated!

 

[Etalon]

Acekard 2 with Akaio is #1.

DSTwo is good for emulation / retrogaming, but nothing more

R4i Gold with Wood is good as well, but Acekard with Akaio has automatic Anti Piracy Bypass.

 

[rockstar99]

Acekard 2 with Akaio is #1.

DSTwo is good for emulation / retrogaming, but nothing more

R4i Gold with Wood is good as well, but Acekard with Akaio has automatic Anti Piracy Bypass.

DSTWO does more that akAIO

 

[Langin]

Acekard 2(I):

-very good competilety
-

Supercard DSTWO

-Gameboy Advance Emulation
-BETTER Super Nintendo Emulation
-MAME Emulation
-AVI player
-very good competilety

R4(no not gold ONLY R4!)

Look at ak2I

 

[Fel]

Acekard 2 with Akaio is #1.

DSTwo is good for emulation / retrogaming, but nothing more

R4i Gold with Wood is good as well, but Acekard with Akaio has automatic Anti Piracy Bypass.

DSTWO does more that akAIO

Yup! Usually all new games run on it without a patch, which isn't the case with Acekard, not all games run on it immediately without a patch (however it's compatability with new games is better than R4's), it also includes GBA emulation thanks to its enhanced hardware, it has RTS and cheats and right now it's the most hot thing on the market. So people are focusing on developing apps for it, plus because of its better hardware it emulates other systems better than other carts.

If you'd like something cheaper, R4 is good if you use it with Wood or Ysmenu, both these firmwares now quickly supply updates for new games - so Acekard usually gets the upper hand only for a short time, like few days or a week (and DStwo can almost always play all games right away). I think both support cheats. Here's a chart to compare.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I just remembered AKAIO was ported for R4 Ultra, so if you're need of a good flashcart, go for it!

Because that way you not only will have Wood and YSmenu, but also AKAIO! So you'll be able to switch between firmwares and have the best compatability of all

It was ported by the author of AKAIO himself, so it's legal and will be continued in the future (supposedly). So it'll have the automatic bypass as well.

 

[RupeeClock]

Acekard 2 with Akaio is #1.

DSTwo is good for emulation / retrogaming, but nothing more

R4i Gold with Wood is good as well, but Acekard with Akaio has automatic Anti Piracy Bypass.

Did you forget the parts where DStwo has a better anti-anti-piracy, is capable of playing unconverted video, and has the best real-time saves, guides and cheats of any flashcart?

 

[zizer]

i'm agree dstwo now is best of the best

 

[Rydian]

You have three choices for carts that have proper support/updates.
[*]The original R4.
NOT "R4-III Upgrade", NOT "R4-SDHC", NOT "R4i", NOT "R4 Gold", NOT "R4 Red", NOT "R4 King"...
NOT ANYTHING ELSE WITH "R4" IN THE NAME! JUST "R4 Revolution".

• Price: ~$6
• Rank: The cheap card for somebody that just wants to play some games on a DS/Lite.

[*]Acekard 2i

• Price: ~$16
• Rank: Mid-range card for people that want to play lots of games on a DSi/XL with some extra features.

[*]Supercard DSTwo

• Price: ~$35
• Rank: Pretty much the ultimate card right now.

• DS / DS Lite
  The card will work on an original (fat) DS or a DS Lite.
• DSi / DSi XL
  The card will work on a DSi or DSi XL as well.
• Game Updates
  Firmware updates are what let cards play newer games, these are the life-blood of the card.
• SDHC
  SDHC refers to SD cards larger than 2GB (gigabytes). If there's no SDHC support, you can only use SD cards up to 2GB.
• WiFi Update
  The Acekard 2i can update it's cheats (and get minor bug fixes) over WiFi without having to connect to a computer.
• Clean Mode
  The DSTwo has special features to ignore AP in most games, letting you play them without having to wait for a firmware update first.
• RTS
  The Real-Time Save (Save State) function lets you save and reload your game progress at any moment you wish.
• In-Game Guide
  You can pull up text files and images in-game, in order to check a walkthrough or map you downloaded at any time during a game.
• Slow Motion
  The card lets you slow down the game speed as you wish.
• In-Game Cheats
  The card lets you create and modify cheats while the game is running.
• Special Homebrew
  The card has multiple pieces of special homebrew, such as it's own GBA and SNES emulators, as well as text/PDF reader and video player.
• Battery Life
  Unfortunately the DSTwo's extra CPU and RAM (which give it the special features) eat into the battery life a bit.

 

[haddad]

guys dont forget about the iSmart MM which is bascailly like a "copy" of the ds2 and it has all its features the ds2 has

 

[evandixon]

guys dont forget about the iSmart MM which is bascailly like a "copy" of the ds2 and it has all its features the ds2 has

The CPU isn't as powerful, so video and GBA playback probebly aren't as good.

Don't take my word for it. Look it up to make sure if you do buy it.

 

[dreamseller]

depends on your budget if its unlimited i second/third? w/e the supercard ds two
if you have smaller budget than yes acekard 2i
and only if you're poor like me get the r4i gold or r4 but i see dsi in the title so i guess its not an alternative

 

[YayMii]

DSTwo is good for emulation / retrogaming, but nothing more

DStwo has:
-better/more reliable AAP
-better cheat functions
-better RTG
-more RTS slots than other cards
-Video playback without conversion (into a custom codec)
-homebrew potential
-Support for latest DSi system menu without requiring an older DS
-e-book reader that (partially) supports PDFs
-DSi mode support (after they figure out how the iEvo does it)

How's it only good for emulation?

 

[haddad]

I just finished my full video review of the iSmart MM (uploading right now). Here is what I have seen so far

- Contains all of DS2 features except snes emulator
- "So far" all gba compatibility is the same
- iSmart MM can run more video type's but cannot run mkv's
- Both video player's about same quality
- Both music player's are same
- Also reliable AAP like the DS2
- Also support for latest DSi system menu without requiring an older DS
- Also has in-game guide's, 4 real time save slots, slow motion, free cheat etc...

So far, the iSmart MM is a thump's up

 

[siulung]

Thanks to everyone for the helpful responses! The community here is really awesome.

I think I'm going with the Acekard 2i or the R4i Gold due to price.

1. Are there any differences between those two cards? Acekard 2i vs. R4i Gold?

2. Is R4i Gold the same as R4i Gold Upgrade revolution? Found here: http://www.gamesyeah.com/r4i-gold-upgrade-...on-cid-194.html

3. Where is the official site for Acekard 2i?

4. Any etailers that you would suggest that sell legitimate products? I was thinking of buying it here: http://www.gamesyeah.com/acekard-2i-for-ni...dsi-p-1509.html

Maybe a US based seller will get it to me in time for Christmas.

5. There used to be a special requirement on the SD card like Made in Japan Sandisk. Is that still the case?

 

[haddad]

1. Are there any differences between those two cards? Acekard 2i vs. R4i Gold?
Since AK2i has AKAIO (Acekard's firmware), it makes the AK2i a whole lot better

2. Is R4i Gold the same as R4i Gold Upgrade revolution? Found here: http://www.gamesyeah.com/r4i-gold-upgrade-...on-cid-194.html
I don't think so

3. Where is the official site for Acekard 2i?
www.acekard.com

4. Any etailers that you would suggest that sell legitimate products? I was thinking of buying it here: http://www.gamesyeah.com/acekard-2i-for-ni...dsi-p-1509.html
Maybe a US based seller will get it to me in time for Christmas.
www.realhotstuff.com (US) or www.gamekool.com or www.4coolday.com

5. There used to be a special requirement on the SD card like Made in Japan Sandisk. Is that still the case?
Not sure

 

[Fel]

AKAIO is also available on R4 Ultra, because it's rebranded Acekard and it was ported by Normatt himself. Funny, eh?
See post 7 in the topic.

 

[Langin]

Okay, listen to me. Please go with the Acekard. R4 I Gold is a CLONE of the original. Acekard has the AKAIO firmware which is made on purpose for ACEKARD.

I am saying this out of experience. I owned both Ak2I and r4 I gold. So i know what I am saying, of course people here give great advice too!

 

[perezosogato]

Thanks to everyone for the helpful responses! The community here is really awesome.

I think I'm going with the Acekard 2i or the R4i Gold due to price.

1. Are there any differences between those two cards? Acekard 2i vs. R4i Gold?
As my attention to these two cards, i found that R4i Gold ( www.r4ids.cn ) team is a little hardworking than AK team. Why? The R4i Gold kernel is updated nearly every two weeks.

2. Is R4i Gold the same as R4i Gold Upgrade revolution? Found here: http://www.gamesyeah.com/r4i-gold-upgrade-...on-cid-194.html
Not the same, i checked the site by searching ' R4i Gold ' , their link for R4i Gold (www.r4ids.cn) is http://www.gamesyeah.com/r4i-gold-card-for...are-p-1702.html

3. Where is the official site for Acekard 2i?
My answer is http://www.acekard.com/

4. Any etailers that you would suggest that sell legitimate products? I was thinking of buying it here: http://www.gamesyeah.com/acekard-2i-for-ni...dsi-p-1509.html

Checking the AK2i official reseller section, this site is listed . you can buy from this site .

Maybe a US based seller will get it to me in time for Christmas.

But you'd better choose express, no any site can promise you that the goods can arrive before Christmas shipping by airmail .

5. There used to be a special requirement on the SD card like Made in Japan Sandisk. Is that still the case?

Normally the micro SD will have a case and an adapter included.

Hope my answer does not come too late.

 

[KingVamp]

If between those to AK2i > R4i Gold

 

[GreatCrippler]

If between those to AK2i > R4i Gold

Unless you have a slow Micro-SD. Then the frequent updates from Wood would be preferable.