Hacking GBA expansion carts VS. flashcarts

[nixzero]

I busted my DS Lite's top screen a year ago and just recently fixed it. Back in the day, I used an M3 Real, and I remember being able to play GBA games just fine right off the SD card. I've lost my M3 since then, and I'm looking at getting a new Slot-1 card. However, in a lot of card reviews I hear people talking about GBA flash carts and expansion carts.

I may be on crack, but I remember being able to play GBA roms with no troubles. I know that SCUMM VM DS won't play Full Throttle or The Dig unless you have a GBA expansion cart and a special build of the emulator. http://scummvm.drunkencoders.com/#whichgames

What's the difference (if any) between a Flashcart and an Expansion cart? Why would someone need one or the other in addition to the Slot-1 card (aside from Full Throttle and The Dig)?

 

[BoxShot]

Lol you probably were on crack no offense. Expansions add ran to the ds to give it gba playing abilities and other homebrew that use them. Flashcards play ds games and emulator games that don't need the expansion.
You would need both to get the full effect of the ds capabilities I guess but I don't own an expasnion pack at all.

 

[thedicemaster]

Lol you probably were on crack no offense. Expansions add ran to the ds to give it gba playing abilities and other homebrew that use them. Flashcards play ds games and emulator games that don't need the expansion.
You would need both to get the full effect of the ds capabilities I guess but I don't own an expasnion pack at all.

he's talking about GBA flashcarts.
the ones you put in the slot-2


anyway, the differences:

expansion:
better compatibility with slot-1 cards
can be used for extra RAM
cheap
adds rumble
memory is wiped after shutting down the DS(only saves remain, with an exception with the ez-flash expansion when flashing to NOR)

flashcart
can be used without slot-1
works in a GBA(only expansion that can do this is ez-flash)
expensive
only supports GBA booting, and in some rare cases RAM expansion.
not all work well when used as an expansion
requires extra microSD for standalone use.

 

[nixzero]

Thanks for the response, and yeah, I must've been smoking crack! I think I was getting confused because I used to have a flashed DS phat and the (slot2) M3 Perfect, which I know played GBA and DS games.

So, here's where I stand:
I got my M3 DS Real back, and I cannot play GBA games, and I don't have the extra memory some games require. However, I do have my old, barely functioning M3 Perfect and the 128M Flash Linker card from Deal Extreme. If there's a way to use these as memory expansion, I would love to hear about it.

Otherwise, I'll probably return the Flash Linker cart (I couldn't get it working with SPLink anyway!), and get the M3 expansion card. Plus it comes with some spare GBA cases I could use for some mod plans I have. However, it would be nice to be able to use this card in my GBA, does anyone know of the pros and cons of using the M3 Real with the EZ Flash card (assuming it is compatible) versus the official M3 expansion card??

Thanks again

 

[eSquire]

You can use your M3 Real to boot your M3 Perfect and play GBA games and such from there.

 

[crazyshiza]

I thought M3 Perfect can be used as an expansion pack with one of the GBA loaders, not sure though.

 

[Fat D]

Thanks for the response, and yeah, I must've been smoking crack! I think I was getting confused because I used to have a flashed DS phat and the (slot2) M3 Perfect, which I know played GBA and DS games.

So, here's where I stand:
I got my M3 DS Real back, and I cannot play GBA games, and I don't have the extra memory some games require. However, I do have my old, barely functioning M3 Perfect and the 128M Flash Linker card from Deal Extreme. If there's a way to use these as memory expansion, I would love to hear about it.

Otherwise, I'll probably return the Flash Linker cart (I couldn't get it working with SPLink anyway!), and get the M3 expansion card. Plus it comes with some spare GBA cases I could use for some mod plans I have. However, it would be nice to be able to use this card in my GBA, does anyone know of the pros and cons of using the M3 Real with the EZ Flash card (assuming it is compatible) versus the official M3 expansion card??

Thanks again

if there is still enough life in your M3 Perfect, just plug it in and it will work just like the M3 GBA Expansion Pack.