GBAtemp's acekard 2 Review

[imperfectimage]

Of course not, but something thats "a valid point" is not the same as "absolutely vital to the existence of a card". If a couple games require third party patches, I know I don't consider it a big deal if the cart is still superior in other respects.

That would be dependent on the game and would go back to the point of support being vital. If Nintendo branded games suddenly had a method of circumventing the use of playing the games on a flash cartridge and the negligence of a team to not determine or fix the issue in due time, this pretty much makes the use of said flash cartridge negligent for a large majority of players whom would play these games. I think the review on the Acekard 2 was great, but I think you're undermining the validity of future support. I wouldn't solely put this ideology to strictly flash cartridges but more so to any product I buy. Future support, driver compatibility, etc. is a vital part to the usability of a product.. If it doesn't have dedicated support, what good is the hardware or features if you can't even use it for its intended purpose? Hence, support is quite important.

This brings a question to mind. I don't know much about flashcarts (or the developers), so I was wondering, how is the support of AceKard. I went to their site a few days ago just to check it out, and the vast majority of the posts were in Chinese. And what little posts were in English, a person (I assume part of the development team) would reply back in very broken English with answers that didn't really seem to help. Either that or directing the people to email someone in AceKard directly. So I was wondering, is/was Acekard good about responding to criticisms/problems, or do they just ingor the majority and go at their own pace/liking?

 

[Trulen]

It's a great time to get into the Flashcart game.

My older sister has been looking at one, but at the time, all I could reccoment were the R4 and Cyclo. She wanted the Cyclo 'cause I had one and if she had a problem, she would want to come to me (What could I do? The thing barely messes up (as most flashcarts..) and when it does, it's more than likely out of my hands). But I didn't want her paying for the cyclo for features she'd never use.

But my goodness. Flashcarts are so cheap, and at the same time, realiable nowadays.

I'd reccomend the Acekard 2 to her.
If it was in stock.

If anything was in stock.

 

[Urza]

Of course not, but something thats "a valid point" is not the same as "absolutely vital to the existence of a card". If a couple games require third party patches, I know I don't consider it a big deal if the cart is still superior in other respects.

That would be dependent on the game and would go back to the point of support being vital. If Nintendo branded games suddenly had a method of circumventing the use of playing the games on a flash cartridge and the negligence of a team to not determine or fix the issue in due time, this pretty much makes the use of said flash cartridge negligent for a large majority of players whom would play these games. I think the review on the Acekard 2 was great, but I think you're undermining the validity of future support. I wouldn't solely put this ideology to strictly flash cartridges but more so to any product I buy. Future support, driver compatibility, etc. is a vital part to the usability of a product.. If it doesn't have dedicated support, what good is the hardware or features if you can't even use it for its intended purpose? Hence, support is quite important.

I have to disagree. If a product works well on launch, theres often not a huge need for continued support. The exception to this is when (of course) an outside variable appears which breaks compatibility or prevents the intended function. However, the community built around flashcarts is nothing short of amazing, and like I already said, you'll likely have a third-party fix before any of the manufacturers have tackled the issue.

I think the post on support was long-winded and sound-looking from a distance, but I think you're undermining the validity of community support

 

[spiritos]

I agree with URZA, the community for the current gen handhelds is amazing, just take a look at the FFCC patch that came out only a day or two after the US release, and the "moogle" was dead

Frankly I wish I could get the AK2 through DX, but they were sold out at the time, did manage to snatch mine off bamboo, still waiting for it to come,
I do wonder how does it perform on SanDisk Ultra II 2gb and what are the correct speed settings

 

[kristijan08]

damn that emvee dude is a jackass. always takes one idiot to spoil it for everyone else. what an ass-clown

 

[4playgaming]

I have to disagree. If a product works well on launch, theres often not a huge need for continued support. The exception to this is when (of course) an outside variable appears which breaks compatibility or prevents the intended function. However, the community built around flashcarts is nothing short of amazing, and like I already said, you'll likely have a third-party fix before any of the manufacturers have tackled the issue.

I think the post on support was long-winded and sound-looking from a distance, but I think you're undermining the validity of community support

I don't agree. This is a fully commercial product, and no matter what the community does itself, does not justify the quality of any said cart in its original state. No products should be judged by what the community does for it, but rather but what the manufacturer and development team does for their products. I've never seen a review of a new Linksys router, for example, based on its performance on running DD-WRT. What a product is judged by is what's in the box and with the possible hope of what is to come from the original manufacturer.

Surely many carts can be improved by community support.. But honestly, what's the point of reviewing a product if you're taking account development by an outside source? If all carts could be improved by such large dividends by a community, I honestly don't see why there is such a divide in support. I don't deny that the outside community has done tons to help improve the industry, but it's unfair to judge something by that argument alone.

Anyways, let's just drop the issue.. Acekard 2 is a good cart.

 

[Urza]

Surely many carts can be improved by community support.. But honestly, what's the point of reviewing a product if you're taking account development by an outside source? If all carts could be improved by such large dividends by a community, I honestly don't see why there is such a divide in support. I don't deny that the outside community has done tons to help improve the industry, but it's unfair to judge something by that argument alone.
Then we're getting into a completely different argument here, as these reviews don't take into account future support at all. Its only a review of the hardware.

QUOTEThis is a fully commercial product, and no matter what the community does itself, does not justify the quality of any said cart in its original state.

Except we aren't talking about its "original state", we're talking about future anti-piracy code which breaks full compatibility. In its "original state" is has no such issues.

 

[4playgaming]

This is a fully commercial product, and no matter what the community does itself, does not justify the quality of any said cart in its original state.

Except we aren't talking about its "original state", we're talking about future anti-piracy code which breaks full compatibility. In its "original state" is has no such issues.

I just don't see how future support shouldn't be considered a vital part of a purchase. If you want to get back to the original argument, than there hasn't been a valid point that's been made to defuse this.. But anyways, let's just drop the issue and conclude that the Acekard 2 is a good, low cost flash cartridge that shouldn't be overlooked.

 

[mitchsan]

Does the AceKard 2 support the homebrew application scummvm ds?

 

[Giangsta]

so this was tested on a Kingston SC-C01G Japan and it lags on Castlevania intros right?

 

[MrBubbles]

I doubt the editor will get word of this, but could you please re-size the images? This is the only review I could not read because the images war FAR too big and were loading and stretching so I had to scroll left and right to read through it.

The other reviews had perfectly sized pictures, resizing them (I'm on DSL), it's not just about loading it, it's an annoyance when you're trying to read the review and you have to scroll to the right then back left because the text is forced to stretch alongside the the pics.

 

[jons2ann]

I just bought the Acekard2 for my sis. I got dual white screens after loading up Trauma Centre Under the Knife (US)(Game 122). The rom isn't screwed. It's been tested on the emulator and works just fine. I shall try and get the EU version to see if that's buggered as well. Looks like the rom compatibility now is 99.9996 or less

 

[jeklnoo]

jesus christ, learn2thumbnail!
page takes forever to load, and i have to keep scrolling back & forth to read since the HUGE images expand it way out

 

[techforumz]

Umm, is it just me or are those images about 2560x2048? And no my monitor is not set to 640x480 (1280x1024)

EDIT: Oh, didn't wait for frames to load.

UPDATE: OMG, Emvees site looks like an RHS clone, but with marked up DX stuff, and sky-high prices. Since when is a DSTT worth $60, even with a good brand-name 1GB uSD?

 

[Raymomofo]

The "awards" are fairly arbitrary, I wouldn't base too much on them. The reason I gave it a "Gold" award is due to its fantastic user interface (as mentioned in the review). It simply is the best in that aspect, which I think is worth something.

I think it would be worth mentioning under cons that it isn't open source, since the AKRPG was, and they're basically the same minus the NAND.
While it is disappointing, its not really (or at all) a standard feature among flashcarts, therefore it seems hard to justify it as a "con" when none of the competing carts have one.

How do you like the Acekard 2 compared to the Edge?

Please give us your take on the Edge vs this one.

While the EDGE is a great cart as well, in a contest with the acekard 2, the acekard wins hands down. In addition to having a much more detailed theming, I just love the level of tweaking you get with "globalsettings.ini". As far as menu responsiveness and speed, they're about equal (although you can slow down the acekard's by changing some settings if you want).

Outside of menu appearance and tweaking, they're about on par feature-wise. The acekard has a slight advantage here as well due to its supporting of standard cheat libraries, while the EDGE is locked into its proprietary format (meaning you have to use the cheats they provide).

One thing I have yet to test is Wii DS linkage. I'd think that the EDGE has it since its a clone of the Cyclo, which may be something to consider for a Wii owner.

QUOTE

And how come this gets a gold award? it doesn't even run the Castlevania intros properly.

Because I'm not going to buy a cart for sitting around watching the intro movie. Personally, I never found it to be a very relevant benchmark anyways. No slowdown was experienced during the day or so of testing.

Any update on that Wii DS linkage?

 

[nathaniel_rulz]

whenever i try to play a game on this system it says processing... dont turn off the power, but it never loads can anyone help??

 

[Topfragger]

why is it that just about everyone here is only talking and complaing about the Acekard 2 not having

I mean who needs it? it's a budget card....

 

[melon_55]

hey where can i download some backgrounds for the acekard 2. also if possible is there any kind of program where you can make you own backgrounds for the acekard thanks

 

[s0ldats]

i believe they are available on the acekard site. they are for the RPG, but they will work on the ak2.


I just ordered an AK2 along with an a-data class 6 SDHC... hoping all goes well.

anyone have updates as to how good the AK2 is with recent firmware?

 

[lewjay]

i believe they are available on the acekard site. they are for the RPG, but they will work on the ak2.


I just ordered an AK2 along with an a-data class 6 SDHC... hoping all goes well.

anyone have updates as to how good the AK2 is with recent firmware?

http://skin.acekard.com/skin

That's the exact combo I have and so far it works perfect, no slow downs. Just received my Ewin 2in1, need to play with it later tonight.