Hacking I'm willing to give my Supercard DSTWO to anyone capable of cloning them and mass produce them

PkStarzone

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The Supercard DSTWO is my favorite flashcard with how unique and useful it is but sadly, they are out of production and finding them is hard.

I'll be happy if someone got to clone it and mass produce it so everyone can experience it at any time and at a better cost.

There are technically good enough alternatives but the DSTWO is unique with its own homebrew like the GBA emulator which is pretty handy for me when a game won't boot on GBARunner2 on my DS Lite. On top of having pretty good compatibility with most games and those that are not can be fixed with a AP patch.

The DSONE got cloned recently but its a gamble to get one that actually works and it lacks features from the DSTWO like having in-game cheat codes you can switch during gameplay.

I'm willing to make a deal to give the two DSTWO flashcards I own with any dev team capable of cloning them, hopefully making it open source and let it be mass-produced by anyone who wants to.

They are an interesting part of DS homebrew history that deserves to be preserved.

It is fooling to make this thread? Maybe, I'm willing to try tho. You never know what's stoping people from doing things. At least I want to make people know that there is still interest in this great flashcard.
 

NyaakoXD

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While it's not impossible, it's very unlikely there's going to be anyone wanting to clone the hardware of the DSTWO let alone mass produce them when the flashcart market is kinda slowly dying out. Gotta make a profit after all. There's also reasons why there's practically no perfect clone of the DSTWO and only fakes that pretend to be one when they are actually just R4 clones because the DSTWO is more complicated in design to clone correctly, probably mainly due to its own CPU.

At this point, the best way to work with is to get a 3DS for a lot of stuff you want thanks to its homebrew capabilities:
  • mGBA is a great emulator to use on it and works way better than using the GBA emulator that DSTWO has.
  • TWiLight Menu++ can run practically most, if not all, major DS titles and comes with other features that make things better like widescreen patching and DSi stuff.
  • And many more!
The software and such of the DSTWO are already being preserved by other people, so its history will still be up for the foreseeable future.
 
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PkStarzone

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While it's not impossible, it's very unlikely there's going to be anyone wanting to clone the hardware of the DSTWO let alone mass produce them when the flashcart market is kinda slowly dying out. Gotta make a profit after all. There's also reasons why there's practically no perfect clone of the DSTWO and only fakes that pretend to be one when they are actually just R4 clones because the DSTWO is more complicated in design to clone correctly, probably mainly due to its own CPU.

At this point, the best way to work with is to get a 3DS for a lot of stuff you want thanks to its homebrew capabilities:
  • mGBA is a great emulator to use on it and works way better than using the GBA emulator that DSTWO has.
  • TWiLight Menu++ can run practically most, if not all, major DS titles and comes with other features that make things better like widescreen patching and DSi stuff.
  • And many more!
The software and such of the DSTWO are already being preserved by other people, so its history will still be up for the foreseeable future.

I'm aware that the 3DS can do what the DSTWO can and better, but for DS Lite users a DSTWO can be pretty amazing, and DS Lite users still exist to this day, compared to the 3DS, they are easy to find, easy to fix, easy to add a flashcard without being blocked, and even if you get widescreen you still get an odd resolution that makes the game tiny compared to a real DS Lite screen and the DS Lite sold a lot so people who only own a DS Lite does exist. And the DSTWO's notable battery drain is practically non-existing in DS Lite with how good the battery is. So they both complement each other pretty well.

The flashcart market is not as strong as it used to be but that doesn't mean it has to die out completely, flashcarts for even older consoles exist and those are even more niche than the DS's flashcarts. If I get to compare how a hypothetical DSTWO clone would sell on this day compared to the competition, it would be like the GBA Everdrive flashcard being more expensive and more niche but with a fair number of people who do spend their money on it over the Ez Flash Omega (which mind you, is for a console even older than the DS and with plenty of other alternatives to play its games without a flashcart on a modded 3DS and even DS Lite).

I get what you mean tho, I really do and I truly respect what you said. I know it's a slime change but I'm not here to be pessimistic even if it is realistic, I'm here to leave the door open in case anyone is willing to do it and/or let them know that there is an audience for it. It's a big wide world with many different people, so you never know. If the DSONE got cloned and mass-produced, then there is a small but still existing chance for the DSTWO to get the treatment.

And I know that the DSTWO software has already been preserved but there little to no use for it if there is no hardware to use it.
 
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NyaakoXD

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I'm aware that the 3DS can do what the DSTWO can and better, but for DS Lite users a DSTWO can be pretty amazing, and DS Lite users still exist to this day, compared to the 3DS, they are easy to find, easy to fix, easy to add a flashcard without being blocked, and even if you get widescreen you still get an odd resolution that makes the game tiny compared to a real DS Lite screen and the DS Lite sold a lot so people who only own a DS Lite does exist. And the DSTWO's notable battery drain is practically non-existing in DS Lite with how good the battery is. So they both complement each other pretty well.
I understand that there are DS users that still exist to this day, considering it has twice the amount of total lifetime sales than the 3DS. Arguably, you can just as easily be able to find and fix a 3DS/2DS since they're relatively more recent and has an extensive library of games that can be played on it, including the DS library. So they have more value especially when you add in homebrew into the mix. The resolution thing can be easily mitigated by using screen filters that can be patched with TWiLight Menu++, but an average user wouldn't really care for such a thing as long as they can play games, imo. The battery drain is not too much of an issue as long as you don't keep it in for too long and I wouldn't say it's practically non-existent on the DS Lite when it's reported to practically drain battery on every model of the DS/3DS without exception thanks to its CPU being active and drawing power.
The flashcart market is not as strong as it used to be but that doesn't mean it has to die out completely, flashcarts for even older consoles exist and those are even more niche than the DS's flashcarts. If I get to compare how a hypothetical DSTWO clone would sell on this day compared to the competition, it would be like the GBA Everdrive flashcard being more expensive and more niche but with a fair number of people who do spend their money on it over the Ez Flash Omega (which mind you, is for a console even older than the DS and with plenty of other alternatives to play its games without a flashcart on a modded 3DS and even DS Lite).
At least those companies still exist to continue to support them for that niche audience. As you mention, because they're more niche, they're also more expensive to get. So it gives them a small profit from the niche audience they can get it from. Sadly, the DSTWO team has practically died out and no longer supports their old products for years now, so any problems that can occur can't be fixed officially by them like software bugs, replacements/warranties, and the like. Unless someone wants to reverse engineer the hardware/software and does it themselves, whether it's worth it to them or not is something else entirely.
I get what you mean tho, I really do and I truly respect what you said. I know it's a slime change but I'm not here to be pessimistic even if it is realistic, I'm here to leave the door open in case anyone is willing to do it and/or let them know that there is an audience for it. It's a big wide world with many different people, so you never know. If the DSONE got cloned and mass-produced, then there is a small but still existing chance for the DSTWO to get the treatment.
Well, that's why I said at the very beginning, it's not impossible, but very unlikely. The DSONE could be cloned because it's not as sophisticated as the DSTWO. (I also remember hearing that the DSONE Clones are cheaply made and more prone to fail, but that's besides the point.) It's just an extremely small chance of the DSTWO to be cloned properly most likely because of its built-in CPU. It won't be easy to completely replicate it and without any problems. It'd be much cheaper to just clone other DS flashcarts like the R4 and just continue from there for existing DS users.
And I know that the DSTWO software has already been preserved but there little to no use for it if there is no hardware to use it.
I wouldn't say there's little to no use when existing owners of the DSTWO could get them if they feel like using DSTWOs again. But to each their own.

The possibility is there for a proper DSTWO clone to exist since anything can happen in the future. Again, imo, it's very unlikely to happen, but who knows?
 
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Technicmaster0

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Regarding the DSONE clones: I'm pretty sure that they're just old stock that reappeared somehow. That explains the dry batteries.
Concerning the DSTWO: it has serious protections so it's not easy to clone. You'd have to invest heavy work to clone it. There have been a few tries to add ntrboot support for it but they failed. Also, you can often get used DSTWOs on ebay.
 

NyaakoXD

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Regarding the DSONE clones: I'm pretty sure that they're just old stock that reappeared somehow. That explains the dry batteries.
Concerning the DSTWO: it has serious protections so it's not easy to clone. You'd have to invest heavy work to clone it. There have been a few tries to add ntrboot support for it but they failed. Also, you can often get used DSTWOs on ebay.
Ah, I never knew about the dry batteries. If so, then it's likely that they are just old stock, as you said.
I do vaguely recall the whole ntrboot thing, but it never got far, huh?
 

linuxares

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I wonder who the people behind it was. It was a great product and I kind of wish they did more.
 

master801

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It's not going to be easy to clone the DSTWO at all since it uses a custom FPGA.

It'd almost be easier to re-create it, since dumping firmware from an FPGA is not an easy task.
 

Redhorse

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I have two DSones, did not know they had batteries, will have to open one to verify, had them since release: they still work fine. Also, I have a DS2 that just stopped working, again, had it since they first came out.

I can't say the same dependability of any console considering the many weak links (batteries, screens, triggers, etc) that can go bad.

Their depenability [of DStwo] is reason enough to want another instead of setting up a new console. Many of us use them on multiple consoles on top of all that.
 

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