New Review - R4 DS

[BlueStar]

OK, I think I'm pretty much sold on this baby. Just two questions - Any way of using my supercard saves on it and any recommendations where to buy one to be shipped to the UK?

EDIT: Should read the thread first, a save converter supplied by the R4 team, nice touch!

I like the support of clean roms, though I would have quite liked a patching software for trim and reset.

I presume using clean roms means you don't save automatically and have to soft reboot at the end of every game?

EDIT2: Only £21 from gameyeeah, bloody hell. Sold.

 

[mewchewz]

excuse my noobness since i'm new to this business about flash cards etc.., but the r4 does not require a flashed ds, right?

thanks in advance!

 

[khan]

i ordered my R4DS from Gamesyeeah(or whatever its called) last friday and i should receive from them this week.

Glad i ordered as it looks really good.

 

[aristo]

excuse my noobness since i'm new to this business about flash cards etc.., but the r4 does not require a flashed ds, right?

thanks in advance!

No, you don't need flashed DS.

 

[kennyboy]

nice review, thanks.

For the 3rd time asked in this thread, just want to confirm if wifi works?

Also, seeing as how the R4 GUI boots right after the health warning (on unflashed DSL), how can you change the brightness of the screen? I change the brightness on the main DSL menu, and I'm not sure you can change it while playing a game, can you?

SO would you have to load an original flashcart to get to the main DSL menu to change the brightness?

thanks!

this is dependent on your ds lite settings. you can set it to boot to the main menu of the ds if you choose to in settings.

 

[rest0re]

does c-64, spectrum and other emulators work?

 

[shaunj66]

is it possible for a firmware upgrade to fix the problem with download play? Or is it a hardware problem?

ALSO: I didnt read anything on wifi internet play. Has anybody tested it?

I'm not too sure. It could be a problem that the cart patches the ROM on the fly from within the loader and breaks something... It might be possible to fix in a firmware/loader update. Here's hoping!

hi... well i got a micro sd sandisk and well i whas thinking if with this card it will be ok... for the r4.... for the presentations of the castlevania and that stuff.... have someone try the r4 with a sandisk ??? sry for my english :S

We only tested a Sandisk Ultra II 1GB. We don't have any other micro SD cards to test with. Donations are welcome!

so, does opera browser work with the usual slot 2 cards? also, i assume online wifi play is no problem?

sounds like a great card!

The Opera browser hack works fine. Wi-Fi internet is fine also.

I know this has already been asked, but could other mico sd cards be tested, like a 1GB A-Data, or PNY. The R4 is suppose to work with this manufacturer, and its cheap at tigerdirect, but I am still unsure if it would work. Thank you, and real nice work on the review

See above.

Can someone who has their R4 check and see if the soft reset works? (L+R+Start+Select) I thought I read somewhere that it works.

Thanks.

Soft reset, as in resetting to the beginning of a game works (which developers normally assign to L+R+start+select. But a reset to the R4 DS menu doesn't work.

What about Metroid Prime Pinball? That game gives slowdowns on every slot-1 card I know of. I'm very curious how it performs on R4. Excellent review btw.

It works absolutely great with zero slow down.

(I didn't know the menus were supposed to be that fast!

)

I'll add it to the ROM Compatibility list.

 

[kohkindachi]

Is Minisd same as microsd?

And can we convert the .SAV from R4 TO .0 for G6?
I know there's a way to .0 ---> .SAV

 

[shaunj66]

Is Minisd same as microsd?

And can we convert the .SAV from R4 TO .0 for G6?
I know there's a way to .0 ---> .SAV

Already answered above.

And no, mini SD is much larger than a micro SD (transflash) card.

 

[kohkindachi]

Is Minisd same as microsd?

And can we convert the .SAV from R4 TO .0 for G6?
I know there's a way to .0 ---> .SAV

Already answered above.

And no, mini SD is much larger than a micro SD (transflash) card.

Oh ok

And can we convert the .SAV from R4 TO .0 for G6?
I know there's a way to .0 ---> .SAV

 

[Killermech]

My R4DS got shipped today. So unless someone tests it first before mine arrives. I'll be testing it with the regular Sandisk microsd to see if the facts are correct, regarding no slow downs with whatever card you use.

Excellent top notch review shaunj66!

 

[ShadowXP]

My R4DS got shipped today. So unless someone tests it first before mine arrives. I'll be testing it with the regular Sandisk microsd to see if the facts are correct, regarding no slow downs with whatever card you use.

Excellent top notch review shaunj66!

Same, mine got shipped today too and I'll be using a normal SanDisk 1GB microSD with it. The race is on Killermech

 

[jelbo]

What about Metroid Prime Pinball? That game gives slowdowns on every slot-1 card I know of. I'm very curious how it performs on R4. Excellent review btw.

It works absolutely great with zero slow down.

(I didn't know the menus were supposed to be that fast!

)

I'll add it to the ROM Compatibility list.

Nice. I'm amazed by the absence of slowdowns really. I'm tempted to buy this one, but I'll wait and see what M3 has to offer with their 'Real' card. The only thing I miss with R4 is soft-reset.

Btw, does LoveLite work?

About the homebrew support; R4 have indeed released their I/O libs, and a DLDI file has been created. If homebrew coders use DLDI R4 should fully support homebrew.

 

[Poppu]

Very nice review, thanks !!!

 

[adgloride]

After reading this review I made up my mind to order the R4. Ordered it from bamboogaming and its been despatched today. I've been waiting for the M3 DS simple to be released for a while, just to read the review and a supercard DS (one) review. I'm a big supercard fan, had one since the beginning and have had the SD, Mini and Lite versions.

I was thinking back to the real reason I got a supercard when they were first released. The main reason was price. The supercard DS is more expensive than the M3 simle and R4, it may have a great looking GUI but suffers from slowdowns unless you have a decent microSD card.

The supercard team will fix this but why pay more for a product that doesn't work 100%. The black case than now comes with the R4 also helped seal the deal for me. The white case the R4 has doesn't look anything like a real nintendo DS black case. You can also see the microSD on the card. I'm looking forward to getting it, hopefully it'll be here in the UK by next week, with no import tax to pay.

 

[Destructobot]

And can we convert the .SAV from R4 TO .0 for G6?
I know there's a way to .0 ---> .SAV

Should be easy enough. According to the info already posted the R4 saves are the same format, but padded to 512 kB. You would either have to chop off the last (unused) half of the .sav file, or in the case of the two games that actually use 512 kB saves probably just rename the file.

 

[Destructobot]

...

 

[Devante]

Hey shaunj, I noticed when you turned on your DSLite with the R4 inserted, it booted immediately to the R4 menu without even showing the DSLite health warning screen.

How did you get it to do that?

 

[kohkindachi]

And can we convert the .SAV from R4 TO .0 for G6?
I know there's a way to .0 ---> .SAV

Should be easy enough. According to the info already posted the R4 saves are the same format, but padded to 512 kB. You would either have to chop off the last (unused) half of the .sav file, or in the case of the two games that actually use 512 kB saves probably just rename the file.

Sounds easy, but how we go abt 'chopping off'

 

[H8TR]

Hey shaunj, I noticed when you turned on your DSLite with the R4 inserted, it booted immediately to the R4 menu without even showing the DSLite health warning screen.

How did you get it to do that?

Possibly flashed.