Ok so my card arrived today!!.....
Here's My review ...
note:- (LOTS OF IMAGES to follow so dial up users BEWARE may take some time loading!!!)
First a couple of screen shots
FRONT of card in package
BACK of package
Unboxing the card it looks pretty much the same as most other SLOT 1 type cards the build quality is pretty good so far solid front and
back no dodgy sticker over any chips aka R4 clone ...
Although before even testing this I know YES its another R4 clone, I have been given the information that its made by some of the
ORIGINAL R4 team apparently!?
FRONT of card
BACK of card
Instructions for use on the 3 fold card inlay that comes in the package
Back of instruction Inlay
Close up of information on back of pack
Close up of Instructions (in 3 parts)
Top
Middle
Bottom
You will notice that its practically the same as the information from the R4 website but as mentioned above this is because part of the R4
team are working with/on this card apparently!
OK now on with the BUTCHERING erm OPENING of the card!
Its screwed together much like its predecessor the R4 so a mini screwdriver is all it takes to crack it open
so here it is the MAIN BOARD (front + rear)
Main Board front
note the main board looks nothing like the R4
you will note it has 2 clearly visable square small chips whereas the R4 has just 1 (see r4 image below)
R4 BOARD for comparison
another shot of NPLAYER disassembled
OK enough with the destruction ....(quickly bolts its all back together)
onto the testing ...
For this test I will be using a spare 1gb Kingston micro sd that I happen to have lying about on my desk
download of the latest NPLAYER kernel can be obtained from ..
http://www.ndsplayer.com/
current version at time of testing is version 3.02
Finishing Date?2008-9-27 (guessing finishing date means release date)
loading the NPLAYER it boots and looks exactly like the R4 and its MANY CLONES
and as such the themes are fully compatible YAY!!! good news if you already have a load of R4/M3 simply themes
it has the USUAL game icon/media player icon/ slot 2(gba) icons
games TESTED ..
MARIO KART - PASS wifi play PASS - Download play - PASS
POKEMON DIAMOND - PASS - wifi PASS + GTS pass - DS to DS PASS
POKEMON PEARL - PASS - wifi PASS + GTS pass - DS to DS PASS
CARNIVAL GAMES (known to fail on R4) - PASS
INCREDIBLE HULK (known to fail on R4) - PASS
DRIVING THEORY TRAINING (known to fail on R4) - PASS
IMAGINE TEACHER (known to fail on R4) - PASS
SONIC CHRONICLES DB (known to fail on a few cards inc R4) - PASS (note needs latest Nplayer 3.02 kernel)
UNKNOWN SOLDIER MOKUBA (JAP) - PASS
ZUBO - PASS
Homebew tested
UsrCheatUp - PASS but ...same problem as R4 missing cheats (cheat file too large) so use the UE cheat file from NARINS cheats and it
will work ( helps if you edit .ini file to point to UE cheat file)
UAPaint - PASS
Bunjaloo 0.7 - PASS
Phidias - PASS
Lameboy 0.11 - PASS
everything I threw at it so far WORKED
It kicks R4's backside that's for sure all games to current date WORK using NPLAYER 3.02 kernel file!
My thoughts ..
YEP its ANOTHER R4 CLONE .. but THIS ONE WORKS with everything so far!!!
Its also getting UPDATES that the R4 sadly misses .. along with the fact this is SDHC too as an added bonus!
If you upgrading but like the R4 you had before ... then maby this is the card to replace it
YES other cards have better features and yes this is a clone but IT WORKS it does what it says it does like most other cards out there it
plays what you need it to play!
SCORES ON THE DOORS for the NPLAYER
I give this 8 outta 10
It could of had a different menu to make it stand out amongst the R4 CLONES but .. I suppose if its not broken WHY FIX IT .. the menu
works and is no nonsense .. no fiddly messing with extra settings and if you once owned or still own an R4 then this is NO different it looks
the same and works the same ONLY BETTER lol
Other functions are the same as R4 too middle button is still MOONSHELL and 3rd button is still GBA/SLOT 2
Guessing also this can be patched to use YASU MENU but real need at the minute as this kernels getting the badly needed updates that
the YASU menu is being used to replace
overall my FINAL thoughts ... its an R4 CLONE it plays ROMS/HOMEBREW/DPG etc and works with current releases .. that's what
people need to know!
prices .... around £22 GBP ($35,64 USD) (27,95 € EU) Other places may vary in price but about same price as R4 cards
Note these are MY VIEWS THOUGHTS and images etc yours may differ along with other reviewers!
lastly ....thanks goto ..
shop.01media.com (who are now stocking the NPLAYER)
as they are the NPLAYER official distributor for Europe (Wholesale prices are available)
Thanks for supplying my review sample cheers guys!
******************************************************************************
Update .. forgot to test this with my EZFLASH 3 in 1 card doh!
Tested using Rudolph's Gba-ExpLoader 0.57 and GBA rom Mario Advance - PASS
...works great no worries at all loading it to the 3 in 1 and booting from within Gba-ExpLoader.
Pressing Start button takes it back to the NPLAYER menu and once a GBA rom has been loaded to the 3 in 1 you can boot it via the
NPLAYER menu option Boot Slot-2 icon in the same way you can load proper GBA roms
Tested Opera DS Browser with the 3 in 1 RAM setting (load Gba-ExpLoader and select Expansion Ram option) it will reset the ds back
to NPLAYER menu and then you can then load the Opera DS Browser and use it with your wifi.
edited to rehost images!
Here's My review ...
note:- (LOTS OF IMAGES to follow so dial up users BEWARE may take some time loading!!!)
First a couple of screen shots
FRONT of card in package
BACK of package
Unboxing the card it looks pretty much the same as most other SLOT 1 type cards the build quality is pretty good so far solid front and
back no dodgy sticker over any chips aka R4 clone ...
Although before even testing this I know YES its another R4 clone, I have been given the information that its made by some of the
ORIGINAL R4 team apparently!?
FRONT of card
BACK of card
Instructions for use on the 3 fold card inlay that comes in the package
Back of instruction Inlay
Close up of information on back of pack
Close up of Instructions (in 3 parts)
Top
Middle
Bottom
You will notice that its practically the same as the information from the R4 website but as mentioned above this is because part of the R4
team are working with/on this card apparently!
OK now on with the BUTCHERING erm OPENING of the card!
Its screwed together much like its predecessor the R4 so a mini screwdriver is all it takes to crack it open
so here it is the MAIN BOARD (front + rear)
Main Board front
note the main board looks nothing like the R4
you will note it has 2 clearly visable square small chips whereas the R4 has just 1 (see r4 image below)
R4 BOARD for comparison
another shot of NPLAYER disassembled
OK enough with the destruction ....(quickly bolts its all back together)
onto the testing ...
For this test I will be using a spare 1gb Kingston micro sd that I happen to have lying about on my desk
download of the latest NPLAYER kernel can be obtained from ..
http://www.ndsplayer.com/
current version at time of testing is version 3.02
Finishing Date?2008-9-27 (guessing finishing date means release date)
loading the NPLAYER it boots and looks exactly like the R4 and its MANY CLONES
and as such the themes are fully compatible YAY!!! good news if you already have a load of R4/M3 simply themes
it has the USUAL game icon/media player icon/ slot 2(gba) icons
games TESTED ..
MARIO KART - PASS wifi play PASS - Download play - PASS
POKEMON DIAMOND - PASS - wifi PASS + GTS pass - DS to DS PASS
POKEMON PEARL - PASS - wifi PASS + GTS pass - DS to DS PASS
CARNIVAL GAMES (known to fail on R4) - PASS
INCREDIBLE HULK (known to fail on R4) - PASS
DRIVING THEORY TRAINING (known to fail on R4) - PASS
IMAGINE TEACHER (known to fail on R4) - PASS
SONIC CHRONICLES DB (known to fail on a few cards inc R4) - PASS (note needs latest Nplayer 3.02 kernel)
UNKNOWN SOLDIER MOKUBA (JAP) - PASS
ZUBO - PASS
Homebew tested
UsrCheatUp - PASS but ...same problem as R4 missing cheats (cheat file too large) so use the UE cheat file from NARINS cheats and it
will work ( helps if you edit .ini file to point to UE cheat file)
UAPaint - PASS
Bunjaloo 0.7 - PASS
Phidias - PASS
Lameboy 0.11 - PASS
everything I threw at it so far WORKED
It kicks R4's backside that's for sure all games to current date WORK using NPLAYER 3.02 kernel file!
My thoughts ..
YEP its ANOTHER R4 CLONE .. but THIS ONE WORKS with everything so far!!!
Its also getting UPDATES that the R4 sadly misses .. along with the fact this is SDHC too as an added bonus!
If you upgrading but like the R4 you had before ... then maby this is the card to replace it
YES other cards have better features and yes this is a clone but IT WORKS it does what it says it does like most other cards out there it
plays what you need it to play!
SCORES ON THE DOORS for the NPLAYER
I give this 8 outta 10
It could of had a different menu to make it stand out amongst the R4 CLONES but .. I suppose if its not broken WHY FIX IT .. the menu
works and is no nonsense .. no fiddly messing with extra settings and if you once owned or still own an R4 then this is NO different it looks
the same and works the same ONLY BETTER lol
Other functions are the same as R4 too middle button is still MOONSHELL and 3rd button is still GBA/SLOT 2
Guessing also this can be patched to use YASU MENU but real need at the minute as this kernels getting the badly needed updates that
the YASU menu is being used to replace
overall my FINAL thoughts ... its an R4 CLONE it plays ROMS/HOMEBREW/DPG etc and works with current releases .. that's what
people need to know!
prices .... around £22 GBP ($35,64 USD) (27,95 € EU) Other places may vary in price but about same price as R4 cards
Note these are MY VIEWS THOUGHTS and images etc yours may differ along with other reviewers!
lastly ....thanks goto ..
shop.01media.com (who are now stocking the NPLAYER)
as they are the NPLAYER official distributor for Europe (Wholesale prices are available)
Thanks for supplying my review sample cheers guys!
******************************************************************************
Update .. forgot to test this with my EZFLASH 3 in 1 card doh!
Tested using Rudolph's Gba-ExpLoader 0.57 and GBA rom Mario Advance - PASS
...works great no worries at all loading it to the 3 in 1 and booting from within Gba-ExpLoader.
Pressing Start button takes it back to the NPLAYER menu and once a GBA rom has been loaded to the 3 in 1 you can boot it via the
NPLAYER menu option Boot Slot-2 icon in the same way you can load proper GBA roms
Tested Opera DS Browser with the 3 in 1 RAM setting (load Gba-ExpLoader and select Expansion Ram option) it will reset the ds back
to NPLAYER menu and then you can then load the Opera DS Browser and use it with your wifi.
edited to rehost images!