Hacking Post your questions about which flashcart to buy

[ShAdOwFuRi]

The only cart around with Real Time Save (the ability to save at any point in the game) as well as a nice GUI and good support is the Cyclo DS. There are two other flashcarts which support the RTS, namely Supercard and EZ Flash V, the Supercard has an extremely bad interface and very hard to manage, especially for beginners. Whilst on the other hand the EZ Flash V tends to be a little slow on updates, also the real time save function is said to not work so well on it.

Although the Cyclo DS would indeed be more expensive than the other 2 options, it would be more suited to your needs.

 

[duksandfish]

My DSTT broke recently, so I'm looking for a new card. I live in the UK,

Use? Games/Homebrew
Price Range? Cheaper is better, probably max £25
Slot 1/2? 1
Built in or expandable memory? MicroSDHC (I have a 4gb card)
GBA compatibility? Not needed
Special features? RTS would be nice but not a must.
Any flashcarts you are looking at in particular? Possibly the AceKard2, or maybe the Cyclo ds, but that is more expensive. Open to any suggestions

 

[JongSeok]

someone reply to my above post?
i just think people are skipping it

just reminding

 

[Slowking]

Maybe because your post is big and unstructured?

Well lets see:

i heard that ak2 + AKAIO has the best cheat compatibility
Nah those cards are all pretty much the same. Long cheats may be a problem on some, but other than that...

and that cyclods has very good interface but is expensive
The interface is simple and easy to use, but I wouldn't say it's the best. It's the extra features that make the Cyclo stand out.

dang... i don't no if its authentic though...
They are

and also i hear that ak2 freezes sometimes...
Never heard of it. You must be mistaken. There was a high failure rate at one time, but that was like a million batches ago. It works great now.

but someone also said that it has 100% compatibility (actually most said that)
All Flashcards have that.

Posts merged

and whats the difference between ak2 and ak2i except that it can play on the ndsi
None, well the AK2i has a few less features that could interfere with the DSi, but I'm not exactly sure which. And the AK2i sucks more power as it uses an Actel Pro Asic 2, instead of a custom chip.

is it faster running? more sturdly built (got a lot of bad ratings on build quality), better compatibility (101%?

)
Nope

or do they mail it?
Airmail. For express you have to pay extra.

and it literally goes inside your mailbox

pretty much

QUOTE

but THERE ARE A WHOLE BUNCH OF COMMENTS saying that the ak2.1 is defective or becoming defective after a week of use or more

Month old storys. Not a problem anymore

Posts merged

QUOTE

or the stickers come upside down

Uh a upside down sticker will kill your DS!!!!11oneeleven

QUOTE

or the things that hold it together are coming apart

Never actually happened. Just paranoid people. Besides new cards don't have those pins anymore and are glued together.

QUOTE

im scared this will happen to me because i only get a 1 shot chance

Ah come on, it's $10.

 

[JongSeok]

oh no..
im sincerely sorry my post is so unstructured
i just had to edit it a whole bunch of times because of all the comments i was reading
thank you so much for replying to such an unstructured post and taking it apart

ah you just convinced me that i can buy a reliable ak2 and it won't be crap
thank you!

edit: dang im reading all your replies, and all my questions sound paranoid and nooby

sigh shame on me XD

 

[BMasterP]

Hellom thanks for this post. i want to buy a flash card for the ds, i had a r4 and a m3ds simply. my ds broke down sold that one and bought a new one for my girlfriend this christmas. I would realy want to know what flash card to buy so here's my list of what i realy want(my girlfriend wants).


1 GBA Support/ so i guess a slot 1+2 card
2 gb gb/c Support trough emulation(don't know if the emulator runs different on different cards but i tought i'd post it anyway)
3 great nds support
4 want to use Micro SD,sdhc isn't really important but it would be a nice feature do.

homebrew moonshell and all other stuff isn't really important the card is for my girl, i allready own a original xbox and a wii for all the homebrew i want. broblem is that it's not funny to play gb gb/c gba games on my xbox cose of my 42" so if i get a ds flash card with those supported i got the whole spectrum of old gaming computers emulated. Xept for a good ps1 emulator on a console.


Thanks for the reply's in advance

 

[Splych]

Hellom thanks for this post. i want to buy a flash card for the ds, i had a r4 and a m3ds simply. my ds broke down sold that one and bought a new one for my girlfriend this christmas. I would realy want to know what flash card to buy so here's my list of what i realy want(my girlfriend wants).


1 GBA Support/ so i guess a slot 1+2 card
2 gb gb/c Support trough emulation(don't know if the emulator runs different on different cards but i tought i'd post it anyway)
3 great nds support
4 want to use Micro SD,sdhc isn't really important but it would be a nice feature do.

homebrew moonshell and all other stuff isn't really important the card is for my girl, i allready own a original xbox and a wii for all the homebrew i want. broblem is that it's not funny to play gb gb/c gba games on my xbox cose of my 42" so if i get a ds flash card with those supported i got the whole spectrum of old gaming computers emulated. Xept for a good ps1 emulator on a console.


Thanks for the reply's in advance

SDHC is mandatory now with most since most flashcarts upgraded to it. You are looking for basic features of a flashcart. And by what you want, I guess you wouldn't want one with all those extra features such as: RealTimeSave, RealTimeGuide or RealTimeCheat. They just allow you to use the features during a game. Useless, to most people.

Anyway, back on topic.

An AceKard 2.1 would be a good choice for you. This flashcart, has a simple GUI. Very clean, and loads roms fast. But, will only load games fast once the .sav or .nds.sav file is created. Cheat support is fantastic, (from what I am using). SDHC is supported, and homebrew support is good as well.

There is also an alternative firmware called AKAIO. I think it is pretty good, but, I prefer the AceKard 2's original firmware instead. iunno why though xD

==

There is also other flashcarts, but they are all served at a more expensive price. I would go with the AceKard 2.1 as it is one of the cheapest, and best flashcarts out there.

For GBA support, you would just need to buy a EZ-Flash 3-in-1 Expansion Pack. But also, try and look for a + one since they have more NOR Space or something. You can read some threads around GBAtemp. I am not fully sure about this yet...

 

[Bobman]

You might want to get an EZ 3 in 1 later on, as some homebrew profits from the additional RAM it provides. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2967 But for starters you probably won't need it.

First off, I want to thank you for your recommendation. Because the Acekard 2 was labelled as a "budget" card, I didn't even stop to consider it, so it's very refreshing to see that, for the price, it has plenty of features that I would use, and spares me the stuff that I likely won't touch.

Now, more to the point; I quoted the above part because I have a quick question about it:

I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but I have an original ("fat") DS, and I noticed that (at least in pictures of the product) the EZ 3-in-1 only appears to be the correct size to fit the DS Lite version of slot-2. Are there any versions available for the original DS, or some way to get an adapter that would extend this cart to fit it?

 

[Slowking]

Yep there is a phat-version: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15778 ^^

 

[duksandfish]

Well, I ended up ordering an AceKard2 from DealExtreme. Any chace of it being fake like DSTT and R4?

 

[Splych]

Well, I ended up ordering an AceKard2 from DealExtreme. Any chace of it being fake like DSTT and R4?

Nope, I haven't heard about fake AceKards. The only thing I do know is, that there are 3 different versions of the AceKard 2.

The AceKard 2 (Green PC Board, Not 2.1)
The AceKard 2.1 (Black PC Board Default, Sometimes Green PC Board)
The AceKard 2i (The one that is compatible with the DSi)

The first AceKard, had the FAT issues. Just make sure, yours says 2.1 on the front sticker.

 

[Slowking]

Acekard 2.1 come in light green, dark green, blue and black

 

[Paralel]

I'm looking to get a flash cart for my DS Lite, my criteria, in descending order of importance, are:

1. Slot-1 Card
2. Perfect compatibility
3. Significant, long-term developer support, updates are put out quickly if a new game is incompatible, support isn't dropped when a newer model comes out, etc...
4. Will work well (no lagging, crashing, etc...) with any MicroSD/MicroSDHC card that is used with it (isn't picky about type or speed)
5. Well built construction, isn't difficult to remove/insert into Slot-1 due to size, protruding chips, etc...
6. Real-time saving
7. Real-time Game guide/Real-time game cheats

Price doesn't matter.

 

[Slowking]

CycloDS Evolution

 

[Paralel]

CycloDS Evolution

If I exclude criteria 6 & 7 would you still recommend the same thing?

Do all the other regulars around here agree with this recommendation?

 

[Splych]

CycloDS Evolution

If I exclude criteria 6 & 7 would you still recommend the same thing?

Do all the other regulars around here agree with this recommendation?

Alternative to the CycloDS Evolution would be the AceKard 2.1.

Many people prefer the AceKard 2.1 because of the simple interface, great game support, and they actually fixed the chip issue. It has the basic features, that all flashcarts have. The only thing it doesn't have is RealTimeCheat, RealTimeGuide and RealTimeSave.

It is also much cheaper than the CycloDS Evolution.

 

[Slowking]

Yeah if you exclude 6 & 7 Acekard2 is the way to go.

 

[Splych]

Yeah if you exclude 6 & 7 Acekard2 is the way to go.

But, there is also the EDGE, I haven't tried it, but it doesn't have as many good reviews as the AceKard 2.

It has a similar interface as the CycloDS Evolution, but just doesn't have the RTS, RTG, and RTC. And compatibility isn't as good when compared to the AceKard 2.1.

 

[ShAdOwFuRi]

Yeah if you exclude 6 & 7 Acekard2 is the way to go.

But, there is also the EDGE, I haven't tried it, but it doesn't have as many good reviews as the AceKard 2.

It has a similar interface as the CycloDS Evolution, but just doesn't have the RTS, RTG, and RTC. And compatibility isn't as good when compared to the AceKard 2.1.

Yeah, the Acekard 2.1 rules over the EDGE now, especially with the new version of AKAIO as well as the new sturdier cases.

 

[Paralel]

I ended up ordering a CycloDS Evolution. I figured if the Cyclo is equal in all respects to the Acekard 2.1 plus it has some additional features that I want I might as well get the Cyclo, even though it's twice the price.