Hacking Questions about DS lite flashcart

[odyssy]

So I've been looking at getting a flashcart to play some games on my DSL. I've never used one of these devices before, and (esp. with the engrish on some of the official websites..) I'm a bit confused of what I should be buying.

I know there are basically two or three things you need:
1) A pass device, to allow you to boot DS games from the GBA slot.
2) A flash cart
3) (depending on the flash cart) a CF/SD/miniSD card.

What I want to know is:
a) What does it mean when reviews/descriptions talk about "slow downs"? Does that mean it takes abnormally long to load the game? Or does it mean a slow down in gameplay?

b) How does using these devices affect battery life? (ie. compared to playing a real cartridge, what is the battery life hit I can expect?)

c) Are pass devices/flash carts interoperable? IE. could I use a superkey with a M3 perfect, or a passkey2 with a supercard?

d) How does the gaming experience differ, if at all, between playing games on flashcarts vs. real cartridges? (ie. any extra/missing fuctionality, or different methods needed to get the same functionality)


Also, maybe someone could recommend which device would work best for me? I want something:
a) That doesn't stick out of the DSL at all (so I think that pretty much leaves out the M3)
b) Has 100% (or as close to it as possible) compatibility with DS games
c) Can play GBA games

There are three that I've identified as being potentially interesting:
Supercard lite w/superkey. (The superkey doesn't need a DS cartridge to work, right? And doesn't stick out at all?)
G6 lite (I would need a pass card for this, right?)
Ninjapass (I can only find a 512Mb = 64MB version.. are there others forthcoming? Is 64MB big enough for any game?)

Each of them is kind of in a different category.. I wonder how they compare on compatiblity and battery life, specifically.


Sorry for the long post. Please bear with me, I'm new at this!

 

[falco123]

I'm feeling nice =)

What I want to know is:
a) What does it mean when reviews/descriptions talk about "slow downs"? Does that mean it takes abnormally long to load the game? Or does it mean a slow down in gameplay?


Slowdowns are in gameplay. For the most part, you will not experience slowdown. I myself have an M3 Slim SD, and the only slowdowns I get are:

1) Castlevania intro movie (which happens to pretty much everything, except the G6Lite is virtually perfect at playing the movie. Also, I hear using a high speed SD card almost eliminates slowdowns altogether.)
2) Trauma Center when facing a horde of GUILT (barely noticeable)
3) Mario and Luigi Partners in Time when the babies jump out of a pipe (more noticeable since it happens often, but it's barely more than a hiccup)
4) I recall getting one in Meteos when a million things exploded, but if I can hardly remember, it probably wasn't much, eh?

That's all I've encountered so far. All in all, it really doesn't matter.

b) How does using these devices affect battery life? (ie. compared to playing a real cartridge, what is the battery life hit I can expect?)

This one is tricky. If you use a pass device, the battery life DOES go down by about 1-2 hours. If you do not want to flash your DS, all you have to do is turn the system on, and when it gets to the boot menu, take out the passcard. The game will play normally, but of course, you can't sleep. I've used this trick for the past month and have never gotten a red light after roughly 6-7 hours of gameplay, but when I kept it in, the light would turn red in about 5 or so. This is brightness 2, by the way, so adjust accordingly to your preferred level.

c) Are pass devices/flash carts interoperable? IE. could I use a superkey with a M3 perfect, or a passkey2 with a supercard?


Superkey and Passcard3 are exactly the same. I don't know why they made two kinds, I guess more money, haha. Yes, you can use them interchangeably.

d) How does the gaming experience differ, if at all, between playing games on flashcarts vs. real cartridges? (ie. any extra/missing fuctionality, or different methods needed to get the same functionality)

No difference in gaming. Well, except for online, where the only real problem is download play, which won't work unless both people have a flash cart, and if they both have one, why don't they already have the game in question?

Other than that, when writing the games to the flash cart, just be sure to read the compatbility wiki to see what functions work and what doesn't. For the most part, the best settings (4X, trim, fastboot) work for a majority of the games, but you will run into a few that don't work with those settings. If so, just delete and try again =)

Also, maybe someone could recommend which device would work best for me? I want something:
a) That doesn't stick out of the DSL at all (so I think that pretty much leaves out the M3)
b) Has 100% (or as close to it as possible) compatibility with DS games
c) Can play GBA games

The only one that doesn't stick out is the G6 Lite. So, there you go...

 

[neojei]

For the question regarding battery life, hasn't there been tests done already to show that passcards do not affect battery life to a point where its really bad? Like maybe it does a few minutes. Now for a passme device (those big bulky things) I'm prety sure that will kill your battery faster
As for superkey and passcard being interchangable, just make sure your card is compatible with the flash cart. Some carts (EZ4 Lite) aren't compatible with some. EZ4 Lite doesn't work with 2nd gen superkeys and passcard 3s.
EZ4 Lite sticks out 0.8mm, if you want to see that for yourself, pull out the dust cover until only the glossy part sticks out, thats 0.8mm, hardly noticable. Another flash cart that comes to mind is the Supercard Lite, but I've read it has a tight fit and you have to shave down the sides to make it go in smoothly, also this is front loading, thats just preference. And lastly the G6 Lite, 512 Megabytes of memory is the only downside I can see for this, I prefer myself to be able toswap memory out, but this fits completely in, as the Supercard Lite.