Hacking SCSDMini vs. EZ4 vs. M3PSD

[yee]

What would you guys recommend for a newbie to the DS scene?

I've read up and I personally like the EZ4 more, but I've heard quite a bit of compatibility issues with them, except with an EZPass3. I also looked at the SCSDMini with the Superkey, and they seem to be a good product. But then again, lots of people are on the M3 bandwagon.

So many choices, I just can't pick!

 

[kutis]

m3p, what's p? pro or perfect?? pro does not support gba game, and i think currently only in chinese... if u dun mind them, go 4 it...

i have used m3 perfect mini sd before.. it is one fine product, on fat DS that is... but on lite, either g6l or ez4l.. i simply do not like the extra 1-1.5 cm

i own ez4 lite (supposedly have the same features with ez4), it's an okay product -- physically ppl like the ez4 build (not the lite one),.. gameplay minor slowdown on some games & here's the compability list >> http://www.ezflash.cn/list.asp
and ez4 kinda lacks homebrew apps support coz the fat fs access is not supported by chism's fat... now personally i used to worry about the homebrew part.. but after try a few homebrews on m3, i could live without them... except for moonshell & scummvm and they work on ez4

as for supercard,.. i play around with friend's sc... simply, worst UI ever... ugly & not skinnable (right?)... but hey, it works...

so, assuming that u own the good 'ol phat ds, if u still can get ur hand a piece of m3 perfect minisd, go for it...

otherwise,...
if u want more homebrew -- maybe SC (coz it is harder to make homebrew to work on ez4)
if u like cute yoshi skin like the 1 im using now -- ez4

i'd say m3 pro is a no no, coz it's in chinese & no gba (i personally dun mind the gba part -- i would go for the next cart the only got nds and snes support) but it's in chinese.. i bet u'd hate to keep wondering, "oooo, what does this button doo??"

 

[yee]

Haha, sad part is I speak Chinese, but effing cannot read it LOL

Yeah the Perfect-SD I was talking about. It's currently the most expensive at Jandamans..

That list doesn't list if there are slow-downs on it, blah.

So basically down to EZ4 or M3Perfect?

Yep, I own a fat DS.

I mainly care about SNES homebrewing, other than that, nothing else.

If SNES works on the EZ4, I guess I'll take that...

 

[meangreenie]

Snes emulation is crap on any flash cart for gba/ds period


EZ4 is crap .. stay away, get an M3 or SC ..depending on how you're pocket sits.

 

[martin88]

I recommand EZ4, it fits flush with DS Phat. M3 Perfect mini-SD sticks out of DS Phat a bit, and the card slot is exposed.

 

[yee]

I have an older silver DS though, and the EZ4 does look nice with it from a picture I've seen,

Does the M3 Perfect Mini-SD stick out at all? ( The actual cart, I know the Mini-SD does )

 

[martin88]

I have an older silver DS though, and the EZ4 does look nice with it from a picture I've seen,

Does the M3 Perfect Mini-SD stick out at all? ( The actual cart, I know the Mini-SD does )

The M3 Perfect does, yes. The new M3 Pro doesn't but that's not what you're looking for.

 

[martin88]

The M3 Perfect mini-SD looks like this in DS Phat, sticking out.

Go with EZ4, when using it it looks just like a DS Phat with original GBA cart in it, no sticking out, no card/slot exposed.

Here's a photo with EZ4 in it, you can't even tell!

 

[yee]

Ah, nice, thanks alot.

Do you know which dealers have the M3Pro so I can check it out?

 

[martin88]

Ah, nice, thanks alot.

Do you know which dealers have the M3Pro so I can check it out?

So far the M3 Pro has only been released in China, so you have some waiting to do if you want to get it.

Though it lacks GBA support and I don't recommand it.

 

[yee]

So hows EZ4 anyways? I heard lots of slowdown issues?

And one major question, does it support compression like the SC, EZ3, etc?

P.S. What do you have in your DS slot?

 

[martin88]

So hows EZ4 anyways? I heard lots of slowdown issues?

And one major question, does it support compression like the SC, EZ3, etc?

P.S. What do you have in your DS slot?

EZ4 is good and I have not experienced any problem using it. The 'slowdowns' from what I saw is just the extra 1-2 second loading time between scene, I did not experience any in-game slowdown.

It does not support compression. I use a 512mb mini-SD and I have more than enough space on it to store NDS games, GBA games, and some MP3 for occasional moonshell usage.

I have New Super Mario Bros in my DS slot.

 

[yee]

Do you not need an EZPass, Supercard or Passkey or anything like that?

Is your DS flashed?

 

[martin88]

Do you not need an EZPass, Supercard or Passkey or anything like that?

Is your DS flashed?

You will need a PassMe/NoPass device to use EZ4 if your ds isn't flashed. NoPasses compatible with EZ4 are EZPass3 and MK4.

I flashed my DS with EZ4 and SuperPass 2 SE.

 

[FifthE1ement]

EZ4 sucks so lets just not even think about that! You need to pick up a SuperCard miniSD or M3 slim miniSD. I suggest the SuperCard miniSD if you have a DS Phat as it fits flush with the system and makes everything look normal. Now the M3 has better GBA support but sticks out of the DS making it look ugly to me. I posted some pics of both cards in the DS Phat for comparison. You can read the pro's and con's for yourself.

Now I've done a hulluva research on both the Supercard Mini-SD and the M3 Slim Mini-SD and here are the pro's and con's on both:


Supercard Mini-SD

Pro's
Realtime DS game saves as if you had a real game in your DS!
Great DS game compatibility with perfect performace!
Same size as a GBA game so it sits flush with the DS Phat!
Cheapest Flashcard to buy with great durability!
Devs update the software often to add games all the time!

Con's
Ok GBA game support but the micro-sd version needs to have faster ram!
Could have a better menu system, as text is plain old.
No RTC for GBA game? Should be a given!
DS/GBA in-cart bonus system should work on more then two games!

M3 Slim Mini-SD

Pro's
Good DS game compatibility with great performace!
Ok save system but you have to reboot to finish saving.
Best GBA compatibility of any flashcart!
Updates are often but after more then like 8-10 games are released.
Media functions built-in, so no need to install them yourself!
Menu system with icons!

Con's
Price, its one of the more expensive flashcarts.
You have to reboot to finish saving?
It's too big and doesn't fit in even the DS Phat flush!?
Makes your DS look ugly when you see it sticking out.
No RTC for GBA game? Should be a given!
DS/GBA in-cart bonus system should work at all! They advertise it!


I'm not saying the Supercard is the "end-all-be-all" of the flashcart world but I choose it mainly for its DS game support and its size. Have you seen the M3 offering?! Its sticks out of even the DS Phat! I mean come on! The Supercard Mini-SD looks great in my DS Phat and you can't even tell I'm using it! Not to mention I can install the same media software on my Supercard that M3 offers and its FREE! And I love how the devs update the software all the time so that I'm always up to date!

SuperCard miniSD

M3 Slim miniSD

So to get you going you would need just this:

SuperCard miniSD bundled with the SuperKey - $72
Ritek 150X 1GB miniSD - $22

Total = $94
Less Shipping = aprox $110

Enjoy,

FifthE1ement

Phatty 4 life!

 

[yee]

I'm in Vancouver though, I can pickup from Jandaman cause he's local, woot!

Damn, Newegg should extend to Canada, there was a rumour wasn't there?

Well, can you give me the Pros and Cons of the EZ4?

And what do you mean by "Realtime DS game saves as if you had a real game in your DS!" and "DS/GBA in-cart bonus system should work on more then two games! / DS/GBA in-cart bonus system should work at all!
"

 

[bennyx8903]

if you are rich, get m3, i nvr owned one, but i had the SUPERCARD SD, and currently with EZ4 Lite TF. EZ4 dont hav problems, and can skin..and saving is really good. supercard the quality is not as good, gba SUXX!!!...gba on supercard is horrible, load time is slow as hell, and saving is pain in the ass. since you hav to press the button combination to write save, if you forget to do that, you play for nothing. so i definetly suggest EZ4, especially lately, lots of new games out like megaman, and mario bball are ez4 "exclusive", which means EZ4 compatiblity is great. OH! or, if you hav the slightest posiblilty of getting DS lite in future, buy the G6, cus you can use it for GBA (with case) and can use in DS lite in the future.

rich -> get G6, poor -> get EZ4

 

[yee]

Yeah, I don't have a deep pocket atm, only have 130 bucks to spend on a NoPass device, a flash cart and the media card, lol.

 

[martin88]

There are many reasons why you might want to choose EZ4 instead of SuperCard mini-SD:
-EZ4's mini-SD card slot isn't exposed while inserted into DS Phat, it looks better and safer
-EZ4 has the best GBA compatibility and speed, better than M3 and of course SuperCard which is horrible at GBA
-EZ4 has skinning support and lots of nice looking skins available
-EZ4 has faster ROM loading time
-EZ4's client is easier to use, choose a rom and click the send button and you're done

 

[FifthE1ement]

Sorry he has no clue what hes talking about. SuperCard has the best DS game save system of any flashcart on the market. All you do is save! No restarting the DS to make sure it saves (M3) or having to go in and save it manualy. The Supercard saves the save once you go to save. You have to do nothing more and its the only card to feature this option. Other cards require that you restart the DS for it to finally save the game and some require you to save the file on your own after restart. With the Supercard you save as if you had a real game in your DS!

And Mario Hoops, Crash, and every other rom works on the Supercard RIGHT NOW! EZ has the worst DS support (anyone can tell you that on any boards) and I'm guessing thats what you want this mainly for! Supercard has ok GBA support like I said before and M3 is better but Supercard has the size advantage. And as for the G6 Lite: you only want 512MB of memory?

Here a fix for the shipping problem (they ship worldwide) bud and it only costs about 2 bucks extra:

http://meritline.stores.yahoo.net/ritek-150x-1gb-minisd.html

FifthE1ement