In the bygone year of 2014, GBAtemp received an SD2SNES, perhaps the hottest SNES flashcard of its time, for review. Five years later, I sit here with its big brother, the SD2SNES Pro, to bring you an up to date look at what's new, what's the same, and what's changed over the years. With the SD2SNES Pro sharing much with its predecessor, I encourage you to check out @Qtis' review right here before diving into this.

With our review published in 2014, much has happened in the way of progress for this popular cartridge. At the time of publication, the latest firmware was v0.1.6. Though supporting the vast majority of the SNES library, notable exclusions included both the SA-1 and SuperFX special chips. Though a mere 35 games between these two chips, the likes of Kirby, Yoshi's Island, Star Fox, and Super Mario RPG remained unplayable. Of course, thanks to the cartridge's FPGA chip and the continued efforts of creator ikari_01 and others, most notably RedGuy for their SA-1 and SuperFX support, things are now different.

My favourite change might just be the stylish new label.​

Whether you have an SD2SNES or its Pro variant, you can enjoy compatibility with an almost-complete library of games. Though it will perhaps never be perfect, the incompatibility list, kept up to date here, now fills less than a screen and consists of relative obscurities. A part of me remains sad I'll likely never get to experience Crayon Shin Chan's Super Famicom appearance, but it's a sadness I will hold closely. On top of this increased compatibility, both cartridges now boast cheat support, something still in the works as our original review was written. I've used it a little and to my knowledge it's just dandy, but if there are any particular cheat and game combinations you're curious about, let me know and I'll report back.

A few screenshots of the menu with a swanky Pro theme.​

On the hardware front, you'll find one major difference: the FGPA. Upgraded from the Spartan to the Altera Cyclone IV, there's a good bit of extra power available for use. Whether this is applied to an official save state solution (an unofficial one already existing and compatible with both models, with a few limitations), adding compatibility for those last few games, or even Super Game Boy emulation, there's a lot to look forward to in the future. That is, however, in the future. At the time of writing, there's actually very little difference between the two devices, and certainly little that should make a current SD2SNES owner want to sell up and grab the latest model. For newcomers however, the SD2SNES Pro retails at the same price as the original cartridge, with the original now discontinued or discounted across the various online storefronts. $200, or around £160, might be a lot to stomach for a flashcard, especially for some of our younger members coming from one of free solutions for the most modern consoles, or the dime a dozen flashcards of the DS era, but the quality here speaks for itself. It is the best on the market, and it's only going to get better.

If there's anything you want to know, be it games tested, footage recorded, comparisons made, don't hesitate to let me know. I have this beautiful beast sat beside me and a trusty RetroTink for some crisp 480p footage.

SD2SNES Pro Store Link

 

[Ninn]

I mean, yes, it is steep, and I get that. The thing is, once you get it, you don't need another flashcart ever again. Well built, ridiculously compatible, etc.
No sense in me trying to convince others on why I like my OG SD2SNES *shrug*.

I never said it was a bad product. I am sure it' works great.

 

[the_randomizer]

I never said it was a bad product. I am sure it' works great.

And I'm just saying that some people on here, not you per se, but some people are only crapping on it because they think collecting carts is somehow superior, but that's just me.

 

[JaapDaniels]

it's expensive yes, how many opensource of these kind of carts do we have?
it's the only one flashcart that has SA-1 and super-fx support. runs about except bs-x roms it runs almost any rom except a few bord and horse track games.
wich by the way might be possible, just noone ever reversed the special chip the way it's needed to run from a FPGa.
it's been worth every penny to me, not for the games, but for development en testing software also.
pokemon world vanilla and chocolate... these kind of things...
yes it's 200 big boy, but, it's the last good console there ever been, and the games i liked most aren't found that easy, specially since i need fan translated carts for most of them (sorry, my japanese ain't good enough to work my way through the puzzles of an RPG).

 

[ZachariasBarnham]

Oof! That's a steep price! I'll have to pass on it. Maybe if I win the lottery...

 

[Minox]

It's such a pain in the ass to get games that no longer save to the battery backup and having to replace them. Flashcarts are easier.

This is my experience as well. My European carts are in good shape and can all hold a save but half of my Japanese carts have contact issues and/or save issues.

I could try to fix the carts that don't work but it's much less effort to dump the carts and just run them through a flashcart instead. The saves can also be backuped more easily.

 

[the_randomizer]

This is my experience as well. My European carts are in good shape and can all hold a save but half of my Japanese carts have contact issues and/or save issues.

I could try to fix the carts that don't work but it's much less effort to dump the carts and just run them through a flashcart instead. The saves can also be backuped more easily.

This is why I go the flashcart/emulation route, I can't be bothered to pay for, collect and fix up old games.