Introduction
This review is basically my thoughts on the DSTWO. This is also my very first review so feel free to give me some constructive criticism on how to structure my reviews.
The Supercard DSTWO is made by the Supercard team. Their website can be found here. It's currently one of the most amazing cards IMO.
Contents/Features
Hardware
Software
Compatibility
Customization
Final Statements
Overall, the Supercard DSTWO is an amazing card. With all these extra features and even more being developed, it's totally worth it's money. Of course, if you just want to play games, there are some others, such as the Acekard2i with AKAIO or R4 with Wood R4. I would recommend a DSTWO to someone else. My reviews will not have a scoring system. They are basically information to put into perspective when choosing a card to buy. If there is any information I'm missing, please feel free to tell me. Thank you for reading.
EDIT: Going to add some things I forgot. Silly me.
This review is basically my thoughts on the DSTWO. This is also my very first review so feel free to give me some constructive criticism on how to structure my reviews.
The Supercard DSTWO is made by the Supercard team. Their website can be found here. It's currently one of the most amazing cards IMO.
Contents/Features
The flashcard comes in a rectangular box. On the front you will find the logo, their name, SDHC support, some features, and of course, the name of the card. On the back, you will see a list of their Main Features. The list comes with a few typos, however. Once you open the box, you will find a MicroSD reader, the DSTWO, and a manual. The manual has several typos, as well. The MicroSD reader is a black, curved rectangle with a cap. It uses USB to connect to the computer. As for the actual card, you will learn all about it in this review.
Hardware
The DSTWO is a decently built card. There is a screw on the back of the card to keep everything inside of it in place. The card is a little big so putting it in the DS and taking it out isn't so smooth, but it's not too big of a problem. The bright side to this is that the contacts are pushed tightly against the DS's contacts so contact issues are more rare. There is also an on-board CPU to help it do things that would otherwise be impossible. It has decent Slot-1 GBA, SNES, MAME4all, etc. emulation. It's not perfect, but what other card has SNES, GBA, and MAME emulation, all in one card?
Software
On the DSi, the card shows up as Fish: Tycoon, but that's not what we're looking for. We're looking for what we get after we start it up. The menu is based of the DSi's menu, IIRC. It's a row of plugins that you can scroll through. I'm going to focus on DS_GAME and not the emulators or iReader. When you startup any plugin, you get a loading screen, which is nice. I like how there is a grid view along with 2 other ways to view items. What I didn't like about the grid view is when you choose a game with a long name, it'll be cut off. It's a small thing, but it bothers me. A lot. Another thing that bothers me is the fact that you can't backup your saves. Well, you can by copying and pasting the save files, but there's no function that does that automatically. Again, a small thing. All of that is avoided by going to list view mode, but I prefer the grid view. There are no global options so if I want to turn cheats off for all the games, run all the games in clean mode, or anything else, I have to do it individually. Currently, it's not a big problem seeing how there are very little ROM options, but in the future, it might become a pain. The in-game menu runs almost seamlessly. I've only found problems with the RTS and am bothered by one thing with the RTG. The RTS might cause some problems with the game if saved during a cutscene. As for the RTG, the files share the exact same name as the file. I think that it would be better if it would be seen as the second part of the file. Example below. A VERY small thing that bothers me is in the UI. The file operations. When you paste or delete a file, there is a check next to the operation. My last peeve is that there's no way to organize the game. It's only alphabetical order. My favorite part about the OS is that you don't have to reboot the DS in order to get back to the plugin menu. These are some VERY small problems, but hopefully, there will be fixes in the future.
The Example:
Game: game.nds
Guide: game.guide
Guide Name in the in-game Menu: game.guide
What I want to see in the in-game Menu: guide
The Example:
Game: game.nds
Guide: game.guide
Guide Name in the in-game Menu: game.guide
What I want to see in the in-game Menu: guide
Compatibility
I have tested several games. Well, not really. I've just played some games and they run fine. Of course, nothing is perfect. In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, I've found that the game can only be run in clean mode. I changed the system3.dat, IIRC, and I've been able to play it in patch mode. In the same game, I've noticed some graphical glitches. Sometimes, part of the top screen will glitch out and turn into random colors. I haven't had any problems with any other games/haven't noticed any problems with other games.
List of games I've played:
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (U) - Only in clean mode unless you update the system3.dat which can be found on the forums. Minor graphical glitches. Game freezes if RTS'd during a cutscene.
9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (U) - Runs just fine.
Dragon Quest IX (U) - Runs just fine.
Pokemon Black (J) - Runs just fine.
Sonic Colours (E) - I've experienced some random lag before, but minor things.
Super Scribblenauts (U) - Runs just fine.
Pokemon Rangers: Guardian Signs (U) - Minor graphical problems with RTS. The text bubbles become completely black, but text is still viewable.
List of games I've played:
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (U) - Only in clean mode unless you update the system3.dat which can be found on the forums. Minor graphical glitches. Game freezes if RTS'd during a cutscene.
9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (U) - Runs just fine.
Dragon Quest IX (U) - Runs just fine.
Pokemon Black (J) - Runs just fine.
Sonic Colours (E) - I've experienced some random lag before, but minor things.
Super Scribblenauts (U) - Runs just fine.
Pokemon Rangers: Guardian Signs (U) - Minor graphical problems with RTS. The text bubbles become completely black, but text is still viewable.
Customization
Basically, almost everything can be changed. Whether it's the icon, the UI, load menu, almost everything. Only problem I have is changing the loading screen. You have to download a program to change it. It'd be perfect if it was part of the theme and not DSGAME.nds. Not much to say here, just some things that bother me. Or rather, the thing.
Final Statements
Overall, the Supercard DSTWO is an amazing card. With all these extra features and even more being developed, it's totally worth it's money. Of course, if you just want to play games, there are some others, such as the Acekard2i with AKAIO or R4 with Wood R4. I would recommend a DSTWO to someone else. My reviews will not have a scoring system. They are basically information to put into perspective when choosing a card to buy. If there is any information I'm missing, please feel free to tell me. Thank you for reading.
EDIT: Going to add some things I forgot. Silly me.
