Hacking SuperCard GBA Mini SD for GBA-SP

[stonegolem]

I know that these kind of flashcarts are quite old.
Please do not troll and only answer if you're willing to help.
I have searched and found many topics related to "SuperCard GBA Mini SD". But everyone speaks about it's DS usage which I'm not interested at all.

I recenly bought a used GBA-SP (IQUE - AGS-101)
I want to buy a flashcart only for my GBA-SP (so, no DS/DSi compatibility required)
There is a seller in my town who periodically orders Supercard GBA (mini SD version) from China.
If I want to buy a flashcart and SuperCard GBA Mini SD is my only option since I can't order on-line

I have 2 questions which I can't get an honest answer from my seller.

1) Are there any fake SuperCard GBA Mini SD's out there?
2) How is SuperCard GBA Mini SD's game/speed compatibility for GBA-SP in general?

Thank you.

 

[raulpica]

1) IIRC, there were some clones. So they might still be around.
2) Totally crappy. A lot of games will work well, but the most advanced games will lag, even if slightly, and some will be downright unplayable. Also, the entire saving system is crap too, as you'll have to do a QPC (Quick Power-Cycle) and manually save the game after you've done playing. If you forget to do that, forget your saves. Obviously there are Quicksaves (Savestates or what are ya gonna call them) available, but there are some cases in which they might give you issues, and some games also require you to use the "real" saves for things.

 

[stonegolem]

Thank you.

If there were any clones in the past, then my seller is definietly selling them. Even if a fake is 50 cents cheaper than the original he finds and sells them.

Too bad for the speed compatibility. I will not buy that.

 

[DanTheManMS]

http://www.pocketheaven.com/ph/wiki/SupercardGBASlowdowns might be of interest to you.

 

[stonegolem]

Thanks for the link. It clearly explains the slowdown issues on that cart.
I'm not going to buy that even it was my only option.

if only I could get an EFA linker II

 

[Cuelhu]

you'll not find any original SC mini these days. They are no longer produced, and you'd have a hard time looking for an used one that is not dead or a fake. There still are some stores selling the EZ Flash IV though. You should grab one if you can, its compatibility is pretty good, plus it have NOR memory for bigger games like Mother 3 and Kingdom Hearts: CoM.

 

[stonegolem]

you'll not find any original SC mini these days. They are no longer produced, and you'd have a hard time looking for an used one that is not dead or a fake. There still are some stores selling the EZ Flash IV though. You should grab one if you can, its compatibility is pretty good, plus it have NOR memory for bigger games like Mother 3 and Kingdom Hearts: CoM.

Thank you for the advice.
I have just ordered EZ Flash IV from one of the USA based ShopTemp links by using my domestic virtual account.
Shipping it to my country was expensive, and the total cost was $57 (without memory card)
But, price is not important at this point since these cards are not very easy to find anymore.
I just hope that, it can arrive to me safely.

 

[stonegolem]

I was preparing update files for my new EZ Flash IV cart and I found this one. I think this is the latest "Client + ezfla_up.bin" file for EZ Flash IV Cart

EZ4Client pack 3rd April 2009
http://www.sosuke.com/ezflash/viewtopic.php?t=793

I will use this cart only for GBA-SP. Does it matter if I use this updated FW? or should I update by using a GBA only(older) FW?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

You can edit the ezfla_up.bin file so it only boots to GBA mode. Or you can use an older one if you like, the new revisions are on the NDS side mostly.

You will likely want to head on over and get the skinning tool, if you don't like starwars themes.
http://ezflash.sosuke.com/viewforum.php?f=22

 

[GreatCrippler]

I bought a Supercard Mini SD online last month. Works great, and as far as I can tell is legit. They are still available, albeit a bit harder to track down. Of the available options, the EZ Flash IV is a bit better all around, but the SC Mini SD is fine. Runs most games without problems. Does suffer from slow downs on a handful of titles. I have been trying to hunt down GBA flash carts as of late, I have a SC Mini SD, an EZ Flash IV, an M3 Perfect Mini SD, and an F2A Ultra. The SC is likely the weakest of what I have, but I still find it to be an enjoyable cart.

 

[Gand]

GreatCrippler can you tell me where to buy the Supercard mini SD? My kid broke my Supercard CF months ago and couldn't find where to buy one!

Really I'm interested in any card I can put in my GBA, but think the Supercard will be the cheaper, and I'm used to the slowdown and have my roms patched to play well (almost all)

 

[stonegolem]

You can edit the ezfla_up.bin file so it only boots to GBA mode. Or you can use an older one if you like, the new revisions are on the NDS side mostly.

You will likely want to head on over and get the skinning tool, if you don't like starwars themes.
http://ezflash.sosuke.com/viewforum.php?f=22

Thank you for the info.

I have used the last known firmware version (v1.720). I hope the latest version didn't lose the old good GBA compatibility.
Even I like SW in general, I didn't like the SW theme. I usually prefer plain & simple skins. But I'm a little bit afraiding to mess with skinning.

 

[Jamstruth]

My advice: Don't get one.
The cart is plagued with problems and Supercard don't make them anymore therefore any new ones you get arer clones. Speaking as an owner of a clone i can tell you that they work for a few months then the characters corrupt and if you try reflashing the FW it will brick. The RAM does not overclock resulting in all newer GBA games requiring conversion to work and then they'll slowdown quite a lot.
Get an EZ-Flash IV

 

[stonegolem]

My advice: Don't get one.
The cart is plagued with problems and Supercard don't make them anymore therefore any new ones you get arer clones. Speaking as an owner of a clone i can tell you that they work for a few months then the characters corrupt and if you try reflashing the FW it will brick. The RAM does not overclock resulting in all newer GBA games requiring conversion to work and then they'll slowdown quite a lot.
Get an EZ-Flash IV

Thank you for your advice. I got a brand new "EZ Flash IV" instead of "SuperCard Mini SD" after being warned by GBAtemp users.
And, I'm very happy with my new "EZ Flash IV". It has arrived a couple of days before.

 

[Lube_Skyballer]

I recently got a Supercard SD with the purchase of a pre-owned GBA SP.
And it's just crap. Saving sucks major ass, it require ingame-saving then an button combo to save to temporary RAM or something, reboot and then save the savefile to the SD.
And that's not it. 90% of the time my SD is not recognized.

Stay away from it. From what I've heard, pick the EZ Flash IV. Way better

 

[DanTheManMS]

Saving sucks major ass, it require ingame-saving then an button combo to save to temporary RAM or something, reboot and then save the savefile to the SD.

In theory you should only have to do either the button combo OR the reboot-and-save method, but not both.