Hacking Supercard Lite as GBA expansion for M3Real?

[roadbusta]

Is it possible to use a Slot-2 Supercard Lite as an GBA expansion pack for the M3 Real, instead of the official GBA expansion pack?

 

[Destructobot]

You mean for playing GBA games via the M3 Real's built in GBA loader? Definitely not.

 

[bustyman100]

Just tried it on my M3 Real running the Sakura eng translation.


1. Plugged in my SC Lite without a SD card in it. Booted in DS mode. Sakura says "no GBA expansion detected". I selected a GBA rom and tried to run it any way. It loads for a while, then boots in GBA mode.... but then the SC Lite menu pops up asking for a SD card. FAIL!

2. Plugged in my SC Lite with a SD card in it. Same as the above, except this time it boots into the normal SC Lite menu in GBA mode. FAIL!

3. Plugged in my EZ Flash 3-in-1. Sakura still says "no GBA expansion detected". FAIL!


So basically, no. The M3 Real firmware only recognizes its own GBA ram pack.



May I ask why you want to run the SC Lite through the M3 Real?
The only conceivable reason I can think of is to run the internet browser. Though I haven't tried the browser with the m3 Real + SC Lite, I'm sure a patched version of the browser WILL detect the SC Lite ram. I used to do this with my old R4+SC Lite combo, and it worked fine.

If you think that loading GBA roms onto the SC Lite through the M3 Real loader will make them run any better, then I really don't think that will work. I recall that the SC Lite has problems running GBA roms because of the type of ram it uses, so there are bound to be slow downs no matter what loader you use.

Hope this helped.

 

[roadbusta]

May I ask why you want to run the SC Lite through the M3 Real?

I was hoping that I could put clean GBA roms into my M3Real, and play them through the M3Real rather than have to patch the ROM specifically for the Supercard Lite.

Thank you both for your helpful responses.

 

[bustyman100]

Well if that is the case, I think it will be worth it to invest in the M3 Real Perfect bundle. If you already have a SC Lite, then you will be aware that it can't really run GBA games properly. I actually bought the SC Lite specifically for GBA games a couple of years ago (I already had a R4 at the time). Needless to say I was gravely disappointed when I loaded up Super Mario World and it dropped down to 2 FPS when I chucked that shell at that row of turtles on the first stage.

EZ Flash 3-in-1 is great to use if you just want bare bones GBA support. But the compound cost with a slot-1 card makes it quite pricey.

The GBA expansion cart with the M3 Real supports Real Time Save, which made it my portable GBA system of choice. It was the only reason I managed to beat Metroid Fusion in under 2 hours on my first go. In the end, seeing Samus in her skimpy outfit probably wasn't worth all that loading and saving... Yes I'm a perv.


Now I emulate GBA games on my PSP

. The giant screen and no freaking black border had me sold. But there are still some sprite tears here and there... Sigh, the bottom line seems to be that no portable system can do GBA games quite like the GBA itself.