Hardware GBA What is this M3 micro SD cartridge I found?

[Lotoonlink]

I found what looks to be a GBA flashcard with the sticker saying "M3 Micro SD".

I can't find much information about it online and I'm confused about what this is used for and how I would use it. The biggest question I have is do I need to have a corresponding DS flashcard in order to use it? If so, I'm assuming something like an R4 wouldn't work. All the information I found on this thing shows it being used with DSs and not GBAs so I'm assuming it doesn't work on GBAs? If someone could answer these questions and also point me to whatever firmware I need to use the card, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[metroid maniac]

I don't recognize this model in particular, but the M3 was a GBA flashcart. It probably will work if you just put it in a GBA.
In the early days of NDS homebrew certain GBA flashcarts were used to run NDS software in conjunction with a passme, which is a dongle in the NDS cartridge slot. Your R4 likely still has a "run GBA in NDS mode" option which does the same thing.

 

[Xuio]

Probably it's GBA/DS or DS only flashcard called M3 Lite Professional or Perfect (?).

https://www.emuparadise.me/reviews/M3 Lite/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/m3-lite-professional-review.39966/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/the-ultimate-m3-perfect-gba-guide-final.336658/

 

[Deleted member 194275]

https://gbatemp.net/threads/flash-card-catalogue.593823/

this guy is/was doing a catalog of flashcards, maybe you find info there.

 

[Titney]

A lot of info here:
https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/M3_Adapter_(Perfect/Pro/Lite)

 

[Lotoonlink]

I don't recognize this model in particular, but the M3 was a GBA flashcart. It probably will work if you just put it in a GBA.
In the early days of NDS homebrew certain GBA flashcarts were used to run NDS software in conjunction with a passme, which is a dongle in the NDS cartridge slot. Your R4 likely still has a "run GBA in NDS mode" option which does the same thing.

Do you know what software I need to load ROMs onto the cartridge? Or can I just drop ROMs onto the removable SD card without any software needed?

 

[metroid maniac]

Do you know what software I need to load ROMs onto the cartridge? Or can I just drop ROMs onto the removable SD card without any software needed?

The M3's firmware is stored internally, so you shouldn't need anything on the SD card for it to boot.
GBA games will need an SRAM patch before saving will work. You can use GBATA for that or the M3 client software.
But it looks like this is the M3 Lite Pro with a very low size limit for GBA ROMs.
DS games will need to be patched with the M3 client too.

 

[Lotoonlink]

The M3's firmware is stored internally, so you shouldn't need anything on the SD card for it to boot.
GBA games will need an SRAM patch before saving will work. You can use GBATA for that or the M3 client software.
But it looks like this is the M3 Lite Pro with a very low size limit for GBA ROMs.
DS games will need to be patched with the M3 client too.

I got Metroid Zero Mission to boot up but Pokemon Emerald just boots up to a white screen. Is this due to the low size limit you were referring to or could this be an issue with the RTC?