Hacking Whats the best?

[user1690]

Hey guys, so i decided to start playin my Gameboy Micro again and i decided i was gonna buy a flash cart for it but i dont know which is best.

I'll outline what im looking for, and maybe you can help.

I would like the cart to have:

RTC Support
At least enough space to hold 8GBA Games. (I dont understand MBit, etc...)


I have looked at carts like the Supercard (Mini SD) and the EZ Flash 4, but they dont have RTC so...

Thanks for any replies!

 

[Xuio]

M3 Perfect

 

[user1690]

M3 Perfect

I had done some browsing about that, I found the M3 Perfect Mini SD. But i cant find anywhere to actually buy it, i either find Pro versions or reviews.

Thanks for the reply though.

 

[The Pi]

I can't give advice on what cart to get but i can help with Mbits

1 megabyte = 8 Mbit
2 megabytes = 16 Mbit

ie 8bits = 1 byte

most "good" gba games are 128 Mbits or 16 megabytes.

since you seem worried about RTC all 5 pokemon games are 16 megabytes each.

 

[user1690]

I can't give advice on what cart to get but i can help with Mbits

1 megabyte = 8 Mbit
2 megabytes = 18 Mbit

ie 8bits = 1 byte

most "good" gba games are 128 Mbits or 16 megabytes.

since you seem worried about RTC all 5 pokemon games are 16 megabytes each.

Alright thanks for that, still stuck on what cart to get. But if anyones willing to part with theirs, and it has RTC functionality. I'll gladly buy it if its between $20-$30.

 

[Rayder]

M3 Perfect was the very best dedicated slot2 cart, but they don't make them anymore. (which I think was a mistake on M3's part)

I believe the next best dedicated slot2 cart you might still be able to get is an EZFlash 4.

Then there's always the 3in1's, though I don't care for those myself since it doesn't have an SD slot to hold its own files and makes you put everything on your slot1 cart's SD. But it is a cheap alternative.

Avoid Supercard slot2 as they never fixed them to prevent slowdown in many GBA games, and the compatibility kinda poor. It was my first flashcart and I was very disappointed with it. Fine for homebrew, sucks for GBA games.

I have all the slot2's I mentioned, except for a 3in1.

 

[user1690]

Alright. Im gonna give up soon if i cant find a good place to buy a M3 Perfect from or an EZ Flash IV.

150 Google pages and counting!

I've come to learn, its going to be extremely hard to find a proper RTC-Based cartridge as their either OOP (Out of production) or to expensive.

E-Bay nor Amazon hasnt helped which is no suprise as cartridges which can hold commercial roms, whether their backups of owned games or not, i think it breaks their ToS.

 

[ryan90]

doesn't the ezflash v slot 1 plus the ez 3 in 1 support RTC(real time cheat?) when used together, im like the ez 3 in 1 alot because anything 16 mb or under which is 95% of gba roms runs straight from slot 1 and the load time is the same as the megabytes a 4 mb rom takes 4 seconds and a 16mb takes 16 seconds, although the 32mb roms need to be loaded to the nor, cool thing is it will stay on the 3 in 1 until you re-flash and you can use as a separate gba cart.

someone will need to confirm that ez 5 plus ez 3 in 1 = RTC because I'm not 100%

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

RTC = Real Time Clock.
not real time cheat.

The RTC chip is a eight legged chip on the PCB. This is what it looks like on the M3 GEP:

It was confirmed A LONG TIME AGO, that the 3in1 doesn't have RTC support. Pictures for every version is in my sig.

 

[user1690]

Alright guys it seems I've finally found myself a cheap GBA Flash kit and its M3 based! But i need to know because I'm confused if it supports the GBA Hand-held or not as the site doesn't specify if it does or not and Google was very vague.


The link is below:

M3 Link - Click me!

 

[Rayder]

The M3 Pro.....well, I'm not sure why they made that exactly. I don't know, but I assume it came out BEFORE the M3 Perfect. It only has 4megs of RAM for GBA, it doesn't have the full 32megs needed for larger GBA games. That will NOT be what you want for GBA. It has to be the M3 Perfect with 32megs of RAM (and not the Pro with only 4) to be worth bothering with. The M3 Pro was a mongrel that has burned a lot of people expecting it to be useful for GBA.

 

[user1690]

The M3 Pro.....well, I'm not sure why they made that exactly. It only has 4megs of RAM, it doesn't have the full 32megs needed for larger GBA games. That will NOT be what you want for GBA. It has to be the M3 Perfect with 32megs of RAM to be worth bothering with. The M3 Pro was a mongrel that has burned a lot of people expecting it to be useful for GBA.

Damn, oh well it was worth a shot, i found something else though that apparently supports the Real Time Clock function its a Neoflash Kit, it supposedly supports the GBA and the NDS which is good to!

Just one more question quickly though

512Mb is apparently 64Megabyes (Google calculator

)
How many backups of my games can i get on because i dont really wanna be downloading any backups just yet to get exact size measurements.

I own games such as Super Mario bros 3
Pokemon series (Fire red, Leaf Green, etc)
and many more but i wont list everything here.


Edit: Scrap some of the info above, RTC is apparently not supported at all.

The neoflash kit is on the same website and is linked below:

Flash Kit: Neoflash 512Mb Kit

 

[Rayder]

Read GBAtemp's own review of that card and determine for yourself whether it's for you or not. Essentially, it's just another 3in1.

GBAtemp's Review of the NeoFlash 512Mb 3in1 kit

This late in the game, I think you better get an EZFlash IV or 3in1 now, before even they are gone. Forget Supercard slot2's, they suck for GBA games.....slowdown in many games, bleh. I recommend the EZFlash IV over the 3in1 so you can put up to 2gigs of GBA games on its own SD to play at your leisure. I'm sure 2gigs would accommodate ALL your favorite GBA games.
The 3in1 makes you flash over the game you want to play from files stored on your slot1 card, and only one at a time.
Either solution will work, and you will lose the real-time-clock in either case, but at least you'll be able to play GBA games, period. The EZFlash IV is just easier to deal with once it's set up. Some of the games that used RTC had patches to fix the problem for carts without RTC, so you could just use the patches. Otherwise, just try to acquire legal copies of those particular games that utilize RTC.


Here's the thing though, if you wait too much longer, you won't gain access to slot2 GBA gaming at all, because slot2 carts are slowly fading away. Get 'em while supplies last! Order now!

Seriously though, if anyone has any other quality carts that are still available to recommend, please do so. They are drying up fast.

 

[user1690]

Read GBAtemp's own review of that card and determine for yourself whether it's for you or not. Essentially, it's just another 3in1.

GBAtemp's Review of the NeoFlash 512Mb 3in1 kit

This late in the game, I think you better get an EZFlash IV or 3in1 now, before even they are gone. Forget Supercard slot2's, they suck for GBA games.....slowdown in many games, bleh. I recommend the EZFlash IV over the 3in1 so you can put up to 2gigs of GBA games on its own SD to play at your leisure. I'm sure 2gigs would accommodate ALL your favorite GBA games.
The 3in1 makes you flash over the game you want to play from files stored on your slot1 card, and only one at a time.
Either solution will work, and you will lose the real-time-clock in either case, but at least you'll be able to play GBA games, period. The EZFlash IV is just easier to deal with once it's set up. Some of the games that used RTC had patches to fix the problem for carts without RTC, so you could just use the patches. Otherwise, just try to acquire legal copies of those particular games that utilize RTC.


Here's the thing though, if you wait too much longer, you won't gain access to slot2 GBA gaming at all, because slot2 carts are slowly fading away. Get 'em while supplies last! Order now!

Seriously though, if anyone has any other quality carts that are still available to recommend, please do so. They are drying up fast.

Alright i found a good site which appears to have the EZ-Flash IV Mini which seems to be just what im looking for then, Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[ProtoKun7]

I can't give advice on what cart to get but i can help with Mbits

1 megabyte = 8 Mbit
2 megabytes = 16 Mbit

Fix'd. 16, not 18

 

[Krestent]

Read GBAtemp's own review of that card and determine for yourself whether it's for you or not. Essentially, it's just another 3in1.

GBAtemp's Review of the NeoFlash 512Mb 3in1 kit

This late in the game, I think you better get an EZFlash IV or 3in1 now, before even they are gone. Forget Supercard slot2's, they suck for GBA games.....slowdown in many games, bleh. I recommend the EZFlash IV over the 3in1 so you can put up to 2gigs of GBA games on its own SD to play at your leisure. I'm sure 2gigs would accommodate ALL your favorite GBA games.
The 3in1 makes you flash over the game you want to play from files stored on your slot1 card, and only one at a time.
Either solution will work, and you will lose the real-time-clock in either case, but at least you'll be able to play GBA games, period. The EZFlash IV is just easier to deal with once it's set up. Some of the games that used RTC had patches to fix the problem for carts without RTC, so you could just use the patches. Otherwise, just try to acquire legal copies of those particular games that utilize RTC.


Here's the thing though, if you wait too much longer, you won't gain access to slot2 GBA gaming at all, because slot2 carts are slowly fading away. Get 'em while supplies last! Order now!

Seriously though, if anyone has any other quality carts that are still available to recommend, please do so. They are drying up fast.

Alright i found a good site which appears to have the EZ-Flash IV Mini which seems to be just what im looking for then, Thanks for the suggestion.

Mini? There were some flaws with the mini IIRC, like having less RAM than the original. JUst get the original full-size EZ-Flash. I believe NDSCardsale has them.

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

Mini? There were some flaws with the mini IIRC, like having less RAM than the original. JUst get the original full-size EZ-Flash. I believe NDSCardsale has them.

He wants the Mini because it fits better in a GameBoy Micro. The normal one sticks out a little.

 

[Krestent]

Mini? There were some flaws with the mini IIRC, like having less RAM than the original. JUst get the original full-size EZ-Flash. I believe NDSCardsale has them.

He wants the Mini because it fits better in a GameBoy Micro. The normal one sticks out a little.

Is the Mini the one that's the same size as a GBA cart? If so, then could you please post a pic of the original (I can't find one)?

 

[1776]

Alright i found a good site which appears to have the EZ-Flash IV Mini which seems to be just what im looking for then, Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm in the same situation as you. Looking for the best currently available flash cart for the Gameboy Advance. What did you eventually end up getting?

Did you take a further look at any of these Neo or GX cards here: http://www.ic2005.com/shop/home.php?cat=4

Why are the above Neo and GX cards so expensive? Do they offer something the EZ-Flash IV doesn't?

Also, what about the G-Bank or Game Bank: http://www.gbalink.com

 

[Cuelhu]

Alright i found a good site which appears to have the EZ-Flash IV Mini which seems to be just what im looking for then, Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm in the same situation as you. Looking for the best currently available flash cart for the Gameboy Advance. What did you eventually end up getting?

Did you take a further look at any of these Neo or GX cards here: http://www.ic2005.com/shop/home.php?cat=4

Why are the above Neo and GX cards so expensive? Do they offer something the EZ-Flash IV doesn't?

Also, what about the G-Bank or Game Bank: http://www.gbalink.com

those are pure NOR carts and are expensive due to their rarity (? they are old).
Ez-Flash IV has NOR as well, has a very good compatibility and can do the same things except the RTC (Real Time Clock - only pokemon games use that)

don't know about g-bank, but it looks very outdated.