Hacking Which Flash Cart Should I Get?

[Duaber]

I've got a DS original and looking for a card thats cheap, great compatibility, and can run emulators.

 

[Rydian]

I've got a DS original and looking for a card thats cheap, great compatibility, and can run emulators.

Everything here can run the basic DS emulators and has good DS compatibility.

The DSTwo has the best emulation.

BUT the DS sucks for emulation, unless you only want the GB/C and NES and such. If you want portable emulation, do not try a DS for anything newer or stronger than that.

 

[Black_AcexXx]

I think i will go on r4 gold because of the price and 3ds compability

 

[oateo]

Hi, I am very new to all of this and hope someone can help me. Maybe it would be better to make my own thread, but I thought it better to post here rather than to clog up the forum.

I'm looking for a flash cart for myself, and one for my boyfriend. He has an NDS, and I have an NDSL. Right now, I'm torn between one of the R4s (Gold or RTS), or the DSTwo. I don't really know what advantages one has over the other (beyond what's been posted in the OP of this thread), but I have had the original R4 for years and love it, so I'm leaning towards that option.

Main Use:
NDS games, possibly homebrew and some media.
BF would like to play old NES/SNES games, I might like to also, and/or GBA games too.
Must Haves:
Real time save feature,
able to use high capacity SD cards,
user-friendly interface, drag & drop files (not overly confusing or complicated),
price less than $40 (because I'm buying two, I don't want the total to be over $80)
Prefer to Have:
"Plug and Play", or at least minimal set up. I don't want to have to go through confusing steps or software installations.
Ship from North America, preferably US, and payable with paypal.

From my very basic/limited understanding, I'd have to take extra steps to get the R4 compatible with GB/A games. That's fine, as long as its not TOO terribly complicated or expensive. Also, I don't think the R4 Gold has the real time save feature (?), but I've come across some that do. I've seen it mentioned that these are "clones" and not the "real thing", but if the only issue there is less patches/updates, its not an issue for us since we only have the NDS and NDSL. (...Right? By all means, correct me if I'm wrong!)

Thank you so much for any help or advice!

 

[LurkerA]

Best solution for your case: get one DSTwo and one R4i Gold 3DS/RTS(r4ids.cn)

 

[oateo]

Best solution for your case: get one DSTwo and one R4i Gold 3DS/RTS(r4ids.cn)

Thanks for the reply! May I ask if there is a specific reason why, or do you just mean so that I can compare them?

 

[Rydian]

~

DS games, NES games, GB/C games, etc. will work fine on anything.

GBA/SNES will not. In order to make an R4 run GBA games well, you also need a slot-2 flash cart, which is more expensive than a slot-1. The DSTwo does have it's own special GBA emulator, but it's not as good as using a slot-2.

The best way to do SNES on a DS is the DSTwo as well, but it's still not perfect, and there's no alternative cart.

Emulation on a DS is not very good in general.

 

[oateo]

DS games, NES games, GB/C games, etc. will work fine on anything. GBA/SNES will not.
...
Emulation on a DS is not very good in general.

Thank you for the help. I think I understand, for the most part. I really don't think that either of us will be playing the GBA/SNES games often, it'd be more of a novelty or "isn't this cool" thing, so its not a big must have.

Is that the only main difference between the two (R4 vs DSTwo)?


Edit: I think I'm going to go with buying both R4 RTS, since the DSTwo is nearly twice the price, and I can get a slot 2 cart later on if I decide to. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Rydian]

The DSTwo has one huge advantage over all the other carts when it comes to firmware updates, but those don't matter on the original DS or the Lite, just the DSi and 3DS.

 

[Rheves]

I just picked up a 3DSXL and was wondering which card to get, from poking around the forums it seems DSTwo has save state support, which was one of the features I wanted, do any other cards offer this?

Do any cards allow you to speed up the game at all? Also if I start playing a game on my a DS emulator can I move the save files over to my 3DS when the card arrives and pick up where I left off?

 

[Rydian]

~

The R4i Gold has save-state, but it's experimental and buggy at this stage.

Nothing can fast-forward DS games on the DS because the DS is not faster than a DS.

Yes, saves can be moved around and converted.

 

[gusmento01]

Rydian,awesome job,I have a DSTWO but my niece asked me for a flash cart for her birthday and I was planing to give her a R4i Gold but after I looked at the chart you made I think it's better spend more money and buy a DSTWO.

 

[Rheves]

The R4i Gold has save-state, but it's experimental and buggy at this stage.

Nothing can fast-forward DS games on the DS because the DS is not faster than a DS.

Yes, saves can be moved around and converted.

DSTwo it is then, thanks!

 

[CptMyname]

I've been after a DS flashcart for a while, and I've pretty much settled on DStwo
But I'm not sure where to buy it off of, I'm looking at 3DScardshop but buying online is the kind of thing I like to have a second opinion on

 

[Rydian]

I've been after a DS flashcart for a while, and I've pretty much settled on DStwo
But I'm not sure where to buy it off of, I'm looking at 3DScardshop but buying online is the kind of thing I like to have a second opinion on

Good luck finding one in a physical store, since they're all produced in China and none of the big-name stores want to carry them.

[shoptemp]97[/shoptemp]

You can read reviews of shops there.

 

[Deicidium]

Hi,

I don't know if this is the right thread where I should post this question but here it goes.

(i've done lots of research about this and i can't get a specific answer to my question)

i'm planning to buy a 3DS XL and i want to know if I can just buy an R4 ( this is the only one that we have here in our country) to play DS roms instead of buying a physical copy? if its possible, are there any cons in doing that? and, are there any hassle if I would go that way?

lastly, can I easily switch to my 3ds cartridge without updating or changing anything in my 3ds?

thanks to those who will lighten up my mind.

 

[Rydian]

Hi,

I don't know if this is the right thread where I should post this question but here it goes.

(i've done lots of research about this and i can't get a specific answer to my question)

i'm planning to buy a 3DS XL and i want to know if I can just buy an R4 ( this is the only one that we have here in our country) to play DS roms instead of buying a physical copy? if its possible, are there any cons in doing that? and, are there any hassle if I would go that way?

lastly, can I easily switch to my 3ds cartridge without updating or changing anything in my 3ds?

thanks to those who will lighten up my mind.

http://gbatemp.net/threads/ds-dsi-3ds-hacking-f-a-q.278137/

 

[Rydian]

Huge update, condensed some info, rearranged some, added a large note on why people shouldn't buy clones.

 

[rody2k6]

I see that Acekard 2i has no 3DS compatibility. But my question is so did the Acekard team and AKAIO stop supporting it?

I know my sister has a DSi XL to this day and her Acekard 2i runs fine - did no more updates come out for the DSi since 2011 - or is she just not updating it?

 

[Rydian]

I see that Acekard 2i has no 3DS compatibility. But my question is so did the Acekard team and AKAIO stop supporting it?

I know my sister has a DSi XL to this day and her Acekard 2i runs fine - did no more updates come out for the DSi since 2011 - or is she just not updating it?

The AK2i isn't in the list, the list is for the AK 2.1, which is an earlier product.

The 2i did have some 3DS support, but stopped being able to be updated. The DSi has been getting updates as well, she just hasn't been updating it.