Best Nintendo DS Romcart?

[korpse413]

What is the best DS Romcart? I see conflicting information out there on other forums. Was curious if any users here owned any? It seems like there are a like of knockoffs floating out there as well

[bobrocks95]

Can't help out on flashcarts, but I did want to point out in case you didn't know that DSi's can now be softmodded and used to load rom files.

[Lawfer]

What is the best DS Romcart? I see conflicting information out there on other forums. Was curious if any users here owned any? It seems like there are a like of knockoffs floating out there as well

Unfortunately there are no reliable choices for DS and 3DS when it comes to flashcarts. Krikzz (the guy behind the Everdrive flashcarts) did mention about a year ago or so that he wasn't interested in making DS flashcarts either, nothing either from Terraonion or anyone else as far as I know.

The only choices so far are the chinese DS/3DS flashcarts which might have hidden functions of upgrading your DS/3DS to a brick.

[ldeveraux]

I've has the Supercard DSTWO for a loooong time not and it works great, not sure why anyone wouldn't recommend it.
http://eng.supercard.sc/

[Lawfer]

I've has the Supercard DSTWO for a loooong time not and it works great, not sure why anyone wouldn't recommend it.
http://eng.supercard.sc/

That's a chinese flashcart and these are too hit and miss if you value your hardware, there's more than a few issues with these:

1. They might turn your 3DS into a brick or help cultivate defects in your 3DS in the long run due to underlying issues that will never be addressed (see Gateway 3DS, Stargate 3DS etc.)

2. Second there are a lot of clones and counterfeit and it's very hard to know if you got a real one or a fake, all of them real or clones sold outside of china were sold online through shady chinese sweatshop dealers that nobody has ever heard of and good luck knowing who's selling you a real or a clone flashcart, because getting a clone/counterfeit 3DS flashcart while using firmware meant for a non-clone can brick your 3DS.

3. The DSTWO is known to be the most power hungry of the chinese flashcarts, this is very outside the regulated power draws standards of retail 3DS cartridge games and that possibly might not be too good for your system in the long run (it certainly isn't good for battery life).

4. And most of all the DSTWO has been sold out for a few years now, you could still find listings for them in one of these shady chinese flashcarts online stores that nobody has ever heard of but who knows if what you'll receive is a real one or a clone (if you receive anything at all).

[korpse413]

Can't help out on flashcarts, but I did want to point out in case you didn't know that DSi's can now be softmodded and used to load rom files.

Thanks for the info, didn't know that, however I want something for the og 'phat' DS for the upcoming Woozle video out / consolizer.

Shame Krikzz has his mind made up on that matter... I feel like the DS is approaching that 'Renaissance' period in its life where kids who grew up with it might return to it. My curse as usual is wanting to get genuine experience with original hardware but with a video out spin... Curse you Nintendo for never making a 'Game Boy Player 2' for WiiU that would play DS games using the 2nd screen on the gamepad... That would've just printed money

[Lawfer]

Can't help out on flashcarts, but I did want to point out in case you didn't know that DSi's can now be softmodded and used to load rom files.

Thanks for the info, didn't know that, however I want something for the og 'phat' DS for the upcoming Woozle video out / consolizer.

Shame Krikzz has his mind made up on that matter... I feel like the DS is approaching that 'Renaissance' period in its life where kids who grew up with it might return to it. My curse as usual is wanting to get genuine experience with original hardware but with a video out spin... Curse you Nintendo for never making a 'Game Boy Player 2' for WiiU that would play DS games using the 2nd screen on the gamepad... That would've just printed money

Maybe in 10 years when the 3DS will have become "retro", Analogue will make an FPGA that can play 3DS and DS games from a microSD card with the jailbreak firmware.

[fernan1234]

You can still find good R4 cards, and as long as you use the Wood firmware instead of whatever is provided by default you should be fine and free of any brick risks. The one that should cover all needs is the R4i+ 3DS/DS RTS. I was able to find one of these last year without problems to use on a DSi and an n3DS, though I also still have an old original R4 for my DS Lite.

As to where to buy, I'd suggest finding an online store that takes Paypal payments (those that only use weird pay gateways or direct credit card may be more suspicious, usually because they are trying to avoid Paypal disputes, or had too many in the past) and that ideally has warehouses in NA or EU and ships from there.

[WelshMegalodon]

I remember being pretty disgusted by the absence of reliable DS flashcarts when I was looking for them two years ago. It's sad to hear that the situation hasn't changed.

Maybe in 10 years when the 3DS will have become "retro", Analogue will make an FPGA that can play 3DS and DS games from a microSD card with the jailbreak firmware.

melonDS is well on its way to becoming the quality DS emulator we've all been waiting for, and Citra has also come surprisingly far. For the vast majority of people, there is very little reason to opt for an FPGA solution when highly accurate software emulation is already available (and as far as I can tell, the existence of the former depends on the latter anyway).

[Kez]

I believe it's considered to be the R4i Gold 3DS Plus overall. Pretty much any of the cheap ones available now are fine though, but they often have timebombs that stop them working after a certain system date. You can get custom kernel files which removes the "brick" and just uses a different menu, or you can set your DS time back to before the timebomb activates.

[WelshMegalodon]

That's the thing, though. Why do we have to put up with that kind of nonsense for a flashcart when it's been 16 years since the handheld's release?

[Lawfer]

I remember being pretty disgusted by the absence of reliable DS flashcarts when I was looking for them two years ago. It's sad to hear that the situation hasn't changed.

As am I, I was also looking for a 3DS flashcart two years ago and it's all chinese flashcarts with various hazards, for example the DSTWO+ is actually a Gateway 3DS clone, meaning it can brick your 3DS system,



Aside from the fact that it's all sold out now and all support has been abondoned years ago, or the Stargate 3DS which is the newest 3DS flashcart, it was supposed to receive a firmware update that would fix issues, end result the firmware was never released and the website eventually closed, so you are left with the Stargate 3DS flashcart and abondoned firmware support, meaning all you have is the sole release firmware riddled with issues.

I have managed to get most of the 3DS games I wanted officially (I am still missing a few who are too rare and expensive now), but I am missing A LOT of DS games and also that leaves me without the DS/3DS fan translated games and most of all the cartrige slot of my 3DS is starting to not work anymore and it's getting worse (seems to be an issue with the spring as it won't eject the cartridges properly anymore), a flashcart which I would just insert and never have to remove would be very welcome, alas...

[awe444]

Krikzz did mention about a year ago or so that he wasn't interested in making DS flashcarts either, nothing either from Terraonion or anyone else as far as I know

Without having read Krikzz’s actual statement on this, the fact that Nintendo’s still selling hardware /software relevant to such products (i.e., the 3DS line) must factor into this at least in part. Give it a few years and product-maker’s positions will change, and at the same time the market for quality DS flash carts will likely grow

[Osirus]

I had an R4 about 8 or 9 years ago.

[Lawfer]

Krikzz did mention about a year ago or so that he wasn't interested in making DS flashcarts either, nothing either from Terraonion or anyone else as far as I know

Without having read Krikzz’s actual statement on this, the fact that Nintendo’s still selling hardware /software relevant to such products (i.e., the 3DS line) must factor into this at least in part. Give it a few years and product-maker’s positions will change

Krikzz never actually released a formal statement pertaining to that matter, I don't think he ever really addressed anything related to DS or 3DS or anything before aside from that single time I saw when someone asked him about it on twitter over a year ago (I think it was under one of Krikzz twitter post related to the Mega Everdrive Pro or something) and Krikzz answer was basically something like "I have no interest in DS/3DS Everdrive."

and at the same time the market for quality DS flash carts will likely grow

The DS/3DS Flashcart market is shrinking and dying, it's not growing.

[awe444]

and at the same time the market for quality DS flash carts will likely grow

The DS/3DS Flashcart market is shrinking and dying, it's not growing.

Well sure, the market for DS/3DS flashcarts in general is of course shrinking/dying because the hardware has reached the end of its commercial life. This is the same market that in general tolerated (kept up the demand for) the Chinese products mentioned earlier in this thread. The market for quality flashcarts, if one ever exists, will probably be a different demographic in a different time.

[BONKERS]

I have an R4 from a few years ago that has been super reliable, however I don't remember what site I bought it from and it seems those can vary a lot.

[Lawfer]

The market for quality flashcarts, if one ever exists, will probably be a different demographic in a different time.

IF it ever exist, one of the problems with this I think (and why it never happened yet) is because the 3DS, like the PS Vita and other cartridge based hardware released in the past 15 years can be hacked to let you play all the games you want, that might be one of the reasons why Krikzz is not interested in making a DS/3DS Everdrive(s), probably because he thinks that there isn't (enough) money to be made in there due to the fact that alot of potential sales will be lost to the people who can simply play DS/3DS ROMS without an everdrive but instead by hacking a 3DS.

[awe444]

The market for quality flashcarts, if one ever exists, will probably be a different demographic in a different time.

IF it ever exist, one of the problems with this I think (and why it never happened yet) is because the 3DS, like the PS Vita and other cartridge based hardware released in the past 15 years can be hacked to let you play all the games you want, that might be one of the reasons why Krikzz is not interested in making a DS/3DS Everdrive(s), probably because he thinks that there isn't (enough) money to be made in there due to the fact that alot of potential sales will be lost to the people who can simply play DS/3DS ROMS without an everdrive but instead by hacking a 3DS.

By analogy: one has been able to play GameCube games on a hacked Wii for at least the past 10 years, and yet, only a year ago, the GCLoader was released, and continues to sell out, to a niche market. I think a quality DS flashcart solution could easily happen under a similar context.

[Lawfer]

Well it was just speculation as to why Krikzz has seemingly not interest in making a DS/3DS flashcart (you can hack a DSi too btw to play DS games), but I hope there is one, one day because I won't be hacking my 3DS.

[Jdurg]

The market for quality flashcarts, if one ever exists, will probably be a different demographic in a different time.

IF it ever exist, one of the problems with this I think (and why it never happened yet) is because the 3DS, like the PS Vita and other cartridge based hardware released in the past 15 years can be hacked to let you play all the games you want, that might be one of the reasons why Krikzz is not interested in making a DS/3DS Everdrive(s), probably because he thinks that there isn't (enough) money to be made in there due to the fact that alot of potential sales will be lost to the people who can simply play DS/3DS ROMS without an everdrive but instead by hacking a 3DS.

By analogy: one has been able to play GameCube games on a hacked Wii for at least the past 10 years, and yet, only a year ago, the GCLoader was released, and continues to sell out, to a niche market. I think a quality DS flashcart solution could easily happen under a similar context.

Eh, don't know if the GameCube on Wii comparison is really a good one here. If you only own a GameCube, the Wii isn't really a solution for you. A GC Loader could prove useful so you don't have to buy another console. For the DS Flashcart and hacking a 2DS/3DS, if you have the DS you don't need additional hardware to hack it and play your ROMs.

So I don't think it's as straightforward an analogy there.

[awe444]

If you only own a GameCube, the Wii isn't really a solution for you.

This actually furthers the analogy: If you only own an original (phat) DS or a DS lite, neither or which have an SD card slot, the softmod+SD card option isn’t a solution. You might argue that a DSi or 2DS/3DS to replace these can be found for cheap, but then that leads to this point:

A GC Loader could prove useful so you don't have to buy another console.

A GCLoader is both more expensive and harder to acquire than a Wii console, but ultimately yes it avoids the need to buy a second console. I’d expect that if a quality DS flashcart were to come out, it would likewise be more expensive and rare than a stock hackable console

[WelshMegalodon]

The DSi and 3DS also lack GBA cartridge slots, which may very well be a deal-breaker for Pokemon enthusiasts.

[Kez]

That's the thing, though. Why do we have to put up with that kind of nonsense for a flashcart when it's been 16 years since the handheld's release?

Well that's what I'm saying, if you get a legit R4i Gold 3DS Plus then you don't have to put up with it. But you can still just buy a cheap one and remove the timebomb if you want to spend less.

I think Krikzz doesn't want to touch them because they are mass produced at super low margin and already work fine. There isn't really much he could add here honestly. I am not sure what functionality people think is missing?

In terms of 3DS, I have a Sky3DS+, which is a functioning 3DS flashcart.. however I haven't used it in such a long time. 3DS flash carts are not really needed because the 3DS softmods are so superior. It is also incredibly easy and well-documented to perform one of these softmods and can be performed on every single 3DS.

[ldeveraux]

I've has the Supercard DSTWO for a loooong time not and it works great, not sure why anyone wouldn't recommend it.
http://eng.supercard.sc/

That's a chinese flashcart and these are too hit and miss if you value your hardware, there's more than a few issues with these:

1. They might turn your 3DS into a brick or help cultivate defects in your 3DS in the long run due to underlying issues that will never be addressed (see Gateway 3DS, Stargate 3DS etc.)

2. Second there are a lot of clones and counterfeit and it's very hard to know if you got a real one or a fake, all of them real or clones sold outside of china were sold online through shady chinese sweatshop dealers that nobody has ever heard of and good luck knowing who's selling you a real or a clone flashcart, because getting a clone/counterfeit 3DS flashcart while using firmware meant for a non-clone can brick your 3DS.

3. The DSTWO is known to be the most power hungry of the chinese flashcarts, this is very outside the regulated power draws standards of retail 3DS cartridge games and that possibly might not be too good for your system in the long run (it certainly isn't good for battery life).

4. And most of all the DSTWO has been sold out for a few years now, you could still find listings for them in one of these shady chinese flashcarts online stores that nobody has ever heard of but who knows if what you'll receive is a real one or a clone (if you receive anything at all).

I see your point(s), but as I said, it's been 100% in my experience. Never bricked my console, I'm pretty sure it's not counterfeit, etc. When I went to that website to find info on it I didn't realize they'd released a DSTWO PLUS! I think I got it from ModChipsCentral or ModChipsDirect years ago or whoever was a reputable seller of original material. IDK.

[WelshMegalodon]

I think Krikzz doesn't want to touch them because they are mass produced at super low margin and already work fine. There isn't really much he could add here honestly. I am not sure what functionality people think is missing?

Quality assurance. Accessibility. A sense of security. Those are what we're missing.

If R4 cards are as easy to make as you say, then I'll wait until I can buy them from a reputable vendor instead of some random Chinese sweatshop that may or may not abuse my credit card information.

[nmalinoski]

I picked up an R4i Gold 3DS Plus about a year ago, and it's been working fine with the Wood firmware. What's neat is that it comes with a little magnet and has a little switch that can toggle it between its DS flash cart mode and a jailbreak mode. Worked well, and no timebomb to speak of.

[Kez]

Quality assurance. Accessibility. A sense of security. Those are what we're missing.

If R4 cards are as easy to make as you say, then I'll wait until I can buy them from a reputable vendor instead of some random Chinese sweatshop that may or may not abuse my credit card information.

I hear you, but I think you're going to be waiting for a very long time. In terms of QC, that may be an issue but these things are orders of magnitude cheaper than the offerings from the reputable vendors. We are talking less than 10 bucks. I have seen a whole bunch of carts through the years and they all work fine for playing DS games, but even if it didn't work you could still buy several more before it even began to approach the cost of an Everdrive.

I think the market for a "high-end" DS cart is practically non-existent. You may be willing to pay significantly more for a sense of security, but most people will just pick one up on eBay. As far as I can tell, there aren't really any killer features that can be added at this point. They play all the games, they even help you hack your 3DS.

[Gara]

The Supercard DSTwo is pretty good as long as you don't leave it in your system. They put a CPU in that thing so it can emulate GBA/Snes games. The problem is that CPU will never shut off and will slowly drain battery on the system regardless of being turned off.

This is the first I'm hearing of it causing any kind of long term damage. The DsTwo+ is also not a clone of the Gateway 3DS.

I guess it depends on what you're hoping for in a flash cart. If you want something basic, that will just work, then one of the various R4 variants is a solid choice. Drag, drop, and play.

I have an R4 and a DSTwo. I generally stick to the DSTwo and just remember to eject. The DSTwo has the better looking menu and features. I used to have a DSTwo+, but I sold it. The plus model features a faster CPU that I assume drains the battery even faster.

[Lawfer]

I see your point(s), but as I said, it's been 100% in my experience. Never bricked my console,

What you have is it a DSTwo or a DSTwo Plus? If it's a DSTwo, you should be fine with a genuine one.

I'm pretty sure it's not counterfeit, etc.

How long ago did you buy it? If you bought it at launch or not long after launch, it's likely a guenuine one.

The DsTwo+ is also not a clone of the Gateway 3DS.

Multiple sources on the internet do indicate that the DSTwo Plus is in fact a clone of the Gateway 3DS which can brick your console.

Warning: May lead to bricking due to the DSTwo Plus being an unsanctioned Gateway clone and Gateway inserting code to brick systems

I have an R4 and a DSTwo. I generally stick to the DSTwo and just remember to eject. The DSTwo has the better looking menu and features. I used to have a DSTwo+, but I sold it. It features a faster CPU that I assume drains the battery even faster.

Then this is not a good choice for me as I plan to put the flashcart in there and never eject it because the cartridge slot spring seems to be worn out in my console. Have you had any experience with the Sky3DS and/or Sky3DS+?