R4 DS cards

[The_OG_Nelta]

I heard these were pretty outdated and cannot play some of the newer games, is this true?

I don't have much experience in the R4's, so can anyone direct me where to buy a good one?

[Cheerios]

They can play newer games, but you have to patch it with some program for select games to run (Chrono Trigger and Korg DS come to mind).

[Boyiee]

I have the DSi so I bought an Acekard2i, so far it seems great so try that brand out. Realhotstuff.com has them cheap.

[Sqwunk]

I have the DSi so I bought an Acekard2i, so far it seems great so try that brand out. Realhotstuff.com has them cheap.

I don't have the DSi yet, but i bought the Acekard2i because it's compatible with older DS models also. Only problem I've had is with a game that's in korean and it couldn't make a save file for another game.

[Caiyuo]

I bought an Acekard2 for my DS lite as well. From the price comparisons I've seen, R4 is about $10, while Ace is roughly $20 supporting MicroSHDC for bigger cards as well as custom firmware outside of the Acekard community. Rsearched for awhile and seemed to be the best mix between features and price, sitting below the CycloDS which is a bit more!

[Atreides]

You probably made the right call, I was under the impression that the R4 was no longer going to have official support because the company that makes them was shut down by the Japanese authorities.

Personally I love my CycloDS (there's a thread about these somewhere, btw) but it's a bit pricier than some of the other options (and like all flash carts it wont work for DSi unless it's specifically designed to), it has a lot of cool options/community support as well.

Does anyone have any experience with GBA flash carts (not EZflash 3 in 1, I mean a USB-connectible or microSD GBA-slot cartridge that can hold multiple games) care to make a recommendation? Is it even worth it or should I just wait til one of those multi-system retro handheld emulators they sell on thinkgeek gets super cheap?

[Caiyuo]

Mind if I ask why you aren't considering the EZFlash pak? I don't own one or plan on it anytime, but was just curious as to why you didn't want to go that route, in case I ever do want GBA-ness. Seems like that along with Cyclo is actually a pretty popular combo.

Never really understood why there weren't any GBA-emulator options for the DS via a Slot 1 cart the way you can load a SNES emu. Thought they were on pretty even grounds technologically and way below that of the DS in itself. lol

[Atreides]

I actually have an EZflash, which has the benefit of being:
1) the perfect size to fit in the DSLite's gba bay without sticking out like a regular gba cartridge
2) has rumble, as well as whatever RAM if you ever decide to use the DS browser (which sucks but yeah)
3) can play GBA games via your DS flash card

The downside is that the EZFlash can only hold one gba game at a time, and with larger roms to get it onto there you have to go through a lengthy copy procedure (from the Cyclo to the EZflash).

From what I've seen of GBA flash carts, they work much the same as DS ones, where you can store multiple games on the cartridge and you can select the game from a menu once you boot the GBA/DS (although the one I saw a while back had build in 1GB storage, no microSD slot, but GBA games are small so that's probably sufficient room).

I'm assuming most of the ones out there are normal GBA-cartridge sized, which is fine because primarily I'd be playing on a GBA Micro which I rarely use (and there's a lot of GBA games I'd like to play). The GBA Micro is insanely small so it's perfect to just keep in my pocket, being able to store multiple games on 1 cartridge would be really sweet.

I got my flash cart on realhotstuff, and I don't remember where I saw the GBA cart, so I was hoping someone had a suggestion of which brand to get or where to get it.

[Caiyuo]

Sounds really handy after your little feature breakdown. Never been able to use the DS wifi/browser at all due to the WEP thing. lol

Have you checked out gbatemp.net before? That's the resource I used most when researching, and given the name alone I'd assume they'd also include something for what you're looking for as well.

Depending on the price of a better GBA solution, I might just say screw it altogether and leave it for PC emulation. ;/

[The_OG_Nelta]

So I shouldn't go with R4!?

[Atreides]

For GBA emulation, what I was thinking might also work was this:
ThinkGeek :: Pocket Retro Game Emulator
which is about the size of a game boy micro but plays GBA as well as NES, SNES, genesis, and neo geo, has 4gb built in storage, and can take microSD cards. It still doesn't solve my problem of letting me use my gba micro more, but it's damn nifty and I hate playing emulated games on my PC.

From what I've seen most of the GBA flash thingies are out of stock or no longer made, it's probably not profitable considering how much more popular the DS is. I'll hunt around, and yea I checked gbatemp a while ago but without a lot of luck.

As for the R4, it was the most popular brand but I don't know if I would buy it, assuming it's no longer being supported by the manufacturer. I don't even know if they're being made anymore but I can look it up.

I think a bunch of people on this board, including myself, have cycloDSs so that's probably the suggestions they/I would give. From what I understand they're just as good as the R4 but I'm pretty new to this stuff too D:

[Atreides]

from wiki, about the cycloDS

CycloDS Evolution

The CycloDS Evolution features DLDI auto patching and full DS download play support. It is one of the most popular cards on the market, but also more expensive due to its higher quality components and extra features other cards do not have. It earned a golden star on GBAtemp.net.

Like most other slot-1 devices, the CycloDS Evolution uses MicroSD cards for storage and media is played with the built in media player. It was one of the first to use SDHC cards, which range from 4GB to 32GB. The CycloDS Evolution package comes with a fast USB MicroSD reader/writer compatible with SDHC. The "Enhanced Mode" provides unique features activated through an in-game menu which other cards do not support. These features currently include slow-motion, soft reset, a built-in cheat device, a realtime save feature, the option to change the brightness of the DS Lite's LCD backlight in-game, and an in-game text reader for video game walkthroughs. It is very similar to the EDGE DS, although the EDGE DS is slightly more reliable.[6]

The card also acts as a pass-me and slot-2 cards like the 3-in-1 extension or G6 lite can be recognized as expansion packs for the CycloDS Evolution. This allows to extend memory for DSLinux, to play GBA games launched from the Slot-1 device and to use the Opera Web Browser, which normally requires a separate RAM expansion pack. A recent update allows the CycloDS Evolution to boot and patch GBA games directly from the CycloDS menu instead of using a separate homebrew program.

The extra features are really nice, I know it's a little bit more expensive but I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for. I'd rather pay a bit more for the knowledge that I probably will never have a problem nor a need to replace it, rather than pay less and have the thing brick or cut out or be incompatible with the 1 game I really want to play (because that's just how my luck runs, lol).

In my opinion it's worth investing in, spending 10 or 20 bucks more is worth it when you realize how much you'll save from never having to buy another game again. Not that I condone piracy (*cough*) but it pays for itself after 3-4 games.

[Caiyuo]

idk, unless you're reaaaally strapped for cash the Acekard2/2i (depending on DS/lite/DSi) is really close in price but still being developed for by both the original company and an alternative firmware called AKAIO by their community. In that respect, you'll get some extra features as well as better or hopefully guaranteed compatibility with new games as they're released. AKAIO devs take broken games pretty seriously, but I'm not sure about Acekard themselves.

Guess it depends on how dorky you want to get!

[Boyiee]

Yeah I got the acekard2i downloaded akiao and I was able to get games onto my ds in under 5min per including search times. Was pretty sweet. Cheats for a lot if you'd like too. I'm abusing my pokemon game now ;D

[Caiyuo]

For GBA emulation, what I was thinking might also work was this:
ThinkGeek :: Pocket Retro Game Emulator
which is about the size of a game boy micro but plays GBA as well as NES, SNES, genesis, and neo geo, has 4gb built in storage, and can take microSD cards. It still doesn't solve my problem of letting me use my gba micro more, but it's damn nifty and I hate playing emulated games on my PC.

That thing is actually really freaking cool. lol The only downside I can see is the price point, but again I guess the savings on games themselves would make up for it. Really tempting. lol

The extra features are really nice, I know it's a little bit more expensive but I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for. I'd rather pay a bit more for the knowledge that I probably will never have a problem nor a need to replace it, rather than pay less and have the thing brick or cut out or be incompatible with the 1 game I really want to play (because that's just how my luck runs, lol).

In my opinion it's worth investing in, spending 10 or 20 bucks more is worth it when you realize how much you'll save from never having to buy another game again. Not that I condone piracy (*cough*) but it pays for itself after 3-4 games.

I tend to agree with this and simply say between the cart and the memory card combined, it's all about how much you want to spend. You do get what you pay for in that the Cyclo is generally considered the best between features, support and quality. I'm just really cheap!

This is probably more of a debate and info-session that the OP wanted. ;-; lol

[Maguspk]

I have the M3 Simply which is basically an R4, and yes you do need to do an 'arm7' fix for some newer games. If you have no reason to buy an R4 then go with the newer cards mentioned in this thread because they have nicer firmware and are more user friendly due to not having to patch roms.

[miokomioko]

Only issues I ever had was with Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, which I managed to patch after hours of internet scouring and multiple failed attempts. Then, with Chrono Trigger which I gave up on.

[Kailee]

DealExtreme: $13.75 Acekard 2i AK2i Multimedia SDHC TF Cart for DSi/NDSi/DS Lite

Acekard2i for 13.75. They'll drop the price if you buy them in 3's and up. Free shipping on them as well. Buy them in bunches and then sell it to your friends for the same price or more, saving you all some money on them. It's backward compatible also, and for this price it's pretty hard to beat.

It's pretty nice, had mines for a 2 weeks now, no problems whatsoever.

[Franzer]

i got my r4 last year, and i haven't had any problems with it, but i have the first ds lite model. I tried using it on my roommate's ds which he bought more recently, and we couldn't even get it to load. I dont know a whole lot about the cards, but i would imagine something besides r4 at this point might be a better option.

[Caiyuo]

DealExtreme: $13.75 Acekard 2i AK2i Multimedia SDHC TF Cart for DSi/NDSi/DS Lite

Acekard2i for 13.75. They'll drop the price if you buy them in 3's and up. Free shipping on them as well. Buy them in bunches and then sell it to your friends for the same price or more, saving you all some money on them. It's backward compatible also, and for this price it's pretty hard to beat.

It's pretty nice, had mines for a 2 weeks now, no problems whatsoever.

Just throwing it out there, but on slickdeals I think it is, they usually warn people about deal extreme due to the customer service and obsceeeeene wait periods between purchase and ship dates. I think some have said like 4-6 weeks? No experience myself so it may be completely random and inaccurate, but the prices are so cheap that I assumed something had to be horribly wrong with them. lol