Where to get a R4 for DS?

[Odesseiron]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but where can I get a r4 or equally good product? I want something easy to use and supports most games. I hear r4 is a bit outdated, so other suggestions are welcome. Ebay no longer carries them under the r4 search description, or if someone has a website that you can order it from. Also, where to get the games, if you could provide a link! Can PM me or post, doesn't matter. Thanks!

[xopher]

Get a CycloDS or a Acekard DSonei.

realhotstuff.com is where I got mine.

The reason I suggest not getting an R4 is they are the most commonly counterfeited cards. It's really hard to tell if you're going to get a legit card or not.

[Caiyuo]

Seeing the thread title was an easy giveaway that you wouldn't be ending up with an R4 if BG has anything to do with it. lol I'd recommend an Acekard as well if cost is important, though Atreides has good insight as to whether the CycloDS is worth the extra money.

[Cephius]

Get a CycloDS or a Acekard DSonei.

realhotstuff.com is where I got mine.

The reason I suggest not getting an R4 is they are the most commonly counterfeited cards. It's really hard to tell if you're going to get a legit card or not.

This. Not to mention that R4s have software limitations with their save files that require you to install 3rd party firmware (ysmenu) to be able to play some newer games. Just get an Acekard.

[Atreides]

Cyclo is on the expensive side, but IMO it's worth the extra money. I'm not sure why people worry about the price of a flash cart when anything that you pay will be the last time you'll actually have to pay for a DS game. All of them, regardless of price, will pay for themselves very quickly.

and realhotstuff.com is reliable no matter what you decide to get

[GentaiShinigami]

Here is a thread over at gbatemp that talks about the R4 and all its incarnations:

http://www.gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=105193

That should help explain things to you. Honestly you may get an R4 clone and have a good experience, but to me it isn't worth saving ~10$. Get an Acekard or Supercard DSone or CycloDS and you'll have a better experience in the long run. Remember the R4 has a fair amount of compatibility issues and no download play support from what I remember, while the other 3 work pretty much flawlessly. Anyways, good luck with your future purchase I hope it works out for you.

Edit: Also when thinking over your options in cards don't forget the Acekard also has access to the AKAIO unofficial firmware which adds a ton of features to the Acekard. I'm sadly too lazy to go back and look, but big thanks to whoever it was here on BG that mentioned the AKAIO firmware. I'll be upgrading mine to that soon to see how it works.

[Odesseiron]

Thanks for all the info guys, much appreciated. I'm gonna go with the Acekard 2 with 2GB SD. I'd get the 4 gig one, but it's sold out at of 4gb one. I see it can use any SD card so I'll just order a bigger one later. How big are the average DS games anyway. Also; What is a good place to get the games?

I am guessing since it's a USB connection, I just download the game, then drag and drop? And you pick it at some kind of menu on the DS when you turn it on. I have no idea to be honest, lol.

[GentaiShinigami]

Thanks for all the info guys, much appreciated. I'm gonna go with the Acekard 2 with 2GB SD. I'd get the 4 gig one, but it's sold out at of 4gb one. I see it can use any SD card so I'll just order a bigger one later. How big are the average DS games anyway. Also; What is a good place to get the games?

I am guessing since it's a USB connection, I just download the game, then drag and drop? And you pick it at some kind of menu on the DS when you turn it on. I have no idea to be honest, lol.

Not sure how much your paying for that 2gb stick, but buy your flash ram on newegg.com. You can get a great 4gb microSD for 10$ and free shipping usually. They are almost always going to charge you more in the bundles than if you bought it seperately at newegg. Also, I'd get the Acekard 2i instead of just the Acekard 2. There was no price difference from what I remember when I bought mine, and it will work if you decide to upgrade to a DSi in the future (which is very likely as it has some nice features). Average I would say is 50mb for a ROM rip, with some going up to (so far I've seen) 200ish mb. I get my roms at:

http://www.romulation.net/

Yes, you put the card in a card reader (it comes with one) on your PC. After that drag the roms over to the rom folder on the card (it'll show up just like a harddrive would in windows). Then you take the card and put it in the Acekard and stick the whole thing in your DS. When you turn on the DS it'll show the normal stuff then come to where you pick a DS game or Advance game, and the DS game (slot 1) will show as "Acekard 2i". Click that and it'll load the Acekard OS and you can browse all the games/music/whatever and when you click a game it'll load it up then it's just like if you had the game cart in your DS.

Edit: OK I definitely wouldn't take the bundle deal there personally. They don't tell you the brand or class of microSD card or anything. Could be a cheap brand or budget memory that doesn't work quite so well. They also want to charge you 13$ for a 4gb card which is also fail. Save 3$ and ensure that you get a good brand and class 4 or higher card by buying the card at newegg. =) Really any brand like Kingston, SanDisk, A-Data, or PNY will work fine on an Acekard 2i. Some flashcarts have issues with certain memory cards, but the Acekard has none of those as far as I (or reviewers) could find. I'm using a PNY 4gb class 4 i got at bestbuy on black friday for 10$ in mine and it runs Castlevania with no problems (a notoriously problematic game as far as slowdown).

[Caiyuo]

Here's the breakdown on the AKAIO and yeah, they're really quick with updates and pretty great to use: http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php?title=AKAIO

As far as using the flash cart, it comes with a slot for an SDHC card usually and once you buy the SDHC card, it's just a matter of finding a way to access it, eithr by way of an SD card adapter and an SD port on your computer or possibly other methods.

[Odesseiron]

Generally though, most games run without a hitch?

[GentaiShinigami]

Generally though, most games run without a hitch?

As far as I am aware there is not a game in English (not sure about other languages, but I'm sure they work too or I would have come across more complaints in my searching) that does not work on the Acekard 2i. Typically what will happen is sometimes new games will come out with new piracy prevention methods, and the game or the firmware on the card will need to be patched. Like for instance several cards needed to patch Pokemon Soul Silver/Heart Gold to be able to play it (its only in JP till Spring), but Acekard 2i's played it fine without any update to the game. If something does end up not working in the future it will be fixed swiftly I'm sure.

[Caiyuo]

I've never had a problem with anything I've played on my Acekard 2 and most of mine are just the top downloaded picks from Romulation's NDS category. Some newer games sometimes have problems, but thats precisely why the popular cards that are still supported by their developers are necessary, because quick patches are very common in those cases.

[Meian]

Cyclo is on the expensive side, but IMO it's worth the extra money. I'm not sure why people worry about the price of a flash cart when anything that you pay will be the last time you'll actually have to pay for a DS game. All of them, regardless of price, will pay for themselves very quickly.

and realhotstuff.com is reliable no matter what you decide to get

Seriously, huge investment with less hassle than R4

[GentaiShinigami]

If you don't have a standalone card reader I recommend you pick up something like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820208458

They give you a little USB MicroSD reader with your flashcard kit, but as this review from GBATemp about the CycloDS's says about them...

Included with the CycloDS Evolution is a small USB micro SD card reader. The same one that is included with the R4 and M3 DS Simply. It's not a very good card reader, there have been countless problems experienced with these adapters - everything from overheating to corrupting SD cards. I really recommend you just pick up a real SD card reader

Plus this way you can read more than just MicroSD cards. I got one with my card+flashcard for Christmas and it has worked well so far and looks nice on my desk. There are a couple of other colors as well on Newegg if you don't want Black. The shipping fee will likely go free sometime soon as well if you keep an eye on it or look around for a promo code.

Also, I recommend some "Scotch Adhesive Putty" (little white bars of putty stuff) that you can get in office/school supplies sections to hold it in place where you want it. Just stick a little ball of the putty on each of the readers "feet" and push it down where you want it. That stuff works great for holding down things like my wireless mouse's USB receiver, this card reader, and my speakers (you have to push a button in to turn them on/off and they would normally move around when doing that). The stuff also works great for putting posters up without damaging your wall or the posters. :3 Here's a link of some so you know what I'm talking about. It's a little expensive but over like 5 years I've only used one of the four bars lol.

http://www.amazon.com/Adhesive-Putty...2197161&sr=8-1

[3ds emulator]

I had a supercard when the DS came out and never had a problem with it so i will be buying a supercard 3DS. Besides that any of the R4 card seem a safe bet.