Hi guys. I just recently bought a ds lite (for the gba support) and am now in need of a flash cart. I'm debating between the R4i gold 3ds, the Acecard2i or the supercard DSTWO. The last one is slightly out of my price range though, so i was hoping for one of the cheaper solutions. The bottom line is, i'm really a newb to the whole flash cart thing, so i was wondering which one to buy for the best game support (including gba, preferably, but it's fine if i need to eventually purchase a slot-2 expansion ) as well as nuce homebrew software. I'd like to know which one would be the best option for a ds lite. Which one is easiest to set up (i use a mac) and what kind of battery life i can expect. (i hear that the DSTWO drains batttery a lot during GBA emulation). So, can someone help me through this? It don't need the fanciest one out there, just one that wont brick my ds, kill its battery, or become obsolete and unusable within a month. I am also confused about moonshell and whatnot, getting different homebrews and modifying storage to be suitable for gameplay. Is it really as simple as drag- and - drop? Cheers and thanks in advance for any advice, Esnym
since you have a DS lite, the supercard dstwo is not the only way to play GBA roms, however, either of the other two would need a slot 2 flashcart in addition. An acekart2i with a slot 2 flashcart should play GBA roms better than the supercard dstwo (which emulates them, whereas the ak2i and slot2 combination would run them natively), however the scdstwo is generally pretty good from what I've heard. It is true that scdstwo drains the DS battery faster, especially during GBA emulation or other functions that make use of the cart's internal CPU. getting the R4 is a gamble due to there being hundreds of similarly named carts, most of which are complete crap.
Hm. I like the dstwo as my option best at the moment, but I don't think i can afford it at nearly 50 dollars(i still have to purchase a micro sd to go with it) The acekart2i is temptring because i can just wait to get a 3 in 1 expansion when I earn some more money. What are some primary differences between the two? Other than emulation vs native for gba that is? And how does this look? Legit or no? Would it work with a 3 in one ez flashcart? http://www.dsflashcart.com/r4i-sdhc-3ds-flashcart-for-your-ds-dsi-3ds-p-250.html Btw, thank you for the quick responses so far...
Thank you! I think I'll just go with the acecard then. Do you know anything about firmware updates and game comatability? It looks pretty good to me, but Im no expert...
Lol um, i hope I'm not bothering you, but..... When you say the ak2i is better than the R4, what exactly do you mean? Better features, support, battery life, all of the above? Sorry, i just like to do my research before i buy something. X)
better game compatibility, more frequent updates, less chance of accidentally getting a fake/poor clone, maybe better features
Cool guys, thank you so much. I've decided to go with the ak2i then. Merci! Post Merge: [time]1339557794[/time] Oh, quick question then. Can the ak2i emulate any other consoles? (other than the gba expansion that is) like, gb/gbc, or snes? Just curious. What are some nice homebrews compatible with it?
by the way, if I were to buy a 4 gb sd card to go with it, how many average sized roms would it hold? Would I be able to purchase a larger size later and transfer my files?
That entirely depends on your gaming interests. You might be into big RPG's where the average would be about 128MB. You'd be able to fit around 30 to 35 games at that rate. I'd say the overall average is about 64MB, where you'd be able to fit around 60 to 70 games. Your game sizes are gonna vary by quite a bit though (there are more than a few 256MB games out there), so just figure anywhere between 30 and 70 on a 4GB. If you get a new MicroSD card, you can just transfer everything right back over.
It depends on the type of games you'd use it for. You should use a trimmer, like NDSTokyoTrim (excuse the background pic) to save space.
Just to get this out of the way, in case you're wondering: Trimming is an entirely safe way of cutting down DS ROM sizes. The fluff is removed, and you're left with only the content. It has only had potentially detrimental effects on one game I can think of (Picross 3D - It seems the part that temporarily retrieves online puzzle info gets slashed). Otherwise, there are no problems I can think of. It can be a real space saver. I've personally never trimmed my ROM's. It's an excuse to carry less on me. Less of an overload when looking through the games menu. It keeps me interested, longer.
okay. And I have ONE last question. Which is the most reliable website for buying a ak2i (USA shipping) ?
Lightake is good, as well as Zhu Zhu China. Go to shoptemp.net and see which ones have the best prices.
