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[Hanafuda]

Forget the GBA slowdown issues for me - if DS games are the only issue, is the Supercard miniSD equal to (or better) than the M3?

I know the DS game "compatibility" of SC and M3 is about the same, but "compatible" pretty much means the game will run. How well it runs is another question. I'm talking any kind of slowdowns, frameskips, audio or video glitches, and savegame problems. For instance, from what I understand NSMB runs fine on an M3 in normal mode, but to play in fastboot you need a pretty fast media card because the game is subject to some slowdowns. What's the situation on SC?

Is the DS game saving function more reliable on SC?

Does SC have the equivalent of "normal mode" and "fastboot", and if so how many games "need" the normal mode to run well?

I already have 2 EFALinker carts so I wouldn't mind another cart that does GBA, but I don't need it. SC might be what I'm looking for - simple, easy to use ... but I don't want to be disappointed with how the DS games play.

[DeVS]

M3/G6 are wwaaayy better for GBA games then the Supercard. DS support is basically the same between the two. I like the Supercard over the M3 for DS games as the menu is fast and the the M3 save system is crappy.

[Hanafuda]

ok I'm editing my response because you edited yours. thanks. do you have any trouble with slowdowns and etc. like I listed above? I hate to mention the Castlevania video because I don't think an intro vid that's not part of the game really matters that much - the problem is that full motion cutscenes are almost a certainty with FFIII, so the Castlevania vid actually got relevant. Does it play ok on your SC?

[meangreenie]

NSMB was perfect right from the start on SC.  Patcher 2.541 was out a couple of weeks before NSMB and that's been perfect.

The castlevania video runs better depending on the access times and speed of you're SD/CF card, also only having 1 rom on the SD/CF card and formatting with different size clusters makes a difference for some reason (apparently, I have not botherd to try). This is the same on the M3 I believe. On my CF it runs faultlessly as far as I can tell.

Tony Hawks has some slow-down when the music track changes, this is the same as on the M3 too (ask 'Cracker' on the EZ4 forums.. he's honest)... though dishonest M3 fan boys will tell you that it runs perfect.  Most people turn the music off anyway or trim it to 32MB which cuts out the tracks .. this negates the issue.

SC has 'Faster Game Play' option  .. I think this is pretty much the same as the DMA setting on M3

SC runs Ultimate Spiderman just fine for me on the last 2 client software  (The US version runs perfect for me, no need to pause when the game-play starts anymore)  .. I believe the M3 struggles with this still

Apart from TH and the Castlevania vid, I have not noticed any issues at all. Obviously I have not tried every ROM.

Some maintain that Animal Crossing runs slow, but it looks fine to me. I cannot compare to the original as I don't have it, but I can compare with the EZ4 which I have. I can say they run the exactly the same on both apart from loading time when entering/exiting a house/building or new section/area... it is smoother and faster on my SC, the loading that is and this is the case with quite a few roms between the SC and Ez4. I have never seen a game that stutters audio/video on SC like on the EZ4.

SC is really simple to use, there are basically 3 options for DS roms... 'Trim Rom, Faster Gameplay and In Game Reset'... I always have all 3 on and haven't had issues at.. just patch and go.

Saving on SC is excelent, no need for the battery powered Sram to backup to the memory card on boot-up or In Game Reset, the SC writes them straight to the memory card in real time, it's just exactly the same as using a real DS cart. With the M3 I beleive it has quite a few bells and whistles with regards to saving DS games, but cannot write them straight to the mem card.


btw.. GBA does suck on the whole, but is better than useless @80-90% i guess compatabilty (meaning games that don't slow down). Also patching and saving GBA roms can be a bit of a nightmare too and isn't the simplistic experience of it's DS side.

[Hanafuda]

hey meangreenie. thx that was info I can use. the price diff b/n SC kit and M3 kit is pretty big ($45 or so), so this helps me quite a bit.

[FifthE1ement]

As for Supercard vs M3 in terms of performance there really is no difference. Games run just as they would as if you had the original cart in the system as long as you have good media. You'll need a fast Mini-SD or SD card as you don't want to have any problems loading games or getting a little slowdown. There is a compatibility chart for M3 and Supercard that has proven that cards with 60X or higher have NO slowdown what-so-ever. IE: In my Animal Crossing game I have a bit of slowdown in my menus, but not in-game, with my Sandisk 2GB Mini-SD card. I just bought an 2gb ATP ProMax 150x Mini-SD and the slowdown is now gone, not to mention the Castlevania test works 5 of 5 stars without a bit of problems in the video! Before with the Sandisk all it would display is frames with sound. So your media will make or break your Supercard or M3. With the Supercard Mini-SD, Passcard3/Superkey, ATP 1GB ProMax 150X or Ritek 1GB 150X Mini-SD it will be exactly like you have the purchased game in your Nintendo DS slot! SDNewegg.com has a 1GB Ritek 150X which has been tested with both cards and runs games just like you had the cart in your system! The M3 does have better GBA game support but I don't play many GBA games and the ones I do work! It supports all the big names like Kingdom Hearts, GTA, Mario games, Metroid, etc...

I personally have a DS Phat, Supercard Mini-SD, Passcard3/Superkey, ATP 2GB ProMax 150X Mini-SD and wouldn't trade it for the world! I can play all my favorite GBA games, DS games, SNES games, NES games, GameBoy games, ,Sega Genesis games, Master System games, PC games, eBooks, homebrew games and apps, music, movies, and more for FREE! And whatever size flash card you have is the amount of memory you have! Right now SD and Mini-SD goes to 4GB+! I have 2GB and I can fit everything on it! With me it was the fact that the Supercard is smaller and has 100% DS game support that made me buy it over the M3.

With my Supercard Mini-SD, Passcard3/Superkey, ATP 2GB ProMax 150X Mini-SD in my DS Phat you can't even tell that I am running roms unless you first turn on my system and look at over 60+ games in my list! You pick the game you want and start playing and once that game starts instantly you will think that you bought the game and won't be able to tell different; And better yet neither will others!

[Jinnai]

The main reason to get an m3 is GBA comptability, plain and simple.

The DS games run about the same, homebrews run about the same.

m3 does have skinnable menus, which is a plus.

m3 runs better on A-DATa cards and Supercard seems to be able to perform a bit better on Sandisk.


Myself, i purchased an m3+passcard3 just a bit ago. It was the GBA support. The skinnable menus are an added bonus that i intend to use with my own skins.

[Hanafuda]

Well, this has been very helpful fellas. Like I said in the original post, I've got a couple EFALinkers, which are perfect for GBA and ironically look almost identical to the SC, so if I buy the SC I'm not going to be putting any GBA games on it anyway. Therefore, I don't expect to have any problems with GBA on the SC.  :wink:

The fact that Supercard saves NDS games direct to the media card is BIG to me.  I can't believe more isn't made of this on other boards (gbatemp).

[Magicster]

When you guys mention "M3 is better GBA games over SC games" do you mean the M3 has better combatability? Or rather better performance. If by performance, is the difference so-so that its the difference between night and day or just seldom 'lag-pitches'?

[IIatronachII]

When you guys mention "M3 is better GBA games over SC games" do you mean the M3 has better combatability? Or rather better performance. If by performance, is the difference so-so that its the difference between night and day or just seldom 'lag-pitches'?

Mostly performance. Like I was playing Yoshi's Island the other day and noticed some slowdown. This is apparent on other GBA Games too.

[Magicster]

Can i get an estimation on how many GBA games recieve slow-downs? Also i only have a gameboy SP, i'm most likely never going to get a DS due size. Are there better and cheaper products  for my GBA flashing needs? The supercard miniSD from realhotstuff.com seems the cheapest to me as of right now.

[meangreenie]

Can i get an estimation on how many GBA games recieve slow-downs? Also i only have a gameboy SP, i'm most likely never going to get a DS due size. Are there better and cheaper products  for my GBA flashing needs? The supercard miniSD from realhotstuff.com seems the cheapest to me as of right now.

For GBA get the EZ4 or even the EZ3. I think the EZ4 regular gba size version is only a small amount more expensive than a SCmini. The only real down side to the EZ4 in GBA mode is the save file takes quite a long while to transfer to mem card on boot-up. You also get a free SD reader/writer with it.

[Hanafuda]

For GBA only, I'd also like to give a huge thumbs-up to the EFA-Linker, in either 256mbit or 512mbit. THis is classic flashcart - no removeable cards, no NORflash to NANDflash transfers - just pure high speed ram perfect for running GBA. THe software client is also deadsimple and the compatibilty and reproduction of the games is the best. Handles all the tough FLASH saves (like SMB3) without patches. The capacity is limited compared to other options, but I only play one or two GBA games at a time, so the 4-6 games I usually have on my 256mbit EFA cart is plenty.

[Jinnai]

if you play 1-2 at a time, that's fine, but i'm usually playing 3-4 at a time (i actually play a lot of games at one time because most of mine are long rpgs/strategy games and i switch off).