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[PharaohsVizier]

Hi everybody,

I spent the last 2 days painstakingly putting this together, a comparison of the Supercard DS ONE and CycloDS Evolution as well as somewhat of a guide to all the special features. The idea is to provide an unbiased overview of all of the major arguments for and against these two flash carts.

You can read it here:
http://dsdatabase.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=895&p=6086#p6086

There are some 6000 words, 37 pictures and 13 videos all regarding the Supercard DS ONE vs CycloDS Evolution. So most likely you should just skim. Hopefully this is as unbiased as possible, coming from a reviewer as well as the owner and user of both carts.

Thanks for reading,
PharaohsVizier

PS. I have definitely used more of the CycloDS Evolution than the Supercard.  So if any of you Supercard Guru's feel that I didn't do the Supercard DS ONE justice, feel free to pummel me with lots of replies stating inaccuracies or reasons I should change.  I was aiming to make this as unbiased as possible, but of course it is impossible to do that.  That is why if you guys feel that I didn't do something fairly, speak up, I am very open to making changes.  

[bitblt]

What an easy to read - easy to understand - accurate - fair - informative - and well thought out multimedia presentation. Very well done. I don't remember mention of the Supercard DS ONE multi save feature, can be useful for people who share a single DS. What about the CycloDS Evolution beta GBA save feature, works great with an old slot 2 Supercard. I have to admit that CycloDS Evolution is the best choice for those looking for an easy to use solution with all the latest features. DSONE is a good choice for someone on a budget who enjoys hacking and having lots of configuration options and the latest features.

[onekelly]

Very nice work!

[anuarbin]

Good job.
I dont know that the menu can be speed up.
Do you post this at cyclods forum?
it would be nice seeing comment from both side

[PharaohsVizier]

Thanks for the compliments guys!   

@anuarbin  I did post it up on Team Cyclops precisely for the reason that I want both CycloDS Evolution users and SCDSOne users to view the article so I can change things up if there are inaccuracies or major bias.

@bitblt  I wa thinking about adding all these miscellaneous features into a new section, but it was quite the hassle because they don't stack up well in a comparison, they are just side notes that could be found in any review they could read.  I wanted an actual head on comparison mainly of the similarities they found.  However, you aren't the only one to comment about the missing features, so I am trying to think of a way to present it without making it seem... odd?

[jmr]

After reading that i'm glad i've just ordered a cyclods evo cause even though you say in your Conclusion "I feel that neither is better"
anyone can see the cyclods evo is a far more polished product & does the comparable parts much better

edit
just got my cyclods evo & already i can see its a better cart than my scdsone

[Alfadir]

Real good comparison.


I have also both linkers, Cyclo DS Evolution and DS One (and also a lot of other linkers, DSTT, EDGE, AK2, AK RPG, iTouch, SC Lite, R4, DS Linker, EZ Flash  3in1...)

In this comparison you had forgot to speak about some details :


The clean mode :

Cyclo DS Evolution don't have any clean mode, if a recent game don't work you have to wait for an update of the firmware (the cyclo DS Team is really reactive but it's not a good point for this linker).
On Supercard DS One you only have to stop the patch mode and you are in clean mode, all the game works in this mode, but of course you have to wait for an update to use the patch features (reset, cheats...) but the game work.


3in1 compatibility and integration :

You have also forgot to speak about the EZ Flash 3in1 for those linkers.

For compatibility no problem, the both work perfectly with EZ 3in1 (for DS One eWin Expansion pack work also at 100%, i have don't try it with the cyclo)

The Cyclo DS Evolution firmware integrate the gestion of this expansion, the DS One not (good point for Cyclo).

But once again with a little change you can do miracle on DS One, you just have to rename the file of GBAExploader in SUPERKEY.NDS and you can launch it by pressing L+B.


The websites

You had spoken about support but you had only spoken about forum in this part, you can add also the website of those Teams.

Cyclo DS have a simple site with access on their products, forum and download, really simple nothing special.
Poor description of their product but acceptable site.

Supercard had changed their site recently, the new site is very complete, with full information about their products, manual, explanations, guides...
Really good website.


Customisation

The last point, you had spoken about the customisation but you don't have develop it (and for me it's very important ^^).

The Cyclo DS Evolution interface is almost the same as an R4, to customize it you only have to change 5 images and one xml file containing some adjustement for color. It's not real theme it's only some wallpapers to change the look of your menu.

The DS One interface is really complete and as you say :"highly customizable".
To do a theme on DS One (for this linker it's really a theme, only three linkers have real theme DS One of course AK2 and AK RPG) you have to change 31 images, 10 icons, 2 sounds and the skin.ini (in the skin.ini there is really a lot of options).

You can change everythings on this linker.
Once again on DS One you can put this customisation again better in doing some other changes in other files.
Here you can make some changes in the global.ini file and in the language.ini file to make your theme better.

Again and again there are two ways of thinking of the teams.
Cyclo Team use something really simple (too simple?) and DS One use a complete (and complex ?) way.



If the question is what is the easy to use it's from far the cyclo DS Evo, if the question is what is the complete and powerfull it's the DS One.

Your comparison is very good because the users will see what they need and will choose their futur linker with those informations.

For exemple jmr is glad to have orderered his cyclo DS Evo and i'm glad to use my DS One and to let my Cyclo in its box ^^.

My priority with a linker is not the easy of use but that the user can do exactly what he want with the linker, i'm not a child and i don't want someone holding my hands or worst make choices instead of me !

It's good to have shown that the DS One is as fast as the cyclo if you make some change, it's after that a question of taste for the user.


Two teams, two way of developping, two good linkers...

And one good comparison 

(i speak an AYBABTU english sorry for that, i'm 35 years old and my english is rusty  )

[PharaohsVizier]

Thanks guys, this is again, exactly why I posted this thread here.  Lots of edits and fixes going in to make sure people can get the full story.

[jmr]

hi at the end of your comparison in the Conclusion bit you show 3 files you used for the evo & loads of stuff for the scdsone
which i think is unfair as you have everything twice on the scdsone side (zipped & unzipped / open & unopened)

on the evo side you have evotools zipped up so we cant see whats inside theres no linebreaker or final fantasy.txt even though there on the scdsone side

[PharaohsVizier]

Uh oh....  lol DEFINITELY biased.  I will be fixing that shorty.   

[Alfadir]

When you will fix that also add GBAExploader in the DS One side 

[PharaohsVizier]

I'm writing up a section called Unique Features right now.  Definitely not going to show up today, or even tomorrow.  I'm working as fast as I can, but I'm juggling some DSDatabase redesigns as well right now.     And of course, I still need to test those features out myself, take pictures/videos, etc.   

[Dudu.exe]

The only thing that makes me want a Ciclods is the fabulous txt reader,

but when i put that i dont use gameguides and my SCDSone was free, it makes me hard to want to change the sc =p

[Kreznik02]

Excellent review, thanks for the info. It was so much more helpful than the crappy english on the SC site.

[socket]

Hehe, I pretty much knew the differences when I was recently upgrading from slot 2 a few months ago.  I honestly would have loved this beforehand.... But this is great for people who want more info.  GREAT job!