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[DomaGB]

I have now found 4 occurances of folks getting garbled or foreign language on their SuperCard.

1st I brought it up here:

http://forum.supercard.cn/viewthread.php?tid=4123&extra=page%3D1&frombbs=1

Then someone on that thread posted the same problem.

Then another person posted the same problem here:

http://forum.supercard.cn/viewthread.php?tid=4121&extra=page%3D1

Then another posted it here:

http://forum.supercard.cn/viewthread.php?tid=4141&extra=page%3D1

In each case the menu becomes garbled or in another language.

In my case and in one other here, upon putting in the firmware again caused the SuperCard to not be recognized.

Someone stated it was coincidence with the firmware timing and the Card was simply bad. How could it be coincidence with 2 people doing that? And with 4 people having the same problem?

And since the GBA won't recognize the card it can not be self tested. I do not have a DS. I have no other cards but was thinking of buying 2 more of these Mini SD SuperCards, but don't want to if this is going to be a problem.

I was about to ship it back tommorrow, but would like responses if possible.

I also would like to know if there is another card about the same price that will do the same type of stuff for the GBA SP.

[dantheman]

It's most likely a hardware problem, that much should be obvious.  As I'm sure I said at least once on one of the multiple forums you've posted this on, the GBA does not have any language settings at all.  The fact that your official game cartridges are loading in different languages then indicates to me that the Supercard damaged something in the GBA slot that is preventing the regular cartridges from being read correctly.  That is my guess at least.

I don't know what you're expecting us to say, really.  Okay yes, it appears that multiple people are having the same issue, which could indicate that there's a defective batch of Supercards running about.  But nobody's posted where they got their devices from, which makes it harder to figure out.

Nobody's ever really had this problem before in such large proportion, and as such we don't know exactly why it is happening, we don't know if it's fixable, we don't know HOW to fix it if it is fixable, and we don't know if or when it will be safe to order more.  My guess is that there is a rogue batch of Supercards out there right now that is so defective that it's actually damaging the GBA hardware itself, something that I've never seen a Supercard do before.  No flash cart should ever change the way official cartridges run.

You're looking for answers, but there aren't any to be had right now.  Sorry.

[DomaGB]

The GBA SP's are working fine now. I can't confirm if the other peoples GBA's were effected outside the SuperCard menu/useage.

I was able to change the language on my sonic cart.

How about opinions on other flash carts for the GBA?

It my opinion that new firmware for the supercard are not compatible with GBA's and being overlooked for DS compatibility.

[dantheman]

The EZ-IV is reported to be a very good cart for GBA usage, and doesn't have the slowdowns that the slot-2 Supercards are known for.  Just make sure you don't get the Deluxe version (very little GBA compatibility) or Compact version (won't fit in a GBA).  DealExtreme had them on backorder last time I checked.

[dai_uk]

I'd second EZIV being the best GBA cart, especially for the price, try bamboogaming.com

You need to get the custom reset firmware from the EZ Forums, if you get stuck pm me

[DomaGB]

I thought a person was required to use a DS to load the EZ-IV or something like that?

[dantheman]

That's the EZ-V 3in1 expansion pack.  The EZ-IV runs entirely on its own using a miniSD card that goes on the side of the cartridge.

[DomaGB]

Are you speaking about this one:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11179

EZ-Flash IV EZ-Cart with SD Card Reader for GBA/GBA SP/NDS Phat (512MB~8G Support)

It is almost twice the price of the SuperCard. they reduced the SuperCard price by $2.00 in the last month. It's only $16.00. However if this is better quality it may be worth it. Can it play movies? NES games? GB and GBC games?

[dantheman]

That is the one I am talking about, yes.  Yes it's more expensive, but from what I've heard it's worth it.  Okay, so the Supercard has built-in NES/GBC/etc emulation, but the built-in emulators are old and out of date, so you'd have to create your own PocketNES/Goomba Color/whatever compilation anyway for the best performance, and that compiled *.gba file will work the same on the EZ-IV as it would on the Supercard.  Yes the Supercard has movie-playing functionality, but you have to jump through hoops to get it to work (the converter software on the SC site is the wrong version) and the video quality sucks to be honest.  Your only alternative is Meteo, which will function the same on the EZ-IV and the Supercard.  Video quality still sucks though, not much you can do about that.  And of course with the EZ-IV you won't have the issue with lots of GBA games slowing down due to the Supercard's slow RAM.

My suggestion would be to test some things out in VBA.  Create some PocketNES and Goomba Color compilations.  Convert some video files with Meteo.  Can you live with having to pre-package your emulated games into *.gba files rather than just putting the *.nes/*.gbc files directly on your card?  If you can, then the EZ-IV should be a serious consideration.

[DomaGB]

What is VBA?

I don't mind a little extra work to have to get ROM's ready. Especially if I need the latest for the SuperCard anyways.

However, is there a real good reason to update the emulators on the SuperCard, or are the later updates more for compatibility on the DS?

I did use the SuperCard for 3 days and the emulator worked on most ROM's. I was very happy with it.

How about Atari emulation? Will that be availble or workable on the EZ-IV?

I am still undecided. But since I eventually want to own 3 flash cards, I may get one of each and decide on the 3rd after testing both for a few months.

I was unsuccesful inmaking a movie for the SuperCard and also discovered the wrong version for the player was there. And going to the Internet Archive didn't work either. as the zipped file there wasn't real or corrupt.

I am still working with DealExtreme in getting service. SuperCard techs state they think its dead...

[anton]

VBA is Visual Boy Advance and it's a PC GBA emulator.  Most likely he was suggesting to test the roms first using that.

[dantheman]

Right, make some compilations of emulators and games and test them in a GBA emulator for the PC to get an idea of how well they work. 

No slot-2 update file since 1.7 has actually done anything in the way of GBA support, so if you continue to use the Supercard's built-in emulators, you're locking yourself out of the updates that came out since 1.7 was released.  Remember that the Supercard team didn't make any of the emulators - they just packaged ones that were already made into the firmware.  The emulators cannot be upgraded by the user unfortunately, unless you decide to try to hack the firmware itself, which would require considerable expertise. 

As for Atari, I don't think there have been any emulators for that on the GBA, though on the DS side there is at least one by AlekMaul (spelling?).

As for the music and movies, it's a matter of finding the right website to put through the Internet Archive.  I wrote a small blurb about this a while ago to try to help clear up confusion - http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/Supercard#Music_and_Movies

[DomaGB]

I understand the emulators are old and not made by SuperCard. However, if they work as is, is there any reasons to update the emulators? The only reason I could see is if a specific ROM doesn't work (very few problems as is) would work on a newer emulator.

BTW, Deal Extreme has approved my request for a new replacement SuperCard.

I also found this article comparing the SuperCard to the EZ Flash, however both were Lite Versions (DS only I guess).

http://journal.drfaulken.com/ez-flash-iv-lite-vs-supercard-lite/

Conclusion was this:

Despite some compatibility/support issues, I strongly recommend the SuperCard over the EZ Flash IV. The differences in the software packages is a wash. The hardware of the SuperCard is easier to use and looks more “stock” than the EZ Flash. Lastly, the whole don’t-save-save-system of the EZ Flash IV makes it a clear loser. Lady Jaye lost quite a bit of time replaying the New Super Mario Brothers because of this “feature.”

But I have been reading other opinions and everyone has a different one. Some are exagerated, and state SuperCards are trash because the play games slow. But this is relitively few games.

I still may get both, so to compare myself, before buying a 3rd...

[dantheman]

With PocketNES there's not too much reason to upgrade, but if you are into GBC games at all, you definitely want to get the most recent version of Goomba Color.  The most immediately visible change is that games no longer change the color of the border during gameplay, but Dwedit has sped things up so that nearly all games run at full speed now (with the GBC Double Speed hack set to "Timers").  You can also get Super Game Boy borders from games that support them.  Also if you ever used PCE Advance, I know the one built into the Supercard is way out of date, but I've never used it myself so I couldn't tell you what exactly has improved.

I've never used an EZ-IV myself, so I can't really easily compare the two, but the Supercard's saving system isn't exactly the greatest either.  That's really personal preference.

[DomaGB]

Yesterday I shipped back my SuperCard. I am really liking DealExtreme. I think they shipped it to me free (I got several items at that time from different sources (all for the SuperCard) I am not sure, all but 1 source was free shipping), and now they state they are gonna reimburse me to ship it back. I had to ship it to a Miami address instead of Hong Kong, and then upload evidence of my shipment to their website. They have an interesting and effective method of dealing with issues of returns.

And as stated earlier they dropped the price of the SuperCard by about $2.00 after I bought it. Thus tempting me into getting one more. But I am still debating getting the EZ-IV and then comparing them.

After I get the new one, I will not upgrade the firmware. In fact I am tempted to downgrade it if possible, LoL. But I think I will just leave it alone. Then I would like to get this Meteo video software spoken of. Where can I get it?

Then I will also get the newest version of Goomba Color. I found the wiki for it. So I should be able to get it fine.

I am not really interested in PCEAdvance until I read the Wiki and it says I can also emulate CD-ROM games. Are they speaking about normal PC computer games?

I also have seen the SNES emulator. But it appears only a few games (maybe 10?) work and none have sound. Is this true? If so, I am not interested. While I do own a SNES, I was never a huge fan, but if I could get emulation going I would use it, but only if it had sound. I once had a device that let me play GameBoy games on the N64, but there was no sound for that, and got rid of it on Ebay within a week. However the SuperGame boy on the SNES was great! The really cool games I liked on SNES are found either on NES, GB, GBC, or GBA. so it's not a huge loss.

I am about 75% certain I read somewhere on 1 source the SuperCard emulated Atari. But the Atari emulation was listed in only 1 place and didn't save the source. I have found another SuperCard, not the one I have and for the DS has it, but can't find it at all now, and would really like to find an emulator if it doesn't do it already. I didn't get a chance to try it.

I did some reading on Flash Card history and read about the cards for the Commodore 64. I was around for the 64 and owned about 4 systems of them myself and belonged to a couple of clubs for the 64 in my time. I actually seen the flash carts in use for it, but had completely forgotten about it til I read the article. I didn't realize that these Nintendo GBA/DS flash cards had the same history. It's kind of cool. I actually also owned the Commodore Vic20 that existed before the 64. I actually wrote some programs for it in HighSchool.

I am behind in my times, I only programmed in BASIC, but was a pretty good in low level.

Getting a flash card for the GBA SP is difficult as I am jumping in at the tail end. But I prefer the GBA SP because it has 3 kinds of games you can play, while the DS only has 2. The Library is bigger. However with flash cards this point now becomes moot and untrue, LoL. But the GBA SP is alot cheaper and does everything I want.

-------------

Did some research on the Atari emulation:

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:2TBkM3HdLdkJ:www.zodttd.com/boards/index.php%3Fact%3DPrint%26client%3Dwordr%26f%3D52%26t%3D5442+Atari+emulat+Supercard&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=34&gl=us

...there is an atari 2600 emu for gba .... here this site has every emulator ever made for the gba on it look there for all of your gba homebrew needs http://gbaemu.dcemu.co.uk/

I went there, saw like 4 listed but didn't find any downloads...

http://www.gameboy-advance-roms.com/

...Gameboy Advance has such a powerful processor that it is possible to emulate other older consoles and computers using GBA. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities.. There thousands of classic games that now can be played on Gameboy Hardware. ... Atari 2600, ... roms all can be put on a flash advance card and played (emulated) on GBA

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=19962&page=3

...is there any news on someone picking up the project and getting SCSD support?

EDIT: Disregard that last comment, that new unofficial version works. I can't really tell if the speeds any different, I've only got the original roms that come with it. I'll update you guys when I run Solaris or Defender.

If one reads the whole thread it appears he is talking about this one here:

http://thechuckster.homelinux.com/index.php?id=22

But that is for the DS, so I am not sure, I will give it a try when I get things rolling again.

A further look at the http://www.gameboy-advance.net links leads to not working or non existing emulators. The 2 best are not to be found. One was bound to silence with a non disclosure agreement and the other site isn't up.


I found another thread elsewhere discussing the subject:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s=ff9ad806cb280031587ddb1fab4c0ae7&showtopic=114052&st=25

So it appears all accounts of a working emulator available to the public were premature. However there is an Atari GameBoy game with many games available...

It kind of upsets me when such news is leaked on the internet prematurely and then stays there for years! LoL.