Search

[Jakob95]

-Introduction-
The M3i Zero is one of the best DS/DSi flashcarts on the market. The M3i Zero is basically the same cart as the M3DS Real except with DSi support.  The M3i Zero works on the DS/DS Lite/DSi.  When the M3i Zero was released it was one of the most unique flashcart, because the firmware of it was upgradable so if Nintendo made a update to block the flashcart you could easily update it.  The M3i Zero is one of the "feature" flashcart it has lots of features which I will be explaining later in the review.  The flashcart has 2 firmwares Touchpod and Sakura.  This flashcart is also unique because it could be updated with a USB to support the new 1.4 firmware, so you don't need another DS lite to update it if you updated your DSi by accident.  The firmware I am using for this review is M3Sakura Ver1.42 X.

-Design-
The M3i Zero comes in a nice little box. Inside the box is the M3i Zero, the USB Cable to update it, and the MicroSD reader. Here is what I got.

The box is really nice and I personally think that this box looks better than any of the other flashcarts boxes.  But its just a box.

The M3i Zero it self has a really nice sticker.  The MicroSD slot is on the left side the cart instead of top.  When you put your M3i Zero into your DS its going to look like a real DS game.  Here is how the back looks like compared to the R4 and the Acekard 2i.  The build quility of the M3i Zero isn't that good.  It feels really cheap and looks like its going to break apart if you drop it.  On the other side of the M3 is where you put in the USB cable to flash the M3i Zero.  You have to be really careful with the USB cable it could break really easily the end of it is really small and doesn't have any protection to it.

The first one is the M3, the second one is the R4, and the 3rd one is the Acekard 2i.

-Software-

The M3i Zero has 2 firmwares.  One is Sakura and the other one is Touchpod.  Touchpod is extremely slow its ugly and it takes forever to load up.  Sakura is the best firmware for the M3i Zero.  Sakura is really fast and responsive it is based of Moonshell 2 so it looks exactly like it. Since M3 Sakura is based of Moonshell it has the ability to play MP3s and DPGs straight from the menu.  When you first boot up your M3i Zero it will ask you to pick which firmware to use Touchpod or Sakura. In Sakura when you slide a game you have different options, if you slide it to the left you will go to the settings of the game so you could choose differen't options for the game like RTS, and cheats, if you slide it to the right you just play the game.  Sakura is way faster, more stable, and looks nice.  Here I made 2 videos of me using both Touchpod, and Sakura so you could compare them.  Both firmwares do not have Global Settings, I will explain what Global Settings is later in the review.


I recommend using Sakura more because it is 10x better and here you could check out how it looks like.  Check out the speed of Sakura, and touchpod compare it.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-RBG1fpJp0[/youtube]
That's Sakura.  Also showing you how RTS works in that video.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uLvjRTCUKQ[/youtube]
And that's Touchpod.

-Kernal Updating-

The M3i Zero is one of the flashcarts that could be updated to support Nintendo's new 1.4 firmware on the DSi.  If you update your DSi to 1.4 without knowing that it won't let you run your M3i Zero you could update the M3i Zero to make it work.  The M3i Zero could be updated without a DS you just need the USB Flasher it comes with.
To update you just download the F-CORE file and put it into the Root of your MicroSD.  Then you connect your M3i Zero to the computer with the special USB and you wait 30 seconds.  Here is how the USB looks like.

Check the video under.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhBML3AEFJg[/youtube]
This is how long it takes for the M3i Zero to update.

-In Game Features-

The M3i Zero has lots of features such as RTS, RTG, Soft Reset, Slow Motion, and cheats.  RTS stands for Real Time Save, it is basically a feature that lets you save anytime you want.  In some games like Kingdom Hearts, and other RPGs you have to reach a Save point to save or beat a mission, but with RTS you could save anytime you want so if you have to go somewhere or your battery is dieing and you can't save then you could use RTS.  RTG stands for Real Time Guide,  it is a feature that lets you read a TXT file while your playing a game for a walkthrough.  In some games like Pheonix Wright you don't know what to do next so you use RTG to find out what your supposed to do next.  Soft Reset lets you return back to M3 Sakura menu instead of turning off the whole DS.  Slow Motion is a feature where you could slow down your game, it has 5 levels you can not use it if you have RTS enabled.  You could also cheat in games such as use Action Replay codes for your games, the files it supports are .xml, .cht, .dht, .USRCHEAT.DAT.  The M3 Zero has lots of features which are great and stable. The M3i Zero is one of the only carts that could have 3 RTS slots.  RTG isn't that good right now because they just made it so it doesn't have bookmarks or anything like that and the format isn't good either.  But give it some time maybe they will improve the RTG next update.  The number one thing that's bad about the M3i Zero is the lack of GlobalSettings.  Since the M3i Zero does not have Globalsettings you have to turn on RTS for every game and its pretty annoying.  Both Sakura and Touchpod don't have Global Settings so you have to enable Soft Reset for each game you choose unlike the Acekard 2i which has GlobalSettings it could make all the games have Soft Reset enabled at once, which the M3 can not.

This is the RTS Menu.

This is how the RTG looks like.

- Functionality â€"
The M3 Zero is almost 100% compatibility with all NDS Roms.  There was only 1 game that had some lag which was Call Of Duty World At War.  Here is a list of games I tried.  After you read the list you will see that the Rom compatibility of the M3i Zero is near perfect and the only game that doesn't work will probably work next firmware release.  The M3i Zero usually always makes a new firmware update when a ROM doesn't work, that's why I prefer the M3i Zero than any other flashcart.

Works
Super Mario 64
Mario Kart DS
Tetris DS
New Super Mario Bros
Call Of Duty 4
World Series of Poker 2008
Professor Layton and the Curios Village
Apollo Justice Ace Attorney
Guitar Hero On Tour
N Plus
Call Of Duty World At War(Lots of Lag)
Guitar Hero On Tour Decades
Skate it
Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Scribblenauts
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days
Star Fox Command
Club House Games

Don't work
Only Mario and Sonic At the Winter Olympic Games.

Homebrew
Now this is a different story.  The M3 Sakura is really bad in Homebrew.  I have tried lots of homebrews and lots of them don't work.  Here is the list.  You can see that M3 Sakura is really bad in homebrew but you could always use Touchpod for homebrew.

Works
Beup Live
CIIRC
COLORS
DiagnoSe
Moonshell 2.0
Lameboy

Don't work
You have to Burn the Rope DS
vghero
GBA Backup Tool
DS Backup Tool
GBA_ExpLoader(Must download a hacked version of it to work)
And a whole lot of other DS Homebrew Games.

-GBA Support-

The M3i Zero could also play GBA games if you have m3 gba expansion pack.  Note this will only work on the DS lite since the DSi doesn't have a GBA slot.  The M3i Zero doesn't have any support for the EZ-Flash 3in1 when your EZ-Flash 3in1 is in the DS GBA slot and you press on a GBA rom it will say No GBA expansion pack found.  Also you could use the M3 Expansion pack for the DS Internet Browser but you can't use the EZ-Flash 3in1 unless you patch the Internet Browser.  If you have a DS lite, M3 Zero/Real, and a EZ Flash 3in1 you need to download GBAExpLoader the hacked version.  I hope they add in native EZ-Flash 3in1 support soon.

-Conclusion-

The M3i Zero is a really promising cart.  It already has lots of features which are really useful.  The M3 Team got faster in updating so there next release will probably fix more games than the ones that I have tested that don't work with features.  I recommend you to get this cart because it has lots of feature, good compatibility and ONLY $25.95 .  This cart packs lots of features in it more than my Acekard.  I really love this cart and I think you should get it as well.  You could buy it from 0shippingzone.com.  They have the best price for the M3i Zero, for the month of October they are having a sale and each item is going to be 7% off.  Thank you 0shippingzone.com


-Score-
Design â€" 4/5
Software â€" 9/10
Use â€" 5/5
Functionality â€" 19/20
Features - 4/5

Overall - 41/45

Buy your M3i Zero at:

[jmr]

nice!! 

[0SZ_Sales]

Good job, Jakob.