Ewin2 Mini Review

DeVS · August 30, 2006, 12:31:56 AM

Part 01: What Is It

Ewin2 Mini is a slot 2 (gba slot) mod for the Nintendo DS. If you are familiar with the Supercard Mini or M3 Mini then you will be familiar with the Ewin2 Mini. Here is a list of functionality that the Ewin teams “claims” the Ewin2 Mini is capable of:

Part 02: More Of The Same Ole Thing

The first thing you will notice about the Ewin2 Mini is that it looks just like an M3 Mini or Supercard Mini in terms of size.

The unit does not stick out at all on an older DS Phat and has minimal sticking out of a DS Lite.

The fact that the unit is made from clear plastic makes the sticking out on the DS Lite very livable. The plastic that the unit is made out of seems very sturdy and the Ewin2 even has a heavier more sturdy “feel” then the Supercard Mini. The unit will not work with the Superkey or Passcard 3 passme devices. You will need to use either Ewins PassWE 3 , MK4/Mini, or flashme.

Part 02: Software

Here is where the Ewin2 Mini starts to get on shaky ground. The rom patching software is very straight forward and if you have ever patched a rom using the M3 or Supercard software you won’t have any problems here.

The software patches the DS roms and then outputs the patched roms directly to the Mini SD card. There is currently no support at all for GBA roms, it’s DS only. The rom patching software crashed several times while I was trying to use it. I made sure it was the newest stable version listed. Also good luck trying to find any support in English as it seems they do not have an English support fourms. The software on the Ewin2 mod itself seems very nice. It has a nice menu and gui and really makes the Supercard gui seem even more dated. There is a functioning clock and date while in the main menu of the Ewin2 Mini. The game menu is very clean and straight forward. If you highlight a game from the list of games and hold the L + R shoulder buttons you will be taken to a new screen with information on the rom such as the size of the rom and a nice game icon much like the G6 Lite has for it's menu.

Part 03: More Claims Then Functionality

A couple of claims that the Ewin2 team made about the Ewin2 Mini was that it was 100% compatible with ALL DS games and that it supported homebrew. I found both these claims to be false. While I was surprised to find the unit working with newer roms like Mario Hoops 3 on 3, it failed to work with Starfox. The Ewin2 Mini also suffers the same effects that all current mods suffer with the game “Ultimate Spiderman” as it freezes when you begin the games first level. There was no noticeable lag with the “Metroid Prime Hunters” intro or gameplay with “The Rub Rabbits”. I also was not able to get any homebrew games or apps working with the Ewin2 Mini. I tried all versions of DS Organize, the games Explosive Gas, Lupins Zelda game, and Doom DS and none of them seemed to work at all.

Overview

The Ewin2 is a cheaply priced slot 2 DS mod but is not made from cheap parts. The downfalls of this unit seem to all come from it’s rom patching software. Some games not working and no GBA support im sure will all be fixed with future firmware and rom patching software. As it stands right now this is a nice cheap DS ONLY alternative to something like the more expensive M3 or Supercard. Again though the cheaper price comes with it’s functionality set backs. Wifi me does work and it has a built in battery for saving.

Pros:

+ Cheap
+ Well Built
+ Very Good DS Rom Support
+ No In Game Slow Downs
+ Clear Plastic Is Better Then Purple Any Day
+ User Friendly Interface And Menus

Cons:

- Some DS Games Don’t Currently Work
- No GBA Support
- Apparently No Homebrew Support
- Rom Patching Software Is Buggy
- No Support Forums In English

FifthE1ement · August 30, 2006, 01:18:04 AM

Captin Kirk: Whats the on the viewer Scotty!
Scotty: Clllllaaapp (Crap) Captin, Clllllaaapp!

Lol :lol:

FifthE1ement

tennisgy · September 03, 2006, 05:41:30 PM

I like the purple on my white lite actually

sonicwind · September 03, 2006, 08:31:59 PM

O_o anybody know when the improved microsd one is coming out?

juice · September 04, 2006, 10:45:19 AM

Improved mircoSD one?

sonicwind · September 04, 2006, 09:04:55 PM

they are making a form fitting microsd one that doesn't stick out of the lite.

Scor · September 05, 2006, 01:37:15 AM

Hahaha, I liked the one that did stick out.
IMHO that's pretty useles.
Though there will probably a lot of people that reather have the perfect fit version.

lenselijer · September 06, 2006, 03:52:56 PM

The quality is really nice of these card, and strange thing is, when you try to boot the microsd version in gba mode, you see/hear the normal gba intro but no screen afterwards.

And now a question from me, I found some old patcher software, but when i click updates it wants to download 5 files, but its going slower then 0,1kb/sec and it will give me a timeout afterwards. can someone please upload the latest version of the patcher here, or on rapidshare please? i cant test the card now because im using old software/firmware.

mescalin · October 31, 2006, 11:50:09 AM

I'm having trouble putting Moonshell on this for a friend. I've updated the firmware to the latest one and copied the files for Ewin 2 on Moonshell setup, and sure enough it runs, but it crashes on the startup screen, on 'Not found EXFS.' I've tried reformatting the card but that's no help, and everything seems to be in place. Any ideas?

mikesinclair · October 31, 2006, 02:15:39 PM

Actually there is an english forum, but it is very small, but it may help little issues.

http://www.ewin2.net/forum.asp

DeVS · October 31, 2006, 03:36:42 PM

Thanks for the link bro!