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[Hi]

Well well well... tell me, how long has it been? Sure, I've popped in from time to time- posting things like how I should deal with a crush to warning about a certain link to a certain website- but I've failed to mention anything NDS or flashcard related. So, let's see here... My opinions on backups have changed, and I've grown up a fair amount... but anyway, that's not why I'm posting.

I HAVE RETURNED FROM AN AGE PAST TO ASK THE AGE OLD QUESTION: Which flashcart should I buy?

You see, for the past... almost two years now... I've been using my Supercard (and my NDS), very rarely. However, it gets enough use that if it was to break, I would need a new one.

...not that it broke... I wouldn't break yet ANOTHER one of my things... you see, while my back was turned, a ghost came and took both my SCDSONE and the microSD card inside it. Thus, I need to buy a new one. However, it occurred to me that maybe instead of getting a new SCDSONE, I should consider getting a different flashcard.


Here is what I am looking for:
1. Runs most homebrew games and apps
2. Is compatible with the opera web browser (when used with the appropriate expansion)
3. Runs most commercial roms (Although I won't go into this much, the reason I need this is because when I buy an NDS game, I dump it myself and then put it on my Supercard for use so that nothing gets accidentally misplaced)
4. Has a nice interface, with the build-in ability to play movies and music
5. DOES NOT BOOT AUTOMATICALLY WHEN THE NDS IS TURNED ON!

The last feature is one of the first things that made me consider not re-buying an SCDSONE, and the only thing stopping me from buying an R4 here and now. Although I liked it at first, the SCDSONE's auto-boot feature has become increasingly annoying, as I've been making more and more use of download play, pictochat, and commercial GBA game carts. Unfortunately, this severely limits my choice of flash carts.

When I used to come here and ask for advice about what to buy, money was a huge factor. Although it remains important (Isn't it always?), it doesn't matter nearly as much as it used to.

Soft-reset is another feature that used to be important and no longer is. Which is a good thing, since soft-reset is sort of hard with a broken L button...

Thanks in advance everyone. You're been a humongous help to me in the past- often more so than I deserved. Even though this website no longer centers on a topic important to me, it remains my favorite of forums. In no other place are people as helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly.

[zektor]

CycloDS.

It is (in my personal opinion) the best slot1 solution to date. It does not autoboot either (as long as you don't have autoboot set in your normal DS settings). Second runner up is the DSTT. Same deal. Perfect compatibility and does not autoboot unless you want it to. These are just my personal opinions on today's cards. Don't get be wrong, the others are nice too, but certain features I look for (SDHC compatibility, auto DLDI patching, clean rom support, solid construction, no spring load (cyclods only), cheats, soft reset) and both of these are great. The DSTT does have a spring loaded slot which I am not a big fan of, but it seems to be built very well.

[onekelly]

Gotta say that my daughters Acekard 2 is quite nice, works well. Especially with the bliss menu. very cheap in cost and is SDHC. It seems that alot of people also like the DSTT, again very cheap in cost and is SDHC compat as well. I would recommend that anything you buy, make sure it is sdhc compatible as that is the way things are going, and does not cost you any more than not compatible. Also as memory drops in price you can upgrade your microSD when you feel like it.

Most slot one cards fill your requests in a cart.

[kkan]

A REAL R4DS (lot of fakes around so make sure its from a genuine stockist that will offer a GENUINE R4DS 

TTDS a very very good BUDGET card with GOOD UPDATE SUPPORT also supports SDHC ...

lastly an ACEKARD2 as above a very good card also with SDHC  ...

note an 8gb SDHC cards can be bought for as little as £18 (play.com in the uk) free postage  ...


altho I still use my 2gb with my r4 and has 48 ROMS and loads of other stuff emulators etc

[Hi]

Well, it seems that the toptoy is the one card which every post so far has in common... and also one of the few cards I haven't read a revew of yet. (I'd heard it mentioned before as a "budget card", which is why I hadn't read the revew- but if it's good as well as cheap, then hey, it's a bonus!

Just two questions:

@KKan- according to both GBAtemp and current knowledge, there is no way to disable R4's autoboot, currect? Because as I said above, that is important...

The cycloDS has gotten good revews on many websites, however, the revews apploud it mainly for it's extra features- most of which are enabled by pressing L+R+A+B+X+Y, or some other combination of buttons involving the "L". Unfortuneately, my DS's L button is broken, making the features useless. My understanding is that aside from these useless-to-me features, the card is like every other on the market except with a higher price tag. Is this understanding incorrect? Although price is not a huge factor, if I can get the same thing for a lower price... yeah.

[zektor]

Well, regarding the Cyclo, you are correct with the ABXY+L+R to soft reset, so you'll be out of luck there. I personally like it best due to the fact that it needs no system files on the micro initially (it actually creates them when you boot with a new micro in place), it has native GBA (beta) support which works incredibly well, and it just looks and feels all around very polished and is nice and quick. I'd be looking into replacing that broken L button DS first if it were me tho

I can't recall what the soft reset method of the DSTT is...anyone else remember? I have them in packaway right now...

[fexo]

Why not buy the DSTT and a new L-button from Dealextreme (plus a little tri-wing). Damn cheap option (my children are now fighting over the DSTT so I may have to buy another one).

[kkan]

budget card because you can get them for an amazing $20.07 (£10.05) on dealextreme! 

free shipping!!!

[fexo]

Hi lives in New Jersey, so the SCDEV sponsor would be quite good, but they probably don't have the others bits that he requires.

I have to say that I am quite impressed by the DSTT (bought in the UK from PCjerry) and the menu seems much better than the R4.

[PharaohsVizier]

Before you buy the DSTT, keep in mind that it autoboots (or at least if my memory is right, getting too old  ).  Same with the R4, M3DS Real, iTouchDS and Supercard DS ONE.  As someone who often likes to use pictochat and play Gameboy Advance games, I really hate the autoboot as well (not to mention I like that menu a lot for some reason).

Now options that I recommend to you:
FIRST you HAVE TO fix the L button, I have several friends that had broken shoulder buttons, most of them were fixed quite easily, the spring was misplaced (obviously you put it back in place), the pad and the button was misalligned (reallign them), the little pointy thing was chipped (added some sort of hard putty so that it could hit the thing on the circuit board again), but one of them had the actual button on the circuit board broken.  Unless you are that one scenario, it should take much effort to fix, maybe 2 minutes with a triwing screwdriver, and 30 minutes of problem solving and testing.

SECOND the flash carts.  Going into the menu limits you to the AceKard RPG, the AceKard 2, the CycloDS Evolution, and the NCards (probably more but those are the ones that I can name off the top of my head).  Obviously if you have the money, you should definitely go for the shiny new CycloDS Evolution.  DealExtreme was selling them for $36 each a few days ago, grabbed as many as I could afford, the price rose to $50 now.  I think at this point, RHS is the better deal.  It is fast, the menu is very user friendly, it has a ton of features, and new features are constantly being added (right now a BETA is supposed to come out over the next few days that will have Real Time Guide support without the ugly green font on the SCDSONE).  I know you are thinking, why the hell would I ever use these features, I have it on the Supercard and I don't use it.  Well here's the deal, the CycloDS Evolution (once you have access to your L button again) is so user-friendly, once you read the 3 page pdf manual, and know the one button combo you need to remember, you will know why the enhanced menu is everyone's favourite.  I know I'm sounding like a fanboy here, but the CycloDS Evolution is just so.... natural, you will start to use features even if you don't need them because they are accessible at a touch of a button (ok fine, its a 6-button combo), face it, SCDSONE's features are hard to use because you can never enable it and be sure your games work and the features work, you can't seem to always remember the button combos at the right times, and the ugly green font on the real time guide is just a huge turn-off.

Of course, you have to pay premium price for the CycloDS Evolution.  The next cart I also wholeheartedly recommend is the AceKard 2.  It is a very intuitive cart, not all that many features, but the menu is really a wow-factor with lots of eye-candy.  It is easy to use, and really cheap.  And pretty much fills all the requests you wanted.  I have no complaints with mine, recommended it to pretty much all my friends who want a flashcart but are strapped for cash.

If you are incredibly strapped for cash, you might want to look for an N-Card clone on the local craigslist or something.  I've been trying to throw mine away for $15 (with 2GB memory) and no one is biting, might have to lower the price again.  It is a little dated, and updates are hard to come by, but if you don't need perfect support of DS games (latest releases), and pretty decent support for homebrew, and of course, doesn't do the auto-booting thing, it might be worth checking out.  It certainly comes cheaply.

[dantheman]

Allow me to make your "no autoboot" thing a moot point, thus freeing you up to every card on the market.  You have three options:

1.  Just eject the card.  The DS will still keep it halfway in.  This also saves battery power.
2.  Download the "firmware.nds" file and use that.  When the cart auto-boots, just launch firmware.nds to run the firmware dump.  If you have a DS Lite you'll notice that it doesn't have the brightness controls, but everything else should work fine, including Pictochat and the options menu. 
3.  If your DS is not flashed with FlashMe, there's a "back2fw" program that actually brings you back to your firmware rather than launching a *.nds dump of the firmware.  Again, launch it from the menu when your DS auto-boots to the card.  Rename it so it appears at the top of the list if you feel like it. 

The last two options may not be the most desirable, but honestly you can just eject the card when you don't need it.  No need to settle for an inferior cart for something so simple.

[Hi]

Erm, everyone, I bought the top toy a while back... I guess I forgot to post and tell you that I didn't really need help any more.

@dathenman (Why didn't I think of that), thanks. The reason I had come back to check on this thread was to ask you guys how to turn auto boot off on the top toy: I couldn't figure it out, no matter how much I fiddled with the options or searched the web.

[dantheman]

Very few carts have the option to autoboot or not.  For most of them you're stuck with whatever the default for the cart is.

[juancaretta]

There is also an utility to boot the firmware that's on the DS, called Back To The Firmware. It's not a firmware dump, but it resets your DS so you can change settings and enter PictoChat. I don't remember the homepage, but i have uploaded it to RapidShare: http://rapidshare.com/files/133635304/Back_to_the_Firmware.nds