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Noob Needs a Little Help Buying a Flash Card/Cart


BIGtrouble77

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I'm completely new to the NDS/GBA homebrew scene... I just got my DS last week. I have a couple questions about which flash Card/Cart to get.

 

First off, I do want to be able to play GBA backups, so I assume that the new flash cards like the 'M3 DS Simply' and the 'Super Card DS' won't be sufficient. I also read that some games may not work properly with these cards if I don't have a fast enough microsd card. The best solution seems to be the 'M3 Perfect Lite'. From what I gather, this flash cart will copy the game off the sd card and play it from the cart eliminating those sd speed issues? So I can have, say, 5 DS game backups on my 2gb microsd card and have the ability to easily load any one of them at any time (what I'm getting at is whether I need my pc to load a new nds game)? Also, does the M3 Perfect Lite need a passthru card? If it does, does the M3 come with one?

 

Finally, my biggest interest is homebrew. I'm assuming the scummvm, nes, snes, tg16, genesis, etc. will all work fine and that movies will play fine too? I think that about covers it. Is there anything else I should know about? Is there anything cheaper than the "M3 Perfect Lite" that can accomplish the same thing and still fit cleanly in the DS? It's been really hard sorting through everything and knowing what's still relevant and what's dated info.

 

TIA!!!

 

-BT

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You are correct in assuming that Slot-1 flashcarts and memory card adapters cannot play GBA games. Although I have not heard about slow speed from slow SD cards, I do know that the M3 requires a computer to put new ROMs on, and it has its own software for that. However, after you put the NDS games onto the SD card, you can load them from the M3's built in menu. I have at least 50 games on mine. :) And yes, to play NDS games with an M3 Lite you DO need a passthru device, and you can find bundle packs online that include a passkey or another device with the M3.

 

Now, as for the systems you listed, NES is the only one I have heard of working well. SNES and Genesis are not emulated very well right now. As for movies, the M3 has software for converting movies, music and photos for viewing/listening on your DS. The only cheaper alternative I know of is the Supercard, but I have no experience with them.

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Well, I still haven't bought anything because I'm frustrated with understanding how the GBA compatibility works. I was going to get the M3, but I realized that doesn't support GBA Games either. I have quite a few GBA backups that I would love to use so I don't want to loose them.

 

I checked through the usenet and I noticed alot of what appears to be GBA games that are released as .NDS games. Does this mean that GBA games are converted to .NDS and are supported as if they are a native NDS game? I'm assuming that these games will run on a 'M3 DS Simply' with no problems. If that's the case then that solves my problem because all of my GBA games (as NDS files) are posted there. Can someone confirm this for me?

 

Thanks,

-BT

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Alright, let me explain...

With the M3 Lite (The cart you said you were buying earlier) GBA ROMs WILL work. The only way playing GBA games differs from playing NDS games is that you don't need the Passcard to play them. Just insert the M3 Lite into your GBA slot, and leave your NDS slot empty (or put in one of your original games), boot up the DS, and choose "Start GBA Game" from the main screen.

 

I myself have never heard of GBA games being converted to .nds games, and I do not think this is currently possible. You may be seeing NDS games with the .gba.nds extension, which is just another format of NDS ROM. If I were you, I would not trust these game backups.

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  • 1 month later...

Well, according to many sources, the M3 and the R4 are exactly the same thing. Even so, I would recommend either of them over the EZ-Flash V (Actually, it looks as if the EZ V is roughly the same thing too... :huh: ).

 

Since these are all slot-1 cards, you will NOT be able to play GBA games, and you'll have to use an emulator (such as NesDS) to play NES games. NO GBA ROMs/homebrew/emus will work on a slot-1 card.

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So there's absolutely no way to play GBA games on those... isn't there a emulator like NesDS that can run GBA games on DS?

No, the only way you can play GBA games is off of a slot-2 flashcart. :huh:

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