Nintendo DS Flash cartridges

[aquariaguy]

Just wondering, how the flash cartridges for DS work. If someone buys me a DS from HK, I have to buy the flash cartridge too, and than obtain the games and put it on the "cartridge" and just stick it in the DS? And voila?

[fatal_aroma]

Just wondering, how the flash cartridges for DS work. If someone buys me a DS from HK, I have to buy the flash cartridge too, and than obtain the games and put it on the "cartridge" and just stick it in the DS? And voila?

Depends on the flash cartridge. Most of the flash cartridges around now are the GBA (slot 2) type. This type requires a passkey or a flashed DS. The passkey allows DS roms to be played from the GBA cart, same thing with flashing.

The newer types of Carts coming out are DS type(slot 1) which have the passkey built in so it requires no extra hardware.

Most popular brands of cartridges I would say are Supercard, M3, Ezflash, G6.

[GemInite]

Basically you need a few things.

1) passme card this goes in the DS game slot and basically it tells the DS to read the info from the GBA slot

2) supercard this is the cartridge that goes into the GBA port and holds your game

3) mini/micro sd card. This is the physical memory where you load your roms onto. You insert this into the supercard which in turn is placed in the GBA slot.

4) mini/micro sd reader. You need this to transfer the roms from your computer to the mini/micro sd card.

[Brownbear]

Or just buy a slot 1 device, and eliminate all those items.
the 'M3 Simply' is a slot 1 device, and it'll be cheaper than a slot 2 device, because a lack of GBA support.

M3 Simply - http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=40721

I currently have a G6 with a flashme'd DSLite

[napol30n]

Can you use all of the DS's online play capabilities with the supercard/m3?

[tmpz]

Yes online works. However if you try to share a game to another DS, it may not work. You would have to flash you DS and then you play with other people who do not have it.

[DaLurker]

Or just buy a slot 1 device, and eliminate all those items.
the 'M3 Simply' is a slot 1 device, and it'll be cheaper than a slot 2 device, because a lack of GBA support.

M3 Simply - http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=40721

I currently have a G6 with a flashme'd DSLite

Actually usually Slot 1 Devices are more expensive! Typically they run for $100+ (My friend has the DS-X, very nice) whereas Slot 2 Devices can range from $30 (EZflash IV compact Lite) and up.

Otherwise all other information here is pretty accurate. What I would recommend you do though is tell your friend who's buying you a DS-LIte to also buy you a flashcart in HK since they tend to be cheaper there anyways and if usually when you buy a Slot 2 device there, they'll sell you a DS-Lite which has a flash-me firmware so you don't require a passcard.

That is how I bought my DS-Lite.

Also if you plan to buy a Slot 1, I'd recommend the DS-X since it has built in memory and won't have a nasty Micro-SD Card sticking out. My recommendation is any flashcart you buy, make sure it doesn't stick out. I had an EWIN2 Mini-Sd and nothing pisses me off more than having to take the cartridge out all the time to store in my case. My new EZ_Flash IV Lite Compact is great since it doesn't stick out.

I you want to buy any locally, I highly recommend www.gamersection.ca. I bought my EZ-Flash IV there.

[nkn1983]

Actually usually Slot 1 Devices are more expensive! Typically they run for $100+ (My friend has the DS-X, very nice) whereas Slot 2 Devices can range from $30 (EZflash IV compact Lite) and up.

Otherwise all other information here is pretty accurate. What I would recommend you do though is tell your friend who's buying you a DS-LIte to also buy you a flashcart in HK since they tend to be cheaper there anyways and if usually when you buy a Slot 2 device there, they'll sell you a DS-Lite which has a flash-me firmware so you don't require a passcard.

That is how I bought my DS-Lite.

Also if you plan to buy a Slot 1, I'd recommend the DS-X since it has built in memory and won't have a nasty Micro-SD Card sticking out. My recommendation is any flashcart you buy, make sure it doesn't stick out. I had an EWIN2 Mini-Sd and nothing pisses me off more than having to take the cartridge out all the time to store in my case. My new EZ_Flash IV Lite Compact is great since it doesn't stick out.

I you want to buy any locally, I highly recommend www.gamersection.ca. I bought my EZ-Flash IV there.

Your information is a bit outdated there, the new slot1 cards that were announced not long ago, in fact coming out real soon will have the problems you mentioned fixed. DS-X is expensive like you said since it has flash memory, which is not expandable at the same time. The new M3 Simply, Supercard DS (One) and RC4 are all slot1, use Micro SD cards, nothing will stick out. The M3 Simply will come out first a bit before Xmas, right now available for preorder on divineo.cn only and costs $45 (USD of course). As M3 is usually the most expensive of the bunch we can expect other cards to be cheaper.
At this moment I still recommend getting a slot2 cart and flash your DS if you don't want to use a pass device, they have come a long way and right now this solution pretty much works best. What more this is the only way to be able to play both NDS games as well as GBA games. Slot1 devices will not support GBA games for a while, although M3 has already announced a slot2 device with GBA support in the work, but don't expect it any time soon.

[icevenom]

M3 Simply slot 1 is around 45$ US
SuperCard DS slot 1 is around 55$ US
X-DS is 125 or so?
theres a few others... seems prices are pretty cheap now

mind you u need a micro sd for the top 2, about 15$ for a 512 from certain computer warehouse stores or about 30-40 for a 1gb