For Nintendo DS people

[bmd]

I've just bought one of these -

It's the same size as a game card for a DS but you can put a micro SD card in it with 'homebrew' games on it and play them, goes in the game card slot. No need to flash your DS and it works with a phat or lite DS. It was about £50 for a 1GB micro SD card from Amazon.co.uk and the R4 from cheapmod.net.

I had it up and running in about 5 minutes, you just put some software that comes with the R4 on the memory card and then just drag and drop files onto the card and they play, no faffing about at all, no flashing, nowt tricky.

More info on the R4.

 

[tommers]

brilliant. thanks mate. maybe now I'll actually get round to doing it.

 

[Jambooboo]

Gonna order me one of these (or the M3 Simply*) and a Micro SD tomorrow. Been doing my research and they seem by far the best slot one DS flash solution. Already downloaded a whole load of the Progetto DS rom sets for when they arrive.



* .

 

[Pip]

Ooooh I love clever things like this!

 

[The Groke]

You bastard BMD, I was trying not to put any more weight on my melting credit cards...

 

[bmd]

You bastard BMD, I was trying not to put any more weight on my melting credit cards...

Good eh.

Thanks for the link Jambooboo. So they're the same product in different skins?

Oh and there's a new Zelda coming for the DS soon, might even be out already.

 

[The Groke]

Good eh.

Thanks for the link Jambooboo. So they're the same product in different skins?

Oh and there's a new Zelda coming for the DS soon, might even be out already.

Woo for New Zelda!

I am flying to NZ next month, so hopefully I will have my R4 and 1Gb card by then - will be able to fit pretty much every decent English language game released to date on it in one hit.

 

[mack]

Cheers matey

 

[Yetman]

So whats the word on the 'homebrew' games? Are they just basically full games that can be downloaded and transferred to the card and then played as per usual?

 

[The Groke]

So whats the word on the 'homebrew' games? Are they just basically full games that can be downloaded and transferred to the card and then played as per usual?

I think he was just being oddly coy/subtle.......

You can get full commercial ROM copies from your usual source and run them from this.

 

[bmd]

I think he was just being oddly coy/subtle.......

You can get full commercial ROM copies from your usual source and run them from this.

Yes, 'oddly' being the operative word.

Look for 'Nintendo DS torrent' and use a client like Azureus or uTorrent. When you open the torrent file look through them and untick any that you don't want, which is about 90% of them tbh.

They come in sets of about 100, have a look here for an idea of what there is. They have either E, J or U on most of them, you want the E or U ones. The links on that site are to eMule downloads so if you've got that just get them straight from there or they're available as torrents if you search.

 

[Jambooboo]

Woot!

Just ordered me a M3 Simply and a Sandisk 2gb Ultra Micro SD - cost about £70 for the pair delivered.

Two gigs is probably a bit excessive for the DS (I could fit a bunch of PSP isos on a 2gb MS - and they're a hell of a lot bigger than DS roms), but it'd be nice to have shitloads of roms to play on it if I'm ever on holiday, and I've use of a camcorder which takes regular SD cards (I think the Micro SD comes with an adapter).

Looking forward to playing loads of stuff (Castlevania, Mario Kart, FF3, Metroid Prime, Sonic Rush, Advance Wars!!!11!!!!!!).

Woot!

 

[bmd]

Just ordered me a M3 Simply and a Sandisk 2gb Ultra Micro SD - cost about £70 for the pair delivered.

Two gigs is probably a bit excessive for the DS (I could fit a bunch of PSP isos on a 2gb MS - and they're a hell of a lot bigger than DS roms), but it'd be nice to have shitloads of roms to play on it if I'm ever on holiday, and I've use of a camcorder which takes regular SD cards (I think the Micro SD comes with an adapter).

Looking forward to playing loads of stuff (Castlevania, Mario Kart, FF3, Metroid Prime, Sonic Rush, Advance Wars!!!11!!!!!!).

Woot!

Nice one, I'd say the 2GB card is about right, more and more ROMs are around 120MB and as you say you'll get the essentials on with room for trying others out.

I haven't played the latest Castlevania but the first one is really good. I've just been reading a review for Hotel Dusk, that looks awesome so I'll be downloading it when I get home.

Hotel Dusk review.

 

[Yetman]

Freakin A

So much stuff to buy this month!!

 

[Jambooboo]

Nice one, I'd say the 2GB card is about right, more and more ROMs are around 120MB and as you say you'll get the essentials on with room for trying others out.

I haven't played the latest Castlevania but the first one is really good. I've just been reading a review for Hotel Dusk, that looks awesome so I'll be downloading it when I get home.

Hotel Dusk review.

I didn't realise DS games were that big. Only just unzipped a few files and the new Castlevania works out 64mb while Mario Kart is 32mb. I'm guessing 128mb is probably about as big as they'll get (still a hell of a lot less than PSP stuff - anything upto 1.8gb!). I've read that most games can be 'trimmed' though, which seems odd as it's I imagined only optical based media uses dummy/pad files.

I'll check out Hotel Dusk when my stuff arrive. IGN only give it 7.9 mind!

 

[bmd]

I didn't realise DS games were that big. Only just unzipped a few files and the new Castlevania works out 64mb while Mario Kart is 32mb. I'm guessing 128mb is probably about as big as they'll get (still a hell of a lot less than PSP stuff - anything upto 1.8gb!). I've read that most games can be 'trimmed' though, which seems odd as it's I imagined only optical based media uses dummy/pad files.

I'll check out Hotel Dusk when my stuff arrive. IGN only give it 7.9 mind!

If you find out what a trimmed game is then I'd be interested to know, kind of sounds like the pc game releases with the music and cut scenes ripped for download on a dial-up connection.

 

[Chorlton]

I don't play my DS enough these days, but i do have a GBA adaptor and DS-Card soloution - a little unweildly but it does the job, i have noticed tho that none of the last bunch of downloads worked... do i need to flash the rom i wonder? (it doesn't flash the actual DS)

 

[bmd]

I don't play my DS enough these days, but i do have a GBA adaptor and DS-Card soloution - a little unweildly but it does the job, i have noticed tho that none of the last bunch of downloads worked... do i need to flash the rom i wonder? (it doesn't flash the actual DS)

You might need to download the latest version of software for your particular set up. It's usually the conversion software that is changed to enable it to work for the latest games, rahter than the rom.

 

[The Groke]

Woo - my R4 arrived just now!

Will go home at lunch and try it out....

 

[The Groke]

Also: Wow - micro SD's are really micro eh!

 

[The Groke]

Woo!

Tested my R4 and it is a peach!

All the games that my previous card couldn't play are working fine.
Not tested the emu stuff yet - that is for tonight.!

Cheers BMD

 

[King Biscuit Time]

SO do you have to fiddle with the actual DS at all? or do you just need the card etc?

 

[Jambooboo]

SO do you have to fiddle with the actual DS at all? or do you just need the card etc?

With the R4 (or DS Simply) you just need the card. There is no flashing involved with the DS.

I've got mine but as I just said on another thread I need to get my Micro SD (top of the list of things to do today). Packaged with the DS Simply (and the R4) is a mini CD and I'm guessing you just drag and drop the contents of that onto the Micro SD. Also came with a USB micro-SD reader/writer, two cases for the cartridge (one black and white), and a case with strap for the cartridges.

 

[bmd]

With the R4 (or DS Simply) you just need the card. There is no flashing involved with the DS.

I've got mine but as I just said on another thread I need to get my Micro SD (top of the list of things to do today). Packaged with the DS Simply (and the R4) is a mini CD and I'm guessing you just drag and drop the contents of that onto the Micro SD. Also came with a USB micro-SD reader/writer, two cases for the cartridge (one black and white), and a case with strap for the cartridges.

The most up to date software is on the R4 site, I believe there were issues with a couple of games that have been sorted in the latest release.

Using the software is simple, as you say you drag and drop it onto the micro sd card and then drag and drop the game file onto the card, put the sd card in the R4, put that in the game card slot of your DS, turn it on, select the games option and it asks if you want to create a save file, which you do, then the game starts. There's no need to convert the games before using them, I've had no problems at all with it.

Hotel Dusk is very different btw. It's ok if you like reading. A lot.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Also: Wow - micro SD's are really micro eh!

Yep like the Micro Sony Memory Sticks, they're roughly the size of a thumb nail...

 

[Jambooboo]

Got my Micro SD yesterday so I'm up and running.

The M3 Simply is a joy to use. Updated the firmware from that on the included disc with the one on the website, so that I can now soft reset in game (exact same update is on the R4 site).

Obviously got a hell of a lot of games to be playing about with now - eight hundred and odd to be precise. As well as some great stuff it's got to be said that there is a whole load of absolute shit on the DS. While each console has shite games Nintendo consoles in particular seem to attract some really awful third-party titles. That said there's probably a good 10 'killer' games for the system to date (ie. 9+ in reviews) , and another 30-40 that are well worth playing (ie. 7+ in reviews).

What I've been playing this past 24 hrs-

* Trauma Centre (fun use of the stylus)
* Yoshi's Island (nice 2d platforming)
* Hotel Dusk (BMD is right - there is a lot of reading!)
* Mario Kart DS (only played it a bit but some things, especially drifting, seem to be done better in the GBA version)
* Castlevania: Portrait Of Ruin (good but so far not as fun as Castlevania IV was on the SNES)
* Metroid Prime: Hunters (again great FPS game but makes me with the DS had that bit more horsepower)
* Meteos (only played it for five minutes and haven't figured out what the fuck is going on yet)
* Metroid Prime Pinball (it's pinball!)
* Star Fox Command (control system takes some getting used to but it's a great game once you get used to it)
* Diddy Kong Racing (only played it for five minutes but it seems much the same as the N64 version)

Will hopefully start playing stuff properly (ie. not flitting between games) soon.

 

[Hassan I Sabha]

OK Question from a simpleton here.

Do I need to buy a card reader ? I assume that I need someway to get the downloaded info onto the card.

Could someone do a dummies guide of exactly what to buy please and reccomended suppliers ? Assuming that all one has is a DS and a PC/Laptop with just a CD player.

Thanks

 

[King Biscuit Time]

Yeah - I'll have some of that dummies guide action too please.

Although it will be a fair while before I can afford any consumer electronics.

 

[Hassan I Sabha]

Trying to answer my own question here.

I think I need this which seems to come with a little USB reader thingy - £29.99

And a Micro SD card like this at £25 or this from ebay which is cheaper

Then I need to locate some DS Roms on torrent and download them.

 

[King Biscuit Time]

My camera takes SD cards, and I've used it like a Pen Drive in the past to move stuff about - presumably I could use that as a card reader?