-Introduction-
The Supercard DStwo is a new flashcart from the Supercard Team. This flashcart works on the Nintendo DS, DS lite, DSi, and the DSi XL(supports version 1.4) This flashcart is different from all the other flashcarts such as the Acekard 2i, iEDGE, EZ-Flash Vi, and others because this one has a built in CPU and extra RAM. This flashcart is now one of the most unique flashcart because of the built in CPU and the extra RAM. With the extra CPU and RAM you are able to a lot more with this flashcart such as play videos(without converting), GBA emulation, SNES emulation, and other new unique features that you couldn’t have done with older flashcarts because it was not possible. This flashcart is also able to update itself in case Nintendo pulls out a new 1.5 update that blocks flashcarts. This flashcart also is one of the “feature carts” because it has in-game features such as RTS, RTG, RTC, and other new features that I will be explaining later in this review. The firmware I am using for this review is Supercard DSTwo EOS V1.01.
-Design/Build Quality-
The Supercard DStwo comes in a black box which says Supercard DStwo on it and a list of its features on the back. Inside the box there is a nice instruction manual of how to use the Supercard DStwo both in English and Chinese, the Supercard DStwo, a USB MicroSD reader, and a strap(mine didn’t come with one though).
The box looks pretty decent it is better then most of other flashcart boxes although I still like the R4s more. But remember the box isn’t really that important.
The Supercard DStwo build quality it self isn’t that great its not good but not horrible. It is hard to get the flashcart out of my DSi because it fits in so tightly. The flashcart is spring loaded when you put in the MicroSD you might have some trouble getting it out because when I have to get it out I had to shake the MicroSD left and right to get it out. The flashcart it self is black unlike most other carts, Supercard Team usually always make there flashcarts a different color then other ones like the Supercard DSonei was white. The MicroSD slot is on the top right(Cart is facing on its sticker). The reason the Supercard DStwo is so tight inside the DS is because the Supercard Team had to fit in the extra CPU and RAM chip inside this flashcart.
The back side of the Supercard DStwo.
-Software-
The Supercard DStwo menu is based off the AKRPG menu so if you had an Acekard before you will already know how the menu works on this flashcart. When you boot up the Supercard DStwo a menu will show up that looks a little like the DSi menu were you can choose what you want to do such as go into the DS menu, Moonshell, GBA emulator, Boot Slot 2, and others you could also put in your own plugins into that menu as shortcuts. This menu is pretty cool because it allows you to quickly access stuff like homebrew without going into the DS menu and finding the homebrew you want to boot up.
This is the menu once you boot up the Supercard DStwo.
Once you boot up the DS_Menu you will get a grid like menu where you can choose the game you want to play. You can also change the menu and make it look like the AKAIO menu where you scroll up and down and choose your game. In the menu you are allowed to delete files, copy/paste files, change the language of the menu, and you are also able to choose your own “hotkeys” to open up the in-game menu. The Supercard DStwo supports the USRCHEAT.DAT cheat file so once you press X when you are selecting your game you are able to pick a cheat. The scrolling of the menu is really fast just like AKAIO. When you boot up the Supercard DStwo it loads up instantly. What I don’t like about the grid like menu is that you are not able to view the file name of the Game so its sometimes confusing for me to pick a game that has the same icon like Phoenix Wrights or Professor Layton. You are also able to skin the DStwo menu but since its a new flashcart right now there are barelly any skins for it that are available currently. What I don’t like about the regular menu is that you don’t have a lot of options like in the AKAIO menu such as viewing hidden files, update cheats/loaders via wifi, doesn’t tell you how much MB a file is, and other file operations.
This is the grid like appearance of the menu.
This is the other menu that scrolls up and down I personally use this one because it’s faster and shows the file names
[youtube]4r82cnjB9k8[/youtube]
Here is a YouTube video of me showing you the Supercards menu and some of its features.
GBA Emulation
What is special about the Supercard DStwo is that it has a built in GBA emulator inside of it. The GBA emulator is ONLY available on the Supercard DStwo and iPlayer because these flashcarts have a built in CPU and RAM chip inside so this emulator will not work on your R4. What I found disappointing with this emulator is that the Supercard Team hasn’t updated it at all since its first release on the iPlayer they basically just put in the same emulator that the iPlayer has on the Supercard DStwo and changed its menu a little. The GBA emulator isn’t that great but isn’t horrible it plays most games decently with frame skip and all that but there are lots of games that won’t even boot up or are really lag. Once you boot up your GBA rom you get into a menu where you can choose different settings for the game and options. In the menu you have the Video/Audio setting where you can fast forward the game you are playing, if your game lags you can turn on Frame Skip, and you are able to turn on and turn off the Sound to make the game less laggy if it is. You are also able to do Save States “RTS” with this feature you are able to save anywhere and load up your progress of the game where you last left of you could save up to 10 slots. You are also able to load up Cheats a bug I found about it is that it will only show up to 30 cheats. You are able to take a Screen snapshot of the game you are playing, change the key pad. A cool thing in this emulator is that you can change the CPU frequency it ranges from 0 to 4, this feature is good for when a game lags you are able to set the CPU in a higher level to make the game smoother but this will also decrease your battery life(default is 2).
This is the GBA emulator in-game menu.
I was able to test out some ROMS and most of the ROMS I tested ran fine these are some that I ran:
Konami Racers(U) Game ran perfectly didn’t notice any lag
Mario Kart(U) Game ran perfectly didn’t notice any lag
Golden Sun(UE) Game lags must put on frame skip, lags terribly when you fight
Golden Sun 2 (UE) Game lags when you move and lags terribly when you fight. Almost unplayable.
Mario VS Donkey Kong(U) Game runs perfectly
Pokemon Firered and Leafgreen(US) Both games run perfectly. Must be patched to save or you can use RTS feature.
Pokemon Volume 3(US) Movie runs pretty good but sound is terrible. Unwatchable.
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror(US) Game lags must put on CPU to 4. And framskip should be on about 4.
Grand Theft Auto GBA(US) Game runs but is extremely laggy.
Kingdom Hearts Chain Of Memories(US) Game freezes at intro. Must use Save state when the game froze then load the save then the game will run fine after the intro.
Super Mario Advance 4- Game needs to be patched to work
Mario Tennis Power Tour Game is extremely laggy. Not playable at all.
Drill Dozer(U) Game runs pretty fine for me
Rayman 10th Anniversary Game runs fine
Pokemon Emerald Game runs fine. Clock Time events work.
A more complete compatibility list could be found [url="http://gbatemp.net/t226964-gba-emulator-details"]here[/url] made by raing3.
NDS Compatibility
These days most flashcarts play 99.99% of all the DS games perfectly so NDS compatibility isn’t a real issue anymore. The Supercard DStwo played all of my DS games perfectly and I had around 70 games. Some games that I tested are here.
Works
Super Mario 64
Mario Kart DS
Tetris DS
New Super Mario Bros
Call Of Duty 4
World Series of Poker 2008
Professor Layton and the Curios Village
Apollo Justice Ace Attorney
Guitar Hero On Tour
N Plus
Call Of Duty World At War
Skate it
Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Scribblenauts
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days
Star Fox Command
Club House Games
Pokemon Heartgold/SoulSilver
Tetris Party Deluxe
Maplestory DS
Jam with the Band
WarioWare DIY
Legend Of Zelda Spirit Tracks
Mario and Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story (In-game menu doesn’t open sometimes while playing game)
Castlevania Portrait of Ruin (Random freezing)(Depends on how fast your MicroSD is)
Dementium II
And many more.
What I would like to talk about more here is the in-game guide.
This is how the in-game guide looks like.
The Supercard DStwo allows you to load up a guide for your game if you have the .txt file. Once you load the guide it takes about 2-3 seconds for it to load up which is very fast compared to my M3 Zero. The in-game guide also allows you to load up pictures which is very good for those puzzle games the pictures have to be in .bmp format. The Supercard DStwo also features slow-motion which allows you to slow down your game I kind of find this feature pointless but it still might help you in those action games. The nice new feature of the Supercard DStwo is the new RTS “save slot” you are able to save up to 4 different kind of RTS files and you are able to name them, the new RTS allows you to use it on those new 3D games that other flashcarts couldn’t. It takes about 4 seconds to save and about 3 seconds to load up the RTS. You are also able to enter your cheat code database and select any cheat that is in there for your game without exiting out of the game and going back into the main menu, this is really great for people like me that forget to put in a cheat when they boot up there game. The Supercard DStwo also has a very new exiting feature which is “Free Cheat” this mode allows you to search values and change them so it will change the value in the game(I showed it in the video so you might want to check out the video that I made for more details about this feature), there is also fuzzy mode which allows you to cheat on values that you can not see like a health bar once the fuzzy mode sees that your health mode decreased you go change the value and make it increase again. Out of all the flashcarts the Supercard DStwo has the most features and the best in-game menu out of all of them.
Promises
The Supercard team promised us that we would get a SNES emulator and DivX/XviD support but we still don’t have them. Unfortunately because lots of people kept asking for the Supercard DStwo to be released the Supercard team decided to release it but haven’t finished with there SNES emulator and the DivX/XviD support. According to there website they also state that they will make more emulators for the Supercard DStwo such as NeoGeo, and more. They have also said that there will be an ebook reader that could also read PDF files but there aren’t any right now. We will have to wait for an upgrade for the Supercard DStwo for it to be allowed to use these features. The Supercard Team will also be releasing the SDK so developers could make there own homebrew for the Supercard DStwo which means we could get even more new emulators.
Conclusion
The Supercard DStwo is an amazing cart that has a bright future. There might be new homebrew that are only available for the Supercard DStwo and other new features in the future because of the extra RAM and CPU. If you have a DSi this flashcart is a must for you if you want GBA capabilities plus it also features lots of other features that actually work smoothly. This flashcart hasn’t gave me any problems as of date I am very impressed with it and made it my main cart and put my Acekard 2i away. I was a little disappointed though that we still don’t have the SNES emulator and the DivX/XviD support but I guess the Supercard Team will be making a new update soon that will include these features in the future. I would also want to thank Gamekool for giving me this sample for the review.
-Score-
Design – 3/5
Software – 14/15
Use – 5/5
Functionality – 20/20
Features – 5/5
Overall – 47/50
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