The Supercard line of flashcarts has been known to have issues with fake versions of its hardware emerging in the flashcart market (mostly from street dealers in China though). The Supercard team has been constantly notifying it's customers of potential fakes, how to identify them and how to avoid them. Several people have been scammed through this because they are often made to resemble the Supercard products with little differences in design.

The latest "fake" Supercard comes in the shape of an entirely different flashcart, the CycloDS MicroSD. CycloDS emerged in the scene just under a year ago and since then has released several products in the Slot-2 market and the CycloDS Evolution for the Slot-1 Market. CycloDS has also gathered up a good following from several sites and customers as a nice alternative solution to other popular carts (M3, Supercard).

However, not everything is what it seems to be with this team. Apparantly their MicroSD Slot-2 flashcart is a "fake" Supercard. In my eyes, it can not be deemed a "fake" Supercard, but instead a clone under a different name. The flashcart supposedly uses the same firmware (with slight modifications) as the Supercard MicroSD product and slight hardware differences. This team is not out to fool you like all the others claiming to have a Supercard product so the trouble and risk is minimum.

One of the most long awaited NDS titles since Mario Kart DS, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, has finally been given a date in the United States. Finally, the curtains of a release date have been brought back and we have been enlightened to find out that we will be "blessed" by Link's presence on our NDS on October 1st.  Appearing over in Japan just a week ago, Phantom Hourglass has already sold over 300,000 copies to loyal fans of the series.

Our legendary hero, Link, has seen countless battles on all Nintendo systems to date, first making his appearance on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. He hasn't really aged at all, sometimes even losing a few pounds and years, but that doesn't make him any weaker. In the Phantom Hourglass, Link is on a quest to reunite himself with Tetra, the leader of a band of pirates who was lost in dense fog. Throughout your quest you will use the Nintendo DS's stylus to fully control Link and help him interact with objects, people and enemies alike. It's amazing what just a simple pen stroke could do.

 After the creation of the solar-powered Wii station, TwitchGuru responded to a request to build a solar-powered DS Lite, and as such has produced it. Many people commented on the solar-powered Wii Station that was created by Tom's Hardware Guide and even requested a solar-powered DS Lite to be created, and as such, one has been created.

Taking no more than a slightly modified cell phone solar-powered charger and a DS Lite, TwitchGuru has modified their DS Lite to run solely off of the power produced by the Sun. Many were agitated that the device would be running off of battery power and will be recharged with solar energy, however this modified DS is solely powered off of solar energy.

With two solar panels, closely the same size as the NDS Lite folded out, the modified DS folds up into a nice small package not much longer than its original size. You can attach the solar panels however you would like but this modified DS features it attached to the top of the DS Lite's top screen and seems to balance out just fine. Now all we need is a sun-friendly Nintendo DS as it's not pleasant to play in the sunlight with any product that features a LCD. You can view the instructions after the jump and watch the video via the link below -

Watch: [Tom's Workshop Video]

Mateom199 from gbadev has recently picked up an old project by a former DS developer, Etho. Etho originally developed a GBC emulator for the Nintendo DS but later dropped the project. DSBoy started as a clone of gnuboy (Gameboy emulator) and was migrated onto the Nintendo DS, however it is no where near where gnuboy's compatibility and features. After Etho dropped the project several months ago and announced a new one, we have been left in the dark with the emulator and its source.

Mateom199 peaked an interest in this project and decided that he would attempt to work on it. With this new release of the emulator a file browser has been added to browser for your rom files (we do not support piracy here at QJ, but there are a wide array of public roms available). There has also been support for libfat added and it now is capable of being compiled by DKP r20. For those looking to support or help out in this project, feel free to drop by gbadev and show your interest as Mateom199 is not too familiar with GB emulation to optimize it entirely.

Download: [DSBoy v0.1a1 + Source]

 

As promised, here's an entirely different review for the M3 DS Simply than combining it with the R4 DS. I apologize for taking a long time to publish this review; however it is better late than never! These are in fact the same product, just different casing (sticker) and internal firmware. It all comes down to whether or not you like the R4's logo over the M3 DS Simply logo and their respected internal firmware. The M3 DS Simply offers an excellent solution to current NDS owners looking for a flashcart to enter the "scene" with. Read the review after the jump!

Click on the "Full Article" link below to read the full review.

Vist: [Official Website]

Buy: [M3 DS Simply Slot 1 (MicroSD) for Nintendo DS (Lite)]
Buy: [M3 DS Simply Slot 1 (1GB MicroSD) for Nintendo DS (Lite)]
Buy: [M3 DS Simply Slot 1 (2GB MicroSD) for Nintendo DS (Lite)]

Discuss: [Forum Discussion Topic]

The DS-X team has just released a new software and hardware update for their DS-Xtreme flashcart product. This flashcart is the most powerful cart on the market, boosting capabilities greater than that of the NDS itself, but a a higher price-point than its competitors. This new update v1.10 (software) comes with several wanted changes, one of the most noticeable the second you boot up is the new skin. I was unable to test/use this update myself due to a few technical problems on my part. However the public response to this update seems to be generally good, especially in the area of the new skin and something called "skinapps".

Skinapps are programs and games that utilize the built-in skinning engine of the DS-Xtreme to create DS-Xtreme-specific applications and games. Sudoku, Pwng and a Calculator application have all been bundled with this latest update for you to try out immediately. The various other changes in this update include -

• Multiple skin selection/support (Holding B during startup forces system backup skin to be loaded)
• Entirely new skin!
• Scroll-bar widget
• New loading and top screen
• Cosmetic change to App loading transition
• Previous (1.0.x) skin is now available as "OS10"
• "Preset" directories searching option
• "SkinApps" Skin engine based applications support
• Sudoku, Pwng, and Calculator examples
• Instant boot MBR handling bug fixed
• Instant boot LED handling bug fixed
• Better eeprom emulation mode detection
• Fixed an issue with graphics engine display quality (line skipping)
• Dpad release events are now properly placed into event queue

Note: If you experience an error that says "Update Error -1" - Read this and be sure to follow all instructions listed here.

Download: [DS-Xtreme Updater for 1.10 (PC only) + Public Partition Files]

Buy: [DS-Xtreme (DS-X) 4Gb (512MB) All-In-One Flash Storage Solution]

The R4 team was generous enough to send me their newest (and only flashcart under this name), the R4 DS which seemed to come out of nowhere. However, this little device delivers everything a homebrew fan would wish for (or a pirate for that matter..). The R4 delivers on all major bases for the DS, homebrew and multimedia support. With competitors being priced much higher and offering some different features (highest at 125$ for dancing LED's and an insane chipset), the R4 DS still comes out on top, or close to top in my opinion. This is one flashcart that I can strongly recommend due to its remarkably low price-point. Read the review after the jump!

Click on the "Full Article" link below to read the full review.

Visit: [Official Website]
Buy: [R4 DS Slot-1 Solution (MicroSD) for Nintendo DS (Lite)]
Buy: [R4DS w/ 1GB MicroSD Slot-1 Combo by R4 for Nintendo DS (Lite)]
Buy: [R4DS w/ 2GB MicroSD Slot-1 Combo by R4 for Nintendo DS (Lite)]
Discuss: [Discussion Thread]

A week after releasing the previous version, the R4 DS team has just announced and released a new version of their R4 DS kernel (the OS of the flashcart). This new version is a test edition, most likely meaning that its features may or may not be kept in future releases.

I'll be publishing a review of this product early next week as time has been tight for myself recently. For those that have already decided to buy this (and those that have the R4), you might be aware that when browsing for games, all files are shown.

In this new update, hidden files will not be displayed in the R4 DS game navigator, leaving only games to be selected. I'm a fan of "minimalistic" design and easy navigation, so this option is one I have been wishing for and it paid out in the end! The R4 DS will not display hidden files, so you can right click a file in on your PC and click the "hidden" attribute which will hide it on the R4 from being viewed.

Soft-reset has also been added to this version, as well as the backlight being turned off when the lid is closed (sleep mode). So, this is a must have download for R4 DS owners and I urge you to read more about the update on the R4 DS site (via the source link at the bottom). Here are the changes:

• Hiding the display of those files and directories with "Hiding" attributes
• Using L button as same as touching the screen to adjust the brightness
• Narrowing the display for traditional Chinese characters
• Background light should be turn off while closing DS in save mode
• Soft reset included (L+R+A+B+X+Y) or touch the soft reset button with R to switch on/off this function
• Soft reset for multimedia will be applied on Moonshell 1.6 official release

Download: [R4 DS v1.06 Kernel (Test Edition)]

The R4 team has informed me that a new update is available for their new R4 DS flashcart, one of which all current owners/will-be owners should update to the second they have access to their R4. The R4 DS is a revolutionary slot-1 flashcart that comes at a very affordable price (45$) with expandable memory, making it one of the best flashcarts out on the market. this update adds DIY skin support (custom skins) just like the majority of other flashcarts, really making your DS your personal gaming device!

The R4 offers clean, drag n' drop functionality for homebrew, music, videos - all of which can be controlled with the touch screen, making this a true DS flashcart. For those wondering if it requires flashme already pre-installed, the answer is no. Like more recent DS Flashcarts, this comes with built-in no-pass functionality, eliminating such need for Flashme.  I will be reviewing this product early next week as I have received it yesterday (huge thanks and gratitude to the R4 team). To install this, just copy the shell folder and two files to the root of your memory stick. This new update to the R4 DS adds the following -

• Supports DIY skin
• SHELL, MOONSHL,_SYSTEM_ directory and _DS_MSHL.NDS are invisible in "display game only" mode
• Supports 4-scale-lightness adjustment (DSLite only)

Download: [R4 Core Update v1.05 - English]
Purchase: [List of official retailers]
Visit: [Offical Website]

A new product has been emerging out this month as a viable competitor to the M3, Supercard and DS-X flashcart teams. M3 has their new slot-1 device entitled the "M3 DS Simply", Supercard following suit with their Supercard DS and the DS-X team with their highly popular DS-Xtreme. All of these seem to be great flashcart solutions from very respected teams, so how will the R4 fair against them? That's the ultimate question, something of which we can only decide once a review is out. The R4DS will use MicroSD memory cards as the memory medium and will be competitively priced at 45.99$ (USD) with the following features -

• Original DS cart sized device;
• Drag‘N drop files NO software required;
• Play in SLOT-1 without Passcard or Flashme;
• Supports TF(MicroSD) capacity upto 4GB(32Gbit);
• Supports DS sleep mode;
• Supports FAT16/32 File System;
• Supports Screen touch sensitive;
• Compatible clean Rom, homebrew & moonshell; - Compatible all version of DS;
• Intuitively upgradeable custom operating system.

Buy: [R4 DS Slot-1 Solution (MicroSD) for Nintendo DS (Lite)]
Buy: [R4DS w/ 1GB MicroSD Slot-1 Combo by R4 for Nintendo DS (Lite)]
Buy: [R4DS w/ 2GB MicroSD Slot-1 Combo by R4 for Nintendo DS (Lite)]