Sunday, May 18, 2008

Are you into NDSL

Doing some research for the storage device for the NDSL. // for the kids ;-)

At the end I selected the CycloDS Evolution for the following reasons:
- 2 complete reviews of the devices selected the CycloDS as the best device
- For all devices I checked firmware updates, patches etc. Cyclo development seems very alive.
- Dutch GUI available
- Very complete feature set


There are many different storage devices for the Nintendo DS Lite. The storage devices are mainly used to store games and play games from the device.

How it works:

The second generation storage cards fit into slot 1 and can directly boot from the device. Most of the solutions are based on SDHC, so you just plugin a SD memory card into the storage device.

What's important:
* The products have their own firmware that display content of the card. The GUI is very different on the models. Some offer localized modules and skins for the GUI.
* Features - some have full media players, including ogg and mp3 support. Some even have a small office suite on board.
* Games specific features - soft reset, a built-in cheat device, a realtime save feature, slow motion etc.
* Not all solution are based on SDHC
* Not all solution play all games - some have glitches with some newer games
* Seen some user complain the battery was 'sucked empty' when using a solution

Price:
Most products I've seen are priced between E35,- and E55,-, including 2GB of storage (SD)

Products:
CycloDS

R4DS - seems older technology and limited to 2GB memory size

Acekard - Claim: 100% game support, auto safe type detection, dual storage

DSTT - It does everything the R4 does, and with added SDHC support. review

DS Linker - Ugly GUI -review

supercard ds one - bad GUI for kids -review supercard ds one

M3 Real + rumble pack

Edge supercard



Dutch reviews
All products compared by NDSS

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

dstt rocks, r4ds is old technology

istoff said...

I have the M3 Real and the R4DS. The M3 beats the R4 in virtually every feature, but the one where it loses is a killer for me.

The R4 navigates the folder structure on the MicroSD card so fast that when you use the M3, the interface feels sluggish and painfully slow.

Its a problem that you will notice each time you use the M3. If you've never used an R4, you don't know what you're missing so may find the M3's menu speed fine, so it may not bother you. As a long time R4 user, it gets on my nerves.

Btw, thanks for a cool blog.

Liam Maxwell said...

This is a great post thanks for writing it