[GUIDE/INFO] Flash Carts, ODE, and more!

[Jagosaurus]

Finally updated the Everdrive GBA from "coming soon" lol. Some other minor updates.

Still need to add drive emulator section, and the new Neo•Geo carts!

Minor tweak, it natively also emulates the SMS and Game Gear with the latest update, you only list Nintendo stuff. I guess it's unofficially also strongly supports the PC Engine and the library of CD games in ISO format too.

The GBA ED or NGPC SD card does that? Interesting either way (assuming it is GBA)... how does that work from the menus?

[Tanooki]

PCEAdvance is the name, GBA based emulator at least a decade old now.

It runs any HuCard you throw at it, don't think it ever got SGX.

CDs are easy, you just make an ISO out of a game (riiight) and then you copy it onto the SD card and it will show up in the PCEA menu. It's actually pretty handy because the games for CD fire up fast, no dumb extended disc reading load times involved.

Sure it gets slightly compressed with the resolution difference vertically between PCE and GBA but the up side is just huge given the cost of a Duo (US or JP) along with the games.

Not saying I don't want a Duo again, but it's a hell of an option with just the investment in a $99 ED GBA + GBA or some format.

[Ziggy]

you just make an ISO out of a game (riiight)

You know, there are people that actually make their own disc images. In fact, you're talking to two of them right now (Jag and myself). It's not just a "backup" wink wink. Some people say backup and legitimately mean backup.

[Ziggy]

Finally updated the Everdrive GBA from "coming soon" lol. Some other minor updates.

Still need to add drive emulator section, and the new Neo•Geo carts!

Minor tweak, it natively also emulates the SMS and Game Gear with the latest update, you only list Nintendo stuff. I guess it's unofficially also strongly supports the PC Engine and the library of CD games in ISO format too.

I only copied and pasted the info from Krikkz webpage. It's more or less a place holder until me or someone else writes a proper review for it. I'm in no hurry though since it has no real competition, as this has always been about comparing flash carts against each other. Not so much reviewing them. Proper reviews exist elsewhere. This is just the major points so people can decide if they want X or Y.

[ElkinFencer10]

you just make an ISO out of a game (riiight)

You know, there are people that actually make their own disc images. In fact, you're talking to two of them right now (Jag and myself). It's not just a "backup" wink wink. Some people say backup and legitimately mean backup.

I've done this with several of my Gamecube and Wii games.

[nightrnr]

So any thoughts on the Super UFO Pro 8 (SNES flash cart)?
http://www.tototek.com/store/index.php? ... cts_id=145

It's interesting to me for its more robust piggyback feature (play SA-1 and FX games with a cheap Super Famicom equivalent cart).

Seems to use SD cards and save states too. It's potentially a better alternative to the mighty SD2SNES (if I'm reading it right.

[Ziggy]

Ah, right. I have to remember to add it when I get the chance. I keep forgetting about it, to be honest.

It does have some benefits, and it crosses over with certain features that the Retrode and Retron 5 have. But as for playing ROMs of games with enhancement chips, Sd2snes is still king. My Life In Gaming made a pretty good video reviewing it...

[Tanooki]

So any thoughts on the Super UFO Pro 8 (SNES flash cart)?
http://www.tototek.com/store/index.php? ... cts_id=145

It's interesting to me for its more robust piggyback feature (play SA-1 and FX games with a cheap Super Famicom equivalent cart).

Seems to use SD cards and save states too. It's potentially a better alternative to the mighty SD2SNES (if I'm reading it right.

Dude did a whole breakdown on it here with pictures: https://www.emuparadise.me/reviews/SuperUFO/

Seems it's sketchy with using exp chip games as a tool to run others you don't own. It also can sometimes have problems doing save states as well. But for a device that can run over 2K(all regions) non-chipped games, and have a really robust cheat system in place it's probably the best kit on the market since you can just ROM feed the hell out of it from an SD card.

If they update the bugs out of it, it's a SD2SNES killer, but as it stands now it's basically a Super Everdrive, or SuperED plus if you can find game with a exp chip on board that'll tolerate whatever ROM you toss at it. As is, it's good, quite good, but if they fixed it, it's the new king.

[Jagosaurus]

IIRC, UFO had an older device similar to the Doctor Retro add ons that let you play games from a 3.5" floppy or CD ROM via parallel port.

Doctor Retro also had N64 devices.

Now that I think about it, those were kind of the earliest "flash carts" just replace the SD card with a floppy of CDR... per game... or multiple per game . They load into & store in onboard RAM I believe.

[nightrnr]

Thanks for the info and links guys.

So from what I understand, it CAN utilize special chips through piggyback, but it would pretty much have to be the same exact game, unless another game uses the same PBC layout, but I'm speculating.

It still would be useful if say, you wanted a cheaper option for Mario RPG (nevermind that you are buying an $80 flash cart too ). I know on the video he says it doesn't work for SA-1 games, but I am not convinced. I think you need the same: 1. revision of board 2. Special chip rev. and 3. ROM, which many games had variations (possibly why Mario and Pilotwings did not work with each other, again, just a theory).
Also as the video guessed, rom hackery could probably solve it, but as Everdrive and SD2SNES are the standard, the interest level just isn't there.
(I wish that interest level was there for Street Fighter Alpha 2 on SD2SNES, but I've already talked of that before on another thread some time ago; again, no interest to those with the skill).

I may want to try it out sometime to satisfy curiosity. Seems pretty decent for the price

I also like that it seems to write to system RAM, instead of Flash like the Everdrive, even if it does take a minute. Here's my quirk, if I'm just messing around with a few games (90% of my gaming), I feel like I'm burning the flash memory for no reason (100,000 write cycles is a lot, but it still bothers me).