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Accordon13z
June 1st, 2007, 23:21
I have a Gameboy Micro and I'm looking to buy a GOOD flash card to a couple play games, etc... Which Flash Card is better and PLEASE! where can i find some for cheap because they all seem expensive... I would like one that'll play GBA, GB(C), SNES, Genesis (if possible), and NES... give or take one or too but def. SNES and GBA... Hook this newbie up plz... because im GBA Flash Card Retarded...

DanTheManMS
June 1st, 2007, 23:31
The GBA runs at only 16 Mhz. Emulating the Genesis is impossible (though there are Sega Master System emulators out there), and SNES is rather iffy. If you want a video demo of some games running in Snezziboy, one of the SNES emulators for the GBA, go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaBG8iC2ErA[/url] and [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHq2OzO0m2s

As you can see, there's no sound, and it's fairly slow, with graphical oddities. However, many games are indeed playable if you don't set your standards too high. See http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/Snezziboy_Compatibility_List for a partial compatibility list.

NES emulation is pretty good via PocketNES.

As for actual cards to use, since this will be done on a GBM, you can go for a traditional NOR-based card like a Flash2Advance Ultra or the EZ Flash line, or you could get a NAND-based adapter like the M3 Perfect miniSD. Both will be very expensive.

Accordon13z
June 1st, 2007, 23:41
Thanx Man... so the best games to run are strickly GBA games? im ok with that... now whats better a Flash Cart using a MiniSD for the Reg. 256mb cart.? Where can i get some good prices? cuz im pretty much lost when it comes to shopping for these flash carts.

DanTheManMS
June 1st, 2007, 23:51
Many SNES games are enjoyable, just not perfect. NES is perfect for most games.

A miniSD adapter would be easier to manage. With NOR-based adapters, you have a very limited capacity (keep in mind that 256 Mb is 256 megabits and therefore is only 32 megabytes) and you must reflash the whole cartridge to actually delete files, though you can add files to the end of the cart if there's room. With NAND-based adapters, you can freely edit, delete, add, copy, and paste files to and from the card using a card reader. While you'll be losing some features like the Real Time Clock, you'll gain convenience. In addition, it's much cheaper to upgrade a NAND-based device, as you can just buy another miniSD card rather than buying a whole new cartridge.

Since you are going to be using this mostly for GBA playback, I suggest the M3 Perfect over the Supercard, as it has higher compatibility.

If you are getting a NOR-based cart, try Linker4U or the other stores listed in the Retailer Feedback section of http://forum.gbadev.org
If you are getting a NAND-based device, try RealHotStuff or DealExtreme or Gameyeeeah or other popular online stores.

EDIT: With SNES Advance and Snezziboy, games can be speedhacked to make them run faster. If there's a particular game you want me to attempt to speedhack, just let me know, as I'm able to do that. With SNES Advance, first download the updated SuperDAT file from http://boards.pocketheaven.com/viewtopic.php?t=3366 and put it in your folder. With Snezziboy, download that SuperDAT as well and rename it to snezzi.dat, which should work for most games. The patches in the existing snezzi.dat are mostly for games that require different patches than SNES Advance. I would suggest opening the original snezzi.dat file in Notepad, copying its contents into your clipboard, overwriting it with the renamed snesadvance.dat, and then manually copying back the original snezzi.dat settings for specific games you're going to play.

TeenDev
June 2nd, 2007, 00:05
I'd go for DealExtreme if you are in the US. It has the cheapest prices.

Accordon13z
June 2nd, 2007, 01:47
EDIT: With SNES Advance and Snezziboy, games can be speedhacked to make them run faster. If there's a particular game you want me to attempt to speedhack, just let me know, as I'm able to do that. With SNES Advance, first download the updated SuperDAT file from http://boards.pocketheaven.com/viewtopic.php?t=3366 and put it in your folder. With Snezziboy, download that SuperDAT as well and rename it to snezzi.dat, which should work for most games. The patches in the existing snezzi.dat are mostly for games that require different patches than SNES Advance. I would suggest opening the original snezzi.dat file in Notepad, copying its contents into your clipboard, overwriting it with the renamed snesadvance.dat, and then manually copying back the original snezzi.dat settings for specific games you're going to play.
LOL HUH... ok Imma learn all that but first i need to Find a cheap Flash Cart. but the one on DealsExtreme.com seems suspicious... I didn't really understand the 256mb.. you mean to tell me that when they write 256mb they actually me MegaBITS? Whats with that? So its actually only 32Megabytes? How many games does that hold? Which MiniSD Flash Cart. is the best value for the price? OH AND BTW I APPRECIATE ALL THE HELP!!!

TeenDev
June 2nd, 2007, 02:01
the best bet is: http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1021

but no one actually knows what it is yet... I emailed sales and they say they have yet to identify it...

Accordon13z
June 2nd, 2007, 02:08
Any where else? I want the Best VALUED MiniSD Flash Cart... Where to buy?

TeenDev
June 2nd, 2007, 02:12
gameyeeeah if you want to buy from china.... or try Natrium42.com

DanTheManMS
June 2nd, 2007, 08:21
NOR-based carts are measured in bits, so a "1Gb" Flash2Advance Ultra is actualy 128 MB. MiniSD cards and other NAND-based media is measured in bytes, so a 1GB card will give you 1 GB of storage.

The maximum size for a single GBA binary is 32 MB. Commercial games range from 4-32 MB.

Again, I recommend the M3 over the Supercard or other miniSD adapters due to the GBA compatibility issues. If you were using it mostly for DS stuff, a Supercard would be fine, but since you're using it on a GBM, the M3 would be ideal

Karuikane
June 4th, 2007, 00:05
I'm also new to this thing and my main concern is to play GBA games, nowadays most cards don't have Real Time Clock functionality anymore except M3 perfect (from all the reviews I've read so far).

However my question is: Are there many GBA games that require RTC functionality (except for the Pokemon games)? If not I will buy a cheaper one.

Another thing: If there are a lot of GBA games which require RTC how long does the battery of the M3 Mini SD last?

Thanks for helping out.

DanTheManMS
June 4th, 2007, 02:00
The Pokemon games are the only ones I know of that use it.

Accordon13z
June 5th, 2007, 06:28
Ok, Where can I buy the M3 Perfect for my GB Micro at the cheapest price? Or is there anything better for GB Micro... I think the M3 Perfect is...well...perfect but EXPENSIVE. I'm just looking to load it with a ton of games... slip it in my GB Micro and just keep it close in case of a boring moment.

DanTheManMS
June 5th, 2007, 07:14
The cheapest place I've seen is Gameyeeeah. You could also see if DealExtreme carries them.

Accordon13z
June 5th, 2007, 17:12
Whats the difference between the M3 Perfect and the M3 Professional? Which M3 Adapters work with GB Micro (GBA)?

DanTheManMS
June 5th, 2007, 21:16
The M3 Pro is cheaper because it has most of its RAM removed. This makes it nearly worthless for GBA gaming, as only GBA binaries up to 4 MB in size will run on it.

Karuikane
June 6th, 2007, 14:23
Thank you for answering my question on RTC GBA games DanTheManMS. By the way do you know:
1 - The battery life of the M3 MiniSD slot 2 adapter?
2 - If the battery of the M3 MiniSD slot 2 adapter can be replaced when empty if so what battery and how to replace it?

Once again my thanks for answering.

bah
June 6th, 2007, 15:14
As for the sizes (wikipedia):A megabyte is a unit of information or computer storage..... It is commonly abbreviated MB (not to be confused with Mb, which is used for the megabit).

b = bits, B = Bytes. The companies that make/sell these things are dodgy with the way they label them, using M, G or some other incorrect abbreviation.

Game carts seem to historically be given in Mb. Normally its bytes for storage and bits for transfer speeds.

*shrug* probably just marketing BS to make things appear bigger.

DanTheManMS
June 6th, 2007, 20:52
I don't know much about the battery life of anything, sorry. I know that my Supercard has pretty bad battery life (4-5 hours max), but I've heard that the M3 Perfect is better.

Karuikane
June 7th, 2007, 05:21
IC well since the battery is only needed for RTC games (as far as I understand from the reviews) and if Pokemon games are the only games that need RTC, which would you recommend me to buy for Advance gameplay:
1 - The MP3 perfect MiniSD or the EZ-flash IV?
2 - And for DS gameplay I am not sure if R4 has the earlier software update or M3 Simply (I read in reviews they are both from the same manufacturer).

Thanks again.

DanTheManMS
June 7th, 2007, 05:31
I have no experience with the EZ-Flash IV, though I've heard good things about it.

The R4 and M3 Simply are both the same thing will work fine for DS binaries.