Review: M3 DS Real Perfect Bundle

[dwtechz]

Great Review and great pic!
I think this picture
is come from
http://www.digimartz.com/m3-ds-real-...ack-p-212.html
Is that right?:rofl:

[Joe88]

lol, yup
was a good pic for the top of review so decided to use it


anyway good news
newest m3 real firmware update v4.0 allows NDS RTS (real time save)
Ive tested it and it works very good
I might even say its better the cyclo RTS

pro/con list modified
NDS RTS changed from con to pro now
removed the $60 price tag as a con, can be gotten a lot cheaper now

score remains the same though because of menu lag and such

will add a section on NDS RTS soon,
might as well cover GBA RTS while im there

[Qmark]

I've noticed the box says NDSL/NDS, yet the slot-2 components clearly are not going to work in NDS.

[Joe88]

I've noticed the box says NDSL/NDS, yet the slot-2 components clearly are not going to work in NDS.

they sell replacement carts
some compaines just ask you which exp cart you want when you order a m3 real perfect bundle
(NDSL black, NDSL clear, NDSL white, NDS clear)



http://www.realhotstuff.com/expansio...ses-p-288.html

on the bottom they ask which extra cart you would like with the bundle

http://www.realhotstuff.com/real-rum...ion-p-258.html



also that NDS/NDSL was just referring to the regular slot-1 cart

[bonkers82]

M3 DS Real Perfect Bundle Review




This is a review for the M3 DS Real Perfect Bundle which I have tested for over a month now.


The Manufacturer of this cart as you guessed from the name is M3 Adapter: http://www.m3adapter.com/

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Test Equipment:

• Nintendo DS Lite (USA)
• M3 DS Real Perfect Bundle (English) ver.CPE
• Kingston 4GB MicroSDHC (Japan) class[4]

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Intro:
So here we have the M3 DS Real which is meant to replace the aging M3 Simply as their main cart The M3 Real is based on many of the features of the G6 DS Real but has expandable memory and a few other neat things like built in GBA support with expansion pack

The M3 DS which I ordered the perfect bundle edition from www.RealHotStuff.com for $60 USD. The Perfect Bundle version comes with the M3 DS Real as well as 2 expansion paks for the GBA slot designed to fit slim with the DS Lite:



The first pak is the rumble pak which can be used in games that support it such as Meteroid Pinball and Elite Beat Agents. The Second expansion pak is the GBA Expansion Pak which supports the running of GBA game roms and homebrew and also double as a ram pak for the DS Browser and some homebrew that supports it. Both of these carts are very good to have and bring out the full potential the M3 Real. It is recommended that you buy this bundle to be fully satisfied with this product.

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Packaging:
Upon receiving my product I was quit surprised at the packaging. It was very small compared to pictures I saw online. However this little box was full of goodies packed tightly togther:



Now newer versions of the bundle wont contain the CD anymore due to it being useless because of outdated firmware and they also changed the MicroSDHC reader to a glossy one. Everything came as expected and seems to be okay, nothing damaged.

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Flast Cart:


The cart is sturdy and doesnt squeak and creek and when bend it. It supports MicroSDHC cards and and slot for the spring loaded ejection for the card is very well built also. Only thing is you can see a bump on the front under the sticker where there is an exposed chip. Many flashcarts these days seem to do this, it does not however effect inserting and taking it out of the DS. Overall very good cart quality, nothing seems to be out of place and everything fits flush.

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Installation:
The M3 Real requires a MicroSD/HC card with the firmware installed on the card in order for it to work. Flash carts work by reading the MicroSD card and loading the firmware from the card now, these cards do not need to flashed in order to work and are very easy to update when new firmwares come out.



Setup was very easy only requiring a drag and drop onto the MicroSD card for the firmware and NDS and GBA roms which have their own folders.

(note: it is recomended to get a better MicroSDHC card then the one included which is garbage, the same for every flash cart to be exact, mine broke after 35 uses or so, I replaced it with a Sandisk Mobile Mate MicroSDHC + M2 reader from amazon.com for $2.50)

I then removed the card from the reader and inserted it into the M3 DS Real



Everything fits real nice and flush once inserted into the DS.
I also inserted the GBA expansion pak, which also went flush with the DS and was glossy, unlike other expansion paks like the EZ 3-in-1 that stick out and arnt glossy.

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Operation:
I turned on the DS and was very happy to see that it skips "touch the screen to continue" upon boot the M3 DS Real then loaded and was presented with a menu:



the explanation for each icon going from left to right are as follows:

• the first option will take you too the current ds games on the cart (play your NDS games)
• the second to gba games on the cart (play your GBA games)
• third is a file explorer (think of it as windows explorer)
• fourth is for cart booting for just playing a gba game with a an actual game cart (gba cart or other 3rd party slot-2 card can also be booted)
• fifth is a media player (modded version of moonshell)
• sixth is a built in PDA (I felt DSOrganize was a lot better)
• and seventh is cart options (just some basic options like boot method, select different skins and such)

Rom Browser
Fairly easy to navigate, no problems, little laggy though



Rom Options
some of the basic ROM options such as soft reset (you hold down a combo of buttons and you will return to the M3 Real menu wihout having to shut off your DS)
Cheat Switch (to activate cheats, can be set to always on and to a button combo) and slow motion (useful and your stuck in a game that requires precision but goes to fast, music wont slow down but game play will, can be set on a button combo and can return back to normal) and also take a look at the cheat tab on the top...



Cheat Menu
Just like owning a gameshark\action replay\code breaker , a cheat system is built into this cart and features many codes for almost all games, simple off and on buttons.



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ROM COMPATIBILITY:
NDS

1. TetrisDS = Works
2. Pokemon D/P = Works
3. Contra 4 = Works
4. New Super Mario Bros. = Works
5. Cooking Mama 2 = Works (soft reset must be tuned off for the this rom other wise it will freeze when making a pizza)
6. Lost in Blue = Works
7. Trauma Center = Works
8. Fell the Magic = Works
9. Elite Beat Agents = Works
10. Final Fantasy III = Works
11. The World Ends With You = Works
12. Wario Ware Touched = Works
13. DS Opera Browser = Works (must be patched with the official M3 browser patch tool)

all roms run at full speed and wifi works as well, I have not yet encountered any rom errors



GBA

1. Super Mario Advance 1/2/3/4 = All Work
2. Zelda III A Link to the Past / Four Swords= Works
3. Zelda Minish Cap = Works (must use RTS to save game, game will not save without it)
4. Zelda I Classic NES Series = Works (requires a IPF patch to work which I applied)
5. Zelda II Classic NES Series = Works (requires a IPF patch to work which I applied)
6. Wario Land 4 = Works (RTS must be turned off or game will crash)
7. Kirby Nightmare in Dream Land = Works
8. Pokemon Fire Red = Works
9. Pokemon Emerald = Works
10. Kirby and the Amazing Mirror = Works
11. Super Mario Bros. Classic NES Series = Works (requires a IPF patch to work which I applied)
12. Wario Ware Inc. = Works
13. Bubble Bobble Old and New = Works

(*note* all classic NES series must be patched with special IPS patches or else they will return a GAME PAK ERROR message upon boot of them)

all GBA games work at full speed and the M3 Expansion has superb compatibility when it comes to GBA roms



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CONCLUSION:
The M3 DS Real is a very sturdy cart with excellent rom compatibility. As far as homwbrew, the only one I got to test is DSorganize which auto DLID patched its self and ran fine. I do recommended this cart for a person that wants both DS and GBA excellent rom compatibility at a low price.

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PROS/CONS
Pros:

• Good Cart Quality
• Auto Homebrew DLID patch
• 100% Rom Compatibility
• 95% GBA Rom Compatibility
• MicroSDHC cart supported
• Cheat Support
• GBA RTS+RTC Support
• NDS RTS Support
• NDS Slow Motion availability
• Comes with both a Rumble Pak and GBA Expansion Pak made to fit flush with the DSL and comes glossy

Cons

• Scroll list for game menu and somewhat laggy
• Random 10sec lag when selecting games from NDS and GBA games
• Touch screen for M3 Menu us somewhat dodogy at best and sometimes doesn't respond
• NDS+GBA game list doesnt auto alphabetic sort

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SCORE:


review quoting pending with new release of M3sakura (new firmware for M3 DS Real which will fix all problems with menu)

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Any questions you have I will be happy to answer below.

Have the M3 Real adapter. Came with a 2gb micro sd card. Am wanting to upgrade sd card to a scandisk 4gb sdhc card. Have dragged the desired games onto memory card but when i insert it into adapter and DS I get the message that there is no system file. What is this and how do I go about fixing the problem? Do I need to put firmware onto sd card? What is the firmware? Am a complete newbie to this. Thanks in advance. PS the original 2gb sd card was done for me. I have no idea what programs etc I need to do it myself