Advice Request about Flash Carts

[Rosenkrell]

Hey, I've been getting the nostalgic urge to buy a GBA SP. I understand that I can also purchase a flash cart so I don't have to carry game carts around. I see that IC2005 has some of these in-stock--I am particularly looking at XGFlash 256M. Before I take the plunge, however, I have a few questions I was hoping some of you could answer.

--Is the gameplay of a GBA rom from a flash cart as good as if it was from the original game cart? In other words, is there any performance degradation /at all/? (I am really picky about getting the "full effect").

--Have any of you purchased from IC2005 before? Is it a reputable seller?

--A review for a flash cart I read had something that was a bit misleading to me: does 256M mean megaBITS or megaBYTES? (If it's the former, then how do these things have any use?)

--Can I also play gameboy roms from the flash cart, and is this performance also at 100%?

--There seems to be some mention of needing to do an EEPROM patch on games in order to get them to work on the flash cart; what exactly is this?

If you have any extra advice, particularly having to do with experiences with flash carts on GBA's, please let me know! Thank you very much.

[oafan]

Hey, I've been getting the nostalgic urge to buy a GBA SP. I understand that I can also purchase a flash cart so I don't have to carry game carts around. I see that IC2005 has some of these in-stock--I am particularly looking at XGFlash 256M. Before I take the plunge, however, I have a few questions I was hoping some of you could answer.

--Is the gameplay of a GBA rom from a flash cart as good as if it was from the original game cart? In other words, is there any performance degradation /at all/? (I am really picky about getting the "full effect").

--Have any of you purchased from IC2005 before? Is it a reputable seller?

--A review for a flash cart I read had something that was a bit misleading to me: does 256M mean megaBITS or megaBYTES? (If it's the former, then how do these things have any use?)

--Can I also play gameboy roms from the flash cart, and is this performance also at 100%?

--There seems to be some mention of needing to do an EEPROM patch on games in order to get them to work on the flash cart; what exactly is this?

If you have any extra advice, particularly having to do with experiences with flash carts on GBA's, please let me know! Thank you very much.

Not sure if this is to late but don't get the XG for the GBA, get an EZ-Flash IV with a minisd card, if your located in the US you can get it from here

http://www.realhotstuff.com/ezflash-size-p-294.html

Reputable site and fast shipping. But if your set on the XG, IC2005 is reputable also.

2.If the cart had special hardware, It wont run properly without patches , which you can get from here http://www.pocketheaven.com/ph/bubbz/. Some games could also slowdown on some flashcart because the ram it uses isn't fast enough but you should be good for the most part with the EZ-Flash IV.

3.Megabits. 256=32 Megabytes. GBA games are anywhere from 4MB to 32 MB so 256Mb is enough for one 32MB game Or if the cart supports Multi Games up to 8 4MB games, thats why I recommend an EZ-Flash IV because it uses External storage for all your games as it can use PSRam(16Mbit) or NOR(32Mbit). For more information on the cart read here http://ezflash.sosuke.com/wiki/index...itle=EZFlash_4 ad here http://ezflash.sosuke.com/wiki/index...sh_IV_Tutorial

4.You can play GB/GBC though an emulator called Goomba/Goomba color on the GBA. The only other way though a GBA flashcart is the GB bridge though the old Flash Advance carts or you could buy a GBC flashcart separately like the Bleepbloop, Smartboy, EMS usb.

5.Most flashing software does it automatically for you