GBAtemp Official NeoFlash Review Online

[shaunj66]

News: GBAtemp Review of the NeoFlash 512Mb 3 in 1 Kit



Better late than never...





As promised, here is my in-depth review of the NeoFlash kit.


Click Here to read the exclusive review!


You may leave comments or feedback in this thread.

 

[Costello]

man it's really awesome (already told you on ICQ)
it was worth the wait!
what a long, detailed review! fantastic job

GBATEMP = the best place for GBA hardware reviews!

 

[Dirtie]

So much for not playing commercial games... good review!

 

[Iceman5]

Very nice and unbiased review. I'm glad you didn't go all "Ohhh its so great. It plays commercials! Buy it now!!" as payback coz u got the kit for free, like some other reviewers did.

 

[zatelli]

That was worth the wait very nice,clear ,unbiased and fair review.From what I've gathered from here and there your rating is very accurate.
Can't wait for the next review [ USB dumper review] though I doubt it'd a great hardware dunno (*points at the random data dumping rendering dumps useless*)

 

[face_kicker]

Thanks for the review write up shaun, I was looking forward to it. After all that...It's nice to know that I can wait a little longer for a better cart system to come along. Thanks again.

 

[Euronymous]

Saves only to an original DS cart? Worthless piece of crap

 

[teh_raf3]

Saves only to an original DS cart? Worthless piece of crap

It's just the start of flashcarts, better carts and stuff will come out, but much later, within a couple of months - a year, there will be decent ones.

 

[ConraDargo]

Saves only to an original DS cart? Worthless piece of crap

Simply buy a couple of Metroid Prime Hunters demo carts - they sell somewhat cheap on eBay, at least much cheaper than any original game cart

And once you're able to backup saves to your computer...


I find this piece of information rather amusing though. It's from their website:

QUOTEWhat is a flash linker? A flash linker is a device that connects to the PC and lets you write/dump GBA/NDS games to flash carts. It can also be used to dump GBA/NDS games on the pc from the catridges.

Correct description, but... I thought the Neoflash couldn't be used to dump NDS games?

At least not yet.

Anyhow, great review Shaun!

 

[alexp2_ad]

Very good review... very interesting.

 

[Darkforce]

Nice review shaun!

A couple of things:

Regarding saving the best solution so far is to purchase an Action Replay MAX Duo (see my topic here about it), this will allow you to store 4 saves and back them up to the PC. Alternatively you could purchase the Neo Flash USB Loader when it arrives but you would still need a different real cart to save on for every single rom you had.

The battery compartment in the Neo Flash cart... I'm just wonering how good the battery actually is because in reality it shouldn't be necessary...
If rechargeable batteries were used like with official carts the batteries would never need replacing.
And my old visoly cart which I believe just uses a normal battery, is still saving fine after 3 1/2 years.
I just think the battery compartment feature is a bit overstated...


In the flash cart comparison you say patching the games with darkfaders tool makes them too big... how much larger do they become just out of curiosity? Is it not possible to truncate the games down at all via hex or some sort of tool like GBATA for example?

Also have you tried darkfaders ds dumps on the other flash carts? Would they work?


Theohretically speaking seeing how a Neo Flash cart is simply an XG2 cart, one could just buy an XG2 flash kit and passme for the same results at a lower cost, correct?

Finally is it possible to have both DS roms and GBA roms on the same cart?

 

[Euronymous]

Saves only to an original DS cart? Worthless piece of crap

It's just the start of flashcarts, better carts and stuff will come out, but much later, within a couple of months - a year, there will be decent ones.

I know that, but it's a little unethical to release a product in this state. It's an obvious attempt to sucker in people who don't understand how it really works so they can raise money to fund making a real flash card.

It would be like making a car that technically has an engine that runs, but you have a public transport bus come behind and push it to your destination to get anywhere. It would initially fool someone on first observation but it's hardly worth paying money for when you could just take the bus.

 

[ConraDargo]

Though taking the bus won't bring in any money for the producer of the car and its engine - hence halting the car production, forcing everyone to go by bus...

 

[TonyCool]

Just a quick question that's not clarified on the review. You tryed with several different flash cards and commercial roms didn't work. But did you try with an original XGFlash2? I mean... if the NEoFlash GBA cart is the same as the XGF2, both should play commercial dumps..

 

[shaunj66]

Thanks for all the nice comments guys! I really appreciate it!

Can't wait for the next review [ USB dumper review]

I'm looking forward to receiving it (hopefully!) and reviewing it.

Let's see if they can work anything out by then.

Regarding saving the best solution so far is to purchase an Action Replay MAX Duo

You might be right, but I don't really feel like paying for one!

And if it proves to not work as well... also I'm wondering if the 4 save banks might not work as effectively as we'd hope. The flashed game might just write to the 1st save bank and overwrite whatever's there...

The battery compartment in the Neo Flash cart... I'm just wonering how good the battery actually is because in reality it shouldn't be necessary...

Not sure, only time will tell that. It depends on how well the NeoFlash handles the battery itself.
The battery compartment may be overstated, I did mention the potential uselessness for it in my review. At least it's there... well.. they could have just used a rechargable battery like you said and avoided the whole thing completely but I guess that would add to the production costs...

In the flash cart comparison you say patching the games with darkfaders tool makes them too big... how much larger do they become just out of curiosity? Is it not possible to truncate the games down at all via hex or some sort of tool like GBATA for example?

I tried, believe me!

The ROMs were approx. 2KB over-size. Plus, I didn't want to modify the ROMs too much as it would alternate the consistency of the review, and there was no 0 bytes to review at the end of the ROM anyway.

Also have you tried darkfaders ds dumps on the other flash carts? Would they work?

I haven't tried it.. but as they're not proper dumps I don't think it will be worth it anyway. But I may give it a go!

Theohretically speaking seeing how a Neo Flash cart is simply an XG2 cart, one could just buy an XG2 flash kit and passme for the same results at a lower cost, correct?

Well, I can't say for certain as I have no way of testing that. But in theory, yes, a PassMe/FlashMe/WifiMe (*Me) and a XG2 2005 cart should work.

Finally is it possible to have both DS roms and GBA roms on the same cart?

No, as they're is no boot loader. At the moment the DS boots straight into the NDS ROM that is flashed alone on the cart. And there are no working loaders that could do this yet.... though, I have heard rumblings of a NDS/GBA multiboot loader in the works.

 

[Deleted_11405]

i think its well done. but i think gba&flashing stuff does a bit better (its works simply i cant say anything more about it). sure nds has some very nice issues 2 make people wanna have. still this way (neoflash) takes a lot of work to get thinks work and hope for those who want they dont lose/damage any parts too soon. (i am not too much into the gaming stuff to talk straight about it..) its getting better&better sadly i think i cant enjoy next generation stuff cos there are other important things in life.. which also need the money: i'm very happy also for all who can.. they earn it

 

[elifecyber]

Hey shaun, great review man, I love it.

 

[unusername]

congratulations... very good review!


keep doin' shaunj66

 

[Kyuketsuki_M]

I've already seen this in my local Akihabara import store.....

But for 35,000 yen, 10,000 yen more than a PSP! I think I'll wait another year....

 

[TonyCool]

Just a quick question that's not clarified on the review. You tryed with several different flash cards and commercial roms didn't work. But did you try with an original XGFlash2? I mean... if the NEoFlash GBA cart is the same as the XGF2, both should play commercial dumps..