Review r4isdhc.com DS flashcard review

[YoshiInAVoid]

Although it appears pink on the official site, my card came in red​

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Introduction

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The original R4 team shut down in 2008, however many companies have since been producing flashcards under their name due to their high reputation all those years ago; the team behind this card are no exception, this card is a clone.​

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This particular team are still active today (hence the 2014 sticker) and provide a variety of different models of their cards however the internals of all of their 2014 cards are the same, and the only difference is the color and sticker.​

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Features

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- Active team,​

- Support for both Micro SD and Micro SDHC cards,​

- Action Replay Cheat Code support,​

- Soft Reset,​

- Rumble Pak support,​

- Real Time Save support,​

- Uses standard .sav method of saving games (can exchange saves between different flashcards),​

- Firmware menu includes power saving mode (screens turn off) after about 10 seconds of inactivity,​

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Firmware and Support

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This card is brand new and has support for the latest firmwares of all DS models as of writing, (all DS phats and DS lites, DSi firmware 1.45, 3DS firmware 7.1.0-15).​

The firmware has no inbuilt GBA ROM management tool, however you can load GBA ROMs through an EZ Flash 3-in-1 Plus (or alternative) via Rudolph's GBA ExpLoader tool.​

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Once you get used to the menu, navigating through folders, selecting cheats for each game, and toggling RTS for each game is a breeze.​

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Click for full image​

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Hardware

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The plastic shell has exactly the same design as the R4n3DS card and many other modern R4 clones.​

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The plastic feels of decent quality and is of a reasonable thickness; the card has a non-spring loaded micro SD slot which holds it firmly in place. It's design is slightly different to that of an official game card however it pops in and out of a DS lite and 3DS without an issue and doesn't feel lose or wobbly while inserted. It's also worth pointing out that the card is slightly longer than an official card and so it is ideal for old DSes which have developed contact issues.​

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Click for full image​

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ROM Compatibility

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ROM Compatibility on the R4iSDHC is excellent for the most part. All of the games I have thrown at it have worked, including some of the most recent games which fail on most cards due to piracy protection.​

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SpongeBob SquarePants Plankton's Robotic Revenge (latest DS game as of writing) - PASS!​

FIFA 08 - PASS!​

Mario Kart DS - PASS!​

Pictocross DS - PASS!​

Professor Layton - PASS!​

Worms 2 - PASS!​

Megaman ZX Advent - PASS!​

My Frogger Toy Trials - PASS!​

Yoshi's Island DS - PASS!​

Super Mario 64 DS - PASS!​

Pokemon Platinum - PASS!​

Pokemon Black - PASS!​

Pokemon White - PASS!​

Pokemon White 2 - PASS!​

I also tested several homebrews:​

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Win2DS - PASS!​

Moonshell - PASS!​

Flashme - PASS!​

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Conclusion

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This card is one of the better R4 clones at the moment; with solid ROM and homebrew compatibility, as well as recent console firmwares support. It is very likely that a 2015 model will be made and that the card will no longer be updated, but considering its cheap price it's definitely worth checking out.​

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7 / 10​

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[Technicmaster0]

Could you please test Pokemon Black/ White 2? It's one of the "problem games".

 

[YoshiInAVoid]

Just tested Pokemon White Version 2 and it works fine! I've updated the original post to reflect this.

 

[Rezatron]

It seems like this is the using the same kernel as of the R4i 3DS RTS cards from www.r4i-sdhc.com? I wonder if they've made any modifications to it. Does the 1.77b kernel from here work on this card? Also, can you dual-boot into YSMenu using RGF's kernel (r4i-sdhc folder)?

 

[white_demon]

I was thinking of buying either this or the r4i dual core (only the two are available in my location). When I asked the seller's opinion, he recommended the dual core because it is running on r4 wood. Is this true? I have the dual core now and I am a bit disappointed that it doesn't have the real time save feature and I'm thinking of swapping it. Any thoughts? THanks.

 

[white_demon]

I was thinking of buying either this or the r4i dual core (only the two are available in my location). When I asked the seller's opinion, he recommended the dual core because it is running on r4 wood. Is this true? I have the dual core now and I am a bit disappointed that it doesn't have the real time save feature and I'm thinking of swapping it. Any thoughts? THanks.

 

[Clydefrosch]

the rts feature is terrible. creating those savestates takes way too long and its really not worth the trouble

 

[white_demon]

the rts feature is terrible. creating those savestates takes way too long and its really not worth the trouble

I like the feature because it prevents any accidental overwriting or deletion of my save file as I would be sharing the console with family members.

 

[Clydefrosch]

i'm pretty sure family members could also overwrite your rts saves though.
also, most r4i cards i've seen have a save file backup feature that might work better for this kind of thing. usually you get to the saves menu by hitting the B button on the game of which you want to make a backup save

 

[white_demon]

i'm pretty sure family members could also overwrite your rts saves though.
also, most r4i cards i've seen have a save file backup feature that might work better for this kind of thing. usually you get to the saves menu by hitting the B button on the game of which you want to make a backup save

Mine doesn't seem to have that back up function. I see an option to enable/disable backup save at start up but don't see where it saves it to or how to retrieve the back up. Maybe another reason to switch to the Snoopy card.

 

[OncRN]

Never understood why the various "versions," since the only difference is the shell/sticker.

 

[BETA215]

I must tell you something:

I have a flashcard they launched in 2011. The old "sliver" version (yes, sliver. Not silver, which I guess is the obvious name.) Every year they launch new flashcards.
Mine is Wood R4 based, but they hacked it and made a terrible UI. The 2015 cards are YSMenu based, if I'm not wrong.

It's support lasts one year, like you can guess. If that don't bothers you, buy it. But expect to use Wood R4 downloaded from Internet for some games.
And keep expecting this page launches more flashcards with the same hardware, but better firmware.

 

[Technicmaster0]

I must tell you something:

I have a flashcard they launched in 2011. The old "sliver" version (yes, sliver. Not silver, which I guess is the obvious name.) Every year they launch new flashcards.
Mine is Wood R4 based, but they hacked it and made a terrible UI. The 2015 cards are YSMenu based, if I'm not wrong.

It's support lasts one year, like you can guess. If that don't bothers you, buy it. But expect to use Wood R4 downloaded from Internet for some games.
And keep expecting this page launches more flashcards with the same hardware, but better firmware.

The 2015 version is exactly the same as the 2014 one and both work with the latest kernel.

 

[BETA215]

The 2015 version is exactly the same as the 2014 one and both work with the latest kernel.

I guess that's the exception of the rule.

 

[Byokugen]

I have this one, am happy, just sad that there is no DIDL support...

 

[NPNL_PRO]

Is there any reason people are still using flash carts and not just installing custom firmware?

 

[Sirence]

Is there any reason people are still using flash carts and not just installing custom firmware?

The nds loaders for cfw are still in their early shoes, the flashcards are just more reliable at the moment and support almost any game, plus for 9€ a piece they are also dirt cheap. So nds flashcards will still have it's place for some more time.
Not to mention you need a flashcard to install cfw on higher firmwares to begin with.


Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

 

[starkuja]

R4s are great for also loading other console emulators onto the ds. Snes games on the go!

 

[LucasM3]

R4s are great for also loading other console emulators onto the ds. Snes games on the go!

Is a DS even fast enough to emulate snes?

 

[drewby]

Is a DS even fast enough to emulate snes?

It's pretty slow unless you have a cart like a Supercard DSTwo.