Review Review of the Supercard DSTWO

[jlsyber]

The ProGamers review of the Supercard DSTWO

Review written by James of ProGamers on the 31st of May 2010
Last updated on the 1st of May 2010
Cart also known as: SC2, Supercard 2, DSTWO
Manufactured by: Supercard
Website: http://eng.supercard.sc/manual/dstwo/

This is a review of the Supercard DSTWO that I own. There have been many different batches of the Supercard DSTWO and some maybe a bit different from the one I have.
I am reviewing it with the latest Supercard DSTWO EOS firmware at the time of writing this review, which was v1.02.

Introduction

The arrival of the Supercard DSTWO was long anticipated and came out months after being first announced to the public. It has an onboard CPU like the iPlayer and was said to have many cool features, such as common video playback, and GBA and SNES emulation built-in. However, as they were pressurised into releasing it early, there is no video playback available at the time of me writing this review.

Packaging and Contents

The Supercard DSTWO comes in a medium-sized cardboard box which contains a plastic tray that contains the Supercard DSTWO, a microSD reader and a short manual.

The cart itself is virtually the same size as a retail DS cartridge. However the spring-loaded microSD slot isn't very good. There is a small bump on the label of the cart where the CPU sticks out. This small bump is very slight and is only an aesthetic thing.



Performance

Game loading time - From all the games I tested the game loading times ranged from 1-5 seconds.
Commercial ROM compatibility - All commercial ROMs work perfectly fine, without the need of patches. I did not experience any lag or random freezing in games.
Multiplayer, Download Play, Wii Connectivity and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support - All games can use the multiplayer functions, download play, Wii connectivity and Wi-Fi perfectly.
Save Game support - It supports .sav save files. There is a multi-save function so you can have up to 4 save files at one time.
Homebrew - I do not really use that many homebrew applications and games so I don't know that much about this. All of the homebrew that I tried worked perfectly. If you would like me to test one for you please PM me.
Cheats - It supports usrcheat.dat files. Place then in the _dstwo folder.

Operating System/Firmware

The Supercard DSTWO uses the icon for Fish Tycoon in the DSi main menu in order to stop it being blocked by updates to the DSi firmware.



After selecting the Fish Tycoon icon it will take about 3 seconds for the menu to load. The menu that comes up is a DSi style menu and is very good looking. From this menu you will be able to open the DS games player, the GBA emulator, Moonshell 2, DSOrganize, DSision and boot to slot 2. You can add more choises here by adding plugins.



Extra Features

As said earlier there are many extra features that the Supercard DSTWO offers that many others don't. A few of the features that stand out are GBA emulation, the in-game menu and common video playback (however this has not yet been completed).

GBA Emulation

The GBA Emulation is very good and smooth. In most games there is not much lag and most games work perfectly. Rather than listing all the games that do and don't work please PM me to ask if a given game works. The in-game menu for the GBA Emulator is very nice and offers many features like real-time save, fastforwarding, cheats and screen snapshots to name a few.



In-Game Menu

The in-game menu can be accessed by pressing the R+L+Start+Select buttons simultaneously. It offers you the ability to read an in-game guide (e.g walkthroughs, tips), cheats, real-time save and load, slow motion and free cheat.



Conclusion

As Supercards flagship flashcart, the Supercard DSTWO offers a lot more compared to many of its other competitors. The GBA Emulation, slow motion, realtime save and plugins and many other functions that not many other flashcarts offer are excellent and make this stand out in the flashcart world. The deal is sweetened even more with the promise of common video playback and many other emulators to be made for it later.
With the functionality of a CycloDS and the GBA emulation, video playback and DSi compatibility of the iPlayer this is an exellent cart.

Pros

+ DSi and DSi XL compatible
+ microSDHC support
+ 100% ROM compatibility
+ Exellent interface
+ Multi language support
+ Real-time save, slow motion and in-game guides
+ Not able to be blocked by future firmware updated from Nintendo

Cons

- Not so good build quality
- Less than perfect spring-loaded microSD slot
- A bit more expensive than other flashcarts

If you want a flashcart that offers loads of excellent features then this is a must for you.

 

[jlsyber]

Thanks!

For some games I find that ther isn't much lag but for others their is a bit. I found WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! played very smoothly.

 

[Blaze163]

I hate Moonshell 2 with a passion. Will Moonshell 1.71 work on a SCDS2? Or should I keep my Cyclo around as a dedicated movies/music card when I get my SCDS2, and use the new card for games only?

 

[DCG]

I think the gba emulator could have a harder time playing metroid fusion (in parts with many ennemys) on my supercard mini it had alot of lag

 

[pichon64]

Ok, ok, stop it. Convinced, persuaded, whatever. I just ordered my SC DS2. Period.

 

[jlsyber]

Glad I persuaded someone to buy it

.

Hope you won't be disapointed.

I tried moonshell 1.71 and it worked fine.

 

[Deleted User]

Check Golden Sun/Golden Sun the lost age (for game boy advance). I doubt that they'll emulate well, even on a powerful onboard processor just because of how badly coded they supposedly are. I am, however, curious. Frameskip optimally would be 2-4.

 

[jlsyber]

Most games do work perfectlly and have virtually no lag at all. However there are some with uber lag and are really hard to play. However if you change the frameskip it does get a bit better.

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

Good review, but you made a small error: Last updated on the 1st of May June 2010

Just wanted to point that out

 

[MissingNo._]

I'm wondering about two things...
Will this run NesDS? The Acekard 2i with the newest update won't run it.
And is this compatible with the PokeWalker? I heard something about it not being able to connect to any flashcards due to the lack of a part of some sort.

 

[lolzed]

MissingNo.]
I'm wondering about two things...
Will this run NesDS? The Acekard 2i with the newest update won't run it.
And is this compatible with the PokeWalker? I heard something about it not being able to connect to any flashcards due to the lack of a part of some sort.

NesDS should work,I don't see why not...
As for Pokewalker,of course not.Flashcarts need an IR for that.

 

[sputnix]

MissingNo.]
I'm wondering about two things...
Will this run NesDS? The Acekard 2i with the newest update won't run it.
And is this compatible with the PokeWalker? I heard something about it not being able to connect to any flashcards due to the lack of a part of some sort.

First this should it has dldi and the official gbatemp review says it works so no worries
The Pokemon games themselves and the pokewalker have a infared port similar to the GBC to connect it, and no flashcard has or will ever have it EVER. Not trying to be mean or anything just wanted to get my point across.

 

[Reecey]

MissingNo.]
I'm wondering about two things...
Will this run NesDS? The Acekard 2i with the newest update won't run it.
And is this compatible with the PokeWalker? I heard something about it not being able to connect to any flashcards due to the lack of a part of some sort.

Yes mate it does run NESDS and Snes and genesis plugins very nicely, you should appreciate its style and grace by the way and good guide but my DSTWO dosent have a bump on the top and goes in and out of the DSI XL smooth as a babys bum and the micro sd card, I havent had a problem with that its smoooth as well. I should say the people that paid less for it with pre orders probably got a rushed model on there hands and the peolpe that ordererd a bit later got a better built version, like I said no sticker issue or card issue and no micro sd issue, I just wanted to back the DS TWO up on that one so they dont all do the same issues also I would like to add a bit of a frustrating thing is Warioware D.I.Y it crashes on saving all wifi games dosent matter what version rom apart from Jap "but who can read Jap anyway".

Please Supercard Team fix warioware D.I.Y

 

[MissingNo._]

NesDS should work,I don't see why not...
As for Pokewalker,of course not.Flashcarts need an IR for that.

First this should it has dldi and the official gbatemp review says it works so no worries
The Pokemon games themselves and the pokewalker have a infared port similar to the GBC to connect it, and no flashcard has or will ever have it EVER. Not trying to be mean or anything just wanted to get my point across.

Ok. Just as I feared with the PokeWalker.

QUOTE(reece71079 @ Jun 7 2010, 08:53 PM)

Yes mate it does run NESDS and Snes and genesis plugins very nicely, you should appreciate its style and grace by the way and good guide but my DSTWO dosent have a bump on the top and goes in and out of the DSI XL smooth as a babys bum and the micro sd card, I havent had a problem with that its smoooth as well. I should say the people that paid less for it with pre orders probably got a rushed model on there hands and the peolpe that ordererd a bit later got a better built version, like I said no sticker issue or card issue and no micro sd issue, I just wanted to back the DS TWO up on that one so they dont all do the same issues also I would like to add a bit of a frustrating thing is Warioware D.I.Y it crashes on saving all wifi games dosent matter what version rom apart from Jap "but who can read Jap anyway".

Please Supercard Team fix warioware D.I.Y

Fail. 1. You intergrated something completely different into your answer for me, and 2. it was all done in one sentence. One fragmented sentence.

 

[huhster]

Hows the battery life with the cart in place? I would imagine battery life is degraded due to the resources this cart requires.

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

Hows the battery life with the cart in place? I would imagine battery life is degraded due to the resources this cart requires.

When playing DS games and homebrew, it's just like any other flashcart, because it doesn't really use the extra resources. GBA games drain battery life slightly more, but not much.