Hardware What is the rarest DS Flashcart?

[The Catboy]

They still sell them but without the sticker on AliExpress and Ebay.

Nah, those are 1:1 clones. Similar hardware and is compatible with all R4 software but not the OG white carts. Sometimes they are made up of slightly newer hardware too.

On the note of R4 clones, did anyone mention the N5? Those fuckers used to blow fuses and really didn't get much love after that

 

[SylverReZ]

Got a Cyclo myself along with a handful of R4 clones and an Acekard 2i. I bought an original R4 LONG ago when I was in middle school, but I have long since lost it.

I love finding flash carts in pawn shops.

I was pretty lucky finding some TTDS and Acekard 2i's from video game markets and eBay for pretty cheap.

 

[FAST6191]

https://web.archive.org/web/20070609071502/http://www.ic2005.com/shop/home.php
http://web.archive.org/web/20050720005349/http://www.ic2005.com/
ic2005 have been around for many years and were generally well regarded back when. Whether the same owners in the same spirit is another question entirely.
Site being too long in the tooth and vulnerable to some injection fault then being the "looks dodgy" aspect if there has to be one. Personally I would not buy what they have there but that is because that kind of money gets you a fancy GBA slot cart these days rather than some NOR era thing tweaked to run DS ROMs badly.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

The Nintendo DS family has been blessed (cursed?) with an abundant amount of different flashcarts throughout it's life.
Some had unique features and others were just clones, but some were truly hard to come by!
I recently found some of my old flashcarts and was wondering: What are the rarest DS flashcarts, and do people still own some of them?

My collection:
View attachment 375713
Feel free to post pics of your rarest flashcart and your entire collection too

Probably the CycloDS iEvolution. The original CycloDS was quite popular, but the iEvo never seemed to sell much. I still have one sitting around here somewhere... It's certainly the rarest one I have, but probably one of the rarest overall as well.

A lot of the early DS flashcarts (pre-R4) didn't seem to sell well either, for example I've never heard of anyone who actually owned a NinjaDS flashcart (this one was an odd one, it was the same shape as a normal DS flashcart, but twice as tall, making it look like some obscure official development hardware) and there were other oddballs like it, like the Datel Max Media Dock, which also had quite an interesting form factor, but was a lot more popular in its time.
The DS-X seemed to be the most popular of the early DS flashcarts, there were quite a lot of people who bought it talking about it here back in the day, I don't think that one quite counts as rare, unless all those people that bought one threw it in the garbage (or it broke) and they bought an R4 instead. Dancing LEDs aside, it was a great flashcart at the time, with some unique features. The thing that held it back and quickly made it inferior was the limited, non-expandable storage.

I don't know why so many people mentioned the DSTWO. That thing sold in droves, it's anything but rare. People who have one just don't want to get rid of it. I know I'm never getting rid of mine The DSTWO+ is a little more rare, as it wasn't on the market for nearly as long, and seemed to be disliked because of the Gateway clone functionality and the brick risks associated with it.
But maybe the GBAtemp edition DSTWO? I don't know if it counts as a separate flashcart, but it was a limited edition.

 

[master801]

I was pretty lucky finding some TTDS and Acekard 2i's from video game markets and eBay for pretty cheap.

You can still find the TTDS (not the R4i clones) being sold on AliExpress.

 

[Shadow_The_Hedgehog82]

F2A carts are useless without an xLA Linker. Those are pretty damn hard to find. And no, software requires 32-bit Windows, ideally XP (thanks to M$ driver signing)

1:1 functioning N-Card clones are quite common. (Neo MK5 especially, also saw someone who has a metric ton of "Express Card" branded variants for sale).
PassMe is still sorta around, almost every Slot-1 cart has it as a feature, and actually works on all consoles and without weird save jank (PassMe v2 specifically on that one).
Seen a couple DSTWO+es around... for way too damn much money. (you thought 100 was bad for the normal DSTWO? Pay 4x that for the same cart with like 1 extra completely useless feature).
Also encountered a few N5s, even in support on DSi-Mode Hacking! and NH.
DSerial Edge is definitely a rare, and pretty unique one at that. Haven't seen a single one for sale, nor someone who has one yet.

Is this cable the linker? it comes with it. also i think i saw someone say you can flash it with gbaldr

 

[Janni9009]

Is this cable the linker? it comes with it.

Yes! That's the official USB Linker. Still requires unsigned drivers though, so Win32 only.

also i think i saw someone say you can flash it with gbaldr

Nope, but being a 256Mbit cart, it *might* work with FAS1. (128s absolutely do not, those also don't work with PowerWriter)

You can still find the TTDS (not the R4i clones) being sold on AliExpress.

Those are clones, but originals are still somewhat common on ebay.

 

[lauty29]

I've these.
(Acekard i and DSTT are original, R4 2017 has timebomb.)
(Acekard i and ez flash are a pretty good combo, i've recently installed YSMenu on DSTT and R4)

 

[Pomegrenade]

Probably the CycloDS iEvolution. The original CycloDS was quite popular, but the iEvo never seemed to sell much. I still have one sitting around here somewhere... It's certainly the rarest one I have, but probably one of the rarest overall as well.

A lot of the early DS flashcarts (pre-R4) didn't seem to sell well either, for example I've never heard of anyone who actually owned a NinjaDS flashcart (this one was an odd one, it was the same shape as a normal DS flashcart, but twice as tall, making it look like some obscure official development hardware) and there were other oddballs like it, like the Datel Max Media Dock, which also had quite an interesting form factor, but was a lot more popular in its time.
The DS-X seemed to be the most popular of the early DS flashcarts, there were quite a lot of people who bought it talking about it here back in the day, I don't think that one quite counts as rare, unless all those people that bought one threw it in the garbage (or it broke) and they bought an R4 instead. Dancing LEDs aside, it was a great flashcart at the time, with some unique features. The thing that held it back and quickly made it inferior was the limited, non-expandable storage.

I don't know why so many people mentioned the DSTWO. That thing sold in droves, it's anything but rare. People who have one just don't want to get rid of it. I know I'm never getting rid of mine The DSTWO+ is a little more rare, as it wasn't on the market for nearly as long, and seemed to be disliked because of the Gateway clone functionality and the brick risks associated with it.
But maybe the GBAtemp edition DSTWO? I don't know if it counts as a separate flashcart, but it was a limited edition.

Very insightful, I definitely don't see much of the DS-X, but it was a very early flashcart.
However like you mentioned it was quite popular, unlike the Acekard RPG which offered both flash memory and the option for an sd card. I wonder if many people bought the RPG since the Acekard 2 was available at the same time for a cheaper price and most of the functionality.

 

[Shadow_The_Hedgehog82]

Just got these what do i need to be able to flash the mk5?

 

[[Truth]]

Is this cable the linker? it comes with it. also i think i saw someone say you can flash it with gbaldrView attachment 385718

Oooh, Flash 2 Advance, I remember those.
But I opted to buy a XG-Flash for 150€ back in the day.
Man I loved this thing.

 

[Janni9009]

what do i need to be able to flash the mk5?

Either the MK5 linker (Slot-2 cart with a MiniUSB connector, one of the 3 versions is in my collection picture too! This doesn't even need drivers, just acts as a storage device ...or a gamepad!) or the Neo Super Memory Stick (not sure if a specific version, also requires 32-bit Windows due to drivers I believe)

 

[Shadow_The_Hedgehog82]

Either the MK5 linker (Slot-2 cart with a MiniUSB connector, one of the 3 versions is in my collection picture too! This doesn't even need drivers, just acts as a storage device ...or a gamepad!) or the Neo Super Memory Stick (not sure if a specific version, also requires 32-bit Windows due to drivers I believe)

Yeah i tried looking for a mk5 linker couldn't find one, i found a neo memory card reader but it says it supports the r6 card no mention of the mk5 i ordered a few anyway for some reason when you buy more than 1 the price goes from 17.5 euro to 1.4 euro even for the first one lol https://www.shop01media.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1074

 

[SylverReZ]

Just got these what do i need to be able to flash the mk5?
View attachment 386275

https://web.archive.org/web/20080730160158/http://www.neoflash.com/go/

Post automatically merged: Aug 3, 2023

 

[lifehackerhansol]

We can't forget one of the uncommon and rarer ones: N-Card, N5, DSTWO+, EZ-Flash Redux, PassMe, DSerial Edge.

Add the AKRPG to that list lol

 

[SylverReZ]

Add the AKRPG to that list lol

Ah yes, we cannot forget the Acekard RPG.

 

[lifehackerhansol]

Ah yes, we cannot forget the Acekard RPG.

I gotta get my hands on one of these one day so I can finally fix the NAND driver source code... been holding off mainly because I didn't want to unknowningly destroy someone's NAND. (SD driver is fine though... I think.)

Somehow it's one of the two very well known carts with a prior development community around it that simply don't exist other than in real enthusiast's hands, the other being the DSTWO+ (which I do have. But it's kinda boring)

 

[SylverReZ]

I gotta get my hands on one of these one day so I can finally fix the NAND driver source code... been holding off mainly because I didn't want to unknowningly destroy someone's NAND. (SD driver is fine though... I think.)

Somehow it's one of the two very well known carts with a prior development community around it that simply don't exist other than in real enthusiast's hands, the other being the DSTWO+ (which I do have. But it's kinda boring)

Last time one was up for sale on eBay for £40, I thought that was quite expensive for a rare flash cart. I desperately want a DSTWO+ one day.

 

[koffieleut]

Still having the first DS linker, just like mk5 linker you've got a slot 2 card with mini USB to send games over.

It doesn't save anymore so I'm using it for event Pokemon roms.

 

[McPringles]

I used to have... I think it was called a FireCard? It was back in the days when the OG R4 was taking off, but it came with something like 1GB of built-in memory for the same price as an R4 without a microSD, and at the time it still would've been an extra $20 or so for a reputable 1GB microSD. It also took up both slots, with a USB adapter that plugged into the GBA slot and wrote to the DS slot, but didn't have any sort of ROM-booting or GBA functionality of its own. Pretty sure the GBA slot adapter was also sized to replace the DS Lite's GBA dust cover rather than being a full-sized cart, even though I swear this was only a few months after the Lite launched.