First NDS flash cart - Fake or not ?

[tifao]

I think it's fake :o

http://www.neoflash.com/neo-power-kit.jpg

[Morphine]

i think it is fake too. the picture looks not so natural

[Z80]

All you can do is wait and see.

[DarkCube]

I'd say fake, but i dont really know

[mdd45]

For me isnt fake. Its just a photoshop Promo pic.... Nothing more nothing less.... Will just have to wait and see...Patience

[sherbet012]

we all know that someone's gonna do it anyway..
it's just matter of time..

from watching crazy hacks from PSP, i say 'why shouldn't it be real?'

[xbman]

It's fake. Already been discussed and disproven on several other forums.

[Morbid]

Call me crazy, but I seem to recall less than a year ago several people saying the gamecube modchip was fake....hmmm.

[Z80]

No one but the website owner would know if it's fake or not. Everything else is just someone's guess. It could be real, it may not be. Again waiting is the only way to find an answer.

[tifao]

Update on DS Flash kit and Magic Key Nintendo DS News

Quick update on the DS Flash Kit and Magic Key. I have seen on a few forums that people think its fake, I cannot provide absolute proof at the moment but if you have visited this site for any length of time you should know that we dont post fake news, you will just have to trust me :)

Heres a bit of information to help clear a few things up. The flash cart is a GBA flash cartridge which can load GBA and DS ROMs and the Magic Key is similar to a PassMe device. For those not familiar with it, a PassMe allows you to run DS homebrew software via a GBA flash cartridge.

I just spoke to the manufacturer and they said they will get me a photo of the retail flash kit for me by tomorrow. Hopefully this will go a long way to prooving that its real.


http://emuholic.emuboards.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=472&tbid=4

[soccerboi]

So basically, they are making old technology new.

What I think they should do is a make a small device that you plug a gba flash card into, and then the device would plug into the DS slot, so then you could use any gba flash card as a DS one.

[AceMilo]

Neo has been around for a long time mostly making ps2 mods. They designed one of the first 3 xbox mod chips, but never released it because they feared ms' legal actions. I have no reason whatsoever to believe that neo would lie. It looks like its just a flash cart/passme combo, which we already know both exist. The box art shown is obviously fake, its just a photoshop rendering of what it will look like since they probably haven't boxed any yet. Xecuter regularly does this (they just did this with a gc replacement case rendering, yet no one doubts they will relese it). If the question is is the pic fake, then the answer is yes, its just a rendering of what the box will look like. If the question is is the product fake, the answer is absolutely not. It has been confirmed by many other places.

[Z80]

Anyone know what the estimated price will be for all required pieces (flasging hardware, cards, etc)?

[someoldguy]

Originally posted by AceMilo
Neo has been around for a long time mostly making ps2 mods. They designed one of the first 3 xbox mod chips, but never released it because they feared ms' legal actions.
You... *really* have no idea what you're talking about do you? This has nothing to do with Paul and Neotech from the PS2 days. Besides the fact that it might be a cool sounding name. It's from the makers of another popular GBA flashcart. (althought not exactly the same team). And as far as Neotech not releasing an xbox mod. Sure, not under that name. They did release one of the first mods, and if you can read between the lines, you'll know that they're all but gone.

Edit: Sorry if that came off pretty rude. Just don't think either team wants misinformation like that going around :)

[darkliquid]

So there's a very high probability that this isnt a fake? :)

[someoldguy]

http://emuholic.emuboards.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=474&tbid=4

[tifao]

Now that we have the pictures, the next question is : will it run commercial games or just homebrews ? :o

[g8crapachino]

Originally posted by xbman
It's fake. Already been discussed and disproven on several other forums.

A bunch of people discussing it on another forum doesn't prove\disprove anything.

[Z80]

If it didn't run commercial games, they probably wouldn't be making it. Seriously, it costs big bucks to launch a product and if it only played "homebrew" games then I really doubt it would sell enough to even break even with production costs.

[someoldguy]

Passme production is very cheap. Though, this would be the most expensive one to date. Either way, if it failed, they'd still have a ton of gba carts (which sell well), and a ton of professionally designed passmes that they could practically give away without any significant loss.

[gulliver]

This is great news; I just hope it isn't priced too high. I'll be getting my DS in a couple months:D

[cuberob]

new screens on neoflash (http://www.neoflash.com) website
ok its getting realler every sec, this looks really promising!!

[gulliver]

Nice, it looks like production should be pretty much complete by now. Hopefully it'll be released soon:D

[cuberob]

1 gig card 229 US dollar!!!

(pretty sure but not a 100%, some1 of the email adres under the neoflash told me over msn!)

[gulliver]

Originally posted by cuberob
1 gig card 229 US dollar!!!

(pretty sure but not a 100%, some1 of the email adres under the neoflash told me over msn!)

If that's true then it's really depressing. No one is gonna pay that much.

[someoldguy]

thats only if buying one 1gig card from the wholesale source. which is a stupid thing to do with any product. if your reseller buys in bulk, like they should, (and the reseller is fair) it is much cheaper.

[PC_Arcade]

I assume they're 1Giga-BIT and 512 megaBIT as opposed to mega and giga byte, (i.e 64Mb and 128Mb respectively)?

[someoldguy]

like any other flashcart (including nintendo's official ones), of course.

[gulliver]

Ahhh, but the question is, will newer DS games that have a lot of data fit on a 512 meg flashcart. Anyone know how much a DS cart can hold?

[PC_Arcade]

Both Mario DS and Metroid : hunters are 16MB(ytes) or 128Mb(it) each, so you could fit 4 of them on the smaller of the 2 carts

[darkliquid]

I thought I read somewhere that regular DS cardridges hold 128 megaBYTE. So that would mean the flashcards would me megaBYTE and gigaBYTE and that would also explain the high price (if that price is true)

[gulliver]

That'd be pretty nice if they were that big. If the price ends up being that high though then it still kinda sucks.

[darkliquid]

Well it would make sense if they were that big. If a game would be 128 mbit and thus 16 mbyte, PSP games would be 112,5 times bigger (1800mbyte for PSP) and that would seriously harm Nintendo's sales I guess.

Anyone who knows for sure if its 128 Mbyte or Mbit?

[cuberob]

im pretty sure ds cartridges can hold upto 1gigabit (128MB) so i think the ds flashcard does too (128 MB), how big where N64 games anyway, i think you could put quite some roms on it (16 MB on you HDD for metroid i thought so: 8 metroids on the big one....)

[gulliver]

Originally posted by cuberob
im pretty sure ds cartridges can hold upto 1gigabit (128MB) so i think the ds flashcard does too (128 MB), how big where N64 games anyway, i think you could put quite some roms on it (16 MB on you HDD for metroid i thought so: 8 metroids on the big one....)

That's true, the ds games are about the same quality as N64, except on DS the audio is a lot better.

[AceMilo]

Cartridges are almost always megabit (gba and ds 100% are megabit) and discs are almost always megabytes.

[soccerboi]

thats because nintendo wants to make it look as if the cartridges hold more than they actually do. So they could say it stores 1 Gigabit, and that would be true, and they don't have to say it stores only 128 Megabytes.

[darkliquid]

Why would they release a 512mbit version of the neoflash then? So you can play GBA games from a NDS cardridge? (1 Gbit games wont fit)

[gulliver]

Originally posted by darkliquid
Why would they release a 512mbit version of the neoflash then? So you can play GBA games from a NDS cardridge? (1 Gbit games wont fit)

That's what I'm curious about. It sucks cuz we're pretty much gonna have to get the 1 gig flash and I'm not gonna be able to afford that any time soon cuz I still gotta get my DS:(

[tifao]

http://www.64scener.com/news/poldemo.jpg

That's right, its starting to smell of running commercial material using a PassMe, while we wait for the NeoFlash to arrive.

Last night a demo of the commercial game Polarium was released, initially for WifiMe users (wireless version of passme), but later a few guys managed to make a PassME version of it.

The release has been tested and is working great, however it will not be avaiable here due to it's commercial status, eventhough it's just a demo.

Search the net and you should be able to find it though... And it'll of course be added to our NDS release list shortly.

http://www.64scener.com/

[someoldguy]

available for preorder

http://alienimports.net/index.php?cPath=21_27

The reseller is legit, the price is.. whatever you think

[darkliquid]

This product will be in stock on Monday 02 May, 2005.

Thats nice I was hoping for it to be released before my birthday so I could ask for one ;)

The 512mbit version still confuses me though since it has been said NDS games are 1 gbit.

[cuberob]

Originally posted by darkliquid
Why would they release a 512mbit version of the neoflash then? So you can play GBA games from a NDS cardridge? (1 Gbit games wont fit)


Because most games arent 1gigabit, but a lot less (128megabit = 16 MB) so most games would fit with ease only the fact that ds games can hold up to 128MB doesnt mean they use it... 128MB is a lot for a game which ds handles you know.... (as of a psp will need more space beecause of gfx, movies, sound etc.) so you would be able to fit enough on a flashcard which is 512 MB...., thouhgi would go for the 1gigabit version anyway (just in case, metroid any1??? :P could be a big games, as you see the demo is 16 MB and thats only 1 lvl and a race and 3 multiplayer maps, though i rather think it would be 64MB acctually.... well we'll see, how do you rip games anyway???)

[someoldguy]

One particular person who dumped a handful of games said they were all on the same chip, and the were each 128Mb. Don't know if its true for all games.. but it's interesting.

[cuberob]

could be including a lot of dump though (ala gba (ff's and oo's out of my head) just to fill up the open space to make the card full......

edit: cause i have 2 dumped NDS games on my HDD (both by Darkfader, he knows what hes doing) both 16MB

[someoldguy]

Plan on redownloading those games if you plan on having them work on any flashcard.

[cuberob]

....... why?

[gulliver]

Is the magic key built into the cart? Because I didn't see a separate picture of it.

Unless there's a typo on the website, these cart are BYTES, not bits.

Neo Flash NDS Linker (1GB)

[Z80]

Why would you say they were bytes? 1GB can mean either, reguardless of what you say. And I really doubt the cartridge would be 8Gigabits/1GigaByte. Flash memory can be cheap in some form but it's not THAT cheap..

The magic key is basically a passme, you insert a game into the top of it and insert the key into the DS card port I believe.

You can always contact the neoflash people and ask wether its bits or bytes.

[gulliver]

Originally posted by Z80
Why would you say they were bytes? 1GB can mean either, reguardless of what you say. And I really doubt the cartridge would be 8Gigabits/1GigaByte. Flash memory can be cheap in some form but it's not THAT cheap..

The magic key is basically a passme, you insert a game into the top of it and insert the key into the DS card port I believe.

You can always contact the neoflash people and ask wether its bits or bytes.

Actually, it can't be either. It has to be Bytes because Bytes is "MB" and bits is "Mb." My guess is that it's a typo but it's still interesting nonetheless.

[Z80]

Again, that's just you or someone else just telling other people if this is like that, then it means that. If the person writing it didn't know that, then it doesn't mean whatever you say it does. I don't see any relation as to why MB and Mb would mean different, although I guess a small b might suggest less meaning bits, but again, it's all just what YOU mean when YOU write something.

So ya, just ask them, simple enough.

[Arakon]

it's 1 gbit, of course, otherwise it would cost an insane amount.. besides, it's xg2 flash doing these, they just relabeled the GBA cart, and added a passme.

[gulliver]

Originally posted by Z80
Again, that's just you or someone else just telling other people if this is like that, then it means that. If the person writing it didn't know that, then it doesn't mean whatever you say it does. I don't see any relation as to why MB and Mb would mean different, although I guess a small b might suggest less meaning bits, but again, it's all just what YOU mean when YOU write something.

So ya, just ask them, simple enough.

Lowercase "b" has always meant bits and uppercase "B" has always meant Bytes. It's been that way since there were such things as Bytes and bits.

Are you saying "you" as in me personally? If so, do you really think I would just make that up and act like it's fact?

Definition for: Mb

megabit. 1.(Also mbit or Mbit).1,048,576 (216) bits, or 1024 kilobits.A measurement of the capacity of memory chips.Also used to mean one million bits.

Definition for: MB

1.Megabyte: 1,048,576 bytes or 1,024 kilobytes.Used to measure computer memory.Sometimes used to mean 1 million bytes or 1,024,000 bytes (1,000 kilobytes).

I'm not trying to be an ass by showing this, but it seems like you think I just made it up.

[mizunoX]

Well the fact is, the roms will be a lot larger than GBA roms.

If that's the case wouldn't it make sense to use one of these?

Super Cart (uses CF memory) (http://64scener.com/gba/suprcart.htm)

...or will this not work with DS roms/ homebrew?

[mizunoX]

It would seem that the Supercard does not work for this.

It's a shame though.

[gulliver]

I guess we're all gonna have to get the 1 Gb carts. I still don't see the point of the 512Kb.

[Z80]

gulliver, I didn't mean you. I'm just making my point that the writer of something may not know of these "definitions". But it doesn't matter.

Anyways, the GBA cartridge port can only address up to 256mbits/32mbytes. So if a Ds game ever needs more space than that, well, you're screwwed until another device is made. Does anyone know for a fact what the maximum amount of address space the DS cards have?

[gulliver]

Originally posted by Z80
gulliver, I didn't mean you. I'm just making my point that the writer of something may not know of these "definitions". But it doesn't matter.

Anyways, the GBA cartridge port can only address up to 256mbits/32mbytes. So if a Ds game ever needs more space than that, well, you're screwwed until another device is made. Does anyone know for a fact what the maximum amount of address space the DS cards have?

It's cool. I wasn't sure if you were talking about me or not. Like I said before though, it's probably just a typo, or like you said, the writer just doesn't know.

Anyway, ok, I'm lost now. I've never had a flash cart before so I don't know much about them. But if the DS is only going to be able to read 256Mb, then what's the point in getting one that's 512Mb or 1Gb?

[someoldguy]

well, 256 at a time, but bankswitching.

[gulliver]

Ok, thanks, that makes more sense. So basically, getting a 1GB cart isn't going to make it so that we'll be able to load the DS games that are larger than 256? I have a feeling that many DS games are going to be larger than that, so is it still worth it to get a flash cart for it?

[someoldguy]

Apparently, so far they're all on the same 128Mbit chip.

[Z80]

That's my point though. If the DS can address over 256mbit then if you wanted to try to run a DS game from the GBA cartridge, you'd have to support some kind of special banking, and the game would have to be hacked to do the banking as needed which in some cases may work, but in other cases the results might be poor.

Now as I remember, DS cards can hold naturally up to 1Gbit. I may be wrong, but I believe that's what it is. Which means as soon as game uses over 256mbit, they'y have to be hacked to run on your flash cartridge banking the rom as required.

[gulliver]

Originally posted by Z80
That's my point though. If the DS can address over 256mbit then if you wanted to try to run a DS game from the GBA cartridge, you'd have to support some kind of special banking, and the game would have to be hacked to do the banking as needed which in some cases may work, but in other cases the results might be poor.

Now as I remember, DS cards can hold naturally up to 1Gbit. I may be wrong, but I believe that's what it is. Which means as soon as game uses over 256mbit, they'y have to be hacked to run on your flash cartridge banking the rom as required.

So doesn't this make the carts pointless? I mean, what if it can't be hacked to play a larger DS game. Someone please give some hope as this is very depressing:(

[detroit]

where are you getting the neoflash can only read 256Kb from the gba card? i.e only support roms under 256K ?

this is news to me.

[someoldguy]

More importantly, who in the *world* mentioned 256k? The discussion is 256mb. It's not an issue with the neoflash, its an issue with the gba port addressing.

It's very simple: DS port - Encrypted, can't run a thing from it that isn't besides the game header.
GBA port - Can't boot software right off the bat, but can use a patched header in the DS port to load code from here. Not encrypted.

So until someone breaks such an encryption *and* makes flashcarts (which people will want to be smaller, and you can count on being more expensive if/when it happens) this is the only option. And no, DF hasn't done it either, else he wouldn't be supporting this product.

[gulliver]

So when this encryption gets cracked and the larger games can be played from flash carts, neoflash won't even be supported for it? So why does anyone even care about these carts? Glad to know I got excited for nothing. *banging head against wall*

[Z80]

Again, as I said, only games which are larger than 256mbit or so would have an actual limitation from running via GBA. But that doesn't mean running from GBA is worthless.

I just recommend not buying anything too soon. Don't let excitement guide you into buying a product that you may not get what you want out of it.

[gulliver]

Originally posted by Z80
Again, as I said, only games which are larger than 256mbit or so would have an actual limitation from running via GBA. But that doesn't mean running from GBA is worthless.

I just recommend not buying anything too soon. Don't let excitement guide you into buying a product that you may not get what you want out of it.

I know, I know...thanks for the advice though. I'm just saying it's worthless because it costs like $200 and it's not even going to play future DS games. Hopefully a better solution will come along soon.

[someoldguy]

Yeah. Don't rush into anything. If you bought the first gba flashcart, you'd have a 64Mb cart thats the size and shape of a GB cart.

[gulliver]

Yeah, I'm just gonna wait and see if something better comes out or if people manage to hack the neoflash so it'll play the larger games. I think for now I'm going to just get a smaller, cheaper flash cart so I can at least play GBA backups and emus. Can anyone post a link to where it shows all the flash carts that are compatible with DS?

[gulliver]

Does anyone know if this (http://www.linker4u.com/pp/linker4u.asp) is compatible with DS? And if it's good quality in general. It's a pretty good price so I wanna make sure it's not junk.

Edit: It won't link to the exact page because apparently the address is the same as the homepage. This is the one on that site I'm interested in: EZF Advance III (256M version) Cartridge and Linker Set.

Also, does it support the little writer?

[Z80]

I'm not sure but it looks like a decent price. I bought the X-Rom, 512mbit set for 92USD including shipping. It isn't here yet as I ordered just a couple days ago. It seems to be a good product though and a decent price.

[someoldguy]

eh, I wouldn't recommend an X-ROM (or anything from those easyboys2000 ;) but, I'd say the best cheap cart you could get these days would be a 128 or 256Mb EZF-2 Powerstar.

As for which are compatible with DS... They all are. Just make sure you don't get some lame supercard thing, etc. Things that use SD-Cards and flash cards and crap. Some older ones need the edges filed down a little to fit too.

[AceMilo]

I have an ez flash advance 256 and it has been great to me. The only problem is that it can't boot without a menu so ds hacking is out, but as far as gba stuff its great. I will probably have to buy a whole new set once all this ds stuff is sorted and some roms get released, but I would wait until we get some solid info about this set and see if any other sets come out.

[someoldguy]

It can boot without a menu.

[gulliver]

First off, I just wanna say thank to you all for info. You've been a big help:) But of course, I still have more questions:)

@ someoldguy - why don't you recommend the X-rom? I was reading up and it's a great price and I read a lot of good things about it over at Emuboards.

So, if a flashcart can boot without a menu, does that mean it can use a passme and possibly DS roms in the future? Does the 512Mb X-Rom support passme?

@ acemilo - Actually, I was just reading numerous horror stories about the EZF Advance III over at emuboards. It's seems that no one's works. But I guess maybe you just got lucky? I don't know.

@ Z80 - have you heard a lot of good things about the X-Rom you bought? Like do you know if it supports passme and future DS stuff and whatnot?

@ everyone - I don't know a lot about this as I said before but I also wanna know if anyone could tell me if the X-Rom supports emus right outta the box (just burn emus right to flash cart) or is there something special you have to do?

Thanks again to everyone:)

[Z80]

The X-Rom is said to work fine in the DS system, and should work with the PassMe, but I do not know for certain. There isn't likely any reason that it wouldn't work.

Yes, X-Rom can play emulators immediately if you just add the .GBA romimage like you would for any other game.

[gulliver]

Cool cool. Thanks bro. I think I'll be getting that to tide me over until DS flash carts come out since it's big and such a great price for the quality from what I hear.

Edit: I forget to ask, does anyone know how to get a passme?

[whackawookie]

there was somebody selling passme's he made but i forget the url. i think darkfader had a link on his site.
also just wanted to input my flash cart. i have the old flash2advance parallel port cart and it works fine on my ds. the only downside is it has to be programmed through the gba

[tifao]

Phantom from http://www.playeradvance.org/ who has received the Neoflash kit is currently writing a review :cool:

[Z80]

I got my X-Rom today. It works fine and was very simple to use. I'm playing Goomba right now to play some classic GB games. =)

[gulliver]

Originally posted by Z80
I got my X-Rom today. It works fine and was very simple to use. I'm playing Goomba right now to play some classic GB games. =)

Awesome, I think I'll be ordering mine today. Are you using littlewriter? I hear it's a really good program. Are you using it on a DS or a GBA?

@ Wackawookie - thanks for the info.

I always hear that the passme will never be able to play commercial DS roms. How much truth is there to that?

[tifao]

a video (http://www.pocket-dev.org/DS/NeoFlash/neoflash.mp4) to prove Neoflash runs commercial games :o

[gulliver]

if neoflash can do it, then can an X-Rom and a passme do it? That would kick ass!

[AceMilo]

Gulliver- I have the original ezfa, so I dunno how much better or worse the 2 and 3 are but my original is great, it just can't boot without a menu, maybe the 3 can but the original cant. I would honestly recommend waiting if you want to do some ds stuff since the neo hasn't been released yet and I'm sure there will be lots of reviews and we can see what it really is and what alternatives there are.

[gulliver]

Originally posted by AceMilo
Gulliver- I have the original ezfa, so I dunno how much better or worse the 2 and 3 are but my original is great, it just can't boot without a menu, maybe the 3 can but the original cant. I would honestly recommend waiting if you want to do some ds stuff since the neo hasn't been released yet and I'm sure there will be lots of reviews and we can see what it really is and what alternatives there are.

Yeah, I'm talking specifically about the 3rd one. Pretty much everyone on that forum were having problems with it.

I think for now I'm just gonna go with the X-rom. If I'm going to spend upwards of $200, it'll be on a real DS flash cart. If normal flash carts and a passme can't do DS roms, I can live with that for now. But if anyone knows if it's possible, I'd love to know.

Btw...the neoflash was supposed to be released today. Whether or not it was, I don't know.

[Z80]

I've used my X-Rom on both my DS and my GBA (SP). Works perfectly on both. The product seems to be solid. Shipping was pretty fast.

It's very nice, considering you get 512mbits for a decent price.

[gulliver]

Awesome, I just ordered mine. I can't wait to get it:D

[mikerowesoft]

http://www.neoflash.com/

Check this out. What do you think about it?

[gulliver]

Originally posted by mikerowesoft
http://www.neoflash.com/

Check this out. What do you think about it?

Are you lost or something? Did you read any of this thread?

[cubenoob]

Its very difficult to get some information on if commercial games will work with the passme. The developers of the passme dont support piracy at all. They just made the passme to get homebrew games to run off the gba slot. Hopefully the neoflash will bring more light into it though I dont understand why its impossible to use a normal gba flash card and a passme as its basically the same thing the neoflash comes with.

[gulliver]

Originally posted by cubenoob
Its very difficult to get some information on if commercial games will work with the passme. The developers of the passme dont support piracy at all. They just made the passme to get homebrew games to run off the gba slot. Hopefully the neoflash will bring more light into it though I dont understand why its impossible to use a normal gba flash card and a passme as its basically the same thing the neoflash comes with.

Yeah, there's gotta be some kind of added software hack. I'm betting it's something simple. Once people start exploring the neoflash, hopefully it won't take them long to figure it out.

[MasterGeek]

It could be fake and it could be real ! :rolleyes::p:cool::D:D:D

[brews]

It could be fake and it could be real ! :rolleyes::p:cool::D:D:D

Confirmed hoax. ;)