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Everyone who loves DS games should get their hands on a DSi XL/LL while they can still be acquired for reasonable prices. A 3DS XL/LL can't integer scale a DS game. A DSi XL/LL with give you perfect integer scaled DS games on screens just as large as a 3DS XL/LL. You can even softmod a DSi similar to how you would a 3DS, so you can run TwilightMenu++ from SD at boot and store all your DS games internally if you like - in addition to emulating all the other systems internally that TwilightMenu++ can handle. If you plan to mod it anyway, you can go for cheaper DSi LL imported systems (usually cheaper because they can't be set to English) and once you softmod it to boot TwilightMenu++ at power on you can have it completely usable in English or a bunch of other languages.
Yep agreed I have DSI XL and another DSI standard size as a back up lol my New 3DS XL recently died due to a power surge so been looking to replace that and crying out the insane prices.
@@idkwhatimdoingproductions8824 You do realize that whether you widescreen patch a DS game or not, you STILL have stretched game screens for DS that are not perfectly integer scaled - both horizontally and vertically. Even in a supported, entirely 3D rendered game which can show properly scaled graphics (not a huge percentage of the library, btw), you are now altering the viewable area, perspective or both - changing the way the game looks compared to how it was meant to be played. For a purist, DS, DSL, DSi & DSi XL are the only way to properly play a DS game. Nothing wrong with you wanting to do otherwise if that's your thing of course. Just saying...
@@pilksukI recently purchased a N3DSLL from Japan and it was so much cheaper than the NA version. If you install cfw, you can change it to your preferred language and region. Super happy with it!
I had a R4 card (R4i Gold) for the DS and it allowed me to use the DS local wireless communication in games like Pokémon to trade/battle locally or Lego Star Wars to play LAN multiplayer for example. I don't know if all DS flash carts can use DS local wireless communication but I do know that this feature is usually absence from standalone DS emulators. The DS local wireless communication did work between the flash cart and real DS game cart and between flash cart and flash cart when I tested it out so this is a win over stand alone DS emulators.
When I was younger I had a fake copy of Mario kart and everytime me and my friends would try to local wireless download play it would never work and freeze which is how I found out it was fake (thnx GameStop) so seeing that wireless play works on flashcarts is a game changer literally!!!
When I think of flash carts I think of the EZ-Flash Omega for the Game Boy Advance, the R4 card/the myriads of R4 card clones for the DS, and the more expensive EverDrive line of flash carts for a number of retro consoles and handhelds like the Game Boy, NES, SNES, N64, and TurboGrafx-16 for example. Also software modding a DSi or 3DS is pretty easy and allows for more features and apps than a standard flash cart.
The FPGA isn't there for "something in the future", it IS precisely what makes the DS cart emulation, other flash carts have either a proprietary-locked FPGA (expensive like the parallel) or a burnt-in chip with the same FPGA (cheap, but cannot be changed). The good thing here is that EzFlash are the ones managing it from the ground since they can certainly reprogram it as they want, which certainly can make more things possible. If they really wanted, they would make a future hardware update (like they have done in the past with GBA) to integrate hardware features (like an IR sensor for the Pokewalker), maybe even make it possible to have native support for MicroSD cards above 32gb.
You can already do so, just make sure your micro sd card is less than 128gb and it’s converted from the exFAT format to FAT32 using gui format or another file formatter program
Are you a spokesperson for EZ Flash? The EZ Flash Parallel is a colossal failure of a flash cart for the DS. It does NOT support sleep mode and it is being ranked as the worst DS flash cart in the market. Only RUclipsrs are buying into the hype of this garbage of a flash cart because they don’t know any better.
@@jackscalfani555bro, you ain’t smart at all💀 get absolutely shit on for not understanding simple advice😭 It does support sleep mode for some games as well, just not the best for others maybe lmao
Not without jacking up the price. There's a price and space reason for why ds flashcarts don't have ir sensors and such. Also, to have "native" SDXC and exfat support, they would have to completely rewrite the libfat and other homebrew sdcard libraries "or create their own," then adapt all old homebrew to that standard themselves.
oh man when i hacked my 3ds, cards like stargate costed were pretty expensive or no longer in production. thats really nice that its a decent price and available
I've seen people complain about one feature not being there, that being the ability to flip the screen down to go into sleep mode and then lift it up and continue where you left off. If I were to get one of these I'd probably wait for that. It's never something I don't think I used in the past when I had my DS Lite as a kid, but I've recently bought some old games back as well as new ones and having it on my desk to just pick up and go from where I left off has been so nice, and I'd hate to not have that feature.
the ez flash has a bunch of other issues, including, other than the video states, build quality issues, with some fitment issues in some N3DS consoles, but also slow IO and compatibility issues, including one game bricking old firmware, and nothing to set it apart from a random sub-$10 Ace3DS clone, except the price. The FPGA is a translation issue - by "independent" they mean "made in china without foreign dependencies".
7:44 : shouldn’t the comparison be to *other* flash carts? Like, if we’re talking advantages over other flash carts, I think those would be the thing to compare to..
I am actually the crazy guy who uses only dumps of his own cartridges, next to demo versions and homebrew. Especially DS kiosk demos should be fun to play thanks to these cartridges. Maybe I pick one up some day, my DSlite still works and I enjoy that nostalgia trip.
Honestly just hacking your 2DS is probably better. With an R4 card your limited to running everything in DS mode which means no taking advantage of the 2DS having much more powerful hardware & no running 3DS games on it. The 2DS is able to emulate the SNES & Genesis (Mega Drive) quite well while the equivalent emulators on DS mode are much less accurate & the New 2DS can even sorta emulate the PS1 & N64, albeit possibly with less than perfect performance. DS mode also means GBA games have to be run with GBARunner2 which has compatibility problems with some games.
@@Monsuco I completely agree I’d love to do that. Sadly though every video I’ve watched the process doesn’t work. I’ve bought three different SD cards. Tried different videos. Just not worth trying anymore with this device. I’ll be hyped if I can just play DS on the 2DS at this point. I thankfully have plenty of other handhelds with better screens for other stuff though so I don’t really feel like I am missing out.
@@Baumie11 look up on google “3DS hacks”. The first sit shown should have a guide you should follow to do it correctly. NEVER USE VIDEO TUTORIALS!!! The guide is updated as soon as a change is found, and it is very easy to follow.
I bought a parallel myself a couple weeks back, despite already owning 8 various flash cards at this point. I'm not dissatisfied with it, but it definitely needs something to set it apart other than the clear shell, custom PCB and FPGA potentials. Wood menu but red and the cart being recognised as some random Japanese game I don't recognise just like other cheap flashcards doesn't sit right, but I still like it because it just works
Please tell me, does your EZ-Flash Parallel lag on every game as well? I am hoping I have done something incorrectly and I forgot something upon installation.
@@PluviliaCastlevania Dawn of Sorrow's intro video is a slideshow on my Parallel. Works perfectly fine on my ancient AceKards. No clue why the Parallel exists currently and I regret spending $25 on it.
There's no real potential for the fpga. All flashcarts have an fpga, cpld, mcu, or asic on them. This is no different. Fpga tech has been hyped up in other projects, and it's being misconstrued here. It's not a random unknown Japanese game, it's harvest moon. 😂
Another benefit to using a DS flash cart instead of a 3DS is the slot 2 functionality some games have. I think its fun playing games with these obscure features, like DS rumble or ingame unlockables. Plus I only have one 3DS and one DS, so a flash cart lets me play DS multiplayer game with both, instead of needing to use a physical copy on my DS
I’m new to flashcarts , will multiplayer/wireless play work? I know that multiplayer doesn’t work with fake ds games because I’ve tried games like Mario party and Mario kart and the game doesn’t know what to do so it ends up freezing
Wow finally someone did an actual battery test, just got mine yesterday, its great to see a better alternative to the run of the mill R4 cards. Not that this thing is doing anything different from those ATM but with the FPGA it has a lot of potential. EDIT: Battery life is amazing, I can get 11 hours of battery life on the N3DS (Dual IPS) with a genuine battery (manufactured in 2023) FW is quite a bit behind for now so saving in-game takes longer vs your typical R4 cards / ACE3DS clones. Read/Write speeds are about 1/2 as fast as current R4 cards however the FPGA has been tested and has the potential of reading/writing 4 times as fast as current cards. Hopefully EZ-Flash continue to work on the firmware to achieve this!
Does it have real time saves for the ds. Like let say o was in the middle of a level and couldnt save in game. Does the card let you in game save? Does any r4 type card does that
because it's not an open firmware. every card today is either a descendant of the Acekard RPG (very historically important cart), including AKAIO, BL2CK, Wood and the EZ Flash kernel or the DSTTi (usually these run the far inferior YSMenu). DSOne clones were available somewhat recently but they have a high chance of broken psram so you end up with YSMenu anyway.
I really wish, you guys wouldn't in the end try to sell me this Flash Card. You had the chance to test the battery drain vs another Flash Card (instead of a Original Card), but didn't. The EZ Flash, in it's current state has basically nothing aside from the Shell going for it. Broken Sleep Mode, Slower UI then the other Wood Based Clones, Worse Game Performance, No DLDI Patching for Homebrew and stuff (which might or might not affect some people) and much more issues it has going for it. And that for currently a premium pricing of x10-15 of a cheap clone (Ace3DSPlus ones). Heck, if you have a modded console, you can also get a DSOne Clone, which offer Real Time Saves, which no Wood Clone does, ability enable slowdowns in games, and much more. Also a very important information: "The official spokesperson of the EZ Flash Chinese community said in the community that it would sell more than 5,000 DS burn-in cards before considering a subsequent kernel update to add RTS" which is kind of scummy.
Ok cool. I might check this out. But can you use the ez flash games both 3ds and nds games without modding your 2ds XL or is it required ? Just curious. Overall cool 😎😎😎
I got one of these last week. Works absolutely fantastic. I ordered the No Card version but I had one included anyway. Works fine on 3DSXL, I'll have to find my OG DS and test it but I'm sure it'll be fine. 😉
Got mine today. All I can say is, everything you said here in this video is true. It works fine, runs all my legally backed up games perfect, all the emulators for the older systems for the NDS work perfect without any lag or problems. Now, there is one thing that would make this card go from a 8/10 to a 11/10 and that is a Game Boy Advance emulator similar like the one from Supercard DSTWO. But, I can only hope and wait for future updates when EZFLASH starts using that chip that's on the card. For now, I have my EZF Parallel on my NDS Lite and rocking it like it's 2006 and later!
I just received my Parallel and it works pretty well, however I've noticed a couple issues so far: - Initial ROM loading times are much shorter compared to my R4 SDHC Gold Pro, however scene loading (such as moving between routes on Pokemon) seems to take slightly longer and causes brief pauses during games as a result. - It seems to be missing some AP patches (e.g. Pokemon B/W) and the ROM files themselves need to be patched beforehand.
I hope this doesn't sound rude because great content and still subscribed! But was this channel sold sometime ago? I remember the usual guy used to be a different dude. Sounded like he was from Hot Fuzz! LOL
i currently have a new2dsxl model with cfw installed, i understand that i can play all the handheld games on it, but im planning on picking up all the systems i had a child as well as some of the ones i never had. having a good ds and gb flash cart will insure i can actually use those systems straight away while i wait to afford and obtain the authentic non clone versions of the actual carts, as a child my dsi and gba sp as well as all my gba cartridges / ds carts and even my pokewalker were stolen i wish to regain my childhood to some extent and generally start my retro collection
EZFlash cards are fairly reliable and among my favorites. I think they went with the Wood Kernel because it's already so ubiquitous. That could play into their FPGA plans in the future. It may be that they've put it there for homebrew devs to toy with, opening a new door for them. I mean, imagine using the FPGA to add chips like the SuperFX for SNES emulation. It could also be completely pointless. Hard to say at the moment.
Got mine in the mail today! I'm not sure what they could do with the FPGA. I have the GB/GBC and GBA flash carts from EZ-Flash and they are about twice as much. Yes, maybe they can have GB/GBC/GBA and maybe even NES hardware emulation but for $25? IDK but it will be awesome to see.
It would be really nice if that FPGA could be used for emulation - but I half suspect that it might just be used for playing DS games that required extra hardware such as internal clocks or peripherals that used the GBA slot.
Bought one, can’t wait to transfer all of my games from my R4 to the ezflash. I’ll probably just use the old r4 as a multiplayer flash cart for when someone wants to game the DS way. Or to transfer Pokémon from older gens to the newer ones. Either way, I hope it gets lots of attention from the flash cart community so that we can get better emulators that use the fpga chip.
No emulator will use the fpga in this cart any differently then in the other flashcarts. Your r4 is leaps and bounds better than this card in every way but the fancy pcb and shell.
its always cool play whatever you want. I got the R4 gold a few years ago, it works really well and i have hundreds of DS games on it but i'd definitely want a flash card thats able to play 3DS games. i heard it was possible to hack a 3DS but i have yet to try it
If you don't feel comfortable modding your hand held these flash carts are a god send. As someone that has used flash carts and owns modded systems I would have to say you get a pretty decent experience on a flash cart. Many of them can load emulators of other systems allowing your DS to play old school NES and Sega consoles. This is a very low cost / high value purchase if I'm being honest.
Gotta love how every reviewer forgets to mention one critical thing. You need to buy a 32gb or smaller Micro SD *HC* along with the cartridge. You cannot put the much more common XC inside this cartridge. It's a picky eater.
Nope. The kernel is from 2010, is slower than cheap clones, can brick itself, can corrupt folders on the SD, and has no auto dldi patching, so homebrew that requires sd access is incompatible.
I got one of these, it's worse than my ancient R4i 3DS Gold and Acekard 2i. It has the same slowdowns as my even older cards such as the intro FMV in Castelvania Dawn of Sorrow being a slideshow and Meteos stuttering when cycling through menus. DIsappointing, do not recommend. Just get something cheaper and better
That super combo DS thing in the first second of the video, legit? Or buggy like the roms pre-installed on most eumulation handhelds? (I hacked my 3DS so I don't care, just curious)
Not gonna happen. There's nothing special about the fpga. Most flashcarts have them. This cart has no more functionality than the last ds flashcart they released before 2010. Which also had an fpga.
@@reminon aww man, good to know thanks. Wouldnt happen to know of any i could diy and use to "FULLY" replace ds pokemon games. Im talking like works with transporter/bank/transfering up from older gen game etc?
I've got both a EZ Flash Jr and standard Omega. I find the Omega works OK, not 100%, for NES, GB and GBC games. This includes when using a DS or DS Lite. I will be grabbing a Parallel as I do have an early DS Flash card which isn't DSi or 3DS compatible. I hope the Parallel does get to make use of it's FPGA as this would make for some amazing core ports. Imagine proper Super Mario 64 running on a New 3DS and not the cut down port we got at the DS launch?
With any device, you can ask, has this device been Doomed yet? Most often the answer is yes. Every new device should just have Doom installed initially, so they can be Doomed from the start.
i have a 2016 R4SDHC card and after hacking my 2ds and my later Dsi i see no point on having a R4 tbh, like hacking the consoles is kinda a must rn and the R4 Ui isnt the best, twlight menu is pretty darn good on this regard
Most cards support running twilightmenu++ on them. The dsi-esque interface is nice on a ds or dslite. Twilightmenu is incompatible with this card though, as this one doesn't have auto-dldi patching.
@@reminon i want to seize this to make an update lol, since the r4 uses the "game kernel" its 100 compatible with retail games and lots of rom hacks, i found some specific games crashing on twilight menu, so i still have my old r4 card with the last version of Ysmenu on it
How does that effect the consumer who is intending to pirate games? Edit: just canceled my purchase after finding out it can brick itself and uses a wood firmware from 2010. It also is told to have worse read and write speeds than the cheaper bootleg r4 card clones
Also would like to note that almost every flashcart made before this for the ds used fpga too, its not anythong special and it really doesnt make sense why this is a buying point for them.
want to make your flash cart stand above the rest? its simple, give us a new firmware to hack and play with, this r4 wood firmware was old news on day 2
32gb is the max size sd cards natively support for fat32. Everything higher "up to 2tb" defaults to exfat. You can format larger card to fat32, but they run in sdhc compatibility mode instead of the sdxc that they are.
Honestly, EZ-Flash Parallel is a terrible flashcard, any clone on the market is better than this. And it doesn't looks like EZ-Flash will make it change as much, else they would've made it completely different.
You don't need to do anything that would be exclusive to Windows, but at the same time I can't test it for myself! Most of it just boils down to dragging and dropping files though, so it should definitely be possible.
They should of let all the gameboys on there. They should of done 3ds. To many flash carts for the DS. getting annoying. Whats the time bomb about. haven't used my 2018 one and afraid to use it now. I did use a special firmware to bypass it but said just a few years thou. Should i worry about it?
You can literally move the time back on your ds or use ysmenu to get around any timebomb. It just checks the date and time and if it's past a certain point, it gives an error message. The hardware works fine, and it doesn't brick anything.
Every game…at your fingertips. Why caveat with “you legally own”. Fact is pretty much nobody legally owns all the game roms they have. Nintendo know this which is why they are so bullish about it, and rightly so.
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It Is Not Free To See What Happens Though Darn I Do Not Want To Pay For The Video
Everyone who loves DS games should get their hands on a DSi XL/LL while they can still be acquired for reasonable prices. A 3DS XL/LL can't integer scale a DS game. A DSi XL/LL with give you perfect integer scaled DS games on screens just as large as a 3DS XL/LL. You can even softmod a DSi similar to how you would a 3DS, so you can run TwilightMenu++ from SD at boot and store all your DS games internally if you like - in addition to emulating all the other systems internally that TwilightMenu++ can handle. If you plan to mod it anyway, you can go for cheaper DSi LL imported systems (usually cheaper because they can't be set to English) and once you softmod it to boot TwilightMenu++ at power on you can have it completely usable in English or a bunch of other languages.
Yep agreed I have DSI XL and another DSI standard size as a back up lol my New 3DS XL recently died due to a power surge so been looking to replace that and crying out the insane prices.
Ever heard of widescreen and circlepad patches?
@@idkwhatimdoingproductions8824 You do realize that whether you widescreen patch a DS game or not, you STILL have stretched game screens for DS that are not perfectly integer scaled - both horizontally and vertically. Even in a supported, entirely 3D rendered game which can show properly scaled graphics (not a huge percentage of the library, btw), you are now altering the viewable area, perspective or both - changing the way the game looks compared to how it was meant to be played. For a purist, DS, DSL, DSi & DSi XL are the only way to properly play a DS game. Nothing wrong with you wanting to do otherwise if that's your thing of course. Just saying...
@@pilksukI recently purchased a N3DSLL from Japan and it was so much cheaper than the NA version. If you install cfw, you can change it to your preferred language and region. Super happy with it!
but why japanese are cheaper, it should be better to buy locally instead of shipping from japan....
I had a R4 card (R4i Gold) for the DS and it allowed me to use the DS local wireless communication in games like Pokémon to trade/battle locally or Lego Star Wars to play LAN multiplayer for example. I don't know if all DS flash carts can use DS local wireless communication but I do know that this feature is usually absence from standalone DS emulators. The DS local wireless communication did work between the flash cart and real DS game cart and between flash cart and flash cart when I tested it out so this is a win over stand alone DS emulators.
When I was younger I had a fake copy of Mario kart and everytime me and my friends would try to local wireless download play it would never work and freeze which is how I found out it was fake (thnx GameStop) so seeing that wireless play works on flashcarts is a game changer literally!!!
@@vryan4071 It was a cheap fake that was just made to try and get a quick buck from an unsuspecting child/parent
When I think of flash carts I think of the EZ-Flash Omega for the Game Boy Advance, the R4 card/the myriads of R4 card clones for the DS, and the more expensive EverDrive line of flash carts for a number of retro consoles and handhelds like the Game Boy, NES, SNES, N64, and TurboGrafx-16 for example. Also software modding a DSi or 3DS is pretty easy and allows for more features and apps than a standard flash cart.
i wish the gba flashcarts weren't so pricy
The FPGA isn't there for "something in the future", it IS precisely what makes the DS cart emulation, other flash carts have either a proprietary-locked FPGA (expensive like the parallel) or a burnt-in chip with the same FPGA (cheap, but cannot be changed).
The good thing here is that EzFlash are the ones managing it from the ground since they can certainly reprogram it as they want, which certainly can make more things possible. If they really wanted, they would make a future hardware update (like they have done in the past with GBA) to integrate hardware features (like an IR sensor for the Pokewalker), maybe even make it possible to have native support for MicroSD cards above 32gb.
You can already do so, just make sure your micro sd card is less than 128gb and it’s converted from the exFAT format to FAT32 using gui format or another file formatter program
Are you a spokesperson for EZ Flash? The EZ Flash Parallel is a colossal failure of a flash cart for the DS. It does NOT support sleep mode and it is being ranked as the worst DS flash cart in the market. Only RUclipsrs are buying into the hype of this garbage of a flash cart because they don’t know any better.
@@jackscalfani555bro, you ain’t smart at all💀 get absolutely shit on for not understanding simple advice😭
It does support sleep mode for some games as well, just not the best for others maybe lmao
Not without jacking up the price. There's a price and space reason for why ds flashcarts don't have ir sensors and such. Also, to have "native" SDXC and exfat support, they would have to completely rewrite the libfat and other homebrew sdcard libraries "or create their own," then adapt all old homebrew to that standard themselves.
Why would you need it, you know much 32gb is for Ds games it quite a lot and even then you could just get another micro SD card
I hope analogue makes a device like the analogue pocket, but for 3ds and ds games.
The 3DS has the Stargate flash card for 3DS games. Works the same as this one for it.
oh man when i hacked my 3ds, cards like stargate costed were pretty expensive or no longer in production. thats really nice that its a decent price and available
@@KnowThyWeakness I bought one but it’s already not working. Only had it for a month.
@@KnowThyWeaknessStargate cards are specifically why free hacks were released. To stop their profit.
This is a great way to use your original hardware, something I don't get to do often as I have many emulation devices. Awesome video 🔥👍🏾
I've seen people complain about one feature not being there, that being the ability to flip the screen down to go into sleep mode and then lift it up and continue where you left off. If I were to get one of these I'd probably wait for that. It's never something I don't think I used in the past when I had my DS Lite as a kid, but I've recently bought some old games back as well as new ones and having it on my desk to just pick up and go from where I left off has been so nice, and I'd hate to not have that feature.
the ez flash has a bunch of other issues, including, other than the video states, build quality issues, with some fitment issues in some N3DS consoles, but also slow IO and compatibility issues, including one game bricking old firmware, and nothing to set it apart from a random sub-$10 Ace3DS clone, except the price. The FPGA is a translation issue - by "independent" they mean "made in china without foreign dependencies".
7:44 : shouldn’t the comparison be to *other* flash carts? Like, if we’re talking advantages over other flash carts, I think those would be the thing to compare to..
I am actually the crazy guy who uses only dumps of his own cartridges, next to demo versions and homebrew.
Especially DS kiosk demos should be fun to play thanks to these cartridges.
Maybe I pick one up some day, my DSlite still works and I enjoy that nostalgia trip.
I just want whatever card works in my 2ds.
Honestly just hacking your 2DS is probably better. With an R4 card your limited to running everything in DS mode which means no taking advantage of the 2DS having much more powerful hardware & no running 3DS games on it. The 2DS is able to emulate the SNES & Genesis (Mega Drive) quite well while the equivalent emulators on DS mode are much less accurate & the New 2DS can even sorta emulate the PS1 & N64, albeit possibly with less than perfect performance. DS mode also means GBA games have to be run with GBARunner2 which has compatibility problems with some games.
@@Monsuco I completely agree I’d love to do that. Sadly though every video I’ve watched the process doesn’t work. I’ve bought three different SD cards. Tried different videos. Just not worth trying anymore with this device. I’ll be hyped if I can just play DS on the 2DS at this point. I thankfully have plenty of other handhelds with better screens for other stuff though so I don’t really feel like I am missing out.
The parallel works with all DS systems :)
@@Baumie11 look up on google “3DS hacks”. The first sit shown should have a guide you should follow to do it correctly. NEVER USE VIDEO TUTORIALS!!! The guide is updated as soon as a change is found, and it is very easy to follow.
@@Baumie11idk if my comments are coming through. If not, idk how I can send you in the right direction to do it easy
Still rocking my CycloDS Evolution flash cart from before they were banned!
I still have mine too, and still love how it doesn't make you go hunting through sketchy Chinese websites for the firmware.
I bought a parallel myself a couple weeks back, despite already owning 8 various flash cards at this point. I'm not dissatisfied with it, but it definitely needs something to set it apart other than the clear shell, custom PCB and FPGA potentials.
Wood menu but red and the cart being recognised as some random Japanese game I don't recognise just like other cheap flashcards doesn't sit right, but I still like it because it just works
Please tell me, does your EZ-Flash Parallel lag on every game as well? I am hoping I have done something incorrectly and I forgot something upon installation.
@@PluviliaCastlevania Dawn of Sorrow's intro video is a slideshow on my Parallel. Works perfectly fine on my ancient AceKards. No clue why the Parallel exists currently and I regret spending $25 on it.
There's no real potential for the fpga. All flashcarts have an fpga, cpld, mcu, or asic on them. This is no different. Fpga tech has been hyped up in other projects, and it's being misconstrued here.
It's not a random unknown Japanese game, it's harvest moon. 😂
Best part 1:11
Another benefit to using a DS flash cart instead of a 3DS is the slot 2 functionality some games have. I think its fun playing games with these obscure features, like DS rumble or ingame unlockables. Plus I only have one 3DS and one DS, so a flash cart lets me play DS multiplayer game with both, instead of needing to use a physical copy on my DS
I’m new to flashcarts , will multiplayer/wireless play work? I know that multiplayer doesn’t work with fake ds games because I’ve tried games like Mario party and Mario kart and the game doesn’t know what to do so it ends up freezing
Wow finally someone did an actual battery test, just got mine yesterday, its great to see a better alternative to the run of the mill R4 cards. Not that this thing is doing anything different from those ATM but with the FPGA it has a lot of potential.
EDIT:
Battery life is amazing, I can get 11 hours of battery life on the N3DS (Dual IPS) with a genuine battery (manufactured in 2023)
FW is quite a bit behind for now so saving in-game takes longer vs your typical R4 cards / ACE3DS clones.
Read/Write speeds are about 1/2 as fast as current R4 cards however the FPGA has been tested and has the potential of reading/writing 4 times as fast as current cards. Hopefully EZ-Flash continue to work on the firmware to achieve this!
The fpga gives it nothing of value, aside from read/write speeds. All flashcarts have an fpga or similar type of chip in it.
@@reminon and better battery life, the FPGA used here is a lot newer (more power efficient)
Does it have real time saves for the ds. Like let say o was in the middle of a level and couldnt save in game. Does the card let you in game save? Does any r4 type card does that
I believe if you have a cheat downloaded for this, yes this can be done with the parallel
How do you save a game I can’t work it out
@@AnOnym0uS888-5 In my experience it’s like any other ds game. Either save in the settings or it auto saves
This does not have rts/save states.
The M3 Sakura had a terrific front end, and I don't get why nobody else ever used it.
because it's not an open firmware. every card today is either a descendant of the Acekard RPG (very historically important cart), including AKAIO, BL2CK, Wood and the EZ Flash kernel or the DSTTi (usually these run the far inferior YSMenu). DSOne clones were available somewhat recently but they have a high chance of broken psram so you end up with YSMenu anyway.
I really wish, you guys wouldn't in the end try to sell me this Flash Card.
You had the chance to test the battery drain vs another Flash Card (instead of a Original Card), but didn't.
The EZ Flash, in it's current state has basically nothing aside from the Shell going for it.
Broken Sleep Mode, Slower UI then the other Wood Based Clones, Worse Game Performance, No DLDI Patching for Homebrew and stuff (which might or might not affect some people) and much more issues it has going for it.
And that for currently a premium pricing of x10-15 of a cheap clone (Ace3DSPlus ones).
Heck, if you have a modded console, you can also get a DSOne Clone, which offer Real Time Saves, which no Wood Clone does, ability enable slowdowns in games, and much more.
Also a very important information:
"The official spokesperson of the EZ Flash Chinese community said in the community that it would sell more than 5,000 DS burn-in cards before considering a subsequent kernel update to add RTS" which is kind of scummy.
Pretty cool video. I just wish it wasn't right-ear exclusive
Roadhouse
Ok cool. I might check this out. But can you use the ez flash games both 3ds and nds games without modding your 2ds XL or is it required ? Just curious. Overall cool 😎😎😎
I got one of these last week. Works absolutely fantastic. I ordered the No Card version but I had one included anyway. Works fine on 3DSXL, I'll have to find my OG DS and test it but I'm sure it'll be fine. 😉
tempted to get one of these, still love my 3ds
another great video Baldie, thank you. i have zero interest in DS or flash cards for it but i still enjoyed listening to you talking about it. cheers!
great cart but still doesnt support sleep mode via closing the ds. when the cart i got on ebay for $10 does just fine. needs some work.
Man I was already a fan of Bill Burr. I never knew he was a gamer too. Thanks for the in depth review Mr. Burr
I've been speculating the same thing about the Parallel and that FPGA. I PRAY we are both right. Imagine playing GB, GBC, GBA and SNES on a DSi XL!
Not gonna happen with this card. The fpga is standard on flashcarts and just acts as gamecard commands and sdio.
Got mine today. All I can say is, everything you said here in this video is true. It works fine, runs all my legally backed up games perfect, all the emulators for the older systems for the NDS work perfect without any lag or problems.
Now, there is one thing that would make this card go from a 8/10 to a 11/10 and that is a Game Boy Advance emulator similar like the one from Supercard DSTWO.
But, I can only hope and wait for future updates when EZFLASH starts using that chip that's on the card.
For now, I have my EZF Parallel on my NDS Lite and rocking it like it's 2006 and later!
Your hope and wait is futile. This fpga does nothing but gamecard commands and SDIO.
The DSTWO has a separate dedicated mips cpu to do what it does.
honestly dont really need it you can just mod a dsi to use the sdcard slot anyway lol
What makes the FPGA chip so special? I genuinely never heard of it with regards to the DS until now.
RUclipsrs make a big deal out of it. Reddit says its nothing special
Nothing. They are in loads of ds and all other types of flashcarts.
I just received my Parallel and it works pretty well, however I've noticed a couple issues so far:
- Initial ROM loading times are much shorter compared to my R4 SDHC Gold Pro, however scene loading (such as moving between routes on Pokemon) seems to take slightly longer and causes brief pauses during games as a result.
- It seems to be missing some AP patches (e.g. Pokemon B/W) and the ROM files themselves need to be patched beforehand.
I hope this doesn't sound rude because great content and still subscribed! But was this channel sold sometime ago? I remember the usual guy used to be a different dude. Sounded like he was from Hot Fuzz! LOL
He's still around, most of his time is spent on our website, Brandon has a couple of videos lined up. :)
@@RetroDodo ah. Tell him to slip a hot fuzz quote somewhere!😂
i currently have a new2dsxl model with cfw installed, i understand that i can play all the handheld games on it, but im planning on picking up all the systems i had a child as well as some of the ones i never had. having a good ds and gb flash cart will insure i can actually use those systems straight away while i wait to afford and obtain the authentic non clone versions of the actual carts, as a child my dsi and gba sp as well as all my gba cartridges / ds carts and even my pokewalker were stolen i wish to regain my childhood to some extent and generally start my retro collection
EZFlash cards are fairly reliable and among my favorites. I think they went with the Wood Kernel because it's already so ubiquitous. That could play into their FPGA plans in the future. It may be that they've put it there for homebrew devs to toy with, opening a new door for them. I mean, imagine using the FPGA to add chips like the SuperFX for SNES emulation. It could also be completely pointless. Hard to say at the moment.
Sadly this speculation is false. FPGA is standard on 99% of flashcarts
Twilight menu on 3ds gives you the same results as a flash cart
What happens on the flash if a larger SD cart is used?
Your camera is awesome
Got mine in the mail today! I'm not sure what they could do with the FPGA. I have the GB/GBC and GBA flash carts from EZ-Flash and they are about twice as much. Yes, maybe they can have GB/GBC/GBA and maybe even NES hardware emulation but for $25? IDK but it will be awesome to see.
The fpga in this card is nothing special and is standard in flash cards. You will get none of that from this card.
It would be cool to compare it with the SuperCard DSTWO.
There's no comparison. This one is no different then r4 clones, except r4 clones have more functionality.
I don't know if it's possible, but I'm hoping the fpga chip can be used to provide sharper DS graphics on 3DS. TWPatch doesn't cut it for me.
that's not how that works lol
@@fishingwithtoasters can you explain? Is it technically not possible?
Hold select while launching a ds game to play it in pixel perfect mode. @@FiftyFive74
It would be really nice if that FPGA could be used for emulation - but I half suspect that it might just be used for playing DS games that required extra hardware such as internal clocks or peripherals that used the GBA slot.
The FPGA is only used for standard famecard commands and sdio. It's nothing special and won't simulate any extra hardware.
i think that EZflash wants the community to make emulators that will work on that fpga chip game boy games and snes games would be super nice.
That is not what they want. The fpga is not new. Almost every flashcard before this one, including the ezflashvi from 2008 has one.
@@reminon that makes sense kinda confusing when all the RUclipsrs are talking about that chip and it being a possibility
Bought one, can’t wait to transfer all of my games from my R4 to the ezflash. I’ll probably just use the old r4 as a multiplayer flash cart for when someone wants to game the DS way. Or to transfer Pokémon from older gens to the newer ones. Either way, I hope it gets lots of attention from the flash cart community so that we can get better emulators that use the fpga chip.
No emulator will use the fpga in this cart any differently then in the other flashcarts. Your r4 is leaps and bounds better than this card in every way but the fancy pcb and shell.
Does it wear out the battery life as fast as flash cards used to
its always cool play whatever you want. I got the R4 gold a few years ago, it works really well and i have hundreds of DS games on it but i'd definitely want a flash card thats able to play 3DS games. i heard it was possible to hack a 3DS but i have yet to try it
If you don't feel comfortable modding your hand held these flash carts are a god send. As someone that has used flash carts and owns modded systems I would have to say you get a pretty decent experience on a flash cart. Many of them can load emulators of other systems allowing your DS to play old school NES and Sega consoles. This is a very low cost / high value purchase if I'm being honest.
Gotta love how every reviewer forgets to mention one critical thing. You need to buy a 32gb or smaller Micro SD *HC* along with the cartridge. You cannot put the much more common XC inside this cartridge. It's a picky eater.
Are these easy to use with original nds? No hacking or anything??
I really want it but is there a reason to replace my current one other than to get a transparent case?
Nope. The kernel is from 2010, is slower than cheap clones, can brick itself, can corrupt folders on the SD, and has no auto dldi patching, so homebrew that requires sd access is incompatible.
I got one of these, it's worse than my ancient R4i 3DS Gold and Acekard 2i. It has the same slowdowns as my even older cards such as the intro FMV in Castelvania Dawn of Sorrow being a slideshow and Meteos stuttering when cycling through menus. DIsappointing, do not recommend. Just get something cheaper and better
That super combo DS thing in the first second of the video, legit? Or buggy like the roms pre-installed on most eumulation handhelds? (I hacked my 3DS so I don't care, just curious)
I have a 2018 card and it had a timebomb in like 2020 or 2021. using it in 2024, the time bomb problem just isnt there
But what about some FPGA functonality 😭 i really hope they add an update that would let it work with like poke transporter etc
It already does what it's intended to do. Provide basic cart commands and sdio.
Not gonna happen. There's nothing special about the fpga. Most flashcarts have them.
This cart has no more functionality than the last ds flashcart they released before 2010. Which also had an fpga.
@@reminon aww man, good to know thanks. Wouldnt happen to know of any i could diy and use to "FULLY" replace ds pokemon games. Im talking like works with transporter/bank/transfering up from older gen game etc?
I have an old r4 that still works never had a problem with it but the parallel does feel alot sturdier
Same here, I still have and use my R4, but this on does feel better quality
Better build quality, way less functionality.
Getting that sd card out is such a pain
I've got both a EZ Flash Jr and standard Omega.
I find the Omega works OK, not 100%, for NES, GB and GBC games. This includes when using a DS or DS Lite.
I will be grabbing a Parallel as I do have an early DS Flash card which isn't DSi or 3DS compatible.
I hope the Parallel does get to make use of it's FPGA as this would make for some amazing core ports. Imagine proper Super Mario 64 running on a New 3DS and not the cut down port we got at the DS launch?
With any device, you can ask, has this device been Doomed yet? Most often the answer is yes. Every new device should just have Doom installed initially, so they can be Doomed from the start.
Would this work for gba files too?
How do you save the game
Or just use twilight menu++ and drag and drop your roms 💀
Ngl I have the old one in the title screen
i have a 2016 R4SDHC card and after hacking my 2ds and my later Dsi i see no point on having a R4 tbh, like hacking the consoles is kinda a must rn and the R4 Ui isnt the best, twlight menu is pretty darn good on this regard
Most cards support running twilightmenu++ on them. The dsi-esque interface is nice on a ds or dslite. Twilightmenu is incompatible with this card though, as this one doesn't have auto-dldi patching.
@@reminon i want to seize this to make an update lol, since the r4 uses the "game kernel" its 100 compatible with retail games and lots of rom hacks, i found some specific games crashing on twilight menu, so i still have my old r4 card with the last version of Ysmenu on it
I have the DStwo and I love it! Nes emulator isn’t the best one though.
One is 20 , the other is 5
When the english tonage hits you like Jim Sterling.
got my recently, i can finally play my DS games with English Translation. XD
Don't buy it unless fan made custom firmware is released. Already abandoned by the developers after a couple months.
There must be a way to make a blank nds cart.
This EZ Flash card for the DS violates the GPL. Buyer beware.
I’ve heard this, what does this mean?
How does that effect the consumer who is intending to pirate games?
Edit: just canceled my purchase after finding out it can brick itself and uses a wood firmware from 2010. It also is told to have worse read and write speeds than the cheaper bootleg r4 card clones
Also would like to note that almost every flashcart made before this for the ds used fpga too, its not anythong special and it really doesnt make sense why this is a buying point for them.
Does it work on a Japanese dsi
Yeah it should
Ds and dsi are region unlocked so yes.
I had to think for a minute, was Rob saying he was cool or transparent…
It’s been a long day 😅
I legitimately thought about making myself a little bit transparent in that shot too but I thought that might have gone over most people's heads 😂
“No suicide bomb” you know your industry has been going in the wrong direction when this is listed as a feature.
want to make your flash cart stand above the rest? its simple, give us a new firmware to hack and play with, this r4 wood firmware was old news on day 2
It was old news in 2010 when this kernel was released.
Wait can you do this without hacking you 3ds
i remember there was a reason for the 32gb size i cant for the life of me remember tho.
32gb is the max size sd cards natively support for fat32. Everything higher "up to 2tb" defaults to exfat. You can format larger card to fat32, but they run in sdhc compatibility mode instead of the sdxc that they are.
bot I wonder if you have said bot more times than 3DS? 9:11
Honestly, EZ-Flash Parallel is a terrible flashcard, any clone on the market is better than this. And it doesn't looks like EZ-Flash will make it change as much, else they would've made it completely different.
Functionality wise, it's the same as the EZflash VI from 2007/8. Compatibility issues and all.
Yeah I will stick with the $1.48 one I grabbed from alibaba
Can you set it up using a MacBook ?
You don't need to do anything that would be exclusive to Windows, but at the same time I can't test it for myself! Most of it just boils down to dragging and dropping files though, so it should definitely be possible.
@@RetroDodo Thank you ! 🙏🏻
Thanks, great video! I have hacked all my Ds-es but I picked one up just because you said so 🙂...hahahahahaha!
Haha, we hope you enjoy it!
They should of let all the gameboys on there.
They should of done 3ds.
To many flash carts for the DS. getting annoying.
Whats the time bomb about. haven't used my 2018 one and afraid to use it now. I did use a special firmware to bypass it but said just a few years thou. Should i worry about it?
You can literally move the time back on your ds or use ysmenu to get around any timebomb. It just checks the date and time and if it's past a certain point, it gives an error message. The hardware works fine, and it doesn't brick anything.
waste of money. just get an r4 for £3.
never buy tech because of a "potential future feature".
There is no potential here. However,
ironically, I got my parallel for $3.
this is a scam, way too expensive, most homebrew wont work on it and it randomly bricks. DO NOT GET THIS, get like an ace3ds
Every game…at your fingertips. Why caveat with “you legally own”. Fact is pretty much nobody legally owns all the game roms they have. Nintendo know this which is why they are so bullish about it, and rightly so.
Dmca this Nintendo
DMCA this guy Nintendo.