Yay! My R4 Arrived…
I love my Nintendo DS, it might be the Phat model rather than it’s sleek and sexy newer Lite siblings but it’s been a really great machine. I also had quite a bit of fun programming for the GBA so I thought I’d finally get a flash cart for the DS to have a bash.
There have been flash carts for the DS for awhile now in Slot-2 form (That’s the GBA slot on the DS) but they also involved using a Slot-1 device (That’s the DS Cartridge Slot) called a PassMe to trick the DS into running the code from the GBA slot (Are you still following???).
But in the last 6 months or so the scene has settled down and the second generation of flash solutions just use a single Slot-1 cartridge. (Although they do have a few limitations like the inability to run GBA games as they must run from Slot-2)
There are a few really good solutions out now for developing homebrew (and running *COUGH* ROMs *COUGH*) including the DS-Extreme (which has memory built-in), the M3 Simply and R4 DS (which utilise external MicroSD memory) and the G6 Real (which also has memory built-in).
I chose the R4, it arrived today and this is what the contents of the box looked like, next to it is SensitiveDS running on it!
The R4 comes with a Cartridge case (with a rubbery inlay, it can hold two DS carts), a Wrist Strap, a Metal USB 2.0 MicroSD Reader, the R4 Cartridge itself and a CD (with firmware and manual on, but I recommend getting the newest from http://www.r4ds.net)
You simply unzip the firmware onto a MicroSD card (the one pictured is a Kingston (Japan) 1Gb MicroSD card), stick some Homebrew (or ROMs) onto it, take it out, plug it in the R4 and that’s it.
There is a whole bunch of interesting Homebrew, and I’m sure I’ll post about ones I like. I’m looking forward to trying my hand at DS programming too and I’m sure you’ll see my thoughts on that too as time goes on.
Homebrew is software written by hobbyists and enthusiasts, usually free for download.
May 18th, 2007 at 7:49 am
I have had an M3 Simply DS for about a month now and it is great, along with the ability to play clean ROMS, I have also been able to play a version of Quake 1 that has been ported to the DS, not to mention SCUMMVM (for Sam ‘n’ Max & Monkey Island). The contents in the R4 packaging are exactly what I received with the M3, it would be interesting to know what (if any) are the differences between the two cards.
May 18th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
There is no difference, or at least there wasn’t with the first batch. The more recent batches have a few jumpers missing which prevent switching between the two devices and between Chinese/English language firmware. But hardware wise they are identical.
They are both made by the R4 Team (M3 just OEM the carts) and R4 release new firmware a few days or so before M3 (simply because R4 create it then send it to M3 to modify, for skins etc.).
There are 2 Quake ports, DSQuake and QuakeDS, both are pretty good, there is a Quake 2 port under development by the guy behind DSQuake too.
ScummVM is great, although the DS resolution makes the hotspots for some items a bit tricky, but otherwise it’s cool.
Doom, Heretic and Hexen ports are all pretty good too.
There is lots of really cool homebrew that aren’t just ports though too. Like SensitiveDS, WordUp and Powder. I’ll be posting about them and others now and then. As well as my own experiments in DS Programming Land