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DS-X 4Gb Xtreme Review
Introduction
Well my brand new DS-X turned up this morning from Divineo UK. There has been a lot of hype about this product and I have purchased it for various reasons. The main reasons being inter-operability between operating systems and the DS homebrew scene compatibility. So I'm very interested to see how it turns out in these areas. Obviously I'm interested in its other features too. Namely MP3 playback, DS Rom compatibility, the much hyped skinning engine and those crazy dancing lights. It also boasts a USB 2.0 connection meaning transfers of up to 480Mbits/second.
DS-Xtreme Official Features List: - One single unified device, no need for GBA Cart, external memory or passme/flashme
- Functions as a flash cart, compatible with homebrew, media and other image files
- Plug ‘n Play, no PC software required allowing for some seriously sweet Drag ‘n Drop file transfer
- Intuitively designed custom operating system which is fully upgradeable
- Included 4GBit (512Mbyte) onboard flash memory
- Hardware design compatible with all current and future DS consoles, same size as original DS cartridge – does NOT stick out!
- Custom engineered components such as a High-Speed USB 2.0 mini-B connector and full sized EEPROM
Packaging and Contents - 1x DS-Xtreme
- 1x USB to mini-B cable (1 metre / 100cm)
The DS-X comes packaged in a nice simple glossy cardboard box. The box has the DS Xtreme logo on it and links to its web site and support forums. Only English is present and no spelling or grammar mistakes to boot.
Upon opening the box, it contains a usb cable and a cardboard holder for the actual cart itself. No manual, documentation or driver disk are present.
In The Fitting Room
Whilst removing the DS-X cart you can't help but feel that is does indeed feel different to a commercial DS Cart. The size is identical, but the plastic is lighter and does comes across as a bit flimsy. The mini USB port also looks very fragile. The cart is held together by 5 plastic clips
However after a closer inspection it would appear it is more rugged than initially thought. The mini USB port seems solid and I believe you would have to apply a bit of force to bend it. Also the Cart itself does seem very sturdy apart from maybe the piece under the DS-X label. However I imagine they need to cram more into the DS-X cart than a commercial cart. Overall I think its a great build, very comparable to the quality of my G6 Lite.
** A few hours later **
After 2 hours of use it appears that it doesn't like ejecting itself with any pressure unless it is applied on one of the corners. It sometimes feels like it might break.
As you can see from the picture the DS-X fits snuggly into my DS Lite without any parts protruding. You'll also see that the USB mini port is exposed which means the cart does not need to be removed from the DS Lite to have content added to it. However I would advise if you were to go down that path that you don't have you DS on at the same time.
Operating System Compatibility No software is supplied with the DS-Xtreme because it doesn't require any! The DS-Xtreme is compatible with any computer operating system that supports USB mass storage devices - eg. Windows, MAC and most Linux distros.
The DS-Xtreme is USB 2.0 compatible.
So... how do you actually use the DS-Xtreme? The features list says that it allows for some "seriously sweet drag and drop" action!
Let's see what I did personally to get this card working. For simplicities sake here's a step-by-step guide to running a ROM backup on the DS-Xtreme straight from the box... Open your brand new DS-Xtreme package, Remove USB cable and DS-Xtreme from box, Connect USB cable to PC, Connect DS-Xtreme to USB cable, Wait for your MAC/PC to recognise the DS-Xtreme for the first time, and to open the root of the card, Drag and drop ROM backup/app to DS-Xtreme, Disconnect DS-Xtreme from PC, Insert DS-Xtreme into DS, Select your backup/app from the 'Apps' menu, Play!
Just 10 steps to play a game. Now that is "seriously sweet", perhaps even extrem -- *Shot in the head*.
Transfer speeds are extremely fast - write speed was approx. 5MB (megabyte) a second, and read speed was approx. 10MB a second on a USB 2.0 compatible Windows XP system using the supplied USB cable.
When you connect the DS-Xtreme to your USB port, the LEDs on the top of the card will light up - very brightly. It's a funny, ableit completely useless feature. At least you can see where the DS-Xtreme is in the dark!
So what file formats can you copy to the card that the DS-Xtreme will support? The DS-Xtreme supports the following three formats:
NDS files: All homebrew and ROM backups must be copied to the card with the .nds extension. The DS-Xtreme will not recognise files with the .bin or .ds extension.
MP3 files: The DS-Xtreme supports MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) files via it's Music player function.
OGG files: The DS-Xtreme also supports OGG (OGG Vorbis) files via it's Music player function.
So getting content onto the DS-Xtreme really is straight forward. There's no need for patching via software, hacking or anything. You can just copy ROM backups and homebrew straight to the card via drag and drop.
The DS-Xtreme cart comes shipped pre-formatted in FAT16 (FAT) mode and has the default skin files pre-loaded onto the cart. Though the skin files aren't necessary because the firmware includes them, they are simply there so you can take a look at the skinning engine yourself and make your own skins if you feel the urge (more on the skinning engine later!).
You can copy ROM backups and MP3s into what ever directories you wish to create on the DS-Xtreme, to keep them organised. But this won't affect how the DS-Xtreme shows them when you boot into it's operating system.
Inserting the usb cable into the DS-X and plugging it into my laptop which at the time was running Windows XP SP2 produced great results. The device was detected and continued within 20 seconds with no input on my behalf. The Cart itself is 4gb or 512MB and was correctly detected within Windows XP as a USB storage device and formatted as Fat16. The volume name was also DSX.
As I dual boot with Ubuntu Edgy Eft I wanted to make sure that he device worked correctly under that. So I rebooted and well, the results speak for themselves. It was corretcly detected and even setup faster than Windows XP. I am impressed.
What's on the DS-X
As you can see this is already a directory structure in place but that is merely a guideline as the DS-X OS will scan the card for DS executables. Included is the default DS-X skin and a sample mp3. So no applications have been provided out of the box.
First Boot
First I booted the DS-X without making any changes. After a few seconds of loading the main menu comes up. It consists of 4 items currently.
As you can see the menu is very nicely laid out. Containing 4 items. Apps (containing DS Executables), Music (mp3s and ogg files), Settings and About.
Apps
Upon entering the Apps menu it proceeds to find available applications on the DS-X. It does not find any as it does not comes with pre installed apps.
This is the screen where your ROMs and homebrew will appear (files with .NDS extensions).
As you enter this screen the DS-Xtreme O/S searches for ROM files before listing them, and a progress bar is displayed. The time this takes varies depending on the amount of files, but from our testing we've found the time to be anything from approx 1 to just over 2 seconds.
Games and homebrew are listed alphabetically, and 4 displayed per page. You can scroll down the page using the dpad. ROMs are displayed by their internal header information. For example, the first line being the name of the game or program, the second being the optional second line and the third being the developers name.
Internal ROM icons that are extracted from within the ROMs and are displayed next to each games name.
To launch a game or app, just double tap the name or press 'A' when highlighted. A confirmation screen will popup that asks if you want to launch or cancel.
Games boot very quickly, and there is no additional loading.
This menu is very simple to use and easy on the eyes.
You can return to the main O/S menu by tapping the back button or pressing 'B'
Music
The Music menu also comes up blank. However once selecting Library is scans the cart and finds the sample mp3. The menu system is great and very responsive. The music will display the Title, Artist and Album contained within the ID3v1 tags (does not display ID3v2 Tags) . The sound is great. The DS-Xtreme has a very nicely featured built-in music player that supports both MP3 and OGG formats. Enter the Music player and you'll be presented with a nicely layed out Music player.
Tap or highlight and press 'A' on 'Library' and you'll enter an iPod-ish interface.
Here you can select from the following 4 options:
- All songs
- Artists
- Albums
- Genres
Each of these options filters the music on the DS-Xtreme to whatever category you picked. Then you can play a song by finding it and tapping it or pressing 'A'. You can also generate playlists by holding down 'A' over a chosen song and from the popup menu add it to the queue. It still works when the lid is closed however the screen does not turn off, so hopefully in the future this may be rectified.
Settings
The settings menu lets you control certain aspects of the DS-Xtreme.
The first option is 'Instant boot' which allows you to have a particular game ROM or homebrew to boot everytime you boot the DS-Xtreme from the main DS menu and bypass all DS-Xtreme O/S pages. When this option is enabled, next time you boot the DS, it will auto-boot the last ROM file you opened.
This can be bypassed by holding down 'A' when booting the DS-Xtreme which allows you to go back into the O/S to choose another ROM or to disable the feature.
The second option, 'Dancing LEDs' allows you to enable or disable the disco lights feature when playing music (see the Music player section of this review for more information on this feature).
The remaining options allow you to change the brightness values (0-255) of the 6 LEDs on the DS-Xtreme cart. 0 being turned off, and 255 being the brightest setting. You can configure them to a colour you like.
This setting doesn't affect the Dancing LEDs feature or when the DS-Xtreme is connected via USB - just how the LEDs behave in the O/S and when playing ROMs.
About
The About Menu is a very simple about box. Containing the OS Version (Mine shipped with V1.0.1 and various links for Sales, News and Support.
DS-Xtreme Skinning Engine:
The default skin that comes with the DS-Xtreme is just a sample of what can be done with the O/S.
The O/S can be edited by yourself or even completely re-written if you have the knowledge.
The default skin is embedded in the DS-Xtreme's firmware so, you'll always have that, but if you copy over or edit the contents of the 'Skin' folder on the root of the DS-Xtreme, that skin will override the default and you can really edit everything.
We've been toying with the skinning engine for a short while and have already been able to replace and edit buttons, replace text, sizes, colours, backgrounds, boxes, options... It really is an incredibly impressive skinning engine.
I've even been talking to the guys at DS-X and they said that even things like calculators, small games and more can and HAVE been achieved with just the skinning engine.
The fact that the O/S truly is 100% customisable via their impressive skinning engine leaves the doors wide open to its possibilities, the skinning engine is very advanced and a lot can be added by skilled individuals. I can't wait to see some DS-Xtreme O/S creations.
Overall I have to say I am very impressed with the effort that's gone into the DS-Xtreme's O/S. You can tell this is a feature that must have taken a LOT of research and development time and it was definetely worth the effort.
Application Compatibility
Ok, after a run down of what the DS-X came with lets throw it some curve balls and see how it holds up with the DS Homebrew scene and various problematic backup DS roms.
I created a new folder on the DS called games and dumped a bunch of clean backup roms into it
*** Unfortunately having only inserted and removed the card twice it decided to stop being detected on my DS. Promptly inserting a commercial card confirmed that the DS worked and there was a malfunction with the DS-X. After removing the commercial cart and re-inserting the DS-X it decided to work again. To be honest, my No Pass device sometimes does that. However on with the review ***
Loading up the Apps menu it quickly searches my card whilst grabbing the embedded icon and rom name and sorting them alphabetically. A great menu and once again very responsive and makes full use on the touchscreen. You do however have to use the D Pad to move the screen down and up if there are more than 4 applications present. Upon double clicking the application wanted to be run it does ask you to confirm. Hopefully there is an option to turn this off as it gets quite annoying to confirm something after having to double click it to run. Once it is run a little animation removes the DS-X menu screen and it promptly loads the applications.
DS Compatibility
0105 - Castlevania - Dawn of Sorrow (E) (M5) - PERFECT
0174 - Tony Hawk's American Sk8land (U) - PERFECT
0201 - Mario Kart DS (E) (M5) - PERFECT
0389 - Animal Crossing - Wild World (E) (M5) - PERFECT
0413 - Tetris DS (E) (M5) PERFECT
0431 - Metroid Prime - Hunters (E) - PERFECT
0524 - Final Fantasy III(J) - PERFECT - note: Did not test saving
0562 - Lego Star Wars 2 (E) - PERFECT
0569 - Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (U) - PERFECT
0572 - Alex Rider Stormbreaker (E) - PERFECT
0573 - Mario Vs Donkey Kong 2 March of the Minis (U) - PERFECT
0595 - Club House Games (U).zip - PERFECT
0603 - Crash Boom Bang (U).zip - PERFECT
0615 - Contact (U) - PERFECT
0479 - New Super Mario Bros. (E) - ALMOST PERFECT
notes: Mini games ok. When saving to save slot 1 its okay, however when rebooting complains about corrupt Save Slot 2. However Save Slot 1 works fine.
0614 - Children of Mana (U) - ALMOST PERFECT
notes: Plays perfectly, but some problems encountered when saving. When saving to Save Slot 1 and restarting it complained about corrupted data found in Save Slots 2 & 3 and each were promptly deleted. Original save file in Save Slot 1 unaffected. Saved original game over Save Slot 2 and restated. It then complained about Save Slot 3 being corrupt and that was deleted. Then loaded Save Slot 2 and then saved over empty Save Slot 3 and restarted. Now all save slots are fine. Strange 0577 - Pokémon Diamond (J).zip - FAILED
notes: Both screens appear white and it crashes
Loading up some homebrew, I removed the DS-X cart and put some apps on, and once again the DS-X cart was not recognized when reinserted into the DS. It was once I removed and reinserted again. Battery Life Results:
Test condition: Fully charged European Black Nintendo DS Lite New Super Mario Bros. Running Main Menu and movie looping continuously Screens at max. brightness (level 4) Sound at 100% All LED's on DS-Xtreme disabled.
Results:
Backup ROM of New Super Mario Bros. on DS-Xtreme = 4 hours 5 minutes Retail New Super Mario Bros cart = 4 hours 55 minutes
Homebrew Applications
Beup V3 Fixed Chism - PERFECT and saves user details
DSOrganize v2.3 Gray - PERFECT including creating dir structure and saving scribble pad
NDSMail v0.47 - FAILED notes: Stops at check init
Moonshell v1.4 Stable - PERFECT
ComicbookDS v1.2 - FAILED notes: 2 Blank screens - used a big zip of images and a image zipped. Both failed
Homebrew Games
Invasion V1 - PERFECT
EYEQ - The Film, TV & Music Quiz v1.0 NeoFlash Compo - PERFECT
FP Frozen Bubble (Bust-A-Move) clone r5 NeoFlash Compo - FAILED notes: locks up before reaching title screen
Summary
Pros
- 99% DS compatibility
- Great DS-X Operating Systems
- Not Operating System dependent
- Fast USB 2.0 transfers
- End of patching roms
- Good Homebrew Compatibility
- Slot 1 Cart with ability to utilize slot 2 carts
- Addition of LEDs to separate it from the competition
- Firmware on DS-X easily upgradable
Cons
- Expensive for the moment
- Limited to 4Gb (512MB) interntal memory
- Some save glitches encountered
- Rom title display is problematic with some Japanese roms
- Not the vaunted 100% homebrew compatibility
- Not the vaunted 100% DS compatibility
- Could be broken if not handled carefully
- At the moment no way to transfer saves other flash carts
- Screen does not turn off during MP3 playback when lid closed
- Does not have the ability to read ID3v2 mp3 tags
Final Thoughts
I was quite impressed with the DS-X. It was surrounded by a lot of hype and I believe it has lived up to it. There are a few minor issues I had. The Saving problem was not a major but it still worried me a little. Also the fact that ID3v2 tags are not read properly when in music mode is annoying. I'm sure these will all be fixed when a new firmware is released. One thing that anyone can appreciate is the lack of "Engrish" surrounding this product, it's really the first to be made by a non-Asian based ableit worldwide team. The official website is already impressive with the developer blog and busy forums.
However, if you ar after GBA support you are out of luck, but there are some sacrifices to make a slot 1 solution a reality.
The support forums provided by the DS-X team are very busy and frequented by the developers. I hope there level of support continues.
A major bonus is the fact that is does not require rom software to be loaded, meaning all us linux and mac users are not left out in the cold.
This is the first high profile slot 1 card to be released, and I feel that this cart is gonna be a hard one to beat. So it the DS-Xtreme worth the cash? If you want a reliable, highly compatible slot 1 solution and are happy with 512MB of space, then the DS-Xtreme is definetely for you if you can fork out the somewhat hefty price tag. The DS-Xtreme has raised the bar for all flash kits to follow and it will be interesting to see if others can match the quality set by the guys at DS-X.
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