Supercard DS (One) v2 Official Review

 

Introduction & Packaging

 Note - This is a review by Zelion which has sat dormant for a couple of weeks. I thought I would post it for him. I will try to answer any questions you have aswell - retro

Well I've had this card for a few days and have had a little bit of time to mess around with it. From what I've gathered so far it seems like a decent Slot-1 Solution for the NDS/DSL.


Hardware

Well as you can see the SC DS One is hardly distinguishable from normal NDS cards! Also the card fits nicely into the NDS Lite(also phat DS), and it doesn't stick out.

From these pics the card looks a little sloppy, not everything is perfectly straight. But don't let that bother you, the card holds up pretty well.


Software

 The Supercard DS (One) v2 basicly uses Moonshell as its browser/launcher/music player. The only way to change any settings is to edit the global.ini file. Luckily everything in the file is slightly explained but there's not too much documentation so this isn't noob proof.

It soon came to my attention that my brand new 2GB MyFlash MicroSD card is 'incompatible' and too slow for some backups to be played. To solve this you need to change a few settings. Under the 'Other' Menu, click on enable patch. It will show a bunch of options. If you have a slower MSD like me. Checkmark these: Enable Patch, and Normal Read. Even Castlevania POR works fine with these settings.

Getting the card to work is fairly easy too. Theres a small leaflet with a few instructions on how to get the card working.

Basicly goto the website, download some crap, toss it onto the Micro SD and hope it works!

Updated Features:

I waited awhile for a new OS for this card and finaly it was released! The features it added were:

• Added Realtime Cheat Code: Can be turned on/off when playing game. Switch between cheat code menu and game playing without restarting! Support Hotkey mode and Cheat Code Menu mode.
• Added Realtime Game Guide: Playing game and view Game guide at the same time. Switch between gameplay and reading a game-guide, without restarting! . Hotkey L+R+START+DOWN.
• Added Support DS Browser, need SCCF,SCSD,SCL.
• Added Support PASSME function. Can boot GBA slot. Hotkey L+B at OS menu.
• Fixed GBA union function, support GBA game union and can be saved. Enable GBA game be loaded to slot 2. need SCCF, SCDS, SCL
• Fixed NDSL screen adjust bug. Remove the alarm message when startup DS ONE menu.
• Added date and temperature display.
• Added double screen display function. provide skin, icon DIY. Hotkey L+A at OS menu.
• Added icon display function. Up-screen display game icon, down-screen can display property of the game.

Now the new things they added that make it a nice upgrade are: Being able to switch your browser to the top or bottom of thee screen with L+A. Passme booting to your slot2 card with L+B. If you have another SC card you can do alot of things with it, you can browse it from your SC DS One, which seems cool, but I bet its a little slow(can't test as I don't have a another SC Slot2).

All games/homebrew were tested with these options selected(checked,on):

Age of Empires - The Age of Kings (US) - Works fine, sometimes music messes up(Due to low speed MSD I believe).
Avatar: The Last Airbender (US) - Works fine.
Battles of Prince of Persia (US) - Got a black screen even when AutoPatch was on(probably MSD Speed again).
Big Brain Academy (US) - Works fine.
Bionicle Hero (US) - Works fine.
Blades of Thunder 2 (US) - Works fine.
Bomberman (US) - Works fine.
Bust-A-Move (US) - Works fine.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (US) - Works fine.
Dead N' Furius (EU) - Works fine.
Electoplankton (US) - Works fine.
Freedom Wings (US) - Works fine.
Frogger - Helmet Chaos (US) - Works fine.
Full Alchemist Dual Sympathy (US) - Works fine.
Guilty Gear Dust Strikers (US) - Works fine.
Harvest Moon (US) - Works fine.
M and M BreakEm (US) - Works fine.
Mario Hoops 3on3 (US) - Works fine.
Mind Quiz - Your Brain Coach (US) - Works fine.
Mini RC Rally (US) - Works fine.
New Super Mario Bros (US) - Works fine.
Pac-Pix (US) - Works fine.
Quickspot (US) - white screen when trying to access Rapid Play, music keeps playing though.
Rainbow Island Revolution (US) - Works fine.
Rayman DS (US) - Freezes at DCStudios screen.
Real Time Conflict - Shogun Empires (US) - Works fine.
Retro Atari Classics (US) - Works fine.
Ridge Racer DS (US) - Works fine.
Resident Evil - Deadly Silence (US) - Works fine when using auto-patching.
Scurge Hive (US) - Works fine.
Sonic Rush (US) - Works fine.
Space Invaders Revolution (US) - Works fine.
Spectrobes (US) - Works fine.
Spyro - Shadow Legacy (US) - Works fine.
Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll (US) - Works fine.
Tamagitchi Connection - Corner Shop (US) - Works fine.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 (US) - Works fine.
Tetris DS (US) - Works fine.
Texas Hold Em' Poker Pack (US) - Works fine.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (US) - Works fine.
Trauma Center - Under The Knife (US) - Works fine.
WarioWare Touched! (US) - Works fine.
Worms - Open Warefare (US) - Works fine.
X-Men - The Official Game (US) - Works fine.
Yu-Gi-Oh GX Spirit Caller (US) -Works fine.
Ys Strategy (US) - Works fine.
Zoo Tycoon (US) - Works fine.
Pokemon Diamond (US) - White screens(Because of patch mode[Works fine without patch.]).
Pokemon Pearl (US) - White screens(Because of patch mode[Works fine without patch.]).
Classic Action: Devlish - Works fine.
GBA Game Compatability

 Aswell as NDS compatibility, the Supercard DS can also load GBA roms! As a very strategical move, the Supercard team have made it so that you can launch GBA roms from the menu of the Supercard DS (One). Of course there is a drawback to this, and quite a major one really. You must own a slot 2 Supercard that supports GBA roms. Other devices will not work, I tried a G6 lite and an EZ Flash 3-in-1 expansion pack in Slot 2, both failed to work.

So how does it work you ask? Well the process is very seamless and takes place without you even knowing what is going on. A good thing perhaps but it would be nice to see some kind of progress bar as the game is loading.

I tried quite a few GBA games with a Supercard Lite in slot 2. Here is a list of games that I tried:

AstroBoy-Omega Factor - Does not save.
Boktai - Does not save.
Castlevania-Circle of Moon - Does not save.
DOOM II - Does not save.
Final Fight One - Does not save.
Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones - Does not save.
Hudson Collection - Does not save.
Kururin Paradise - Does not save.
Mario Golf Advance - Does not save.
Mario Kart - Does not save.
Mario Pinball Land - Does not save.
Pinball of the Dead - Does not save.
Pokemon Sapphire Clock Fix - Does not save.
R-Type 3 - Does not save.
Rhythm Tengoku - Does not save.
Riviera - The Promised Land - Does not save.
Summon Night - Swordcraft Story 2 - Does not save.
The Sun is in Your Hand - Does not save.

 Everything ran perfectly fine but there was a serious issue with saving in which I mean it was non-existent! Not a single game would save obviously due to the fact that this is relatively new software for the Supercard DS. Hopefully this will be resolved in time but as it stands it is pretty pointless having the feature if you can't even save. I tried an EZ Flash Expansion pack along with Rudolph's EZ-Flash V 3-in-1 Tool v1.7 which out performed the official feature entirely. Saving worked but unfortunately it doesn't support the browser patch or rumble patches unlike the M3/R4DS.


Homebrew Compatability

A Touch of War - Works fine.
Eclipse Driving - Works fine.
Explosive Gas - Works fine.
Ka-Boom - Works fine.
MegaETK - Works fine.
Omalone - Works fine.
Wordup - Works fine.
LemmingsDS - Works fine.
Binary Clock - Works fine.
Bitsweeper - Works fine.
DSOrganize - Works fine.
RiverCrossingDS - Works fine.
Game Collection DS - Works fine.
Wright Flight - Works fine.
Yahtzee - Works fine.

 Conclusion

All in all the card performed quite well. With any hope SC Team will continue to better their card and leave me with little doubt about this card.

If you're looking for a good Slot1 Solution the SuperCard DS One may be the right card for you!

PROS

+ Same size as original NDS card and just as durable than one too.
+ Can be used as a passkey if you have a slot2 Device.
+ Can load GBA roms if you have a slot2 Supercard Device.
+ Drag and drop your games, and just play them.
+ AutoPatch feature helps slower MicroSD cards play any game.
+ Plays alot of homebrew.

- GBA games do not save.
- The usb Card Reader doesn't like working all the time.
- Takes SC Team forever to update new features.
- Menu is very touchy, sometimes loading games by mistake.

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