| Supercard DS(One) Review | ||||
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Supercard DS(One) Review 
Well my review unit for the Supercard DS turned up today from kicktrading.ca. It's very exciting for me because I have stuck with one DS solution for such a long time so this should hopefully open my eyes to other possibilities. Supercard has produced many solutions for the DS and in the past has provided very solid products with great backing. They provide quick updates to software and firmware and are very highly regarded in the DS Scene. The unit is supplied in a standard cardboard box, with a plastic inlay which holds the cartridge. Nothing else is included in the box. It doesn't include an information leaflet or a driver CD. I think maybe they could have included a small info sheet and perhaps the current OS so the user could get up and running without having to fine the download on the internet. On the whole the packaging was very professional but definitely lacking in other areas.
Anyway, the box protects the goods very well and that’s all that matters.
Box Contents
I confirm you didn’t misread anything: All you get when you have a glimpse inside the package is the SuperCard, no bundled micro SD card reader or carrying case, not even a CD with software is included. This certainly pales in comparison to the R4 or M3S 1st batch which shipped with lots of goodies.
The back of the box provides a list of features which includes
- Plug and Play (No Passme / Flashme or GBA Cart required) - 100% Clean Rom support - No PC Software Required, just drag and drop - Hardware Save Support - Unlimited storage supporting FAT / FAT32 - High speed R/W system without slowdown - Compatible with all future DS models - Fully Upgradeable Micro Firmware support and Skinning Capabilities and a quick trip to www.supercard.cn has another similar list. I say similar because it would appear the list is more detailed. But I suppose the product is not being bought by people browsing through a retail shop so that can all be forgiven. Here are the main features as listed Main Features: Hardware
As it's the same size as a commercial DS Cartridge, it has a nice flush fit as demonstrated in the above picture. It's amazing what they can cram into such a small place. As you can see the MicroSD card is loaded at the top of the card so the DS Cartridge does not need to be removed to gain access to your MicroSD card. The MicroSD card is spring mounted so no need to worry about it slipping out a-la Supercard Lite.
The Micro SD slot being spring loading, it’s pretty easy to remove but there’s absolutely no risk of dropping it by mistake because the card is locked firmly inside the card reader. Spring loading Micro SD cards are a welcome idea as there’s no need to remove the card to fill it with binaries or format it, all you have to do is press the micro SD card firmly to have pop out & hook it up to the PC: hassle free.
Software Since the package doesn’t ship with the required software, you won’t be able to use right away which unfortunately hampers its ease of use for the end user.One has to go online and download the required appropriate OS Loader as the SC DS won’t boot without burning it to the microSD card. Aside from the OS Loader, here’s a list of what you need in order to be ready to use the SC DS:
The following all tests were conducted using a Sandisk 1GB MicroSD Ultra II card.
Looks very slick and a screenshot of the default menu is below.
Here is the same menu once populated:
A property box is always opened as soon as the directory listing comes up. Not a huge hassle but a little annoying for me. It shows the information for the currently highlighted folder or file. While is does show a lot of information it sits in front of the file listing which means it's a bit awkward to navigate. Also when this box is up it sits in front of the menus as well which isn't great either though it can be removed by pressing the X button.
As you can see it grabs the icon file from the NDS file but it doesn't grab the header. Instead it just lists the filename which as you can see with me, some of my backups are named correctly and some have scene names. When the property box is open it will correctly display the first 20 characters of the Rom Name but no more. This rom name seems to be controlled by the OS rather than reading the rom header as the new Diddy Kong Racing (Released after the latest OS update) is not correctly named. When scrolling through a number of .NDS files it is fairly slow so hopefully your most frequently used item is at the bottom of the list. Once again a little annoying and frustrating and hopefully some of these are put right as it seems from a hardware point of view they have a very strong product. There are 4 menus across the top of the screen which I will detail below. Saver Menu
The Saver menu is very basic. You can manually change the size of the .SAV file to 4K / 64K / 512K / 2M /4M. The .SAV situation is explained in more detail further down the page.
Set SC to Rumble Mode - Enables use of a Slot-2 Rumble device Display Chinese Name - Displays the Chinese Name. Save Menu Option - Saves your current settings for future use. SuperKey - Enables SuperKey use for booting Slot-2 devices. AUTO Set SD Speed - Runs a Test program to determine MicroSD card speed. Enable Patch - Enables Universal Patch options which include Cheats, Reset etc. I only used 2 of the functions properly. The Save Menu Option saves the settings you have applied to the layout etc. The other option I used was Enable Patch (To disable it for Tony Hawk Downhill Jam). However it looks like the Enable Patch is universal so it can't be set for individual games. This option enables the clean roms on your MicroSD card to be patched with the following options - Normal Read / Fast Read - SaverIN DS / SaverIN SD - Enable Reset - Enable Cheat I found that the intro for Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow runs laggy when normal read is set, but perfectly when fast read is enable. The Reset option also works. But as I mentioned I believe its easier to just left this option disabled unless you need it for compatibility. Option Menu
File Sort - Can sort files by name or modified date Language - Language can be set to either English or Chinese SD Speed - Manually set the SD Card speed File Info - Brings up the File Property box About - Displays Moonshell Info Help Menu
Another small problem I had was that it only takes one click to launch an .NDS file. So no double tapping here. A bit annoying so please be careful when trying to select your .NDS files. Also a loading indicator is not shown (a dialog is present if the property box is active) so there is really no way to know this has happened until suddenly you file loads. As I mentioned the gui is a modified Moonshell. Which means it supports bmp, txt documents and mp3s etc from with the menu. It supports playing music while you browse your MicrosSD card. However playing a 192kbps mp3 whilst looking through my directories results in a very unpleasant experience. Sounds okay when you are not moving between items, but if you are it skips a bit. Maybe they could enable the midi plugin and have some selectable music. You can download the Supercard DS Software from here that provides patching options for your "clean roms". However I haven't used the software and I believe with the new OS Version this is fairly obsolete now. Either way it's there as an option. Below are a couple of standard screenshots.
Bad thing is they have used the same software as they use for the supercard lite by the looks of it with GBA patching options when you can´t even play gba roms on the supercard DS. Are they trying to confuse new people or what. To be honest, they should probably just pull that download as all the patching can be done on the DS itself.
[table width=90% border=1 class=romtable cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2] [tr class=news_header][td]Rom Number[/td][td]Rom Name [td]Status[/td][td] Issues [/td][/tr]
Now that we’re done with the compatibility, let’s have a closer look at the transflash/MicroSD card compatibility.
Note: Kingston & Toshiba entered a strategic alliance for over a decade now & are worldwide partners in the memory segment. Since 2000, Kingston provides Toshiba with memory modules Hence this explains why both their micro SD modules are alike in term of performance. Download Play / Single-cart Multiplayer
Battery Life Results: I have performed two series of power consumption tests on the SC DS with two scenarii in mind:Scenario A: speakers nearly turned off (sound and music can still be clearly heard, brightness set to default (2) : • The DS's batteries would run dry after 8 h 35 mns of play. Scenario B: Loudest possible sound coming from the speakers with the brightness set to its highest (4): • The DS's batteries would run dry after 4 h 28 mns of play. Be aware that power consumption might slightly differ depending on your set up (brightness/loudness) as well as your battery's lifetime (charging it prior to using it the first time is supposed to increase its lifespan). With nearly twice the playtime compared to slot-2 flashkits in similar conditions, the SC DS & more generally slot-1 development kits are truly power saving which is great news for the end user. Test condition:
Homebrew Compatibility
How does it handle SAV files? Additional FeaturesThe SC DS has plenty of non advertised bonus features, some of which are innovative, while others are somewhat common:
Overall a very solid effort considering it's the first SLOT-1 device released by the Supercard team. It does what it set out to do. It plays the majority of games and homebrew without the need for patching. But to be honest all this is expected from all the SLOT-1 devices released now. I have a few gripes with the system. I would like the option to individually set each roms patching options on my MicroSD card. That way I don't have to go about trying to remember what settings I used in the previous game. I also didn't like the one click to load an NDS file. It just means that an accidental slip means I have to reset and start again. The interface they have chosen is not completely functional at the moment, but it offers such great flexibility that I expect a lot more to come of their OS. There are a few little issues but on the whole it uses the touch screen effectively and the added bonus is that you don't need to load up any additional media players. This card has a lot of potential and I hope it is realised. However in the world of Slot-1 Devices with 100% rom support and near perfect homebrew support the device makers really need to step up to earn your hard earned cash. I'm sure the Supercard team will make a good go of this. I can't say definitely buy this, but I think it compares well with the R4 DS and the M3 Simply. All 3 have come out recently and I think if you compare all 3 products and the reviews here on this site and others you will find a Slot-1 device that meets all your needs. It's currently retailing for $54.95 USD over at Kicktrading so it's not an overly expensive product. PROS + 100% rom compatibility + Excellent build quality. Card fits flush in the DS and slides in and out as if a commercial card. + No patching required, just drag and drop to play 100% of games. + MicroSD slot is spring loaded. + Supports clean roms + Skinnable menu + Modified Moonshell Menu enabling Multimedia support + Works as a passcard device allowing booting of devices in Slot 2. + Homebrew compatibility growing due to DLDI implementations. CONS - Requires some work to set up out of the box. No Software included via CD so needs to be downloaded from internet. - Minor problems experienced with some games from test. - Minor UI problems - Future problems could arise with the current SAV system in place. - PC Software is not relevant to the Supercard DS and is obsolete.
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 29 November 2008 08:54 ) |
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