Ewin 512 + Passme Review

Introduction:

Out of the deep and murky depths of the Chinese flashcart market emerges a device that not many people would have heard of. The Ewin 512mbit and Ewin Passme are relatively unknown in the English speaking world. However that certainly does not mean you should shrug the Ewin off as a cheap and flimsy flashcart that’ll last you a couple of weeks before it breaks down, spits out its battery and waves a little white flag. If you thought that you’d be deadly wrong.

When I received the Ewin courtesy of EuropeFlash I was surprised by the level of quality in the build of the cartridge, linker and packaging. The Ewin comes in a very sturdy red box that looks great and certainly protects its contents. The lid is attached with a small magnet and flips open to reveal the Ewin cartridge, linker (with USB cable) and surprisingly enough a very official looking mini-CD holding the drivers and burning software. This just goes to show the lengths at which the Ewin has gone to present itself. I haven’t received a CD with a flash kit since the Flash 2 Advance, years ago. The Ewin boasts its own DS rom patching/burning program with fair compatibility, and of course GBA games run flawlessly.
I'd like to thank EuropeFlash for providing this Flashkit for review.
So how does the Ewin and its Passme stand up to the market leading flashcarts of today?

Features:

-512mbit size
-embedded GBA boot-loader (does not eat into the 512mbit space)
-Real Time Clock
-Soft Reset
-GBA saves are protected when files are erased
-Plays commercial DS roms
-The Ewin Passme is a commercial Passme solution

Hardware:

The cartridge is the same size as an original GBA cartridge and is very sturdy. It doesn’t feel flimsy in the slightest. It fits well in both the GBA and DS. The Ewin cartridge features 512mbit of uncompressed FLASH memory with the usual assortment of features (a rechargeable battery and Real-Time Clock support).
The Ewin writer is almost identical to the EZ-Writer II that comes with the EZ-Flash 3, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. The only difference with the Ewin set is that it uses a clear plastic compared to the orange of the EZ-Flash 3
With the Ewin Passme you can make use of the DS functionality of the Ewin (although any Passme/flashme would work fine). For those that don’t know, a Passme is a device used to allow the DS to bypass encryption and boot DS code from the GBA slot. A Passme device or Flashme is needed to run homebrew code and commercial rom code on the DS. Surprisingly the Ewin company does not follow with the current trends and attempt to fashion a new name for its own Passme device (eg: Superpass, Passkey and EZpass) instead the Ewin Passme is simply called ‘Passme’. Its design is remarkably similar to the Passkey, something I’m not too happy about for the simple fact that you can’t sit the DS down on a flat surface while playing. The Superpass may be bulkier but it doesn’t attempt to hide its bulk beneath the DS, you can sit the DS down on a desk while playing games such as Nintendogs and Meteos. Aside from this fact the Ewin Passme is solidly built and fits snugly into the DS. It doesn’t offer any additional features like an ‘on/off’ switch that the Passkey offers; it is simply a barebones commercial Passme solution.

Software:

There are three different software programs available for the Ewin. The Ewin Client (I was using version 0.76a) is used to read the burn GBA roms. Ewin4DS is used to patch and burn DS roms to the Ewin and EFormat is used to format the Ewin cartridge.
The Ewin client is fairly straightforward and simple to use. With the Ewin cartridge inserted into the Ewin Writer just click the ‘Add’ button. From there select the rom you wish to load and you will be greeting a screen showing additional options such as: Rom Trimming, Soft Reset Patch and Intro Remove. This screen will also show the header information of the rom.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed