MM3 Ada M3 Adapter (SD)VS SuperCard (SD) (SD)

M3 Adapter (SD) and PassKey VS SuperCard (SD) and SuperPass

-----This reivew is from two people, A and B’s comments. Thank you for reading.

Hardware and Design

Packaging

M3:

B:

Nice design, the specifications are well developed. Minor spelling errors can be noticed if you read closely. Also, the Passkey isn't included in the M3 package, it's supplied in a separated box. A good point: a mini-CD is supplied, which includes all necessary software.

Supercard:

B:

The box design is really nice, and the superpass is supplied in the same box as the supercard itself. Although there are some major spelling errors ("requirement", with a large font) the general impression is good. A bad point, there is no CD included, so you will have to visit their website to get the client software and firmware.

A:
We've got your typical flash kit packaging right here...
Plastered with Engrish and crudely drawn graphics... (Anyone else find it ironically funny that they mispelt "compression" as "comprstion"? Nope. Just me.)

The box has the standard information on it... Including a very short set of instructions to get them out of the cost of including an additional piece of paper!

Nothing else is included besides the SuperPass and SuperCard. No CD... (Again, not that that matters; as you'll want to download the latest version anyway!)

The box came out of a nice printer though! It's got a real nice glossy finish! Very sexy.

Adapter design

M3:

B:
The fact that the M3 SD adapter is a little larger than the usual GBA flashcart is totally unimportant. The M3 adapter is solid, resistant, and fits perfectly in the GBA slot. If you own a coloured DS, it might look a little weird but it suits lovely with my silver DS. Plus, the SD card can be removed from the adapter without removing the M3 adapter from the GBA slot, which isn't possible with the CF version.

A:
The build quality is very good. Nice solid plastic and a nice paint job.
I also like the fact that they used screws and clips in order to seal the adapter. So the end-user can open it for whatever reason. (Unlike other adapters/carts that are just super glued shut and will break the second you try opening them.).

I also absolutely love the fact that they put the SD card slot on the bottom of the adapter. Allowing you to remove the SD card without removing the adapter! ...But it came at a cost! The M3 sticks out of your GBA/NDS by just under 2cm! Making it a bit of an eye-sore. Though it is coloured silver to match my DS...
Of course, you'll get used to it sticking out. But it's really just laziness on the design front and the fact they used cheap parts.
They could have made it more compact if a bit more effort had gone in!

Supercard:

B:
This is one of the worst points of the Supercard IMO. I don't know if it's just my unit, but the GBA part of the supercard totally sucked. It almost doesn't fit in the GBA slot, and it's a pain to remove. Everytime I insert it into my DS, I hear weird metallic noises. To be honest, this is the main reason why I don't use my supercard much. Plus, the design itself is cheap. Cheap plastic, cheap SD slot (the SD card can hardly be removed). Hopefully, this is just my own unit. Also, the SD card cannot be removed directly: you have to remove the supercard first and then you can remove the SD card. Boring. The only good point I see is that it doesn't stand out too much from the DS.

A:
Regarding B's issue above.. My unit is fine. It's a bit of a tight fit getting the adapter into the GBA slot, but there's really no effort getting it in or out.
The adapter will stick out of your GBA/NDS like the M3, but it's a lot more compact and will only stick out by about 1cm. The dark blue colouring is a bit off-putting for me...

The build quality isn't bad... It's on par with most GBA flash carts. But the plastic used is a bit cheap and feels and sounds a bit creaky.

Unfortunately, unlike the M3; the SuperCard's SD slot is on the side of the adapter. Forcing you to remove the adapter every time you want to play with the SD card. This is annoying if you're one of those types of people who will constantly fiddle with the contents of their card.

Oh but they used clips and screws to hold it together, which is a plus for me!

PassMe design

M3

B:
To me, there are two types of Passme's. The first type, like the M3 Passkey, doesn't stick out too much from the DS slot and the DS cart is plugged in upside down, under the NDS. This generates a big problem: you cannot have the DS unit sit on a flat surface. If you still do so, your passme might break after a while. I know this is my personal opinion, but I prefer passme's like the superpass. Aside from this point, the general design is excellent, silver like the DS and the adapter, and there's even an option to enable or disable the "passme" function; that is, disabling it will just boot the DS cart that is inside the passme, like it is a regular cart.

A:
The PassKey is a very unique PassMe variation. As B said, unlike regular PassMe's, the DS card doesn't stick out the top. Instead, the PassKey curls around the top of the DS slot, like a hook, and the DS card slots in upside down and back to front. I really like this design.. but, again, as B says this causes a slight problem when putting your DS down on a flat surface, and it feels like the PassKey is bending slightly.

The build quality is top notch!! It really is good.
It slots into and out of the DS slot perfectly, just like a real DS card.
The PassKey is held together really well too, with tiny screws and clips which is nice! And there is even a small switch on the PassKey to turn it "off" so your DS acts as if the PassKey wasn't there, allowing you to use the DS card inserted into it as usual!

The M3 PassKey has recently become my PassMe of choice for it's high quality design and the on/off switch.

Supercard

B:
I like the general design of it, the DS cart fits great in it, and it's a passme of the 2nd type, that is, it lets you sit the DS unit on a flat surface, but it stands out much more from the DS slot. There's a big problem with the unit I've got, though. Once again, I hope it's just mine. The passme almost doesn't fit in the DS slot, I have to push hard to insert it totally. Plus, it can't be removed easily, just like the GBA part. I also hear weird metallic noises when I insert it.

A:
Eugh. Initial impressions... It looks really cheap.
Tsk! And my label isn't even on straight!

The SuperPass really is just a standard PassMe. Nothing fancy here... There isn't really much to say about the build quality. The plastic seems to be moulded together (or with superglue or something)... Nothing much to write about here at all.

The DS card fits into it OK, and is held in place nicely. But inserting the SuperPass into your DS is a different story. It REALLY doesn't want to go in there. It seems too wide or something... It really does take some effort to get inserted.
And getting it out is just as bad. You literally have to shove it downwards until you hear a click, and then forcefully pull it out of the slot... It almost feels like it's going to break the mechanism in my DS slot.

At least it works...

Fortunately PassMe's are pretty universal, so you can use any PassMe with the SuperCard. (For example, I tend to prefer using the M3's PassKey for it's excellent design).
Or you could use the SuperPass once, and flash your NDS with FlashMe, and never have the need for as PassMe/SuperPass again!

Battery Life

 M3:

B:
As I haven't had enough time to test the battery time of all different modes, I will only post the official times, which can be found on the official website.
GBA and DS mode: 8 hours 15 minutes to get the red light, and 1 more hour until power is off. There should be no difference with music and movies, since music and movies are converted to gba-compatible files (so basically playing movies or music is like playing a GBA game).

A:
Haven't finished testing battery life.
So my score is subject to change!
Current score based on official times. (8 hours).

Supercard:

B:
I haven't had enough time to check by myself yet. Official times are 9 hours. I will update this once I have performed my own tests.

A:
Haven't finished testing battery life.
So my score subject to change!
Current score based on official times. (9 hours).

Features

ROM Compatibility

M3

B:
Plain simple: it is 100%. All games work, including Pokémon Dash. I can not know whether all future releases will work or not, but it seems the M3 team is doing a great job with the compatibility.

A:
The team behind the M3 software really are doing a great job keeping things running smoothly. At the moment, apparently ALL DS ROMs are working with the M3. Very impressive!

But of course, no flash system runs every single ROM without a hitch. And of course, you're bound to run into some issues. (Especially with DS flash kits still in their infancy). Whether it be slowdowns in-game, issues saving, crashing, graphic/sound problems... These are all to be expected.

The good news is, the M3 team seem to work hardest on getting all the popular ROMs working 100%. So the chances are, you'll be fine for the majority of the time.
Just don't expect not to run into a few issues now and again (though most can be resolved with a little research).

Needless to say, their compatibility ratings are impressive, and I hope they continue this trend and continue supporting this product for a long time.

Supercard

B:
Ah, well, it is almost perfect. Only Pokémon Dash isn't supported by the Supercard. Nothing much to say. All games work. This is one of the best point of both SC and M3, they have very high compatibility.

A:
The SuperCard has basically the same compatibility ratings and support as the M3 adapter at this moment in time. The only thing that stops them from getting a 100% compatibility rating is one ROM. The ROM infamous for causing compatibility problems - Pokémon Dash.

I'm basically repeating myself from the M3 comparison part, but I'll go over this again just for the sake of consistency.

Of course, no flash system runs every single ROM without a hitch. And of course, you're bound to run into some issues. (Especially with DS flash kits still in their infancy). Whether it be slowdowns in-game, issues saving, crashing, graphic/sound problems... These are all to be expected.

Again; good news is, the team behind the SuperCard seem to be working hard on keeping compatibility as high as possible. And the chances are, as long as you don't want to play Pokémon Dash; you'll get by just fine.
Just don't expect not to run into a few issues now and again (though most can be resolved with a little research).

The SuperCard's compatibility ratings are impressive, and I hope they also continue this trend and continue supporting their product for a long time.

Emulation Support

M3

B:
The M3 lets you play NES, GB, PCE, and SMS (GG) games. You have to either use the Game manager, or copy the emulator file (ie. "goomba.gba") directly on the SD card. This second way will then allow you to copy roms directly. The M3 also plays SNES games but the compatibility is low. Even their website recommends the use of SnesDS, another Snes emulator.


A:
I'm sure the work of the emulation is done using external emulators created by developers in the scene. So unless I'm wrong, I'm not giving any credit to the creator of the M3.

All the work is done using external emulators, so there isn't really a great deal of support going on, or even needed here!
There is support for the client to create the necessary files automatically, but that's as far as it goes...

Supercard

B:
The same systems are emulated on Supercard, except SNES. But the big difference is, the emulators are integrated into the Supercard, which means you can put roms directly onto the SD cards, no emulators needed, no patching needed. I give it the same rank as M3 for not integrating a SNES emulator.

A:
I'm sure the work of the emulation is done using external emulators created by developers in the scene. So unless I'm wrong, I'm not giving any credit to the creator of the SuperCard.

Apparently the emulators are integrated into the SuperCard's firmware/flash memory, so it's just as easy as B said! Just copy the compatible ROMs straight to your SD card and fire them up! This is a pretty nice feature and could save a lot of time. The only issue I see is that, I'm not sure you can update the emulators...

Media Support

M3

B:
Officially, the M3 supports dozens of media types (MP3, divx, etc..). So at first, I thought I would d just need to copy my music or movie files onto the SD card and play them on M3. Too bad. You actually have to use a media converter (supplied with the CD in the M3 package) to convert the files to .GBS or .GBM format. The sound quality is pretty low, it's not worth a good old MP3 walkman, but I think it's due to the hardware specifications of the NDS. The video quality is quite good, but it depends on the final file size. Good quality, big file. The same goes for pictures: you have to convert them to BMP (=huge files) before you can flash them.

A:
B pretty much summed it up. It's not very easy to get your media onto the M3 adapter. You'll have to make sure it's in a compatible format/bit rate....resize it... convert it... make sure the file size is not too big.... make sure the quality is OK... etc... Blah blah.

It's good that they have at least some support for media, and it works. It's just not as easy as copying media directly to the SD card. And the end results may not even be worth the effort!

Supercard

B:
I haven't been able to find a media converter for Supercard, so I guess you will have to use the M3 media converter. You also have to download additional gba files (filmplay.gba, moonshell.gba, jpegviewer.gba) since the players aren't integrated in the supercard.

A:
Again, not much to be said here, and B said what can be said anyway!

There's no media support integrated into the SuperCard or client software. It's all done through external programs such as Movie Player and GBAJpegViewer (freeware applications that support any flash kit).

But hey, at least they give you a link to it on their website, right? ...Their very... very... slow... website.

Save System

M3

B:
The save system of the M3 is quite simple. Play a game, turn off the DS and turn it on again: the M3 menu will automatically write the save to the SD cart, in the NDSSAVE folder. It doesn't write saves with the usual save format, though. It uses a specific format: every save is 257 kilobytes big, the first 256 kilobytes being the actual save file in the usual format, + 1 kilobyte to store the game name. This last part is interesting, though. If you want to have multiple save files for one game, you just need to copy an existing save file of this game, and you can give it the name you want. With the last kilobyte of the save file, the M3 will be able to detect which game matches your save files. It generates a probem though, you cannot directly exchange the save files with other linkers, such as MK2 or SC which only support "pure save files". But it's not really a problem since you only have to remove the last kilobyte of the save file to make it "pure" (you can use an hex editor).

A:
The save system on both the M3 and the SuperCard are fairly similar. Both have a good range of support, and most games will save without any issues, and both can create these save data files directly on the SD card for easy backup.

The M3 holds save data during game play in the internal SRAM. When you power off your DS and turn it back on, it will write this data to a file in the NDSSAVE directory.
You can have several saves on the card at once, (even with different filenames, as long as they are M3 format saves) and you can select between different saves before running the game.

The M3 writes saves in a custom format, so you can't share them between devices that support RAW save files (such as the Magic Key 2) unless you edit the file using a Hex editor as B mentioned.

There are a couple of games at the moment that won't save properly, or at least not without some manual tweaking.
Hopefully they'll continue to improve save support and get all ROMs saving properly.

Overall, the saving system used on the M3 is very reliable and works well

Supercard

 B:
I don't really get how the SC save system works. I've tried with Super Mario 64x4; I can't seem to use more than 1 save per game. It doesn't really matter, though, because you can still backup your saves to your PC easily (copying them from the SD card). The save files are "pure", and this is good because you can use them with other linkers such as MK2.

A:
The save system works similar to the M3 adapter.

When you write a game to the SuperCard using the client software, is automatically creates a .sav file in the same directory as the ROM. (They will appear in separate menus in the GUI though!).

Save data is held in the SRAM until you turn off the DS and turn it back on. Then it will backup to the .sav file it already created. (This is assuming you left the Saver patch option in the client software enabled (default setting)).

You can't have more than one physical .sav file per ROM. But that's not really a problem as you shouldn't need to anyway...
And at least you can backup and share .sav files easily, as they're written in a RAW format and are compatible with any other device that supports RAW DS saves (NeoFlash and Magic Key 2 for example).

There are still some compatibility issues when it comes to saving in certain DS ROMs. A very select few will not be able to save properly, save with limited functions, or not save at all, or at least; save the "old-school" way by saving directly to the DS card you have inserted into your PassMe/DS slot.

Overall, the saving system used on the SuperCard, just like the M3, is reliable and works very well.
Hopefully they'll continue to improve save support and get all ROMs saving properly.

Software's and Interfaces

Ease of Us

M3

B:
The M3 doesn't allow you to directly copy the roms to the SD card (only a very few games support it). You have to use the M3 game manager. When writing NDS roms, you can get confused because of the many options, but using the default options will work for most games.

A:
Yep. The M3 doesn't support clean ROMs. So you'll have to use the client software, which can get slightly complicated. (More on that down the page.).
The M3 adapter supports FAT and FAT32 file systems. Which is good as you can continue to use your SD card in any other device that supports FAT32 (digital cameras for example).

Supercard

B:
Like the M3, the SC doesn't allow you to copy games directly to the SD card. You need to use the SC patcher every time you want to write games. The patcher is quite simple, but it seems its author isn't a native english-speaker judging by the confusing button names ("Out", "Del" ...)

A:
Yep, again, like the M3, the SuperCard doesn't support clean ROM files. So you'll have to use the SuperCard's client software too. But that's very simple, quick and easy to use.

Unfortunately the SuperCard at this time in writing, only supports the FAT (FAT16) file system. This is pretty annoying as you won't be able to use the SD card in any other device that requires FAT32, and I'm pretty sure FAT16 is slower in writing files to the SD card than FAT32.

Menu System

M3

B:
The M3 menu is really good. It's clear, good-looking, and you always know what you're doing. It almost looks like an operating system. The file lists are good, long names are supported and it even tells you the size of the files.

A:
The GUI on the M3 is a lot prettier than the SuperCard's. It's graphical and is clearly divided into sections (NDS, GBA, Pictures, Movies, Setup etc...).

One annoying thing I found is that there is an initial warning screen that displays for about 2 seconds to warn you that the product isn't licensed by Nintendo. And as far as I can tell there's no way to get rid of it. Couple this with the DS Health and Safety warning screen, and it begins to take the piss when it takes you a good 20 seconds to actually begin to see the game you want to play.

The GUI makes it very easy to find what you're looking for, but is a little slow to use. There seems to be a delay switching between options and menus which can get a little frustrating.

The GUI supports directories (I'm not sure if there's a limit), so you can keep things tidier by sorting your files into folders.

Loading a DS ROM is simple, just find the ROM you want, and press 'A', (there is an option of pressing Start to "Run Demo", but it doesn't seem to do anything differently...).
The M3 takes a while longer to load DS ROMs than the SuperCard, but the GUI presents you with a nice graphical progress bar that actually gives you a real estimation of how long it will take. Which, from what I've seen, the average time is about 4-5 seconds.

Also, the GUI is displayed on the touch screen (top screen being blacked out), but you can't use the touch screen to navigate around the GUI. It would be nice if they include this option in future firmware revisions.

Supercard

B:
The tabbed menu isn't a bad idea. But there are only two options, and I don't even know what they're for: "Auto load saver". I didn't notice any difference with or without enabling the option. I don't know what the second option is for either: "Enable set emu options". The help tab is useful although there's a funny spelling error ("Star" instead of "start", repeated twice).

A:
The SuperCard GUI is simple at best. All the information is displayed on the DS's top screen and the bottom screen has the SuperCard logo on it.

The GUI has a tabbed interface with 4 selectable tabs. "List", "Saver", "Options" and "Help".
"List" displays a list of all your ROMs. And supports directories, to keep things tidier.
"Saver" displays all your save files. And gives you the option of "saving them to SD". I'm not sure what that does exactly, as they already are files within your SD card.
"Options" gives you 2 options that don't seem to do anything.
"Help" displays a list of SuperCard button combos that seem to only be for GBA ROMs.

Loading DS and GBA ROMs is as easy as highlighting a ROM and pressing 'A', it will instantly begin loading and within seconds the game will have started. From my testing, the load times seem to be anything from 1-3 seconds. About 2x faster than the M3.
Ironically, DS ROMs take mere seconds to load, but GBA ROMs take longer (depending on their size). And I'm not sure why that is...

The GUI isn't going to win any innovation or design awards, but its simplicity "works". It's quick and easy.

A great feature they recently introduced that seems to work very well on the majority of ROMs, is a button combo to go back to the SuperCard menu without turning off your DS. This is very handy.

PC Client Software

M3

B:
Once again, the M3 game manager is very good. It looks nice, and is very easy to use. There's a major problem though: it doesn't save your settings. You always have to remind him of your card type (SD or CF), your output directory, and the patch settings.

A:
As the M3 and SuperCard don't support clean ROMs. You have to use the client software. For the M3, it's the "M3 Game Manager".
If you want to avoid any problems you'll have to keep your client regularly updated (updates are very frequent too!).

The software's interface is simple, and looks very similar to the client used for the EFA-Linker.
You've got three main sections to the software. The 1st is a drive and folder list, where you select the output target. (This can either be your SD card; folders within your SD card; or a folder on your hard disk to avoid you from having to re-convert the ROMs at a later date).
The 2nd section shows you what files are within the directory you've selected. (Eg. The ROMs currently on your SD card.)
The last section is 5 options. 'Language', 'Write NDS', 'Write GBA', 'Delete' and 'Help'.
'Help' brings up the M3 Game Manager readme. 'Delete' deletes the file currently highlighted in section two. 'Write GBA' literally copies a GBA ROM to the folder/drive selected, and 'Write NDS' converts/patches and copies the NDS ROM to the folder/drive selected.

When selecting a NDS ROM to patch and copy, you're given a set of options bewildering to any PC novice, and even confusing to PC experts.
Normally, you'll get away with leaving these options as default, but if you run into problems with running your NDS ROM. You can be pretty sure that one of those options needs changing.
Fortunately for us, some nice guys on the net have compiled, and are keeping up to date a large NDS M3 adapter compatibility list. So I recommend checking these lists before converting a game to see if any options do need changing, or there are any known issues with the ROM you are trying to use.
What would be REALLY nice is if these guys and the M3 team got together to create a database that could be integrated into the software, to automatically change options when patching ROMs. (The NeoFlash team did this).

As B already said, the software won't remember your settings or last looked at directories, so you'll have to change them every time you load the software. This is laziness on the software developers front and can/should easily be fixed up.

Other than how complicated the client can sometimes get, it's not really too bad and is fairly straight forward. It's pretty reliable, and fortunately is updated frequently.

Supercard

B:
The Supercard client isn't bad either. A clear tabbed interface. Unlike the M3 game manager, the SC client will remember your settings, and this is really good because you don't have to select the path of your SD card every time you want to write something. Slight problem, the name of buttons could be more explicit ("Out", "Del"..).

A:
Compared to the M3 software, the SuperCard's is MUCH simpler.
It's very minimal, and the available options are all very basic and easy to understand.

You simply need to set a desired location for the output (your SD card for example) and the language. The other few settings are really best left at default. (But there are options that remember whether or not to patch the ROM to save to SD, but directly to the DS card. Or to not enable the SuperCard back-to-menu button combo, and a few other GBA related settings.).

On the main screen is a large table, and 3 main buttons. "Add", "Del" and "Out.".
Clicking 'Add' allows you to select all your DS and GBA ROMs you want to patch and copy across in one go.
'Del' allows you to delete a ROM from the selection you chose, if you changed your mind.
And 'Out' does the business of converting/patching them and outputting them to the directory you chose in the settings.

When you've chosen a NDS/GBA ROM you want to add to your SD card. It adds it to a large table, that clearly tells you the filename and what patches it will apply on output. You can actually right click a file and choose Properties to be greeted with a couple of settings that may need to be changed for NDS ROMs (more on that in a bit), and a TON of useful options for GBA ROMs.

Once you click 'Out' the software apparently starts working and will eventually tell you it's done. This is the one minor annoyance that the SuperCard software gives me, and that is; when you click 'Out', it doesn't give you any indication of what it's doing or how long is left... Until the message alerts you so. So, if you're converting a huge batch of ROMs, you'll just have to sit and wait there hoping that all is going OK. (And this will be even worse if you have a low-spec PC).
I'd like to see them include some form of progress meter in later software versions.

Just like the M3, and any other NDS flash kit (and GBA for that matter). ROM compatibility is never going to be perfect, and you'll have to expect to run into a few issues now and again.
Fortunately, just like the M3; the nice inhabitants of planet Internet have thrown together a very good compatibility list for the SuperCard that will tell you of any known issues or settings you must change.

Overall, the client is very simple, works well and is quick.

Customisation

M3

B:
The menu can be skinned. A set of skins is supplied on the M3 CD, all looking pretty good. My preference goes for skin n°4. Additional skins can be downloaded from the website.

A:
Just as B said, the GUI can be completely skinned. And they include a variety to get you started on the CD/download.
Skins are easy to make yourself... So the customisation possibilities are top notch here!

Supercard

B:
As far as I know, there is no possible customization on the Supercard.

A:
Yep... The SuperCard GUI can't be skinned.
There's no support at all. So...

General Specifications

Product Support/Updates

M3

B:
Updates are frequent; most of them are made to keep up the 100% NDS compatibility. The firmware can be upgraded and downgraded - there have been 13 firmware's until now.

A:
As I said earlier, the software and firmware updates are very frequent. And the team are doing their best to keep NDS ROM compatibility as close to 100% as they can.

You can't ask for much more from them. A job well done so far!

Supercard

B:
The Supercard is well renowned for its compatibility. Every time a game isn't supported by the Supercard, you can expect an update a few days later. Not much more to say.

A:
Yep, the SuperCard is very popular for it's compatibility and product support. Updates are just as frequent as the M3, and their is a fairly large user-base dedicated to keeping past and future ROMs compatible!

Price Point

M3

B:
The usual price of the M3 adapter and passkey bundle is pretty high, around 100€. But it is really worth it.

A:
The M3 adapter is a bit more expensive than the SuperCard.
It's going to cost you around £75/€110 (inc. delivery), that's including the PassKey.

This price is fairly respectable for the quality of the kit you're getting.

Read through our whole comparison and work out for yourself what kit is worth your money. :-)

Supercard

B:
The price is quite lower than the M3, usually around 60€. But you also need to buy a superpass , that is 20€.

A:
The SuperCard is cheaper than the M3.
To buy the SuperCard adapter and the SuperPass, it's going to set you back around £60/€85 (inc. delivery).

This is a fairly attractive price point, and is one of the benefits to choosing a SuperCard.

Read through our whole comparison and work out for yourself what kit is worth your money. :-)

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