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  SuperCard DSTWO Review
Posted by Ferretboy007 on Fri, August 13th, 2010 at 17:24 - 18 Comments
 
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Ferretboy007 Christmas Island

 



OFFICAL REVIEW





What the SuperCard DSTWO Is All About




The SuperCard DSTWO  is a slot 1 flashcard that supports both DS and GBA games out of the box and also ebooks and other media formats.  What's great about the SuperCard DSTWO is it has the ability to use plug-ins to the main menu so you can find your emulators and other software with ease.  It comes in a simple box as pictured and includes the flashcard itself and a USB card reader for micro SD cards and a simple start up guide to get you on your way. All you need to do is go to the SuperCard website or DS-Scene's download section and grab the SuperCard DSTWO operating system, unzip it onto your micro SD card and your ready to start adding games, pictures, ebooks and your other favourite apps and plug ins.


Main Features of the SuperCard DSTWO

  • RealTime Save (Enhanced, 3D game more stable)
  • RealTime Game Guide
  • RealTime Cheat Codes
  • Multi Saves (Up to 4 Slots) in RealTime Saves
  • Free Cheat Function (Look for and enable cheats while in game)
  • Supports Multipule languages and has SDHC support, Fat or Fat 32
  • Built-In GBA Emulator
  • Slow Motion with 4 levels of speed
  • File Management (copy, cut and paste file names)
  • eBook Reader with support for (BMP, JPEG, PNG, TIF, GIF, TXT, PDF)
  • Intelligent clean mode, automatically detect memory card speed and save types
  • New Exclusive Feature: Hardware defense DS Anti Piracy, No Patch Needed

Quite a lot of features and lots more in development to come.


Software




The software consists of a slick menu in the style of the DSi menu, which looks fabulous in the standard purple it's in. The menu is easy to navigate and understand, launching your homebrews, emulators or ebooks from the menu is easy just tap the icon you want. Setting up games to run for DS or GBA is just as simple as drag, drop then play. If your setting up plug-ins for icons in your menu then all you need to do is have any homebrew or emulator on your flashcard then add the plug-in which consists of a icon and .ini file to the plugins folder and your ready to go. Games do not need any patching to run, clean roms run just fine off the SuperCard DSTWO. The SuperCard team is always updating their software for the flashcard, and bringing new items to the table as well as fixing some of the old. SuperCard DSTWO before it was launched promised SNES emulation and drag and drop avi movie playback, both of these features are still missing from the release of the product and us users are still awaiting them. The superCard team is always working tho to update the card and the homebrew community is always working on new items for the SuperCard DSTWO be it emulators, games or plugins (like organizers and clocks and other useful applications). Still though the lack of the two main features to this date is a bit of a let down to anyone who has been waiting for it, or bought the product believing it was there from all the pre-order hype.


How The SuperCard DSTWO's Built In GBA Emulator Works


The GBA emulator built into the SuperCard DSTWO's firmware updates works well for the most part, in most games. The emulator does need some tweaking here and there as some games run perfect and some may run slow or have graphical glitches. The emulation is really hit or miss in a lot of games, but seems to be getting better with every update released so far and is definitely a  must have feature if you want GBA games from a slot 1 option. SuperCard DSTWO is the only slot 1 flashcard to offer GBA emulation so far and it has quite a bit of features built into it such as frame skip options and cheat codes for the GBA. The one thing I would have liked to seen tho is an option for full screen playback of GBA games as with the large screens of the DSi and DSI XL it leaves a large black border around the game, I'm sure in a future firmware update a full-screen mode could easily be implemented to work. Real time saves and in game 24 hour clock for all you Pokémon fans work just fine, and I have yet to have any issues with them.






Game Back Up Compatibility


Right out of the package, I knew a flashcard this far along in the DSs life time would have great compatibility. Being made by the SuperCard team which have been around for quite some time now I figured they knew what they were doing. I tried to use a variety of games from different regions to see which ones would work with the unit.  I found that all NDS game back ups that I personally tried worked and played just fine for me as I expected them to, as I said before it is very easy and straight forward to run GBA and NDS games off the unit.  








Here are some of the games I tested.

Games Tested That Worked Perfectly:

  • Mario Kart DS(U)
  • Pokemon Silver (U)
  • Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (E)
  • Metal slug 7 (U)
  • Diddy Kong Racing (U)
  • Mr.Driller Drill Spirits (E)
  • The Simpsons (U)
  • Animal Crossing: Wild World (E)
  • Gyakuten Saiban 2 (J)
  • Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (U)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (E)
  • Lego Harry Potter (U)
  • Picross 3D (U)



GBA Compatibility


The GBA emulator seemed to work well for the most part but some games had issues at this point. Below is a list of GBA game I tried and and if they worked for me.

GBA Games Tested List

  • Mariokart Super Circuit (fine)
  • Metal Slug Advance (fine)
  • Mighty Beanz: Pocket Puzzles (fine)
  • Gunstar Super Heroes (slowdowns)
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (fine)
  • Classic NES Series (all classic NES series crash)
  • Doom (slowdowns)
  • WarioWare: Mega Microgames (fine)
  • Wario Land 4 (fine)
  • Astro Boy: Omega Factor (slowdowns)
  • Pokemon: LeafGreen (fine)


Homebrew Compatibility


The homebrew seemed to work well for me at this point. Below is a list of homebrews I tried and and if they worked for me.

Game Back Up/Homebrew Working:

  • Colors (fine)
  • ScummVM DS (fine)
  • nesDS (fine)
  • StellaDS (fine)
  • DSOrganize (touch screen not working on DSi XL)
  • Moonshell (fine)
  • NitroTracker (fine)
  • Boogle DS (fine)
  • NeoDS (fine)
  • Lameboy (fine)



Conclusion


The build quality is fair the plastic is a bit thin and the unit can be taken apart with just one screw. The spring loaded slot seems a bit stiff, but my micro SD card felt secure in its place. The packaging is simple, but elegant and includes everything you need to get started(except micro SD card). The SuperCard DSTWO is made for anyone from the beginner to the advanced with easy drag and drop options just for playing games or with advanced plug-ins to activate emulators, games and applications in an advanced personalized menu system. The menu on the SuperCard DSTWO is great because it has touch display and picture icons, which make the menu look superb and it mimics the flow and ease of the DSi menu. The built in GBA emulator runs fine, but still needs a few tweaks here and there only in certain games though. As for the built in eBook reader it works well and well serve the purpose it was meant for with only a few clicks. For all the NDS game backups I tested, I only came across a few games that had the odd technical glitch or slow (same as other flashcards, may be based of micro SD card
speed).

As for homebrew, as you can see by my testing, some homebrew does have a problem on the SuperCard DSTWO. A lot of homebrews have been updated for use as a plug-in on the SuperCard DSTWO tho which make for a slick easy interface menu. One of the greatest features is that it plays you GBA games from a slot one card and that's a big deal for DSI or DSI XL users with no slot 2 on their device. Over all the SuperCard DSTWO is a great feature rich product, with more only to come in the following months of firmware updates and add ons. Only some minor issues with Homebrew and GBA emulation will hold this card back, but it excels in the area of NDS game back ups. After all the testing I have done, I highly recommend the SuperCard DSTWO to any DS owner be it phat, lite, DSi or DSi XL.


Pros
+ Extremely high NDS game compatibility
+ Can also play GBA games
+ Comes with micro SD card reader and quick start guide
+ Very straightforward and simple to use with NDS and GBA games
+ For the more advanced user it has loads of options and extra features found nowhere else
+ Has one of the nicest menu systems of any flashcard to date


Cons
- Build Quality is a bit cheap (card feels like it wants to come apart)
- In a higher price range (almost 2 to 3 times more then the average flashcard, but has many more options)
- Some issues with GBA game slowdown
- The options of plug ins and and the fancy features well be to complex for the average user who just wants to play his games


ds-scene would like to thank LighTake for sending us the review sample.



 
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 » Comment on: SuperCard DSTWO Review
#1
 
wiimancj Romania

  Fri, August 13th, 2010 at 18:36
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Great review, very informative.
I will get one if more features that were promised will be addded.
Also, Lightake is great. Original products, low prices and great service; I recommend them.

This post has been edited by wiimancj, Fri, August 13th, 2010 at 18:40
 
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 » Comment on: SuperCard DSTWO Review
#2
 
akfgftw United States

  Fri, August 13th, 2010 at 20:49
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the cons are not much to say not to get the card, and pretty much that older players can deal with
 
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 » Comment on: SuperCard DSTWO Review
#3
 
Clookster Mongolia

  Fri, August 13th, 2010 at 21:33
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Quote 
SuperCard DSTWO is the only slot 1 flashcard to offer GBA emulation so far...


Stopped reading at this point.

http://darkchen.blog.com/

You should do a bit more research before writing a review. Seriously.
 
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#4
 
dragonmasta United States

  Fri, August 13th, 2010 at 21:47
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Above post:


Still a good review, hopefully it drops in price and I may finally release my R4 from slavery (i love this thing tho!)
 
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#5
 
dfkt Austria

  Sat, August 14th, 2010 at 00:04
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Sounds nice, thanks for the review. One thing I'd like to know: is this cart the only one besides the Cyclo that uses some preemptive measures for AP circumvention, or is that feature commonplace already?
 
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#6
 
logical thinker Japan

  Sat, August 14th, 2010 at 00:47
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 » Quoting: Comment on: SuperCard DSTWO Review
#7
 
jason_lightake China

  Sat, August 14th, 2010 at 02:29
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Quote 
Clookster
You should do a bit more research before writing a review. Seriously.

The iplayer is not popular at all , it is not surprising if someone never heard of it . however you are right , there is a mistake.
Frankly speaking , it's a good review , I like it .
Thanks for you hard word. grin
 
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#8
 
Njrg United States

  Sat, August 14th, 2010 at 02:57
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That could have been my review.
 
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 » Quoting: Comment on: SuperCard DSTWO Review
#9
 
lastmartini United States

  Sat, August 14th, 2010 at 04:28
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Quote 
Njrg on Sat, August 14th, 2010 at 02:57 [»]

That could have been my review.


Yup and your avatar and sig would be a whole lot more professional than this one.

And to Mr. Lighttake, most people that have been following the scene would have known about it.

And to Mr. Ferret, I have nothing against you, but your avatar/sig is not something I would deem as appropriate for an "official" review.
It is just like going into a store that sells suits, I would not go to one that has someone with funny colored hair or if they had any weird piercings.
 
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