Official Review

The R4i Gold PLUS in general

The R4i Gold PLUS is a new slot-1 flashcard which is usable on the 3DS, DSlite, DSphat, DSi and DSi XL. The R4i Gold PLUS is a card that makes use of it's own firmware, which consists of a Wood-like-GUI with YSMenu files. There are two versions of the R4i Gold PLUS: The luxury package and the economical package. The luxury package comes with a firmware writer and a compact stand for your DS. The economical package comes with a MicroSD reader.

Features of the R4i Gold PLUS

Features that are listed on the back of the box:

• Separate card writer can be detached from a DS host to upgrade card firmware.
  
• Support WIFI online card software upgrade.
  
• Compatible with all DS editions of different kinds of languages.
  
• Support SDHC (Micro SD 4G, 8G, 16G, 32G).
  
• Use MicroSD card, FAT 16 or 32.
  
• Support micro SD card at any speed to run games.
  
• Support Clean ROM, drag and drop. Works on any OS.
  
• Automatically detect save type.
  
• Save directly to MicroSD card, not to onboard chip.
  
• Support screen touch and button operation.
  
• Support skin customization.
  
• Support the WIFI game, DS rumble pak, DS browser.
  
• Support 4-scale-lightness adjustment (DS lite only).
  
• Support the Soft Reset.
  
• Support Action Replay Cheat.
  
• Support Moonshell and other homebrew.
  
• Moonshell 2.10 supports Software Reset function.
  
• DLDI auto-patching.

Some Engrish there, but it's understandable.

Software

The R4i Gold PLUS doesn't need any firmware upgrading, you can use it directly out of the box. I tested it on my 3DS with firmware 2.1.0-4E and on my DSi with firmware 1.4.3E and it worked perfectly. The card shows up as 'Days of Memories'.



When you start the card, you will get in a menu which looks like the start menu of the original R4. You can choose from three options: microSD Card (in which you can launch ROMs), moonshell and application (in which you can launch the pre-installed homebrew).



After choosing 'microSD Card' you will get in the main menu in which you can launch ROMs and homebrew. This is where the fun starts: the firmware is based on Wood and YSMenu. You can use the features from wood like cut, copy, trim, etc. and you get the ROM loading from YSMenu, which means you're using the extinfo, infolib and savlib files. Since the R4iDS.com Team's updates are pretty late, you can use the extinfo, infolib and savlib files from RetroGameFan Multi Cart Update.

NDS Game Back Up Compatibility

These games where tested on R4i Gold PLUS Kernel 1.7:

Kirby Mass Attack (U): Worked perfectly
Professor Layton and the Last Specter (U): Worked perfectly
New Super Mario Bros. (U): Worked perfectly
Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded (E): Worked perfectly
Kirby Mass Attack (E): Worked Perfectly
Aliens: Infestation (E): Worked Perfectly
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (E): Worked Perfectly
Dementium The Ward (U): Worked Perfectly
Pokémon White Version (E): Worked Perfectly
Nanashi no Game (English Version 1.0) (J): Worked Perfectly

All the games I tried worked perfectly.

Firmware Writer

The luxury comes with a Firmware Writer. This writer is used to update your card whenever a DSi/3DS update is released. I haven't tested this because the card was already updated to the latest firmware to work with the latest DSi and 3DS firmware.

Conclusion

The R4i Gold PLUS is a pretty good card. It has a great NDS ROM compatibility and you can update it with RetroGameFan Multi Card Update.

Pro's:

• Great NDS ROM compatibility.
  
• Wood-like-GUI and tools.
  
• Luxury Package comes with firmware writer.

Cons:

• Non spring-loaded MicroSD slot.
  
• Firmware updates are a little late.

Final Score: 76%


DS-Scene would like to thank the R4iDS.COM team for sending us the review sample.


This post has been edited by Kiekoes, Fri, November 4th, 2011 at 19:30

Reason: Added some things.