Nintendo DS Flashcards (4 Part Series)

[Flack]

Our own Gapporin has written a very informative and detailed set of articles titled "DS Flashcards and You" which I have reposted on my site. As a newcomer to the world of DS Flashcards, I found the articles very interesting and some of you all may as well.

DS Flashcards and You: Part 1/4 (http://www.robohara.com/tech/?p=31) (Introduction/DLDI/Homebrew Games)
DS Flashcards and You: Part 2/4 (http://www.robohara.com/tech/?p=32) (Emulators)
DS Flashcards and You: Part 3/4 (http://www.robohara.com/tech/?p=35) (Applications)
DS Flashcards and You: Part 4/4 (http://www.robohara.com/tech/?p=37) (Misc)

[consolecrusader]

Been trying to find them for ages can't find them ANYWHERE, but I would love to use my DS as a personal media center.

[Apollo]

Oh wow, this is awesome! I just got my R4 a few weeks ago, but this is still helpful. Thanks a lot.

[Flack]

Been trying to find them for ages can't find them ANYWHERE, but I would love to use my DS as a personal media center.

I've bought my last two (an R4 and an M3) through the Digital Press Buying and Selling forum, so keep an eye out there.

[norkusa]

Been trying to find them for ages can't find them ANYWHERE, but I would love to use my DS as a personal media center.


This place got some of the new R4's in a few days ago. Get em while you can:

http://www.digimartz.com/

[jb143]

When I first read the title to this post I though "Oh great. Another DS learning/memory "game":-/ Then I remembered what flashcards are to non-pre-schoolers. It's odd that's the first place my mind went considering I built my own Original Gameboy flash programmer a few years ago.

Anywho...it kinda makes me wish I had a DS.

[Jorpho]

That was a good article indeed. I should have gotten around to reading it sooner.

Ironically, "No Place to Hide" seems to have vanished, as http://noplace.pizz.biz has been eaten by a squatter and the download link from http://ds.qj.net/No-Place-To-Hide-For-DS-GBA/pg/49/aid/27591 is also dead. Any sign of it anywhere?

[Gapporin]

Ironically, "No Place to Hide" seems to have vanished, as http://noplace.pizz.biz has been eaten by a squatter and the download link from http://ds.qj.net/No-Place-To-Hide-For-DS-GBA/pg/49/aid/27591 is also dead. Any sign of it anywhere?

That's...strange, considering that "No Place To Hide" was one of the very few homebrew programs that an author actually bothered to devote a webpage to. Maybe he didn't want to pay for the domain, or just didn't want to be involved with the project anymore. In any case, if you're still looking to download it, gbatemp.net has mirrored the file (http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=757) on their own servers.

[skaar]

dealextreme.com was where I got all my copiers from... and they're cheap.

[Jorpho]

gbatemp.net has mirrored the file (http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=757) on their own servers.

Of course, they would, wouldn't they? For some reason GBAtemp's download page didn't rank very highly in the Google results. Thank you, sir. ;)

[Gapporin]

BUMP

Well, I've finally gotten around to updating this. It would be a bit of a stretch to call it a "total rewrite", but almost every part has been modified or added to in some way. So if you've read it before, check it out again! Plus, every part has been combined into an easy to read .pdf file. You can grab it here (http://www.mediafire.com/?0ziw0oyxqs1). If anybody would like to mirror the guide as a readable file (instead of a download-only), I'd really appreciate it.

Let me know what you think! Thank you!

[Captain Wrong]

"Error establishing a database connection"

Just FYI.

[Gapporin]

"Error establishing a database connection"

Strange; I just tested it with two different browsers (as well as had somebody else test it) and they all worked. Just in case something happens again, I've also set up a Rapidshare link here. (http://rapidshare.com/files/119808553/flashcard.pdf.html)

[Captain Wrong]

Strange; I just tested it with two different browsers (as well as had somebody else test it) and they all worked. Just in case something happens again, I've also set up a Rapidshare link here. (http://rapidshare.com/files/119808553/flashcard.pdf.html)

I should have specified, I was refering to Flack's links. I didn't see the MediaFire one, which is ok. Sorry for the confusion. :(

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I strongly recommend www.dealextreme.com ... I've ordered a lot of stuff from them recently with great results.

They have great customer service, a good community of users that report on and review products right in the listings, and most importantly - FREE SHIPPING WITH TRACKING FROM HONG KONG - FREE!

While I don't have one, and I've not ordered one, they seem to have a tremendous amount of DS Flash Carts available at good prices, and again, free shipping.

Unfortunately, it looks like currently they only do volume sales specifically on the R4 cards....but if you don't NEED an R4, all the other varieties (christ, how many are there?) are there for individual purchase.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

This is a really nice introduction to the DS homebrew scene, Gapporin. Thanks for putting it together. Now I know where I'll be sending newcomers when they ask for recommendations. I can think of many more games that *I* would have mentioned, but you wrote it, not me. And you did mention most of the best ones anyway. NeoDS is sorely missed in the Emulators section, though. Maybe adding a mention of the DS Motion Card (http://ndsmotion.com) to the sections for Pocket Physics and SensitiveDS, too. Not everyone will want to buy one (especially since the price has almost doubled since the original release), but they should be aware of its existence since it's a pretty cool, unique piece of hardware.

Anyway, great job!


...word is bondage...

[Gapporin]

I should have specified, I was refering to Flack's links. I didn't see the MediaFire one, which is ok. Sorry for the confusion. :(

Ah, gotcha. No problem!


NeoDS is sorely missed in the Emulators section, though. Maybe adding a mention of the DS Motion Card (http://ndsmotion.com) to the sections for Pocket Physics and SensitiveDS, too. Not everyone will want to buy one (especially since the price has almost doubled since the original release), but they should be aware of its existence since it's a pretty cool, unique piece of hardware.

I had heard conflicting reports of how well NeoDS worked, which is why I didn't include it (which means now that I need to try it out for myself!). Plus, none the of Neo gamefiles that I have are in the right format. And you're right about the DS Motion Card, I completely forgot about that.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[iJohn]

I would recommend buying your flashcard from dealextreme.com. I bought four from there. Really cheap prices.

These cards were:
Acekard 2
M3 Real
Supercard DS(SDHC)
EDGE

All for $116. And I bought a 2 GB MicroSD for $12(the best...Kingston JAP). I actually ordered these for a friend though since I already have one;) M3 DS Simply is the one I currently use. I am looking to uprade to a CycloDS soon though.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I had heard conflicting reports of how well NeoDS worked, which is why I didn't include it (which means now that I need to try it out for myself!). Plus, none the of Neo gamefiles that I have are in the right format.
NeoDS is excellent.

While only about 10% of games run full speed with no problems, fully 80% run at 45 or 50fps with at the most some graphical corruptions in the background or missing FM music. Considering the technical feat involved in emulating MVS games on the DS, that's pretty phenomenal.

The converter for making NeoDS compatible .neo ROMs is also very easy to use (for a command line app, that is), though you do have to go out and hunt down the MAME ROMs on the Internet first, which is no fun.

The only caveat to NeoDS's greatness is that while the 0.1.1 release had some nice fixes for 0.1.0, it also introduced a whole ton of problems on different cards. MOst if not all the new problems were caused by trying to use the RAM in a slot-2 flash cart, though, which didn't really seem to improve speed much at all anyway. A new (unofficial, I think) version called 0.1.1-alternate was released last week that simply disables the slot-2 RAM feature. That's the version I'd recommend trying out. And you should definitely try it, too, as it's a great emu. Even late games like KoF2003 and Samurai Shodown 5 work very well. This emu has also led me to discovering some great Neo Geo games that I'd never played before, too, like Prehistoric Isle 2 and Neo Drift Out.


...word is bondage...

[Captain Wrong]

I'm bumping this up because I finally bit the bullet and ordered a cart today. Now, maybe I should have asked this before, as it's one of the main reasons I'm getting a cart, but is there an easy way to transfer your games to the cart? Hell, is it even possible? See, last time I went on vacation, I though I'd lost all the games I'd brought with me, so I'd like to just have them on the cart rather than having a carrier with a bunch of games for dumbass me to misplace again. (Plus there's the emulators and homebrew, so even if this isn't really something easy to do, I'll still have that goin' on.)

[Sudo]

There's a homebrew program whose name escapes me that lets you dump the ROM to the cart via Wifi. Or you could just download the ROMs online, since you legally own the games and all.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I'm bumping this up because I finally bit the bullet and ordered a cart today. Now, maybe I should have asked this before, as it's one of the main reasons I'm getting a cart, but is there an easy way to transfer your games to the cart? Hell, is it even possible? See, last time I went on vacation, I though I'd lost all the games I'd brought with me, so I'd like to just have them on the cart rather than having a carrier with a bunch of games for dumbass me to misplace again. (Plus there's the emulators and homebrew, so even if this isn't really something easy to do, I'll still have that goin' on.)

Depends on which card you bought.

A majority of the modern cards with MicroSD slot cards support simple drag-and-drop "clean rom" usage.

You download the rom, unzip the rom, and drop the *.nds file right onto the root of the MicroSD card, simple as that.

[Jorpho]

There's a homebrew program whose name escapes me that lets you dump the ROM to the cart via Wifi. Or you could just download the ROMs online, since you legally own the games and all.

Indeed, I'd wager downloading is much easier. I believe one CaitSith2 created a custom DS BIOS that could be used to dump GBA games to a flashcart, but then you'd have to flash your DS, which sounds like a rather risky process. (On the other hand, flashing your DS is a good way to get rid of the annoying health and safety warning.)

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Assuming the flash card you bought is a slot-1 card, then backing up DS games is hard and requires using a wifi connection, which is very slow and not much fun.

Downloading the ROMs is easier, but if you want to transfer your saves from the orignal games, you can use either of the following tools and backing up just the save over wifi should be easier than backing up the game ROM.

http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/SavSender

or

http://www009.upp.so-net.ne.jp/rudolph/nds/Backup/ (the wifi version is the one you want, obviously)

However, if you have a slot-2 flash cart (and personally, I recommend getting one since they're available for pretty cheap and the GBA is great, too) then you can use Rudolph's slot-2 backup tool from the same link I just gave. It's quite easy to use.


...word is bondage...

[DOL_001]

I have the CycloDS Evolution and the EZ Flash 3-in-1 expansion pak. I used to have an R4 but it's features were too limited.

This is a good site for information on these things:

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?act=home

[Jorpho]

I used to have an R4 but it's features were too limited.

What particular features did you think the R4 was lacking? MicroSDHC support?

[NytroSkull7]

I am looking to uprade to a CycloDS soon though.

CycloDS is by far one of the easier flashcarts if you are lazy or just begining to experience the powers of homebrew and personal media.

NDS Original, 2GB Kinngston MicroSD, White CycloDS

[Captain Wrong]

Assuming the flash card you bought is a slot-1 card, then backing up DS games is hard and requires using a wifi connection, which is very slow and not much fun.

Downloading the ROMs is easier, but if you want to transfer your saves from the orignal games, you can use either of the following tools and backing up just the save over wifi should be easier than backing up the game ROM.

http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/SavSender

or

http://www009.upp.so-net.ne.jp/rudolph/nds/Backup/ (the wifi version is the one you want, obviously)

However, if you have a slot-2 flash cart (and personally, I recommend getting one since they're available for pretty cheap and the GBA is great, too) then you can use Rudolph's slot-2 backup tool from the same link I just gave. It's quite easy to use.


...word is bondage...

This sounds like a winner. I was reading about dumping your own DS games and it does sound like a pain, so being able to do the saves is good enough for me. I really appreciate the links. I may have a look at a slot 2 card as well, especially considering Pinball of the Dead and a few other GBA games are still in my regular rotation.

Oh, and I got a CycloDS, FWIW.

[zektor]

What particular features did you think the R4 was lacking? MicroSDHC support?

The lack of microSDHC support on the R4 is a deal breaker for me. Also, even worse, the R4's compatibility with roms has gone down since the team is not keeping the card's firmware up to date. The cycloDS (or Edge) is absolutely the way to go nowadays.

[Jorpho]

I don't really see why I would need to carry around more than 2 GB of DS ROMs everywhere, but then I don't really see why everyone needs 40 GB of music at all times either.


Also, even worse, the R4's compatibility with roms has gone down since the team is not keeping the card's firmware up to date.

What roms have been having problems?

[Sudo]

The lack of microSDHC support on the R4 is a deal breaker for me. Also, even worse, the R4's compatibility with roms has gone down since the team is not keeping the card's firmware up to date. The cycloDS (or Edge) is absolutely the way to go nowadays.

I have an R4 with the latest firmware and have had no issues whatsoever with the 80 or so ROMs I've downloaded.

[DOL_001]

-microSDHC support
-in game brightness adjustment
-slow motion
-real time saves
-native support for EZ Flash 3-in-1
-autoboot rom
-text reader
-full touchscreen navigation
-Wii connectivity
-recovery mode
-frequent firmware updates
-can contact Team Cyclo directly, and they actually speak English
-can try out beta firmwares

The R4 doesn't have any of those. That's why I upgraded to Cyclo.

Also, why would you want to be limited to 2GB microSD cards? I always hated having to transfer files back and forth frequently between my R4 and PC because of the lack of space.

[DOL_001]

I don't really see why I would need to carry around more than 2 GB of DS ROMs everywhere, but then I don't really see why everyone needs 40 GB of music at all times either.

Neo Geo/NES/SNES/GB/GBC/GBA roms, MP3's, etc...

[Jorpho]

I can see the attraction of real-time saves, though I'd be concerned they might make some games too easy. The rest is window dressing, says I. (Crikey, why would I want to check out beta firmware? It's beta for a reason!)

And two gigabytes of non-DS ROMs is a heckuva lot of ROMs. (Well, maybe not Neo Geo ROMs.)

[zektor]

I don't really see why I would need to carry around more than 2 GB of DS ROMs everywhere, but then I don't really see why everyone needs 40 GB of music at all times either.



What roms have been having problems?

I can't remember off hand (got rid of my R4's about two or so months ago), but I do recall a few that had the "white screen" syndrome. In other words, white screen upon load. My DSLink's do the same thing for some later games. This is most definitely because of not being updated regularly, as I recall having the same issue way back in the beginning with the R4 units until the team updated the firmware. It will only get worse (most games not loading) as time goes on without new updates. And with the big N targeting the R4 (and some other manufacturers) recently, who knows when or if R4 users will see any updates at all. They should have gone open source like the Acekard....then at least people can do the fixes themselves. Best bet nowadays is to try to go with a device that is heavily supported (like the CycloDS or Acekard) to ensure regular updates.

As for the memory, I use 8GB myself. But that is not only DS roms. This also includes GBA titles, some tunes, a bunch of emulators and roms for those, and a couple of homebrew apps I use regularly. Is it overkill? Perhaps. But I think the $40 I spent for the space was WELL worth it. I am not a huge fan of constantly adding and removing files. I just load it up and I'm good for a month or two :)

[SkiDragon]

I am thinking of buying one of these, and I did not see a more recent topic on the subject.

Unfortunately, the link in the first post no longer works. Is there another such guide somewhere that I could read?
Is there any sort of consensus about which device is the "best"? There seem to be dozens to choose from. I mostly want to be able to put all my DS games on a single card so I don't have to carry them around. Game Boy games would be an extra benefit.

EDIT:
I just found that original article with a quick Google search. I will read it when I get the chance:
http://www.robohara.com/?p=1056
http://www.robohara.com/?p=1057
http://www.robohara.com/?p=1061
http://www.robohara.com/?p=1060

[theChad]

I took waylayer's advice and bought the M3 DS Real and the only complaint I have about it is the shorter battery life on the DS when using it, which could be true for any such device for all I know so I'm very happy with my choice. A nice clean UI and very easy to use right out of the box in my experience. I've never used nor researched any others though, so I'm at a big disadvantage when it comes to recommending a card to anyone else.

[maxlords]

I have Edge cards for both of my DS systems and I've been VERY happy with em. One for me, one for my wife. I'm a try-before-you-buy guy, but I don't use much in the way of homebrew or other functions. I just play a lot of games on it. I also bought the EZ 3-in-1 GBA cart for it. Both work great. I'm currently running DS and GBA on those, and running SNES and Genesis emulation on it (which is a bit glitchy).

For under $20 shipped, the Edge is a great deal IMO. I got mine off of DealExtreme.

[darkslime]

I just got my first flash cart, a DSTT off of dealextreme.

They're very cheap. Mine was $6.83, now they're $6.63.

Not a lot of features but it gets the job done for a great price.

[MachineGex]

Anyone know a good site for getting a AceKard2? Dealextreme seems to not have them anymore. I already have one AceKard2, so I am only looking for that brand since I am already set up for it.

[Jorpho]

Is the CycloDS no longer the option of choice?

[Gapporin]

Anyone know a good site for getting a AceKard2? Dealextreme seems to not have them anymore. I already have one AceKard2, so I am only looking for that brand since I am already set up for it.

Real Hot Stuff (http://www.realhotstuff.com) has them in stock for about $20. I've not dealt with them personally, but I know people who have and they say that they're trustworthy.

[erehwon]

I've been looking into the idea of of picking one of these up and I saw that about dealextreme too. I did some searching and it looks like you can still order them. I found this post on fatwallet (http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/deal-discussion/986012/).

I've never played around with this type of thing on the DS. I have my modded psp 2000 for some homebrew apps and a couple emulators. A psp running a genesis emulator has a lot better battery life than a Sega Nomad.

I was looking into the Acekard 2i for my original DS. Is that one of the better ones? And are there any slot 2 ones as good as the Acekard 2?

[norkusa]

I was looking into the Acekard 2i for my original DS. Is that one of the better ones? And are there any slot 2 ones as good as the Acekard 2?

AceKard 2i + Akaio custom fw is the way to go for slot 1. Acekard does just about everything the Cyclo does now anyway.

I use the 3-in-1 expansion pack for slot 2 on my Lite and love it. If you're using an original DS though, I think there's a shell you can buy for it to make it fit.

BTW, did DX stop selling flash cards? I can't find any for sale on their site.

[megasdkirby]

Oh shit, you are right norkusa!

I even checked my past orders and used the link provided...it gives an error!

[Jorpho]

Truly, this is a shocking development. I guess the Big N finally got to them.

[erehwon]

Oh shit, you are right norkusa!

I even checked my past orders and used the link provided...it gives an error!
Try that fat wallet link I posted. It shows how to order a couple flash cards from dealextreme. You have to change a couple numbers in a link to get to the specific item. I just ordered a Acekard 2i.

[megasdkirby]

Try that fat wallet link I posted. It shows how to order a couple flash cards from dealextreme. You have to change a couple numbers in a link to get to the specific item. I just ordered a Acekard 2i.

Thanks for the tip.

Just added a few more to my cart, even the cheap (but good) DSTT!

[boozie]

I had a few questions about flash carts that I thought might be answered here.

-I have a DS lite, is there any reason to get a AK2i over a AK2.1?

-Is 3in1 just like a Slot2 flash cart or is it meant to go with an AK2 or something? (do you need 2 microSD cards to run both of these?)

-Can you copy your GBA games onto the AK2 when they are plugged in? Do I have to have the 3in1 to play them afterwards or something?

-Vice versa, can I copy my DS games to my 3in1 and do I need the AK2 to play them afterwards?

Thanks for any help.

[Jorpho]

-I have a DS lite, is there any reason to get a AK2i over a AK2.1?Well, offhand, if you ever do decide to get a DSi, you won't have to get a new card. Or if the DS lite ever gets phased out, the AK2i might retain its value better, or get supported firmware updates for longer. But then, on those timescales you'd probably be better off getting a newer, current flashcart later on.


-Is 3in1 just like a Slot2 flash cart or is it meant to go with an AK2 or something? (do you need 2 microSD cards to run both of these?)

-Can you copy your GBA games onto the AK2 when they are plugged in? Do I have to have the 3in1 to play them afterwards or something?
The 3-in-1 has no SD card slot and is not useful without a Slot 1 cart of some kind. You can load up a GBA program into the cart's NOR RAM and then use it without a Slot 1 flash cart, but you wouldn't be able to change the contents of the NOR RAM without using a Slot 1 cart again. Generally the procedure is just to boot off the Slot 1 cart and run some variety of loader to get the GBA program stored on the Slot 1's microSD card onto the 3-in-1.


-Vice versa, can I copy my DS games to my 3in1 and do I need the AK2 to play them afterwards?The 3-in-1 cannot be used to load up DS games. Its internal RAM isn't really big enough for that kind of thing anyway.

Just get an EZFlash IV, unless there's something that requires the RAM expansion or rumble pack that you're dead set on playing.

-------

Now for my question: Has anyone here heard of this new "Wood R4" firmware? Apparently it only works with the original R4 and not the clones.

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=220860

[boozie]

So with an EZ flash IV I can get my NDS games saved onto the Flash IV which is a slot 2 flashcart? But at that point I wouldn't be able to get my GBA games saved on the EZ flash IV without some form of slot 1 card correct?

I don't mean to be dense, it's a lot to take in at once.

[Jorpho]

So with an EZ flash IV I can get my NDS games saved onto the Flash IV which is a slot 2 flashcart? But at that point I wouldn't be able to get my GBA games saved on the EZ flash IV without some form of slot 1 card correct?An EZFlash IV has its own SD card that you load stuff on to using a PC. It operates entirely independently of a Slot 1 cart - you can even use it with a standard GBA (or Game Boy Player) if you want to.

(When the EZFlash IV first came out, Slot 1 carts weren't as advanced, and it was possible to use a "PassMe" in Slot 1 to cause the DS to run in DS mode from the EZFlash IV, meaning you could run DS code stored on the EZFlash IV. But this functionality is kind of pointless now, and I doubt you could even easily buy a PassMe if you wanted to.)

Yes, I suppose it's mildly inconvenient to have to deal with two separate SD cards, but you can probably fit every GBA game you'd want to play on a 2 GB card anyway.

-----
And just to keep this at the top of the page:

Has anyone here heard of this new "Wood R4" firmware? Apparently it only works with the original R4 and not the clones.
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=220860

[boozie]

If I don't plan to put music or movies (just games) on the MicroSD, is 2 GB enough? Does the class really matter? I can't even tell the class of the MicroSD cards on newegg nor on leetmod where I was looking at buying the flash cart. Also do the cards run slower if they have more storage on them?

[e] I can actually find some class 6 and 4's if I search for them by typing "class 6 micro SD", but I do notice that all the class4+ have 4+ GB as well. This isn't an issue to me I just want to make sure I won't be slowing myself down at the same time.

[Jorpho]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital#SDHC

If it's 4 GB or smaller, it's probably not an SDHC card. Older carts (such as the authentic R4) do not support SDHC.

As for class, I doubt it is much of a concern. When the R4 was still in vogue, there was a great concern that Kingston microSD cards that were not made in Japan were markedly slower in the R4 than cards made in Japan, but there were more rumors later that there was in fact only one bad batch.

Note that DS rom sizes vary considerably. The Rub Rabbits is 128 MB, for instance, while Brain Age is only 16.

[Cryomancer]

I am now using the Wood firmware on my original R4. Makes it look at feel a lot like a Cyclo DS. Obviously improved compatability too.

[boozie]

I think I'm going to buy the Supercard DSTwo since I don't have any Flash Carts yet and it seems like it should have anything I would need since I don't really care about rumble and I think it has extra memory in it anyways.

Just wary to shell out that kinda money to places I don't know. Simplymods has them but I'm worried I won't get an english one even though they ship from the US.

[Jorpho]

Shame about DealExtreme. I've heard great things about http://www.nintendodsr4.us/ - except of course they only offer the R4.

Alternatively, there's http://www.ndscardsale.com/ , which apparently used to be DealExtreme's supplier. Or Shoptemp.com .

[kupomogli]

So new R4's are DSi compatible. I'm either going to get a 3DS or a DSi XL(hopefully the 3DS is flash card compatible.) If I get either size micro sdhc it'll be either 16GB or 32GB. It's more convenient that way. Every game I own for DS will go on the card and when I get another, it'll also go there.

Here's a question that's probably answered already in the links, but are GBA games able to be emulated on the DSi?

[boozie]

Here's a question that's probably answered already in the links, but are GBA games able to be emulated on the DSi?

With the Supercard DSTWO, yes, otherwise no.

How big are the games on average? 200MB? I don't even know how much a normal ds game can store on it.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

So new R4's are DSi compatible. I'm either going to get a 3DS or a DSi XL(hopefully the 3DS is flash card compatible.) If I get either size micro sdhc it'll be either 16GB or 32GB. It's more convenient that way. Every game I own for DS will go on the card and when I get another, it'll also go there.

Here's a question that's probably answered already in the links, but are GBA games able to be emulated on the DSi?

The key to getting a DSi compatible flash card is to ensure that you get one with an upgradeable internal firmware/"boot strap".

I think that the "new" R4i's are basically clones of the EZ Flash Vi's.

I can personally confirm that the EZ Flash Vi has one and it has been used by the developers/community to circumvent Nintendo's current DSi firmware upgrades and hopefully any of their future ones.

There are tons of variations of "R4i's" out there manufactured by various different HK companies and the early ones don't have the upgradeable boot strap, so be cautious with your purchase if you ever want to update your DSi's firmware.

[Jorpho]

How big are the games on average? 200MB? I don't even know how much a normal ds game can store on it.Dude, I already told you: some are 128 MB, some are 16 MB. Averages don't mean too much if you're set on only playing 128 MB games.

If you really want more information, you can Google <avereage DS rom size> and find handy threads like http://gbatemp.net/t55177-average-rom-size?st=0&p=706157&#entry706157 .