Table of Contents
EZ-FLASH V (5)
If you are interested in flash cartridges for Nintendo consoles, you must have heard of EZ-Flash. The guys from EZ-Team still produce the best flash cartridges for Game Boy Advance. But that's now, and at the end of 2006, on the wave of universal love for Nintendo DS, they released their flash cartridge for this console – EZ-FLASH V.
And as you understand, this was not another R4 clone, but quite a unique cartridge. But was it as good as the rest of EZ-Team's products?
Package Contents
EZ-FLASH V comes in a beautiful light box.
It was sold in two packages. One included just the flash cartridge, and the other additionally included a 3 in 1 Expansion Pack cartridge. I have the bundle with this cartridge.
Where to Buy?
Unfortunately, the production of this flash cartridge has long been discontinued. Now EZ-FLASH V can only be bought on second-hand platforms. For example, I recently saw it for sale on a Chinese analogue of Avito. It cost 999 yuan, which is about 12,000 rubles.
However, it was a new flash cartridge in collector's condition and came with a 3 in 1 Expansion Pack cartridge.
A regular EZ-FLASH V flash cartridge in good condition can be found there for 50 yuan.
What to Buy Extra?
Regardless of the package, you will need to buy a card reader and a memory card.
Moreover, not just any memory card will do, but strictly Micro SD (NOT Micro SDHC and NOT Micro SDXC). Unfortunately, only the SDXC standard, approved in 2009, provided support for older generations of memory cards. At that time, if devices had a Micro SD memory card slot, they could not read later memory cards.
EZ-FLASH 5 was just such a device with an old memory card slot.
In addition, you will also need a card reader (if you don't have one yet). Any will do.
Preparation for Use
When I tried to prepare the cartridge for use, I was quite stressed. At first, all the firmware refused to launch: I took a Micro SDHC memory card, but it didn't fit. Then, after reading various forums, I decided to check other memory cards and, through trial and error, found the one I needed.
Next, I downloaded the firmware from the ezflash.cn website, and it seemed to fit, but the additional features (exiting the game, instant saves) just didn't work. EZ-FLASH V would freeze at some point. I started to figure it out and it turned out that the Kernel 2.0 RC20 firmware file is suitable for three different flash cartridges (EZ-FLASH V, V Plus, and Vi). Moreover, if you go to the official website, logically, the latest firmware will be published there. But what if you find version Kernel 3.0 ob6? And this firmware also works with difficulty on EZ-FLASH V?
It turned out that ez5_v3.0ob6 works on later versions of this cartridge, such as EZ-Flash Vi. Therefore, it should not be used.
There are 3 main firmware files for EZ-FLASH 5 (you can download any):
Auxiliary versions (needed to start the cartridge from scratch):
Let's assume you have a new cartridge. And it has stock firmware. First, you need to download the ez5_kernel_v1.68.zip archive. Then unzip it.
There will be three files and one folder:
1. moonshl
2. ez5sys.bin
3. EZ5upldr.bin
4. sample
Copy ONLY the EZ5upldr.bin file to your memory card.
Turn on the console and launch the cartridge. Press and hold the R button beforehand.
Next, a lot of text will appear on the top screen, and at the end, it will say «R to Update L to PassMe! A still enter the loader!»
You will need to press R again.
The console firmware process will begin.
After it finishes, the message «A to enter the loader!» will appear.
Press А and nothing will load because we didn't write the firmware file to the memory card. This is normal.
Turn off the console and proceed to firmware 1.70. Repeat the procedure described above (i.e., copy ONLY the EZ5upldr.bin file and launch it using the R button).
Now you can completely clear the memory card and launch the firmware you need.
I reflashed the cartridge about 20 times until I discovered that the ez5_v1.90beta11 firmware file works best. Only this version works stably and does not freeze.
Next, I will talk specifically about the ez5_v1.90beta11 (in principle, there is not much difference with other firmware, but some features may not work, for example, instant saves on the ez5_v2.0RC20 firmware).
The archive contains: the moonshl folder and the ez5sys.bin file.
They need to be copied to the root of the memory card.
How to Use the Cartridge?
At the top of the screen, there will be a list of files.
The following options will be available here:
Launching a game (and other multimedia files) – select the desired file and press А. After that, the file will start loading;
Copying files - if you select the desired file and press the Y button, go to the folder and press Y again, you will be asked whether to copy the file, cancel copying, or cut it from the original location and place it in the folder;
Deleting files – if you select the desired file and press the X button, the program will ask if you really want to delete the file. After confirmation, the file will be deleted.
At the bottom of the screen, there will be various settings.
Conventionally, everything can be divided into three rows (left, center, and right).
In the left row, there are five icons:
Sun – changes the brightness of the console (essentially duplicates the button in the Nintendo DS start menu);
Two arrows in a circle – settings for a specific game (does not work on folders and multimedia files, only on games);
Question mark – essentially, this is a help text file;
Crossed hammer and screwdriver – cartridge settings;
Power button. A tab with two buttons Yes and No appears. If you press Yes, the console will turn off, and if you press No, you will return to the menu.
In the center row, there are:
File icon – this can be a folder, game, or multimedia file;
Rumble off label (becomes active only if the 3 in 1 Expansion Pack cartridge is inserted);
LAUNCH button – launches the game or multimedia file.
In the right row, there are up and down arrows – this is just navigation on the top screen.
Let's talk in more detail about the settings for a specific game. If you press the icon with two arrows in a circle, the following menu will appear:
There are 5 settings (and two additional ones for cheats):
DMA (direct memory access) – a function for direct memory access. Needed to speed up game loading but may cause errors in the game.
SoftReset (enabled by default) – allows you to exit the game back to the flash cartridge menu. If other functions are not enabled, the game will immediately close, and you will return to the flash cartridge menu;
InstantSave (essentially the RTS – Real Time Save function) – allows you to save anywhere in the game, not just where provided by the developers. For this option to work, the SoftReset setting must be enabled.
InstantWalkthough – you will be able to add data (in text form) about the game. This file can be read directly from the game. For example, you can insert a game walkthrough there.
Cheat – cheat function. We will not discuss it in detail.
Now let's look at the cartridge settings (crossed hammer and screwdriver icon):
We will discuss the Vibration Strength and 3IN1 Select settings later when we get to the 3 in 1 Expansion Pack. They do not work without such a cartridge.
English – changes the language (you need to press the two arrows to the left of the label).
Small Icon and Large Icon – changes the size of the icons on the top screen (respectively, you need to choose one option).
How to Save?
EZ-FLASH V can save like a regular cartridge and in RTS mode.
1. Real Time Save. If you enable the InstantSave option in the game settings, then pressing L + R + A + B will bring up a menu where you can choose what you want (save, exit the game, or something else).
SAVE button – the game will be saved.
LOAD button – the game will load to the place where it was saved.
2. Normal Save
Normal saving is the same as if you were using a regular licensed cartridge.
Saves in the EZ-FLASH V cartridge are made automatically. To save, you need to wait: either until you reach a checkpoint in the game (where the game automatically saves), or reach a save point, or press the save button yourself and wait five seconds.
3 in 1 Expansion Pack
If your bundle additionally included a 3 in 1 Expansion Pack cartridge, then you are lucky. It opens up very wide and interesting possibilities.
Why is it called 3 in 1 Expansion Pack?
Because it has three built-in functions:
1. RAM Expansion – a feature that did not get further development. Essentially, this expansion is only used in the browser for Nintendo DS (expands the console's RAM so you can surf the internet).
2. Rumble – adds vibration. Not in all games, but only in those where this function was originally implemented by the developers.
3. Full support for Game Boy Advance games. Essentially, the 3 in 1 Expansion Pack is a flash cartridge for Game Boy Advance that is rewritten not from a computer, but from the console. Moreover, it is indeed a separate flash cartridge. It has 256 megabits of NOR memory and a 2-megabit SRAM chip. After you write a game to the NOR memory, it can even be used autonomously.
If you insert this cartridge into the console, then when you launch the EZ-FLASH V flash cartridge, the Rumble off line in the bottom menu will change to GBAlink ON. This means that EZ-FLASH V has recognized the 3 in 1 Expansion Pack.
Essentially, with the GBAlink ON label active, the cartridge works in RAM Expansion mode. If you change the label to Rumble ON, the cartridge is recognized as a Rumble Pak, and vibration will appear in Nintendo DS games.
Let's look at the settings separately. If you press the settings icon (crossed hammer and screwdriver), there will be two settings in the menu directly related to this cartridge.
Vibration Strength – changes the vibration strength in Nintendo DS games (from low to high – Low / Medium / High).
3IN1 Select – has two settings: Multiple Rom and Single Rom.
Multiple Rom – allows you to load a multi-loader into the NOR memory, which will allow you to choose which game you want to launch. That is, when you launch the GBA cartridge, a menu will appear from which you can choose which game to launch.
Single Rom – writes only one game to the NOR memory. That is, when you launch the GBA cartridge, no menu will appear, and the game will start immediately.
Launching GBA Games
Write the ROM image of the Game Boy Advance game to the root of the memory card (you can also create a separate folder).
Select the recorded game in the top menu and press А.
The EZ 3 IN 1 menu will appear.
There are 3 options here:
Cancel – cancel the game launch.
PsRam – the game will be written to the PsRam memory of EZ-FLASH V and will launch directly.
NFlash – the game will be written to the NOR memory of the 3 in 1 Expansion Pack cartridge.
If you have Multiple Rom set in the settings, you can write as many games as will fit in the 32 megabytes of NOR memory.
After selecting the game and pressing NFlash, the 3IN1 ROM OPTION window will appear at the bottom.
This is the NOR memory menu. You can write games here.
If you press А again, the EZ5 3 IN 1 window will appear.
There are two options here:
Cancel – if you select this option, the window will close.
Write – if you select this option, the game will start writing to the NOR memory. When the game is written, it will be in the 3IN1 ROM OPTION list. Note that 4 buttons will appear under the game:
1. BkUp – back up the save from SRAM memory to the memory card;
2. Load – write the save back;
3. Play – launch the game;
4. Del – delete the game from NOR memory.
If you want to add a second game to the NOR memory, repeat the above procedure. Then your menu will have 2 games (if they fit in the 32 megabytes of NOR memory):
Note that the first game has lost the delete button. In NOR memory, only sequential deletion of games is possible, starting from the last one.
What is the advantage of writing games to NOR memory?
This can only be done once. When launching games through PsRam, you will need to wait for the loading each time. At the same time, to launch GBA games from NOR memory, you do not need to enter EZ-FLASH 5, it will be enough to directly load the game from the Nintendo DS start menu, and then you will get into such firmware:
Or directly into the game if you selected Single Rom in the settings.
NoPass
EZ-FLASH V can also launch in NoPass mode. That is, you will be able to launch GBA flash cartridges in Nintendo DS mode.
To do this, you need to press R when launching the cartridge.
You will enter the boot menu. Then press L and confirm that you want to launch the GBA cartridge in NDS mode by pressing the А button.
Epilogue
In principle, I liked this flash cartridge. It has all the necessary functions: RTS and exiting games to the menu. And the 3 in 1 Expansion Pack cartridge is a very cool addition that expands the capabilities of the flash cartridge (essentially, you get the same additional functions in EZ-FLASH Definitive Edition (Mode B), but it is more expensive than this entire set).
But what I didn't like was the low quality of the cartridge itself. The Nintendo DS EZ-FLASH V fits quite tightly. It's as if it's thicker than a regular cartridge. The 3 in 1 Expansion Pack cartridge needs to be inserted into the GBA slot of the console at a certain angle, otherwise it won't fit at all.
All these difficulties with firmware and memory cards also caused trouble.
Overall, after I figured everything out (and it took me almost three days), I would rate it four out of five. I deducted one point for the quality of the cartridge cases.
Therefore, if you can get this cartridge, it will serve as an interesting replacement for the R4 line.
