News — Page 11
Here are two useful finds for original Nintendo hardware.
For Nintendo DS: DSPico flash cartridge with USB-C.
For Game Boy Advance SP: an IPS-ready eXtremeRate replacement shell.
Nintendo DS ML
Hi, everyone! There's a new video on the channel about the Nintendo DS ML.
Unboxing a Gift
3DS Flashcart Review
My PassMe Devices
I built two versions of PassMe. And they even work %)
PassMe 1 on the left (the cartridge is clamped against the board contacts), PassMe 2 on the right (the cartridge goes into a slot cut from a GB connector).
PassMe
My PassMe boards have finally arrived. I couldn't find a ready-made one anywhere. So if the mountain won't come to Muhammad, Muhammad has to go to the mountain. I'll build one myself.
Now I just have to wait for the chips.
I also bought a complete PassKey 2 set. It turned out to be the best PassMe 2 of them all.
You don't have to reflash it for every individual cartridge. I also wrote a PassKey 2 guide.
And EzPass and PassCard arrived from the UK.
PassCard works pretty much as expected, but EzPass is the strangest PassMe I've ever seen. First, it isn't actually PassMe but PassMe 2, yet there were no visible contacts for reflashing it (turns out they're UNDER the sticker). Second, it uses a different chip, which means it needs its own cable and different software. So basically it'll just be a photo prop :)
The Purchases Finally Arrived
The purchases I needed for the video have finally arrived.
1. An iQue 3DS XL and a Taiwan-region cartridge.
iQue never released a single physical cartridge specifically for the iQue 3DS XL. Rumor had it, though, that the console could run Hong Kong and Taiwanese cartridges. Since I wanted to test that, I specifically looked for an unmodded iQue 3DS XL. And I found one:
The cartridge turned out to be more interesting.
It ran on the iQue 3DS XL, but it also ran on an unmodded European New Nintendo 2DS XL. So apparently Pokémon cartridges had no regional restrictions at all. My copies of Pokémon Ultra Moon and Pokémon X (both European-region) also ran on the iQue 3DS XL.
Now that I've collected every iQue console and the cartridges for them, I plan to make a video covering which consoles iQue released, which projects never made it to market, how its consoles differed from Nintendo's versions, and so on.
But that will come after the video about 3DS flashcarts.
2. More Nintendo 3DS flashcarts arrived too: 3DS Link and Orange 3DS (Gateway).
Now I'm wondering whether I should buy the remaining Gateway clones (MT-Card 3DS / BlueCard) or just shoot with what I already have. After all, more Gateway clones probably won't add any new information to the video.
Especially since I already have a pretty decent collection of flashcarts and auxiliary cartridges:
Either way, I'll start working on the script little by little.
Avito and Future Plans
One thing I really like about Avito is that unusual and interesting listings keep popping up there — especially when they line up perfectly with what you're planning. In my last video I said I wanted to make an overview of 3DS flashcarts. I thought I already had everything I needed, because these carts are so rare and sold in such small numbers that I didn't expect to find much else.
Then I found a rare Gateway clone in China called 3DS Link.
After that, while browsing Avito, I found an even rarer clone — Orange 3DS. And it cost just 500 rubles.
So the video is postponed for now (until the packages arrive), but at least I'll have more to show and talk about.
Something else happened through Avito too. A few days ago I ordered a Pokémon Alpha Sapphire cartridge, and it turned out to have a hidden defect. There was no visible damage, but the game kept crashing. Later I learned that this is a fairly common problem — people say there was a bad batch of cartridges straight from the factory. Who knows whether the seller hid the issue or it genuinely worked for them, but they refused to take the cartridge back. Avito, however, reimbursed me for the full cost of the cartridge, which was a pleasant surprise.
That's a real weak point of Avito Delivery. If an item has a hidden defect, it's not very clear what you're supposed to do. Well, I know what to do, but it's a long and tedious process.
I also really dislike how the material is presented in the video Nintendo DS: Viruses, Firmware, and the History of Flashcarts. So I plan to remake it eventually. But I could never find an original PassMe — the first version, the one that was basically cobbled together by hand.
Then I thought: why not try building one myself? All the materials, including the Gerber files, are online. Yes, it's complicated and a pain in places, but I think I can find someone skilled at SMD soldering. I even had to order the PCB itself through that same Avito :)
I ordered 10 PCBs for 950 rubles and a bunch of chips and connectors (~2,500 rubles) from AliExpress. Let's see how it turns out.
The Beginning of the 3DS Hack
A Package from China
I'd barely returned from vacation when a new package I'd been eagerly waiting for arrived.
1. WonderSwan Color Final Fantasy
I was missing just one WonderSwan version, and now that collection is complete. Time to write or film reviews of the consoles.
2. A pile of different Nintendo 3DS flashcarts.
When I made the video, I only touched briefly on 3DS flashcarts. Now I've managed to pick up the main varieties.
So now I'll have plenty to write about and show in a video :)
3. A few old Nintendo DS flashcarts.
The most interesting thing here is the Dummy Card, a blank for the Nintendo DS SLOT-1 (needed with FlashMe so the console can enter sleep mode).
By the way, NCard is a neat flashcart, but you can only write new games to it if you have the SLOT-2 GBA flashcart from the same set (which I unfortunately don't).
4. An ultra-rare device called GameWallet.
It lets you write games to Flash Advance flashcarts without a computer.
It turned out, though, that it needs a SmartCard memory card to work, and I've never owned one (they're rare). I ordered one from AliExpress.
5. Another ultra-rare item (though a little less rare than the one above) — GB Bridge.
It's an adapter for Flash Advance flashcarts that lets you run Game Boy and Game Boy Color games natively straight from a Flash Advance cart (essentially by changing the supplied voltage). It even lets you use Flash Advance carts — which are physically GBA cartridges — in original Game Boy and Game Boy Color consoles.
Vacation
Friends, I'm on vacation. New videos will be back when I am :)
