New firmware for SuperCard

Friends, the guide for the original SuperCard firmware is in another article: Guide (instructions) for SuperCard cartridge.

No matter which retro console you take, they all share one problem - original game cartridges are very expensive. Of course, there are pirated cartridges, but they usually only have popular games. If you want to try something beyond Pokémon/Zelda, you'll have to spend a lot of money. In such cases, flash cartridges come to the rescue, allowing you to natively run games on real consoles.

When it comes to Game Boy Advance, the most affordable cartridge is the SuperCard. It's very cheap (about 1000 rubles), you can buy it new, and it's sold everywhere. Considering the prices of its competitors, which start at four thousand rubles, it might seem that SuperCard is a great purchase.

But it has a number of drawbacks:

1. You can't just write games to the cartridge; you need to patch them first using a computer program;

2. Many games lag, and to fix this issue, you need to use another computer program;

3. Games take a long time to load (Ez-Flash Omega loads a 32MB game in about 5 seconds, while SuperCard takes about 32 seconds);

4. Poor compatibility with games (for example, Pokémon games don't work);

5. The build quality is questionable, and the label is just awful.

And in principle, considering the low price of the cartridge, you could ignore all these minor issues if it weren't for the lag in games. That's what ruins the gaming experience. Yes, PrefetchPatcher partially fixes these issues, but applying it is a whole procedure that takes a considerable amount of time (about 30 seconds to 1 minute). If you have one game, fine, you can spend a minute, but the whole point of a flash cartridge is to store many games on it. And then applying double patching becomes a real problem.

It might seem like nothing can be done about this. However, a new figure has appeared on the retro scene - Metroid Maniac, who first created various interesting programs (for example, he created the GBA Auto Battery Less Patcher program, which is needed for rewriting pirated GBA cartridges), and eventually came to creating custom firmware for SuperCard.

In this article, I will tell you how to install the firmware and what settings are available in it at the moment (since it is constantly evolving).

Preparation

This firmware only works on certain revisions of the SuperCard cartridge. Recently, new SuperCards have started appearing on AliExpress:

The firmware will NOT work with these (this is not very accurate, as each of these cartridges may have different chips, and the firmware might work with some flash cartridges).

So the first thing you need is an old SuperCard flash cartridge. It doesn't matter if it's for Micro SD or Mini SD.

Please note, having an old SuperCard does not guarantee that this firmware will work. For example, for some people, including me, the firmware installed but constantly threw errors after turning on the console.

To run it, you need to download the latest version of the firmware from GitHub.

Before reading further, please read this article about all the consequences of flashing!!! You must fully understand all the consequences of your actions!

DO NOT flash the cartridge if you don't have a Nintendo DS! Only with an NDS or NDS Lite console can you restore this flash cartridge!

To restore the firmware, you can use the program SCflash_sd.nds

Firmware Installation

To install the firmware, you need to unzip the archive (which you downloaded in the previous section) and write it to the SuperCard memory card. It's better to leave these files in a separate folder rather than mixing them with other files. I left the files in the scfw folder.

Please note, these files do NOT need to be patched using the Super Card V2.71 for SD Version program.

Next, insert the cartridge into the console and turn it on. You will enter the standard SuperCard menu:

Go to the scfw folder. It contains one file:

Here's a small note. This firmware has two usage options: either launch it every time as we are doing now, or flash it directly into the flash cartridge's memory. Then, when you turn on the console, you will enter this firmware. I will show you the second method, that is, flashing it into the SuperCard's memory.

Launch the kernel.gba file and you will enter this menu:

This is the main menu of the cartridge. From here, you can launch games, enter settings, and more.

Since we want to install the firmware into the SuperCard's memory, go back to the scfw folder. Now it contains three files:

Select firmware.frm and press A. A menu will appear, warning that the flashing process may fail and you could damage the flash cartridge.

If you haven't changed your mind, press A and the flashing process will begin:

When the process is complete, this message will appear:

Press A and that's it, the firmware is installed. Now, when you turn on the cartridge, you will always enter the new firmware's menu.

Usage

Let's talk about how to use this flash cartridge. Previously, you had to patch each game before writing it to the memory card using the Super Card V2.71 for SD Version program, but now this is no longer necessary. You can simply write the game to the memory card.

Suppose you have written games to the memory card. After turning on the console, they will immediately appear in the startup menu:

This menu is the flash cartridge's file manager.

Here you can do six things:

1. Navigate through folders;

2. Launch a game (using the A button);

3. Open the flash cartridge settings (using the B button);

4. Launch the last played game (using the Start button);

5. Sort files and folders (using the L button);

6. Hide .sav files (using the R button).

So, you decided to launch a game. Select it and press the A button. After that, the loading process will begin:

What's happening here? Essentially, the same thing you would do manually on a computer:

1. A save file is created for the game;

2. The Waitstate patch is applied (switches the GBA processor to work with the SuperCard's slow memory);

3. The SRAM patch is applied (needed for native saves to work in the game);

4. The Soft Reset patch is applied (allows you to exit the game to the menu without restarting the console).

Note the Save Type Patch Error. This is normal! It means the game does NOT need this patch (it might have been originally designed with this save type or was previously patched, which often happens with pirated games).

And only after applying all the patches, the game will launch. This is where the biggest problem with this firmware lies. I tested the loading speed with the original firmware and the new one. I used the game Mother 3 (one of the heaviest games, weighing 32MB). Here's what happened:

1. With the original firmware (after patching the game on the computer), Mother 3 launched in 32 seconds;

2. With the new firmware, the game launched in 1 minute and 51 seconds;

3. If you disable the SRAM and Soft Reset patches (I'll talk about this later in the Settings section), the game launched in exactly 1 minute with the new firmware.

And it would be fine if this procedure only happened the first time. Like the game gets patched, and the second time it launches faster, but no, this happens every time you launch the game. Of course, there aren't many 32MB games, but they do exist.

Another downside. If you try to launch a GB, GBC, or NES game, nothing will happen:

The developer has promised to fix both of these issues. Let's hope that happens.

Cartridge Settings

If you press B in the main menu, you will enter the settings:

To change a setting, select it and press the A button (there are only two options: 0 and 1, meaning off and on). To exit back (with settings saved), press the B button.

Let's start with Autosave and Autosave after cold boot, as these settings are interrelated.

Let's make a small digression about saves. When you play any game, the saves are stored in a special chip (the game itself is stored on another chip). When you save the game (by reaching a checkpoint or by pressing the save button), it moves to that special chip. The SuperCard has a cheap volatile SRAM chip that requires a battery to function. But since a flash cartridge can have many games, the SRAM chip would be overwritten with new information each time. Therefore, after each game, you need to copy the save from the SRAM chip to the cartridge's memory card. Conversely, before launching a game, you need to copy the save back from the memory card to the SRAM chip.

If the Autosave function is disabled, saves will not be copied from the SRAM chip to the memory card. And it doesn't matter what the Autosave after cold boot setting is.

There's also the question of how to force the save from the SRAM chip to the memory card. The old firmware had a special key combination for this, but the new one doesn't.

If the Autosave function is enabled and Autosave after cold boot is disabled, saves will only be copied from the SRAM chip to the memory card when exiting the game via Soft Reset. If you restart the console, the save will NOT be copied from the SRAM chip to the memory card. This is useful if the SuperCard's battery is dead. After turning off the console, the SRAM memory will reset, and the cartridge will overwrite your save with an empty file. But if you exit the game using Soft Reset, the memory won't reset, and everything will be fine.

And the last option: Autosave is enabled and Autosave after cold boot is enabled. This is the default option and should be used if there are no issues. Both after a reboot and after exiting the game via Soft Reset, the save will automatically be copied from the SRAM chip to the memory card.

After turning on the console (or after exiting the game via Soft Reset), a line will appear indicating that the save is being copied from the SRAM chip to the SuperCard flash cartridge's memory card:

SRAM Patch – The SuperCard only has an SRAM chip, so any other save type (EEPROM or Flash) needs to be patched to SRAM. Only then will saves work. In the old firmware, this was done using a computer program.

Waitstate Patch – GBA cartridges come in two types: fast memory and slow memory. From the factory, each game has a setting that tells the processor which type of memory is used (fast or slow). The SuperCard itself works on slow memory, so every game released on fast memory needs to be patched to work properly.

Soft Reset Patch – Adds the ability to exit to the SuperCard flash cartridge menu. This is done by pressing A + B + Start + Select.

Boot games through BIOS – Many cartridges can launch games without fully loading the BIOS (one sign of this is the Game Boy logo appearing). This speeds up game loading. However, it can affect the game itself (errors may occur). For better compatibility, it's advisable to leave this function enabled.

Overclock EWRAM

Metroid Maniac added an EWRAM overclocking function to the firmware. It overclocks the memory and allows games to launch slightly faster.

However, in some cases, the memory cannot be overclocked:

This is normal and doesn't really affect anything. It happens in two cases:

1. When exiting a game via Soft Reset (because the memory is already overclocked);

2. When running SuperCard on GBM or any NDS (the console structure is different there).

Epilogue

In fact, if you don't play 32MB games, the firmware is already better than the original.

At least Metroid Maniac understands perfectly well that patching games every time you load them is nonsense. And, of course, the lack of some features that were originally in the old firmware makes the choice of firmware not so straightforward.

But if he keeps his promises, the cartridge, which could only be recommended if you're short on money, will turn into something worthwhile.

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