Recommendations for a flash based cart system for a GBA micro?

May 3, 2006 9:52 AM

I've got a Gameboy Micro and have been thinking about getting either a SuperCard, M3 Advance or Neoflash Mk2/Mk3 and have a number of questions...

1. Have you ever used any of these? Which would you recommend for use with a GBA Micro? I'm not particulary interested in getting a NDS.

2. I'm thinking about the CF version as I have a number of CF cards lying around however SD is pretty cheap. Is there any particulary compelling reason why I should go with SD over CF? Size issues? Power issues? Speed issues?

3. What is running emulation like on these things? I quite fancy playing SNES Sensible Soccer, Megalomania and Cannon Fodder to relive my childhood.

4. Do you know of anywhere in the UK I can get this without having to pay up for the PassMe connector? Given that I don't intend on getting a NDS, it seems rather pointless.

I intend on using it to reduce my collection of games from 30 odd carts down to 1.

posted by mr_silver to computers & internet (4 comments total)

I love my Supercard SD, and it works with the DS as well in case you ever change your mind. It plays pretty much everything. Battery consumption is a little higher than with a normal GBA game. NES emulation is very good, Turbografx is decent. The GBA isn't powerful enough to do SNES emulation well, although the DS can do so imperfectly.

DS can also do Scumm Emulation (Monkey Island, etc.) on the Supercard, which is pretty cool.

To be fair, I have zero experience with any other flash cart. The Supercard was the cheapest option when I bought mine, which was my primary concern. Also, it's very easy to put files on and off an SD card. Some of the other carts appear to have more complex flashing methods (although again, I've never tried any of them.)
posted by mdbell79 at 10:07 AM on May 3, 2006

NeoFlash is actually a rebranded XG Flash cart, which is generally thought of to be crap.

If you really don't like things sticking out of the GBA, the SuperCard SD should fit perfectly. Otherwise the M3 will stick out and so will the SuperCard CF.

mdbell79 already said mostly everything about emulation. There are also emulators for SMS/GG, GB/GBC, and ColecoVision, all very good and written by the same people.

As for where to get, I don't know of any UK based outfits but Jandaman and KickTrading are both well respected but are based in the US and Canada, respectively.

If you crave more info I suggest you check out the PocketHeaven wiki or boards.
posted by chuma at 10:22 AM on May 3, 2006

I've noticed that the SuperCard needs all games to be patched before they can be used and there appears to be so many compatibility issues that people have ended up setting up pages telling you what games do and don't work.

Does the M3 Advance suffer from the same problem of compatibility?
posted by mr_silver at 10:56 AM on May 3, 2006

Are any of these mac compatible?
posted by atom128 at 11:09 AM on May 3, 2006