Flashcarts: Difference between revisions

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'''Flashcarts''' are custom made game cartridges that allow users to put ROM dumps of games in them. This can be useful to play especially rare games on the original hardware, without having to pay for expensive collectible cartridges.
A '''Flashcart''' is a device that can play ROM game backups in the original game console. This can be useful for playing especially rare or unreleased games on the original hardware, without having to pay for expensive collectible cartridges. Usually a flash memory section or a flash memory card is used to hold the data: hence the name ''Flashcart''.


= History of the Flash Cart =
There are flashcarts for all sorts of devices from very old devices such as early commodore "personal computers" through the SNES and Genesis/Megadrive right up to the N64 and [[Game Boy/Advance|GBA]] and [[Nintendo DS|DS]].


''Flashcart'' is the term given to devices that can have code written to them and then be placed into a device like a SNES or a Megadrive/Genesis that uses cartridge based media and have the code that was written on them be executed by the original device. Usually a flash memory section or a flash memory card is used to hold the data: hence the name ''Flashcart''.
= General Info =


There are flashcarts for all sorts of devices from very old devices such as early commodore "personal computers" through the SNES and Genesis/Megadrive right up to the N64 and [[Gameboy Advance|GBA]] and [[Nintendo DS|DS]].
* [[Flashcarts/History|History of the Flashcart]]
* [[Clean ROMs]]


Flashcarts really came into notoriety with the introduction of commercial Gameboy mono and Gameboy Color flash cartridges (flash cartridges had been around for a while before but were normally only owned by those with a fair amount of electrical knowhow that had built them themselves or paid large price for them ($400 US was not unreasonable for a megadrive/genesis cart).
= Nintendo DS =


These were unpopular with the big companies such as Nintendo as essentially anyone with a PC and fairly minimal computing knowledge could obtain and play ROM images of games on original hardware (emulation had been around for a while by now and was equally being attacked).
* [[Nintendo DS/Emulators]] - Emulators you can run on a Nintendo DS using a Flashcart.


Alongside this developers which hitherto had to pay quite large sums of money for arguably worse equipment than these flash cartridges were able to equip large amounts of their staff with these flash carts for development purposes which also caused revenue streams for Nintendo and such to fall.
= Game Boy Advance =
 
* [[DLDI]] - GBA Homebrew can make use of FAT space on the SD Card.
* [[Emulation]]
* [[Game Boy/Advance/Emulators|Emulators]] - Emulate other consoles on your GBA, such as the NES.
* [[Game Boy/Advance/Multimedia|Multimedia]] - Play videos and music on your GBA.
* [[Game Boy/Advance/Development|Development]] - Develop Homebrew on your GBA.
 
== Everdrive GBA ==
 
Released in summer 2016, the Everdrive GBA costs $100, and has a real-time clock. No need to patch every ROM with a tool to play.
 
== EZ Flash ==


To this end Nintendo took legal action and managed to secure a ban on imports (which was ultimately futile) of these flash cartridges into the USA as most of the carts were manufactured and distributed out of Hong Kong and similar areas. This being said a good deal of work did take place on flash cartridges within the USA.
One of the last GBA Flashcarts still in production. Uses a microSD. Some are designed to be used with the DS Lite.  


This situation was short lived and by the time of the new [[Gameboy Advance|GBA]] this ban was no longer applicable and flash carts once more began to come about. After a few very poor initial attempts at commercial GBA carts (they were not much more than re-engineered GBC flash carts which meant the ROM images needed speed patches as well as numerous save patches and a whole host of other problems plagued them) new carts based on good designs and equipment appeared thus really starting the [[Gameboy Advance|GBA]] flash cart era. There exists numerous GBA flash carts and to detail them all would make for a fairly unreadable article, [http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/ the pocketheaven wiki] is a good resource if you wish to know about GBA carts.
Since [https://ezflash.sosuke.com/wiki/ the original wiki] is disused and falling apart, we have imported it's data into here.


With regard to the [[Nintendo DS|DS]] flash carts exploits were discovered (see [[DS commercial roms (running) and general usage#The methods|this article for more on these exploits]]) that allowed the [[Nintendo DS|DS]] to run [[Nintendo DS|DS]] based code from the [[Gameboy Advance|GBA]] port thus enabling people with minimal extra hardware to run [[Nintendo DS|DS]] code (homebrew and roms) with their [[Gameboy Advance|GBA]] flash carts. This has since become the standard method although companies have started on the DS port side of things.
* [[EZ Flash/FAQ|Frequently Asked Questions]]
* [[EZ Flash/Cheats|Cheats]]
* [[EZ Flash/Specifications|Specifications]] - Specs and Source code of the EZ Flash Tools.
* [[EZ Flash/Save Management System|Save Management System]] - How saves are managed in EZ Flash.


= Game Boy Advance =  
=== [[EZ Flash/VI]] ===


== EZ-Flash ==
* [[EZ Flash/VI/Starter Pack|Starter Pack]] - Everything you need to get started with it.


The last GBA Flashcart still in production. Uses a microSD. Since [https://ezflash.sosuke.com/wiki/ the original wiki] is disused and falling apart, we have imported it's data into here.
=== [[EZ Flash/V]] ===


=== EZ Flash V ===
* [[EZ Flash/V/Starter Pack|Starter Pack]] - Everything you need to get started with it.
* [[EZ Flash/V/Homebrew|Homebrew]] - Homebrew for the EZ Flash V.


Designed for the Nintendo DS Lite, the best way to play GBA and DS games around.
=== [[EZ Flash/IV]] ===


=== ES Flash IV ===
* [[EZ Flash/IV/Compatibility|Compatibility List]] - What ROMs are compatible with this flashcart.
* [[EZ Flash/IV/Starter Pack|Starter Pack]] - Everything you need to get started with the EZ Flash IV.
** [https://archive.org/download/MyEZFlashIVFolder/EZ%20Flash%20IV.zip EZ Flash IV Starter Pack] - Folder containing video tutorials and basic software you need to use the EZ Flash IV.


= SNES =
= SNES =
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If you're cheap and handy with electrical engineering, you can create your own flashcart by hacking shovelware games that have the accelerator chips you need.
If you're cheap and handy with electrical engineering, you can create your own flashcart by hacking shovelware games that have the accelerator chips you need.
= Sources =
* [https://archive.org/details/warc-www_ezflash_cn Archive.org - WARC: ezflash.cn]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/flashcarts/comments/4u61q2/guide_to_help_you_pick_a_flashcart_for_each_device/ Reddit /r/flashcarts - Guide to help pick a flashcart for every device]
* [https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20130918002243/http://.wiki.pocketheaven.com:80/index.php?title=Category:PSP PocketHeaven Wiki] - Need to scrape from here
* [https://ezflash.sosuke.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page EZ-Flash Sosuke] - Not sure if completely picked up.
** Forum posts should also be investigated

Latest revision as of 18:59, 31 January 2018

A Flashcart is a device that can play ROM game backups in the original game console. This can be useful for playing especially rare or unreleased games on the original hardware, without having to pay for expensive collectible cartridges. Usually a flash memory section or a flash memory card is used to hold the data: hence the name Flashcart.

There are flashcarts for all sorts of devices from very old devices such as early commodore "personal computers" through the SNES and Genesis/Megadrive right up to the N64 and GBA and DS.

General Info[edit]

Nintendo DS[edit]

Game Boy Advance[edit]

  • DLDI - GBA Homebrew can make use of FAT space on the SD Card.
  • Emulation
  • Emulators - Emulate other consoles on your GBA, such as the NES.
  • Multimedia - Play videos and music on your GBA.
  • Development - Develop Homebrew on your GBA.

Everdrive GBA[edit]

Released in summer 2016, the Everdrive GBA costs $100, and has a real-time clock. No need to patch every ROM with a tool to play.

EZ Flash[edit]

One of the last GBA Flashcarts still in production. Uses a microSD. Some are designed to be used with the DS Lite.

Since the original wiki is disused and falling apart, we have imported it's data into here.

EZ Flash/VI[edit]

EZ Flash/V[edit]

EZ Flash/IV[edit]

SNES[edit]

Flashcarts on SNES can be a tough and expensive proposition depending on the game you want to play, since some SNES games use special accelerator chips such as the SA-1 and the SuperFX, which can only be simulated through FPGAs.

  • SD2SNES $200 - Contains an FPGA allowing you to simulate some accelerator chips with high accuracy. Of course, this makes it cost $200, but that may cost less than most of those rare cartridges.

Custom Made[edit]

If you're cheap and handy with electrical engineering, you can create your own flashcart by hacking shovelware games that have the accelerator chips you need.

Sources[edit]

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