R4 DS was an amazing kit for all Nintendo fans. As the original R4 DS ceased production, a great many R4 DS clones flood into the market. Some gamers have posted threads about R4 DS related flashcarts that revealed the secrets of  R4 DS successors. They just steal others’kernel technology and play tricks on certain file. And the kernel are mostly from Acekard and DSTT. The R4 DS clones have poor services and no regular update.

Now lots of R4i flash kits compatible on DSi also show up on the market. R4i(R4Ultra.com),R4i-sdhc,Hyper R4i and other DSi flash kits, gamers how to distinguish which one is better? And what will be their future? Let’s wait and see who can survive in market selection！

Please check what version of your own R4. There are a great many versions of R4 clones，such as：R4III, R4 SDHC, R4 Advance，R4 Pro etc.

You can identify the right version by its logo outside the package, and on the box there is the official website address, please go there and download the latest kernel.

 Once you downloaded the kernel, please unzip the files to a folder, something like follows will be listed:

_system_ (this is a folder full of files)
moonshl (this is a folder full of files)
_DS_MENU.dat (this is the system menu data file)
_DS_MSHL.nds (this is the moonshell/multi media player loader)

After that, please copy them   into your own SD card or SDHC card.

Now put the memory card into your R4 card and start the ds up or power it on if you have done it right the R4 should boot up and show you a menu with 3 icons GAME / MULTIMEDIA / SLOT 2 choose game and then press a on the folder called GAMES choose your game you wish to play and press A on the ds to load it. 

If you did as the above, but the cart still not working, please check:

is the mem card formatted FAT or FAT 32 not that it would make a great difference its worth a try …

and have you tried using normal Micro SD none sdhc card or can you borrow one? to eliminate a bad sd card 

finally have you tried other versions of the R4 loader such as the official one: the original 1.18 kernel, or more kernels of other flashcarts.

Note: Original R4 DS is only for 2G SD card.  If you are certain that you have the correct firmware but still stuck on loading screen? First, format your SD Card, Second redownload the correct firmware.

We know that there are various flashcarts with different features on the market. Most users find it’s hard to select a product. The frequently asked question is which one is better. Here we make a brief introduction of the most popular flashcarts for you.

1. Once R4 ds was a leader among all kinds of flashcarts. As a complete slot-1 solution, it has easiest working method, no need to use any additional components or deal with any messy software:just format the cart and directly drag and drop all files into the TF card. It supports roms, multimedia files, and homebrew games of any size. R4 was highly recommended by its easy-to-use, and excellent performance.

Note: R4 DS is an out-dated flash cart and the production has been ceased. Among numerous R4 clones on the market, R4 SDHC is welcome by most users.Not mention its hardware or its performance, R4 SDHC is a brilliant flash kit.

2. DSTT comes up in a ripe period of slot-1 technology, and has a high cost performance in the market. This is a full-featured product. DSTT supports clean rom, no convert;100% supports SDHC and standard TF card; automatically detect and generate save type; supports Moonshell and homebrew. DLDI auto-patching. Besides, it has user friendly skinnable interface, using touchscreen or button operation.

DSTT does well in gameplay, homebrew support and additional features. Besides,its cheap price and great build quality make DSTT become hot cakes. And since NDSi came out, DSTTi also released its new product to meet the demand of market.

3. M3DSReal is an amazing flash kit，perfectly supporting homebrew games, watch movies and listen music. M3 DSReal allows for high capacity memory cards (up to 32 GB at present), so that users can save all kinds of games as they like. Meanwhile, they can download“Media-Ex” application + “Moonshell” media player for enjoying full-featured visiual and audio entertainment. Furthermore, M3 DS Real .breaks the conventional thought of patch-fix and uses NEURO-FUZZY engine, which greatly improves games compatibility. Its new hardware and games engine completely relax the speed limitation of SD card. So users never worry about the speed and compatibility of SD card.

As a multi-featured product, M3DSReal bring lots of enjoyment to users. No dout that the excellent homebrew support, bulit-in “Media-EX” application and robust multimeida features make M3 DSReal become one of the strongest flashcart in the market.

4. EZ5 is a flashcart from well-known EZ team for slot-1 solution. Like other flashcarts, it also has no Flashme, Passme, or PC software required. And its media function bring much more fun to users. As an outstanding producer of flashcart, EZ Team is always apt to give people different impressions. EZ5 not only has Drag & drop clean ROM support, also optional hybrid ROM patching. The unique Hybrid system mainly helps slow Micro SD cards play ROMs at full speed with no slowdowns. The tool will also automatically trim ROMs for you to make them smaller. Anyway, EZ5 is a nice cart for compatibility and its good performance during gameplay.

Note: In the early of Jun 2008, EZ released a new product EZ5+ with SDHC support. And during last Christmas Day, it launched a modified version, EZ5i compatible with Dsi.

Summary：

There is no the best one, but the most suitable for you. Users choose flash kitaccording to your own need.

Here is a table for comparison:

Rating：S>A>B>C>D

Yesterday，I found updated firmware on DSi, 1.3J version. As reported that flashcarts may not be playable on DSi by upgrading its firmware, so I believe some users have not upgraded its own Dsi yet. Now we upgrade the new firmware and make a review that shows flashcart works fine after update.

DSTTi works fine on my Dsi, and I find online that EZ5i also works on the new firmware. It seems that flashcarts are not affected by the new firmware.

Find new firmware and upgrade after Wi-fi

Upgrade completed，hitting “OK”，it will automatically shutdown.

It shows 1.3J version.

Flashcart can be read normally.

Flashcart works fine.