Neoflash NDS APPS reviews by BassAceGold
Here are my reviews. I'm doing things a bit differently here and going into more details for things.
-Edit- Forgot to mention, I have not reviewed my own app as that wouldn't be fair.
With this rating system, the higher the rating, the closer to completion the app could be thus the better it is.
The lower the number is more incomplete and could use much improvement.
Suggestions are given on how one could have raised their score.
Please note that because a scores may seem low, doesn't make it a bad app, but really just more incomplete compared to the others.
The reason I'm rating it this way is because usability differs among people thus isn't fair to say an app sucks because i wouldn't be able to use it.
These are the categories i based my judgment on:
-Usability - x/20
-Interface -x/20
-Motion - x/2.5 (either 0 for no motion or 2.5 for motion)
-Original Entry - x/2.5 (either 0 for non original or 2.5 for original)
-Total - 45
A Tint of MENUdo - Doodle
By Soulanger
First Impression:
Doodle, the paint app from menudo. Since Soulanger has been hyping up menudo for so long this has got to be some pretty amazing stuff. It booted up so that's a good sign.
Usability: 6/20
+It's a paint app, just draw away on the touch screen with AA paint brush, drawing is smooth and works well.
-The face buttons don't do anything and neither does the R button which isn't the greatest for left handed people. The L button switches screen which gives more options. Touching the color window
picks a new new color, but had to manually adjust the brightness slider because everything was black until i slid it up a bit.
+There are slider's for transparency? and draw size. Easy to grab and slide.
+Can flip the picture with the top icons vertically or horizontally
-Bucket tool fills whole screen rather than parts of the drawing. Only really useful for erasing the screen.
-Lacks some tools like an eraser, undo and other basic but helpful tools
-Drawing with a larger draw size tends to cause the lines to break while drawing leaving sections rather than a continuous flow of color.
-everything saves to a fixed location with fixed names, can't name files.
-in the loading screen, you can't tell which picture is what due to fixed names and no preview picture.
-saving a new picture caused it to overwrite one of my previous ones after restarting(the file names start at 0 every boot)
Overall it does the extremely basics, how ever it's fairly unpolished in terms of usability as using it can be quite difficult with a lack of other basic tools.
Interface: 8/20
+Follows simple Top screen- Gui and Bottom screen- drawing set up
-The far left slider controls transparency? Sliders lack helpful icons in identifying them. Also a glitch where the slider in the bar goes off track to the right a bit after touching it.
-The slider to the right of the far left one controls draw size. The slider doesn't even load in the bar until after touching it. Again no helpful icons to see what you are manipulating.
-Load menu flips the screen but doesn't flip it back to normal afterwars causing various screen related problems (can't use the interface at all unless on draw screen)
-Couldn't figure out how to load stuff, no direction or logical controls in loading, does loading even work?
-There are unused boxes under the slider and menu button does nothing (suppose that's for other uses)
+Layout wise it's easy to get to everything and what you see is all there is
+Graphics are simple clean, the text in the loading screen looks pretty good
-Flipping image causes unpleasing flashing on interface screen
In terms of Interface, this app kind of blows it. There are too many bugs making navigating through the interface a painful and complex process. For example having to load pictures twice to fix a
flipped screen. The incomplete interface is very unprofessional and overall makes it look empty.
There are plenty of paint apps that do what this does and more while being easier to use in the process.
Motion: 2.5/2.5
Can't test the motion feature but it's apparently in there
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
First time entering the competition.
Overall: 19/45
DSi4DS
By Spinal
First Impression:
A menu to mimic the DSi's firmware.I've never used the DSi before and Spinal has done a few other menu's before (DSision and DSision2) so I hope to be impressed by this one.
Usability: 8/20
-Only supports NDS file types, no media
+Holding the d-pad keeps a constant scroll
+Intuitive stylus control- can drag the icons with a nice bounce effect once it hits the end
-Can't tap the icon of a nds program to select it, must use the arrows at the bottom, use the d-pad or if you're lucky you can get the icon dragged into the selector
+Pressing A launches homebrew, no issues with launching for me
-Can't launch homebrew by tapping it with the stylus
+Screen jumps to stylus location on the bar below nicely
-D-pad controls seem to break after jumping to stylus location
-L and R buttons do nothing useful
-lack of directory support
The controls are nice other than the odd bug, and using it is a breeze as it is fairly easy to navigate around. How ever jumping between stylus and buttons isn't the greatest thing, with a menu it's
nice to have full controls for both to allow fast and easy use. Homebrew boots just fine, everything I tried worked. However it only scans for nds files on the root of the card, there is no directory support so you'll have to clutter the root of your sd card to use.
Interface: 14/20
+Nice clean graphics, simple
+Icons are nicely enlarged from their normal 16X16 dimensions
+Nice font used on text
+Nice scroll bar with squares slightly enlarged where there is an icon
+Reflects firmware color in the selector,scroll bar and arrows, mine was green
-top screen is kind of useless
+Runs nice and smooth
+Cool animation when booting nds rom
-only shows root files
-over scrolling with the stylus takes forever to recover, also the green icon shows up way before the icons show on screen
The interface is clean and nice but the green selector,arrows and slider are kind of ugly and out of place. Everything scrolls smooth, there are no graphical glitches apart from the selector showing up when it shouldn't. It does what it's supposed to with no confusion how ever is incomplete with the top screen being useless. Showing and browsing directories would be nice.
Motion: 0/2.5
No motion support
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
First entry to neoflash
Overall: 24.5/45
DsOS
By Aurelio
First Impression:
Another shell for the DS, doesn't seem to support much right now. We shall see what it can do!
Usability: 10/20
+Scroll bar works nice
-None of the face buttons (except start) do anything, so it's all stylus controlled
+Files nicely highlighted when selected
+Picture viewer works with a 256X192 24bit bmp
-Picture viewer doesn't work with any bmp smaller
-The apps screen(when start is pressed) is pretty useless as you need to use the file browser to pick a file in the first place
+boots homebrew fine
-doesn't support much media
+supports directories
-text reader is fairly basic, can't really do much with it
This app is pretty limited to what it can do and doesn't do all the basics. Needs pad control and more format support.
Interface: 4/20
+Nice backgrounds
-font sucks- in the app menu they kind of combined together making each app hard to read
+nice icons- would be cooler if pictures actually showed their picture as an icon
-nds files don't show icons
-Interface looks very unfinished
-top screen under used- only shows file information
-high lighted icons (after tapping once) are a little too faded, hard to see sometimes
-back arrow in bottom right seems a little out of place compared to the rest of the graphics
-screen use is inefficient, there's lots of unused space on the right side
-top screen of picture view has big walls of text, simpler explanations needed. The information that is needed on that screen is hard to find
The interface on this is very incomplete and while it's not frustratingly useless it does make things harder by cramming more into a smaller screen space. The font is hard to read sometimes and the faded highlight on selected icons is hard to see sometimes. In the picture viewer there is too much text making it harder to scan for what information is needed to see such as scaled view and how to exit. The text reader works but could definitely use a font easier on the eyes.
Motion: 0/2.5
No motion support
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
First entry to neoflash
Overall: 16.5/45
Japanese Hiragana & Katakana Review
By DesertDog
First impression:
A homebrew for reviewing Japanese. I've tried a few others and those seemed to work for what they did, how ever they didn't do a few other things that could of been helpful.
Usability: 10/20
-After the title screen it just threw me into the action with no clue what to do, Definitely need to check out the readme.txt for an explanation.
+A whole screen used for stylus use in selecting symbols
-No pad support for selecting or navigating
-need to actually be practiced in Japanese for this to be any good for you
+main menu is a little confusing at first
+You can replay the sound you are trying to match so you aren't stranded after the beginning
-after selecting the correct answer, it switches too suddenly to the next character making it hard to catch what is being said the first time
+Detects stylus touches making it harder to cheat your way through by scribbling around with the stylus
+Sounds are loud and clear
-No way of know which characters you've already selected if you're a noob
The app is fairly simple to operate, lack of pad support is bad for those non stylus using fans however isn't really that important. The sounds are nice and clear but gets annoying to listen to if you're like me and don't know any Japanese what so ever. Don't expect to learn anything from this as it is just a review as it states in the readme and title so some Japanese knowledge is required.
Interface: 8/10
+Top screen is nice and clean, information needed is shown
+Character squares are large and easy to see
+The sound replay icon is nice, large, and different colored and really stands out from the rest making it easy to spot when needed and fast
-no display of which characters have already been selected
-2 nds files when could be combined into 1
+when selecting correct answer a nice indicator is shown
-better font for the timer and numbers on the top screen could be used
-lack of colors make it nice but also kind of bland
-feels very static, nothing moves, no highlighting when characters are selected etc.
-no way to switch modes without restarting
Motion: 2.5/2.5
Supports motion
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
First time entered in neoflash
Overall: 23/45
MorseDS
By Aguilera_87
First impression:
A homebrew for writing in Morse code. Don't really know what to expect for this one.
Usability: 8/20
+Supports Stylus and Pad controls
+Has left handed controls
-Not sure what some of the arrows control, couldn't hear any difference for some (Bal and Oct)
+Buttons are easy to press, no problems with stylus or button controls
-different letters showed up while following charted letters, not always accurate
-Deleting letters didn't delete the full Morse code part for that letter, just cleared one space
-Selected English in the menu but somethings still weren't translated -readme doesn't help as its not even English
+supports different sound types, can even set custom frequency
-takes forever holding the arrows to increase frequency & oct to really high levels
+does what it's supposed to
Really easy to use although a little frustrating having to restart when i accidentally selected the wrong language after the splash screens. There are left handed controls and the stylus use is really nice, how ever I had some issues writing letters due to it auto restarting for a new letter. Maybe manual controls for switching letters would be nice. There was an issue where deleting letters would not delete the full Morse version leaving me little room to finish completing words and statements.
Interface: 6/20
-Backgrounds are a little distracting
-not enough room for Morse text and regular text to actually write long statements
-The help interface is lacking and only shows one option at a time
-the second two character charts included could be neater
+has all the controls you really need
+everything is laid out nicely on the bottom screen
-different font is needed
-no way to switch language without restarting (in-case someone selects the wrong one in the beginning)
-no graphical indicators of selecting or pushing touch screen buttons
+Style suits the app and its intentions
The interface suits the app for its intentions but the backgrounds are a little distracting. A bigger view area for text is definitely needed and a better font as well. The touch screen controls are
easy to use and laid out but feels a little static.
Motion: 0/5
No motion support
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
First time entered in neoflash
Overall: 16.5/45
NdsMiiMaker
By CoinCoin
First impression:
Miis on the DS! How close does this stack up to the wii version and will making these mii's be useful for any games?
Usability(scores here multiplied by 4): 4/20
-no pad controls, all done with stylus
-lack of selection for the different body types and hair types
-no way to save or load mii's
+buttons are easy to press on the touch screen no problems selecting stuff
-would be nice to use the touch screen to organize stuff on the mii itself rather then just through a menu
This app can't do much and really is too early to be entering in any competition. The things it does do is good however could improve on the mentioned above. Sorry there isn't much here but i'm having a really hard time finding out things to talk about in thi:s section for this app.
Interface: 8/20
+Large icons with decent drawings
+Layout is pretty good, everything is in a logical place
+mii parts (nose, hair etc) look great
-stand alone mii on top screen is kind of empty, needs a background or something
-empty box makes interface seem less professional
-there is some sprite flickering when changing hair and nose
-mii graphics themselves could be worked on a little more
-lack of feed back on button's makes interface too static
-feels empty
The interface is simple and easy to use. However it is also very boring and static. There is a lot of open space which makes this program feel empty.
Motion: 0/2.5
Does not support motion
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
First time entered in neoflash
Overall: 14.5/45
Paint DS
By s_hansse
First impression:
Another paint app on the DS, let's see how this one compares to the others.
Usability: 8/20
+Draws nicely with the stylus
+change colors fast with d-pad
+Changing draw size with d-pad
+has basic tools like bucket, squares, circles and undo and redo
-there are no limits to draw size though, pressing left while at draw size 1 will instantly ruin your picture with a gob
-no error checking in saving and loading, froze the app by loading nothing
-only one step undo, the more the better
-saving doesn't work, just freezes
-takes forever to adjust draw size by tapping d-pad, needs a hold option
-can only save and load files by numbers
This app is just above Soulangers in terms of usability, there are more tools which help in making the drawing experience better.Apart from there being touch controls on the top screen you can also adjust some key features with the buttons like draw sizes and color. Saving seems to be broken and there are a few other apparent bugs that may annoy the user.
Interface: 4/20
+whole touch screen to draw on with gui on top
+icons are large and easy to select
-too much empty space, makes the app appear less professional
-top screen layout needs some work
-draw size indicator doesn't really reflect the true size of the draw size on the bottom screen
-not much for colors there's only 10
-need a different font for that text
-graphics aren't that pleasing
-save menu needs some work, like a keyboard
-load menu needs some work as well, like a file browser
The interface on this is clearly unfinished, there's large empty spaces, the icons have a weird green outline and everything is all over the place. I realize this is just an early build but more should be completed before asking for some feedback.
Motion: 0/2.5
No motion support
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
First time entered into neoflash
Overall: 14.5/45
A Tint of MENUdo - Player
By Soulanger
First impression:
Another one of the apps included in the over-hyped menudo after trying out the Doodle, I'm not so sure this one will turn out so well.
Usability: 6/20
+Stylus and pad control
-play button is impossible to hit with the stylus
+Stylus control is nice in the play-list view
-fixed music path
-only supports tracker formats
-pad control is useless in anything other than the main controls
-stylus menu switching requires long swipes, short quick ones don't work (alright they do but not very well)
-main menu buttons are being pressed while trying to swipe to different screen
-lacks features of other music players (shuffle, directories, simple volume control etc.)
This player is plagued by limited format support, lack of basic play back features and some touchy controls.
Interface:10/20
+clean graphics
+large buttons
+nice colors
-half the play list disappears when i select a song to play and then reappear once its playing
-the play-list button in the bottom right flickers briefly when you switch to the play-list
-song title flickers at the top of play-list when switching from the main screen to play-list
+nice font
+good layout
-only one visualizer which is kind of boring
-top screen is wasted, could be used for more useful things
A nice interface, with a few graphical glitches and wasted space on the top screen. Attempts to be flashy without actually doing anything usefull.
Motion: 2.5/2.5
Supports motion.
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
First time entered in neoflash.
Overall: 21/45
SavSend
By leinad [a.k.a. n00bey]
First impression:
An app that dumps you're nds save over wifi to you're pc, sounds handy.
Usability(multiplied by 3.3 here): 13/20
+Straight forward to use, directions are given in game
-no stylus control, but its not really needed
+Download straight from your internet browser, no extra programs needed
+multiple options on uploading
-uploading through LAN seemed to give me a .part file which i'm not sure if its the full save or if its corrupted
+uploading online worked perfectly and got a save file from that
A handy app that would be even better had it worked. Lan mode kind of worked, i downloaded a file of some type but i don't think its my save. Online mode worked perfect
Interface: 7/20
+Straight forward interface with instructions every step of the way
+All the information you need is shown
-too much text, need a better font
-text seems a little crowded
-wasted top screen
-very few graphics, not very pleasing to look at
The interface isn't the greatest, not very many graphics, bad text, a wasted screen, but it does the job. Just don't stare too long, you'll wreck your eyes
Motion: 0/2.5
Does not support motion
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
First time entered in neoflash
Overall: 22.5/45
SoundBoardDS
BranMuffin
First impression:
Being able to randomly play random sounds, sounds... useful?
Usability: 12/20
+visual feedback when buttons are pressed
+easy to hit buttons at a fairly fast speed to create some awesome beats
-can't play the same sound twice untill it's finished playing through the first time
+can add your own custom sounds
-sounds need to be converted
-can only load 16 sounds at a time, you need to swap em out if you want different sets
+can record your own voice and play it back
-voice playback doesn't have its own button on the screen so if you're right handed its hard to switch to button from stylus in a beat
+You can just drag the stylus around to play multiple sounds at once
Easy to use, buttons are large enough to hit when going decently fast. A major downfall is that you have to wait for a sound to finish playing before you can play it again, can't just cut it off.
Interface(multiplied by 2.85): 6/20
+Looks neat and tidy
+buttons feel like they are being pressed on a touch screen
-buttons are nice but could be placed more around the screen
-wasted top screen
-no on screen button for voice playback
-not really liking the numbers on the buttons used
-wasted screen space
-no indicater of recording or play back of recorded audio
The interface is pretty empty, it's tidy but could be organized to use more space for easier playback. Also kind of confusing if i was recording or not if i had to just hold A or press it, a recording indicater would be nice.
Motion: 0/2.5
No motion support
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
First time entered in neoflash
Overall: 20.5/45
WintenDoS 3.0
Darkyesus
First impression:
A windows type shell... from the previous versions I have tried of this, I'm not expecting it to be much better here.
Usability: 2/20
-unnecessary loading animation
-using the touchscreen as a track pad isn't really that great of an idea (dragging, lift then re drag stylus to get anywhere)
-keyboard is useless doesn't do anything
-whole thing freezes when i tap connections
-console just gives me a black screen and doesn't do anything
-changing background in control panel results in corruption
-clicking performance corrupts the control panel menu
+thankfully don't have to use the track pad
-doesn't have any built in apps
-can't even work my way around the interface without it eating itself
This homebrew is far from complete, it has a false overly long boot up time, it freezes when i tap an icon that doesn't even do anything, the graphics eat itself no matter what i try in the control panel. Its a buggy mess! Not to mention it can't even browse files or even read text files.
Interface: 8/20
+Looks like windows
+keyboard looks decent
-nothing works
-everything corrupts itself eventually
-text is so small in start menu its hard to navigate
Honestly i can't do anything with this interface, its unstable and corrupts itself
Motion: 0/2.5
Does not support motion
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
Overall: 12.5/45
DSecure
Luca.Fraga
First impression:
A security app to prevent unauthorized entry to boot my DS.
Usability: 0/20
-Ran it first time and it shut off my DS without telling me what it exactly did
-ran it a second time, entered a user-name and password shut my DS off again
-every time i booted, it would boot to my original firmware so it didn't really do its job...
-lack of instructions in app make it difficult to set up
-doesn't even ask for a user name or password, or which one you've entered, just a keyboard pops up.
This app didn't really work for me, I followed the directions in the original post and even then it still didn't work. What i did get was one confusing homebrew. I'm sure if it worked for me it wouldn't be so bad in this section. It just wasn't usable due to lack of instruction.
Interface: 8/20
-minimalistic interface
+keyboard is nice
+pleasant top screen
-could use a username and password box
-bottom screen is bare
The interface is the bare minimum... maybe even a little less which can cause some confusion. The keyboard is nice despite being the standard libnds keyboard and the top screen is not overly flashy
which is good.
Motion: 0/2.5
No motion supported
Original Entry: 2.5/2.5
First time entered in neoflash
Overall: 10.5/45
Here are the results:
1.DSi4DS - 24.5/45
2.Japanese Hiragana & Katakana Review - 23/45
3.SavSend - 22.5/45
4. A Tint of MENUdo - Player - 21/45
5.Soundboard DS - 20.5/45
6.A Tint of MENUdo -Doodle - 19/45
7.MorseDS - 16.5/45
8.DsOS- 16.5/45
9. Paint DS - 14.5/45
10. NDS Mii Maker - 14.5/45
11. Wintendos 3.0 - 12.5/45
12.DSecure - 10.5/45
If anyone has any suggestions as to how i can improve this review or if anything needs correcting please tell me.
