The NEO2-SD Flash Cart Review by DCEmu

The NEO2-SD Flash Cart Review by DCEmu

more info: http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/topic,3318.0.html

Bootcart and Flash Cart Combo for Nintendo DS/DS Lite (GBMicro, GBA & GBASP)

Flash Cart works also on unreleased Snes, Megadrive and Nintendo 64 Flash carts.

Description/Specs

NEO2-SD

* Run the clean rom from (SD) directly,not need any patcher
* Support all clean rom (100% compatible), included the "Ultimate Spiderman (japanese)"
* Support multi-clean rom
* Build in the SD/MMC slot
* Build in battery AD monitor
* Build in universal IR remote,can support TV/HiFi/PS2/XBOX,and the remote code is upgradable
* 100% GBA hardware save
* Build in 3 set separate RTC
* Build in 16 bit DMA
* Build in 8Kb inner high-speed buffer
* Build in 2M sram
* Build in 16M flash menu
* Build in 128M Zip RAM,support compressed ROM
* Build in 256M flash memory
# NEO2-SD support SD/Mini-SD/MicroSD(TF)/MMC/RS-MMC, up to 4GByte
# NEO2-SD support GBA/SP/GBM/NDS/NDS-lite all platform

the NEO2-SD retail packing front view

the NEO2-SD retail packing back view

what come with the NEO2-SD retail package

NEO2-SD need MK4-mini to work together,because the game save data will keep in the MK4-mini inner EEPROM chip! If you use the MK4-key to play,will make many games can't keep to run when it need to access the save data.

the NEO2-SD looking

the SD card plug into NEO2-SD looking

The Review Itself

The NEO2-SD is a newly released Nintendo DS Flash Cart and Boot Cart set. The Neo2-SD comes in a nice protective packaging so you should have no problems when ordering from overseas.

Inside the package there was the Bootcart, the Flash cart and a Mini CD with drivers and utilities and homebrew releases from the recent Neoflash Contest. One extra thing youll need is either a Mini SD or SD card up to 4GB in size, bigger the better and make sure to use decent brands.

Im not a person who messes about with drivers so the first thing i did was to grab a few roms and stick them on my memory card and then push the card into the flash cart. Full size SD Cards stick out the top a fair way (see above) but mini SD cards would be much better, but in fairness they all work perfectly.

One thing i noticed on the Boot Cart was a GBA/NDS switch but to be honest it didnt make any difference so i left it as it was. On booting, the NDS files i had on showed up and with little icons and their proper name, its so nice not to have to convert roms when you want a quick game on your DS.

The loading of the games was very quick and i was happy to be greeted with the video of the game i was playing, I tried about 10 different games and some didnt load and some crashed but those that played did so very well.

The GBA games i stuck on came back with a Unknown File type on them, i then tried the Flashcart in a GB Micro and GBA SP and the screen came up garbled on both.

Now you would think thats cause for concern but like any hardware, it needs new and updated software and a day later Neoflash released a new beta version of their software for the Flash Cart that made more NDS games conpatible.

Comments
Neoflash have come up with what must be the most exciting idea for a flash cart in years, the flash cart having a slot that takes Mini SD or normal SD cards is a great feature and the ability to have up to 4gb of space is worth the investment. Now heres where the really cool news comes in, the Neo2SD flash cart will be compatible with Neoflash`s Soon to be released Megadrive, Nintendo 64 and Snes Flash carts which use the DS Flash Cart to be plugged into them. This means you have a Flash Cart thats future proof and also means that you some major retro fun on your hands.

Now the GBA games werent working at all on the Cart at the time of this review and yes some DS games had problems but new software will sort those problems.

So my recommendations are

Overall i would give it a 9 /10 , the ultimate idea for a flash cart and once they sort out the GBA mode and the compatibility of DS games then this could be the Nintendo DS flash cart of the year..

original link: http://www.dcemu.co.uk/neo2-sd-nintendods-flashcart-review.php