Neoflash R6 Gold Review…

Neoflash R6 Gold
By: spinal

morew info:  http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/topic,4811.0.html

Neoflash's newest flash card will be a surprise for some people as it is not only a slot-1 flash card but it also has full motion sensing capabilities built right into it. There are already homebrew games and applications that take advantage of the DS Motion Card and DS Motion Pak,
and since the R6 Gold uses the same motion sensing technology, it means you'll be able to make full use of the device from the moment you open the box.

Specs

According to the NeoFlash website, the R6 Gold has the following features –

   * 1:1 original NDS cart size
   * Supports ALL versions of NDS & Lite
   * Simple PLUG and PLAY
   * Drag and paste, no need for any extra patching
   * NDS brightness adjustable
   * Supports Auto Sleep Mode
   * Built in MagicKey pass2
   * Built in 2M EEPROM Save
   * Built in 2M SRAM buffer
   * Built in 16M menu flash
   * Supports homebrew
   * Suitable for MicroSD (TF)
   * Built in X,Y,Z 3-axis high speed accelerometer
   * Built in GYRO sensor

However this list is slightly out dated, the R6 Gold now also features the following –

   * Built in 4K/64K/256K/512K/2M/4M EEPROM hardware save
   * Nice blue LED

Also included with the R6 Gold, is a nice little USB microSD reader. This reader is half the size of most USB devices and plugs directly inside the USB port (there is no metal surround).

Build

Anyway, back to the R6. One of the first thing's you will notice is that unlike some other slot-1 cards, it has HCSD support.  This means newer high capacity microSD cards will work just fine (Although I have not personally tested this feature as I don't have any HCSDs to test it with). Also you will see that the 'comb' that covers the contacts on the back of the card is missing, I assume this is either to aid in the production process, or to make cleaning the contacts possible.  Either way, they're no miss. As the feature list states, the card is 1:1 size compared to commercial carts, and although it is a little snug, it's not in a bad way. It just means you can't shoot it across the room like you can with commercial carts. It will slide in and out without a problem.

Software

The R6 Gold works much the same as any other FT based slot-1 card, the menu should be named _boot_ds.nds and placed on the root of the card. If the menu is not found, the user will be presented with the built-in flash menu. The user is presented with the Neoflash logo on the top screen, and some options on the bottom screen for selecting the different save types and booting to slot-1 or slot-2, with the device then searching for _boot_ds.nds on the chosen device.

As with most other cards, the R6 Gold loads homebrew without a problem, albeit currently without dldi auto patching, but that is likely to change in the future (don't worry, there is already a dldi patch for the R6). The menu is a simple one, with a list of files (and folders), each with their icon to the left.  Just select what you want to load, and that's it. Wait a few seconds and you're playing.

For the purposes of testing commercial roms, I made backups of the carts that I own.
Remember downloading roms is illegal in most countries and in a lot of countries backing up your own games is also illegal, so please find out about the laws in your country.
Anyway, back on topic, I backed up the following games for the purpose of testing –

   Super Monkey Ball – Touch&Roll   – Works
   New Super Mario Bros.      – Works but can't access minigames
   Polarium         – Works
   The Simpsons Game DS      – Works
   Actionloop         – Works
   Mario Kart DS         – Works
   Super Mario 64 DS      – Works
   Yoshi's Island DS      – Works

So it seems that for those of you who want to play 'backups', you can. I did notice that because the Neoflash team chose to use hardware for saving, rather than patching the rom as it loaded, the previous games save data must be backed up before starting the next game. This adds a little "loading" time.  Not much, just a few seconds that some people might prefer wasn't there.

Conclusion

This card, like all others, has its pros and cons. On the one hand, it's micro sd based (including newer SDHC cards) so storage should never be a problem.  You can easily fit all your mp3's or whatever on whichever sized card you have. On the other hand, the hardware saving slows down the loading process.  With it's motion capabilities as well as hardware save support it's obviously trying to please both groups of flash cart users. Homebrewers will be happy, as it has very good homebrew support, and those who like to play 'backups' will be happy to.

I for one will be recommending this to any fellow homebrewer that asks.