Flash Cartridges

This is a mega thread to help you identify what kernel you should be using on your cart, what carts to buy, and where to buy them.

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First thing to check when looking for a flashcart is the DS Quick Start Guide. This guide will help you choose what cart you want based on what console you are buying it for.

Note that for all carts, you should buy the cart on its own, without any bundled SD cards. (Thus, avoid things like 500in1 carts) You do not want any included SD cards, as they are cheap and low-quality, leading to a high failure rate. If you decide to use an included SD anyway, do not be surprised if you lose your saves. Make sure to buy a trustworthy-brand SD card for your cart.

After you choose a cart, you will need to buy it from an online marketplace. A lot of people think of Amazon in this case, but it wouldn't be a great idea for flashcarts. Amazon often sells carts for a steep markup compared to other websites.

Instead of using Amazon, you should look at AliExpress or eBay. These platforms allow you to skip the middleman on Amazon, and buy the carts for market value: about $5-$10.

NDS-Card is also an option, but they are generally more pricey than Ali/eBay, while not offering any advantages. The shipping time is no better than ordering from AliExpress, and you will get the same product in the end.

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If you already have a cart, or have bought one and don't know which kernel to use, then you will need to identify the cart and its kernel. This section aims to explain this process.

The first step is always to figure out what type of cart you have. Most carts are descendants of a handful of original flashcarts: The original R4DS, DSTT (a cut-down DSOne), and Acekard 2i. R4 descendants will likely use a version of WoodR4, AK clones use AKAIO or BL2CK, and DSTT descendants all use YSMenu. There are other original carts that exist, such as the M3 DS Real and M3i Zero, EDGE/iEDGE, and the CycloDS carts, but clones of these are uncommon.

Physical Characteristics

Take a look at your cartridge, and note any distinguishing characteristics. Most importantly, any website listed on the cart, and any year numbers. The URL is very helpful when searching the Flashcard-Archive and other compatibility lists for the cart's kernel. If there is a centered rectangular bulge on the front of the cart under the label, the cart is likely to be a DSTT clone, as this was a common characteristic of them. (There are however DSTT clones with a flat front, like r4isdhc.com and r4i-sdhc.com carts.)

Software Characteristics

The error screen shown when booting with an empty SD card can also help direct you in the right direction, as different carts have different error screens.

First, format your SD card with this guide: https://wiki.hacks.guide/wiki/Formatting_an_SD_card

Next, place the SD card with no files on it into your cart, and attempt to boot into it with a DS.

Note: If you attempt to boot into the cart and see a screen stating An error has occurred, this means that the cart you are attempting to boot into is blocked by your DSi's or 3DS's flashcart blocklist. To bypass this issue, you need to install CFW (Custom FirmWare) on your console. See these guides for: DSi, 3DS/2DS.

Conclusions you can draw from the error screen:

• If you get a MENU? screen, you have a DSTT clone. Some DSTT clones also get stuck on a loading screen with an SD card icon, that looks like this.

• Some DSTT clone carts display dual white screens when booted with an empty SD card, rather than the MENU? text. Notably, r4dsixl3d.com and r4i-g.com carts behave this way.

• If you get stuck on loading or loading... text, you have an R4-descendant cart, such as R4iTT clones, Original R4, Original R4SDHC + clones, and others. Check the BL2CK list for your cart, then Flashcard-Archive if it's not a BL2CK cart. Note that Original-R4SDHC clones are very old carts, and often are forced to use their outdated stock kernel, then chainload into R4SDHC-YSMenu for better compatibility.

• If you get a Can't open _DS_MENU.DAT error, you likely have an Ace3DS+ clone. Can't open _DSMENU.DAT usually indicates an R4iLS clone. These two R4-descendant cart families both use Ace3DS+/R4iLS WoodR4 1.62 (linked below), or the AceOS kernel package.

• Acekards, Acekard clones, and some R4iTT clones will throw a System File is Missing error. For Acekards, check the flashcard-archive for AKAIO. For R4iTT's and AK clones that can't boot into AKAIO 1.9.0, check the BL2CK list below.

Note: R4 Ultra (r4ultra.com) carts are a special case and have their own version of AKAIO, 1.8.6a. Check the Flashcard-Archive for these carts.

If (and ONLY if) you have a DSTT clone, check the YSMenu Compatibility List for your cart: https://www.flashcarts.net/ysmenu-compat-ext

If you have another type of cart, check the below lists for your cart:

Ace3DS+/R4iLS clones - Ace3DS+/R4iLS WoodR4 1.62 or AceOS 2.13 Package - Detailed Setup Instructions

• Ace3DS+ (ace3ds.com)
• Ace3DS X (ace3ds.com)
• ### in 1 combo cart
• ge.ndsi.in GEi HOT
• r4azure.com carts
• r4isdhc.com.cn carts
• r4isdhc.hk 2020+ carts with a star-shaped year number - (Image)
• r4li.com carts
• r4infinity.com 2
• r4ixds.com 2014 white version
• woodr4isdhc.com carts

R4iTT Clones and Acekard Clones - BL2CK WoodR4 Community Kernel - Detailed Setup Instructions

Default Version:

• Acekard 2/2.1/2i clone carts that can't boot AKAIO 1.9.0
• R4i Gold 3DS Plus with faulty DS mode
• r4i3d.com NEW, 2012+
• r4igold.cc 3DS, New
• r4infinity.com Dual-Core
• r4isdhc.com Dual-Core (no year number)
• r4isdhc.com NEW/2013 carts
• r4isdhc.hk carts with no year number, or before 2020
• r4isdhc.in 2014
• R4iTT 3DS NEW, RTS
• r4ixds.com 2014-2016 non-white
• r4i-3dsnew.com carts
• r4i-drive.com carts
• r4i-gold.com 3DS Gold Pro
• r4i-gold.me 2013-2015
• r4sdhc.com R4i SDHC Renovation V3DSU
• r4ultra.com carts that can't boot R4 Ultra AKAIO 1.8.6a
• r4i-u.com carts
• r4ds-i.com.cn carts
• r4-pro.com carts
• super4i.com R4i Super

R4DSPro Version:

• r4dspro.com carts

EDGEi Version:

• edgei-ds.cn carts (Fake iEDGE)

Amaze3DS Version:

• r4igold.cc Wood carts
• Amaze3DS carts

Carts that SHOULD support BL2CK, but not tested:

• 3dslink.com Blue
• amazekard.com cards
• Galaxy Eagle cards (use the Amaze3DS version and rename _DS_MENU.dat to ge.nds)

If your cart is not a DSTT clone and not listed in the above lists, it most likely uses its own kernel. Check the Flashcard-Archive for your cart!

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Other carts that may be hard to identify:

• A white cart with an exposed chip on the front and no label is a SuperCard DSOne SDHC. See this guide for setup: https://github.com/Sanrax/DSOneManual

• An unlabeled gray cart with a red PCB and no text is most likely an Ace3DS+ clone that uses the Ace3DS+ WoodR4 1.62.

• An unlabeled gray cart with a green PCB and the text "ROHS CARD 7A" near the gold contact pins is an Original R4.

• An unlabeled gray cart with a yellow PCB that has no text is either an R4DSPro or Acekard 2i. An easy way to tell is to boot into it with an empty SD. If it gets stuck at loading, it's an R4DSPro that uses BL2CK WoodR4, r4dspro.com edition. If it says System File is Missing, it's an AK2i that will use AKAIO 1.9.0.

• A cart that says "R4 Revolution for DS" with an SDHC logo on the label, and no urls or year numbers, is an original R4SDHC from r4sdhc.com. It uses the YSMenu 7.06 autoboot package, as the stock kernel is outdated, and cannot properly load most homebrew and games.

• A cart that says "R4 Upgrade Revolution for DS" (Or R4-III) on the label, with no urls or year numbers, is an R4 Upgrade/R4-III from r4dsl.net. This cart is a clone of the R4SDHC described above, and also uses a YSMenu autoboot package, based on its own stock kernel.

r4isdhc.hk ribbon-style 2024 carts:

These carts are re-labeled versions of other carts currently on the market. They can be either an R4 Gold RTS, R4 DS Pro, or an r4isdhc.com DSTT clone.

Note that this only applies to .hk carts with the ribbon style year number. They can also be identified by the "Revoloution" misspelling on their labels. Here's a few images: <Image1> <Image2>

To identify these carts and find their correct kernel, the easiest way is to flip it over and check the cart's PCB.

• A cart with the text "Gold RTS" near the gold contact pins is an R4 Gold RTS from r4i-gold.com. It uses DSTTi Clone YSMenu. This cart is also identifiable by the small port at the top of the cartridge.

• A cart with the text "r4isdhc.com" near the gold contacts is a DSTT timebomb clone. It uses R4i-SDHC YSMenu.

• A cart with a yellow PCB and no text is an R4 DS Pro. These carts usually also have a screw on the back, unlike the other .hk carts. It uses BL2CK WoodR4, r4dspro.com edition.

I had to update my 3DS to get a bunch of Pokémon from Bank to home so modding is out of the question.

There really is only 1 or 2 games i want so the cart doesn’t need to be anything special

I’m not really sure if this means that I need a new battery or just some sort of problem with the flashcart

I have Twiilight and I use it on my R4 with a DSi file browser theme, how would I get a different skin/theme to it from the themes list?

So I'm trying to find a r4 card on AliExpress that is compatible with pokemon rom hacks but there's just so many choices. What card would you recommend?

I've recently bought an R4 cart with 'Touch! Bomberman Land' being displayed on the DS menu. This is obviously done to trick the DS into thinking it's an official game, but I've also seen R4 carts that display 'SpongeBob's Atlantis Squarepantis' or 'Deep Labyrinth' instead.

While I'm more than happy with my 'Bomberman' cart, I was wondering which kinds of carts display which game and whether or not there is a direct relationship between the firmware and the game being displayed. They unintentionally give the R4 cart some extra character and it's one of the few features of the R4 cart you can't (easily) customize. I especially like the 'Deep Labyrinth' logo and I can see myself spending a few extra Euros for a second R4 cart with that game being displayed instead.

Hi, I'll be direct. I have a R4 SDHC Dual-Core 2023 that I use to play with my DS Lite. I deleted the "dsmenu.dat" (the one that only has one "") cuz I thought that that was the wallpaper and I wanted to decorate, so I thought that if I delete that and replace a image, the image will appear. But that didn't happened and I were trying to solve my problem, but all the firmawares that I proved didn't worked. So please, if you know an archive or a link that you can download the "_dsmenu.dat" please reply this.

Have all a nice day/afternoon/night.

PD: Sorry if my english is bad, I'm not from english countries

As the title says I downloaded a prepatched rom of pokemon black 2, and im using it on an ace3DS clone with Wood firmware. Every time I tried to boot it up it just gave me a white screen and nothing else. Messing around with the cheats I found a cheats that said "no$gba fix" and I deactivate it thinking that I Don't need it. Without it the game booted up and I was able to play then a saved and opened it again and a blue screen that said "the save file will be erased due to corruption or damage" appeared. Probably it has something to do with the no$gba fix cheat or maybe it's my R4. Any idea on how to fix it?

With the guitar hero games I think it's just better to have the orginal cart. When playing using an R4 there's too much lag and it usually happens right in the middle of a performance, so it can really mess up your score. Not recommended for R4.

Hello I'm Portuguese, and I have an old 3ds, I want to unlock it with ntrboot Luma, which R4 should I buy, I'm going to compare reads aliexpress

Have a lot of progress in Link's Awakening on the 3ds vc. I recently got my hands on an actual GBA. Is there a way to use the save file from the 3ds VC with a Link's Awakening rom file ?

EDIT: For future reference, I backed up the VC save data (sav.dat) using checkpoint. Renamed it to game_name.sav and loaded it in VBA emulator and saved again.

Does anyone here make custom gba carts

So i’ve decided to play my other games on my junior and it only displays a white screen when I load a rom. Weirdly enough, only the pokemon games seem to work, the roms aren’t the issue since I’ve tested them on my GBC and GBA and they worked fine. Any help?

Accidentally bricked my R4 SDHC and am thinking of buying a new one. the SD card still opens up in my PC just fine and everything is still there, so can i just buy an empty cartridge and put my old SD card straight back in?

I am completely out of the loop with flashcard related stuff, i got mine as a gift 10 years ago and only recently started to use it properly, so apologies if this is an obvious question.

Soo I don't know if this is allowed, I've never posted on this subreddit before.

But, I have an R4 SDHC card. I bought it as one of those cards that has like 300 games pre-downloaded on it, and it's worked amazingly, no issues.

Lately I've been wanting to download videos onto it. So I bought an adapter to use for it (If it matters, I've been tryna download videos from my phone as I don't have a computer at the moment). I tried to download Moonshell, but when I did it just comes up as an unknown file?? I also attempted to download a .dpg file, but it's doing the same thing. What am I doing wrong?? I tried to also download a game (from vimm's lair) but it's also coming across as an unknown file.

Edit: looking at it, the Gba games I already had on there are now labled as unknown files. The profiles for them are just grey with question marks. None of the games are coming up as corrupted, though. My already downloaded DS games are still working perfectly.

Is it possible to play gba rom hacks on an R4? For reference I am using an r4 clone. Says 2024 on top right and says r4isdhc.hk dual core smart update. The kernel I use says deep labrynth on the game select. I got it from a YouTube tutorial before I found this sub.

Ds rom hacks seem fine and I know that gba games are emulated when using an R4- but the ones I’ve tried like team rocket version and emerald rogue don’t work on the ds, but work fine on my computer emulator.

The thing is i have a DS lite, and i want to run GBA games with a M3DS real, but i'm so lost on everything. I followed the YouTube videos instructions and put the Gbarunner.nds and the bios.bin on the cart, but after that i don't know how to open it, or use it.

Which flashcarts are best from Shopee? Got one from a Chinese seller and Pokémon always glitches past a certain stage, can never complete the damn games