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M3DS Simply Review4 June 2007 Introduction
| |  The M3 DS Simply is a slot 1 Flashcard that uses a Micro SD card for memory. It does not require your DS to be flashed.
| | | | This is what the M3 Team say about their card:
| | | | The M3DS Simply Cartridge is the current top-of-the-line in DS SLOT-1 flash carts. It is Just an amazing little device like original DS cart size, it is a complete solution with no need to purchase any a additional components or deal with any messy software and truly the easiest media enhancer you have ever done; To simply put it, this is a must have peripheral for any regular DS/DS lite owner.
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| | I will be taking an in depth view of how to use the card and how it performs.
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| | ~ The same size as an original DS cartridge
~ Built in PassMe (No need for boot card or anything else to boot )
~ Using Micro SD card (Trans Flash) as external storage . Cheap & has many uses .
~ Boot clean dump images
~ Super simple to use , drag and drop files over to the micro SD card . No drivers required
~ Standard FAT system support .
~ Support for different speeds of micro SD cards even the low speed SD card .Run games without any lag or slow down .
~ upgradeable Firmware ( OS / Bios / Kernel )
~ Touch screen control & robust skinning support .
~ No battery needed, back up the save file into the micro SD card directly .Never lose your save .
~ Auto detect the save type & automatic generate saver file .
~ Homebrew support , IO lib will release on launch .
~ Watch movies , listen MP3's & read TXT on the DS via the use of Moonshell .
~ Supports WiFi , DS rumble pack & DS browser .
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| | Contents and Further Requirements.
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| | In the box one gets a slot 1 flashcard(size of a ds cartridge),DS card holder, strap, Micro SD card adapter and a CD.
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| |   The card is a dark grey colour and the Quality of the card seems good. The Micro sd socket is spring loaded. The back of the card has a neat little graphic showing which way the micro sd must be inserted.
| | | | I have not used the adapter as the slot was too tight for the Micro SD card to fit without the fear of damaging the sd card. The adapter seems to be of poor quality.
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| | The DS card Holder and strap
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| |  The DS holder and strap is a nice little addition. The Holder has space for 2 DS cards.
| | | | The Mini CD is suitable for a PC Only and your CD drive must be able to take the small CD. This is not a problem as all the required software is available for download on the M3 web site.
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| |  The disc has a user manual, rom trimmer(PC only), save converter(PC Only) and v1.03 firmware for the M3 DS Simply. These cards are continually updated so one cannot expect the firmware to be up to date on the CD. For this review I have downloaded the latest firmware(v1.05) from here.
| | | | One is required to purchase a Micro SD in order to get started. I have a Sandisc Micro SD, it is not one of the fastest cards, unfortunately I do not have another make of card to compare it against. Take a look at M3 simply wiki to see the compatibility of the micro sd cards. Generally all micro sd cards work.
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| | Insert the Micro SD card into the Adapter and format it to Fat 16(Fat) or Fat 32. Fat is better as it is quicker then fat 32. Fat 32 will allow for cards bigger then 2 gigs when they become available.
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| | Once the card has been formated one needs to put the firmware onto the card.
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| | Then Drag either a rom(unpatched) or Homebrew (possibly-DLDI patched, discussed under Homebrew) directly onto the card. You are now ready to place the micro SD into the M3 DS Simply and then place the card into the DS.
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| | I found the installing of the firmware to be easy, it is also easy to update the card with future firmware releases.
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| | When one turns on the DS the card will automatically boot to the main menu. Above is an image of the theme as found on the CD. There is a new theme for each month. The graphic above is part of their 12 month theme. The gui is easily skinnable with a lot of very nice skins available for download.
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| | The bottom screen has 3 choices. The first block will take you to the menu for playing roms and running homebrew. The middle block is for booting moonshell,(Moonshell is used for playing movies, music etc). The 3rd block is used to boot the GBA slot. (Tested booting a supercard and it worked without any problems.)
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| | Once you have entered the game menu, you can change the brightness of the screen by using the L button. I love this feature.
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| | Soft reset can be turned on and off by using the R button. The top right graphic turns red when it is off and green when it is on. I don't know why anyone would want it off, but the feature is there nevertheless, (so if soft reset is not working make sure you check this), Soft reset is used within a rom (not Homebrew) to return to the main menu. To reset you need to push L + R +Y + X + A +B
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| | One is able to choose what Rom or Homebrew you would like to run.
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| | When you run a rom for the first time the card automatically detects the save type and after asking weather you would like to create a save file the save file is created, and your game will load.
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| | This is a nice new feature.
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| | Some games have cheat available for them. Above is the cheat interface for Mario vs Donkey Kong 2. The cheat function is a great idea.
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| | I love the fact that the GUI is skin-able. I think most people would want to change the look of it.
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| | Instructions for installing themes are given on the disc.
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| | There are hundreds of different skins available. Everyone should be able to find something they like. Below are some examples of other skins.
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| | New Skins are available at he following sites..
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| | Though the M3 Simply and the R4 are known to be the same cards and use the same skins. One cannot use the R4's firmware on the M3DS Simply.
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| | The M3 DS Simply has most of the features needed.
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| | ~ The same size as an original DS cartridge
~ Built in PassMe (No need for boot card or anything else to boot )
~ Using Micro SD card (Trans Flash) as external storage . Cheap & has many uses .
~ Boot clean dump images
~ Super simple to use , drag and drop files over to the micro SD card . No drivers required
~ Standard FAT system support .
~ Support for different speeds of micro SD cards even the low speed SD card .Run games without any lag or slow down .
~ upgradeable Firmware ( OS / Bios / Kernel )
~ Touch screen control & robust skinning support .
~ No battery needed, back up the save file into the micro SD card directly .Never lose your save .
~ Auto detect the save type & automatic generate saver file .
~ Homebrew support , IO lib will release on launch .
~ Watch movies , listen MP3's & read TXT on the DS via the use of Moonshell .
~ Supports WiFi , DS rumble pack & DS browser .
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| | The claimed features above are all true.
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| | Additional features that would be nice to see are:
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| | * Automatic DLDI patching of Homebrew
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| | * Better download play compatability
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| | The Rom compatibility is very good. With 100% compatibility. If new games are released that do not work, they will be fixed during firmware updates. All the games I tried using the sandisc 1gig worked flawlessly, including Animal crossing. I did some further testing on download play comatibility.
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| | 1062- Picross DS (E) :Download play doesn't work
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| | 0580- 42 All-Time Classics : Download play doesn't work
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| | 0406- Snowboard kids: Download play works
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| | It would be nice to see an improvement in the download play compatibility.
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| | We do not approve of piracy , the roms have been used for testing purposes only.
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| | Homebrew Compatibility (9/10)
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| | Homebrew compatibility is very good with the M3 Simply DS. There is a DLDI driver for the card that supports both read and write.
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| | The M3 DS Simply Wiki has an extensive list of all the homebrew applications and games that work.
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| | There is a treasure of both Homebrew Applications and games available for the DS. Below are the links to a database of Homebrew games and Applications
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| | Here are screenshots of some homebrew
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| | Phidias(drawing program) and DSOrganize are 2 of my favourite apps for the DS. Both of these applications worked flawlessly. They were both patched with the R4tf DLDI Driver.
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| | Download the DLDI Driver(R4tf )
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| | Finally I give the card a rating of 9.2 out of 10. Overall this card is great and there is little one can fault the card on.
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| | Slot 1 - does not stick out of the DS
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| | Micro SD memory upgradable
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| | Works as a pass me device
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| | Has DLDi driver with both Read and write capabilities.
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| | Automatically detects roms save type and creates save file.
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| | *Micro sd adapter if of low quality
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| | *Have to manually patch Homebrew with DLDI patch
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| | *Firmware updates come some time after the R4's updates.(R4 is the same card as the M3 DS Simply but requires other firmware)
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| | *Download play compatibility is not very good
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| | The M3 DS Simply is a great flash card and is highly recommended.
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