Below is my entrance in the gbatemp.net Acekard 2 review competition. All GSoC’ers need not worry about reading it, unless they really would like to!

After noticing these past few months that my R4 has slowly begun to deteriorate, both physically, and support-wise, I decided to invest in a new Flash cart. I was very excited to finally have the need to purchase a new flash cart, as the cart scene has been very active and competitive recently. I started trolling the gbatemp.net forums and reviews to try and decide on a new cart. One such cart caught my eye, the Acekard 2, from what I read it was a “zippy” card with many much needed improvements to both interface usability and customizability, something my R4 dearly lacked. While other cards seemed attractive, like the DSTT, the Supercard, and even in some ways the iTouchDS. My mind was made up though, when I noticed the price of the AK2, a paltry $20 USD, shipped, to Canada. I just today, the 7th of July, received my AK2, and happened upon this very Acekard 2 review contest. As such I am writing this review AS I begin to use my new Acekard 2. (PS, in the last photo, the AK is the one on the right, R4 on the left)

Unboxing

The boxing (or rather, plastic packaging,) for the AK2 is a welcome change from the R4’s somewhat bulky and unprofessional (I dare say) cardboard boxing. While cardboard is nice, and can be done well, the appeal of a sleek plastic case with a well designed paper insert such as the AK2’s packaging is a welcome change. For me, the AK2 plastic packing is great. Like I said, its well designed, especially for what I am used to in “eastern” products; In fact, I can hardly tell the product ISN’T American (aside from a few Mandarin? glyphs.)

The package isn’t (in my case) held together by hellishly-sealed plastic-edges, and as such comes apart very easily. The included SD(HC) card reader seems very sturdy, compared to my R4 reader. The cart itself feels rather flimsy compared to my R4; The sticker is on crooked, and the two plastic pieces of the shell held together by somewhat rough looking clips (as opposed to screws.) Its also important to note there is no protector covering the leads of the cart, and one should be careful not to touch this leads (as this very ‘Touching’ led to the demise of my R4 [i believe].) I open up the manual and at this point the illusion of an American product is quickly broken. The instructions included offer only 1 page (out of ~35 pages) of English instructions. Some very obviously translated English text (“Select the skin you needed and press A button.”) has informed me to go to www.acekard.com to get the latest firmware. Lets see what the website has to offer…

Thus far:

Pros:

• Sturdy card reader
• Sleek, easy-to-open packaging
• Well designed insert

Cons:

• Card is flimsy as heck, looks like it was put together and stickered by an ape
• Card is flimsy…. again, I’d pay 5 WHOLE extra dollars for a nicer physical cartridge.

The Firmware - Pt. 1

The website I’m presented with is clearly Chinese, but is nice enough to include English links on the its top bar to News, Forum, DownLoad (sic), About … Since I see no “English” link I click DownLoad. This page has a far larger proportion of English text, and it seems pretty clear to me that I should download the ” OSMenu of AK2 AK2相关下载” (while this could be made more clear with something like “Acekard 2 Firmware”, as it is referred to as firmware in the manual.) I save the most recent “OSMenu” (Version 4.07a15) and unzip the contents.

The only included txt in the package is a relesae_note.txt(sic). The file includes a lot of gibberish (to me) but I immediately notice the header “How to use ak2.” The instructions below said header are fairly clear, but I should note that the Acekard Team might want to be consistent and call it the Acekard 2, instead of ak2, AK2 or otherwise. I do as the instructions say, pretending to act like I know nothing about computers. Oh, it looks like I can’t do that quite yet, as the card reader isn’t working on my Macbook. A quick test on my Linux box shows that the reader doesn’t work there either. I pop my microSD out of the supplied reader and into my R4 reader, a little more flimsy, but it has a status led, so I know it is working. The files go over easy, and the firmware takes up only a paltry 7.2 MB. I haven’t transferred any homebrew or roms over yet, lets see how the Firmware is without games.

Thus far:

Pros:

• Packing includes instructions TO a place to get firmware
• Installing firmware, as well as homebrew/roms, is a drag-and-drop operation

Cons:

• Website is ALMOST all chinese. Aesthetically speaking there are many better ways to present the site/download page, including cleaner layout, visual cues, and english alternative.
• Found out the included card reader didn’t work with my plain microSD

The Firmware - Pt. 2

The microSD goes in smoothly into the AK2’s spring loaded slot (my R4 did not have a spring loaded slot, but I heard bad things about models that did), as does the AK2 go smoothly into the DS. The protruding chip caused no problems sliding the cart in, but the cart does feel like a tighter fit than the R4. Powering on my NDS I notice immediately that the cart does not override the default startup options, I have to start my cart just like any other DS game (something I appreciate, since I hate having to pop out my R4 to play GBA games). The menu system is something out of this world compared to the R4. The file/folder window is moved to the touchscreen, and navigates quite will with the stylus. The start menu is also a welcome addition, no more will I need to remember which key copies, deletes, etc (I once accidentally deleted a ROM on a road trip and couldn’t play the game I wanted to play until I got back to a computer to reload it ). There is also the addition of date, time, my name (jphr) and a calendar to the top screen. All of which are well laid out, and visually appealing. This operating system is a welcome improvement over the R4’s OS.

I should note: I have an EZFlash 3-in-1, its apparent that the AK2’s menu won’t launch my flashed EZF via its menu, however, this isn’t a problem because I get to the NDS default menu first anyways. If this really bothers you, though, you can always set your NDS to auto-boot games, and the AK2 consequently.

Thus far:

Pros:

• Does not skip NDS system menu, reducing the number of buttons to press to launch a GBA game
• Layout of cart Operating system makes stylus navigation easy.
• Beautiful Operating System.

Cons:

• Can’t launch a “NOR”-game flashed EZFLASH 3-in-1 via menu. (R4 can)
• ?The menu is so darn good looking I don’t want to launch any games?

Games

Its about time now to try some games. Out of “ignorance” I’ve just copied over a whole bunch of my R4 roms and homebrew, directly from that seperate microSD; Let us see how the Acekard copes. I’ve copied Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin which I have a pre-existing save for, an unpatched version of Metroid Prime Pinball, and Etrian Odyssey II, which didn’t work on my R4. From what I’ve read out and about I will run into problems with saves, as R4 saves as .SAV, and AK2 saves as .nds.sav. Lets see what happens…

As I suspected, saves aren’t recognized. Nothing a quick batch rename won’t fix. I did notice though, that the AK2 relaunches to the last place you browsed too; That will be handy when I always use a single folder for roms!
Castlevania: PoR: Just like on the R4, perfect
Metroid Prime Pinball: Rumble worked on an unpatched Rom (R4 needed a patched one)
Etrian Odyssey 2: Loads correctly (unlike R4)

I should note the interface for launching games is noticeable different from the R4’s: The menu only fits a few games per screen, but the listing features a large icon view (very handy to quickly recognize a game).

Thus far:

Pros:

• Good game support (plays Castlevania: PoR and Et. Ody. 2)
• Far more visually appealing rom browser.
• Peripheral support for EZFLASH 3-in-1 rumble.

Cons:

• Can’t autorecognize save file named incorrectly (I can dream, can’t I?)
• A far smaller number of roms are displayed per page. (Quick movement can still be done with the L-R buttons, instead of Up-Down).

Homebrew

I was surprised to find that all of my copy-pasted homebrew (once save names were changed) loaded without issue. Apparently auto-dldi patching works correctly even once a rom has been initially patched - I hope.

Homebrew browses just like ROMS, so it inherents the good and bad of the AK2’s ROM browsing. Since almost all devices auto-dldi patch homebrew there isn’t really any compatability to test for, my ‘brew works. One gripe, however; when loading some (not all) homebrew my EZFLASH 3-in-1 must get called to initialize, and shoots a 10-second spurt of LOUD rumble. I attempted to put my 3-in-1 into Ram mode via ExpLoader but to no avail. I will have to unplug the 3-in-1 cart or avoid homebrew in public, because the rumble is loud and long.

Thus far:

Pros:

• Homebrew works

Cons:

• Loud rumble initialization on some homebrew.

Interface Modification:

I have to admit I didn’t have time to delve into what appears to be an incredibly complex interface modification. It is clear, however, that there is a breadth of options available when it comes to modifying the interface of the AK2. In fact, each individual UI for the AK2 is made up of almost 25 images, and locations are customizable. This is opposed to the R4’s ~5/6 images that are statically set.

Overall

The Acekard 2 offers a few functional improvements over the R4 that I may or may not utilize (such as SDHC support) and generally works… Of course at this point in time almost all carts “just work.” Where the Acekard 2 really shines for me is in the interface’s beauty and customizability. The Acekard 2 not only works, but it looks good while doing it. Of course all good things come at a cost, and the Acekard 2 is no exception. There are a few noticable problems, namely individual cheat compilation and flimsy cart, but nothing serious enough to not live with, especially considering the price tag.

As a $40 cart I might rate it ~6/10, but considering that in actuality the Acekard 2 is only a $20 cart, I give it a solid 9/10. I will recommend it to any family or friends looking to do more with their NDS.