My Review of the SCDS1 SDHC

ojsinnerz. · Apr 26, 2008

Will update whenever there's something new. I'll add more games to the compatibility list when I get more games.

Updated July 14th! One more game to the compatibility list, and update the skins. Also, updated the Cons.

WILL ADD MORE IMAGES SOON.

My review of the SCDS1 SDHC.

:Introduction:

SCDS1 SDHC or Supercard DSone SDHC, is made by the Supercard company, and is actually an updated version of the previous SCDS1/Supercard dsone. The Supercard team is famous for not dropping support for any of their products. Anyway, there's been some major hardware improvements, and added some great features, like Realtime Save, and Realtime Guide since the last SCDS1. This is not an offical review of Gbatemp, or any other places, and just for my own. I'm not even sure if there will be that many people that will actually look at this. But if you do, make sure to comment!

<img src="http://www.twoslots.com/catalog/images/sc1v3.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

Feature list:

-Plug'n play - NO extrea software needed
-100% game compatibility, supports clean ROM's and works on any OS.
-Uses microSD card, both FAT 16 and FAT32 are supported
-Supports the SDHC specification, allowing for high capacity memory cards.
-Compatible with ALL speed flash memory card.
-Hardware save, Multi-save support.
-Save directly to MicroSD rather than On-board flash.
-Support RESET, Realtime Cheat Code and Realtime Game Guide.
-Micro firmware designed. Upgradable operati on System with powerful function and friendly GUI.
-Support MP3, Movie, TXT, and View PIC directly.

Packaging and contents:

<img src="http://image.dhgate.com/upload/20083/71/4028804b109f3c7401109f84fe8525e9/productimg1206286420172.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

The SCDS1 comes in a green, yet very flashly looking box. It's pretty small, and there's a different layer that secures the SCDS1 in it spot (Forgive me, for I don't know what it's made of. Feels like a very hard sponge.). THe box is seal with a sticker that says, ' Supercard OS/DS One'. Inside of the box, it feels fairly solid. In front of the box on the top left corner, it says Real Time Save, with in a yellow circle, and at the right corner, it has the Micro SD, and Micro SDHC symbols on it. The back of the box says the features, listed above, and has a few small various pictures that are not really needed. It also has the Supercard website at the bottom.

Also, for some of you that may not know, the Supercard team changed the Box, that looks like OS One, instead of DS One. Some thought it was fake, but it's actually the real thing. Due to the Piracy law, they've changed some stuff to make sure it doesn't get into any trouble while getting across the border. Some say it's a Speical French Version. Both of those comments are true, but remember that there really aren't changes to this version and the original, other than the OS One, and the Cart's shape.

Box contents:

1x Software CD
1x Micro sd Reader
1x Supercard DS1
1x manual

The software CD is usually outdated, and I did not try it out for myself. I just went to Supercard website and downloaded the latest version available. The Manual explains the three modes available, which are Standard mode, Patch mode (Default), and Supercard. These three will be explained later. Lastly, I'm kinda surprised by the SD reader. It's actually as good as my Sandisk one, maybe even better. So far, I haven't had any corruptions on my SDHC card, and for some who don't know, yes, it can read micro SDHC cards.

Cart design:

<img src="http://www.dealextreme.com/productimages/sku_5097_1_small.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

The cart is only available in white. The sticker on the front is decent, but nothing more. The feel of the cart is solid, and feels very smooth. It's held by one screw at the back, but very sturdy. The micro SD slot is Spring loaded (In my opinion, it's a good thing), and works well.

When it goes into the DS, it doesn't go in as smooth as the real DS games, but still good enough to not cause any problems. Also, if you're DS cannot find the card, paste a piece of paper on the back of your Scds1. This was a serious problem in the past, and I'm not exactly sure if it anymore, but just to make sure.

And according to the Supercard team, their products have a 1 year warrenty, so send it back to them if it doesn't work.

Setting up and using

To begin with you need to download the files off of the supercard website. Once you download it, open it up, and extract the ENG file. Afterwards, open up ENG, and take out the two files (One program, one folder), and put it into the Micro sd. Now, just put in what you need, and it should work fine.

The Card speed setup: If you're having trouble selecting the speed for your Micro sd on the SCDS1, and don't want to use the setup speed the SCDS1 is already programmed to do so, there is a button on the menu that adjusts the speed of your micro sd/hc to a suitable speed. If you can't find it, find the "Other" button, and press "AUTO Set SD speed". It should automatically work. Then when you're done, it shows the Micro sd speed, and press A to save. Afterwards, there shouldn't be any problems, unless you're using a slow micro sd card.

Performance:

Rom compatibility:

The roms that seems to work fine.
Number of games tested: 66
Number of games working: 66
Number of games not working: 0

<img src="http://images.strategyinformer.com/t6/00221470.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Hurray! Luminous arc 2... I just felt like posting this.

DOWNLOAD PLAY:

DOWNLOAD PLAY FIX: The games here are only working, because I checked off the sign, "Fix Downplay". Without it, most of these games will not work. To get to the option, select a game, click "select patch" at the bottom screen, and it should come up. BUT if you're using this, this will disable the RTS, Cheats, RTG, etc. SO basically, it fixes all the problems with the download play, but it isn't able to use any of the special features.

Theses are the only ones I've tried:
[*]
[*]- Mario Kart- Plays fine
[*]- Bleach 2nd- Plays fine
[*]- Worms Open warefare 2- Plays fine.
[*]- Mario hoops 3 on 3- plays fine
[*]- Bomberman- plays fine
[*]- Call of duty 4 - plays fine
[*]- Mario party- plays fine.
Overall, it's excellent.[/size]

Homebrew support:

Auto DLDI- Nuff said. There really isn't anything to know here.

Additional features:


- Skinning: It's not a easy cart to skin, for there's ALOT of stuff to do. It will most likely take awhile. The supercard team has indeed added the multi-skin function on their latest firmware update. Now, I just hope they'll update the GUI, the cheat menu, RT Guide, and the SAV names....

- Realtime save: Takes only a few seconds to load, and to use. Very useful, and seems to work fine. But I won't be using this feature really alot. For some who don't know, Press the buttons, L+R+SELECT+UP. Then it gives your the options to save, or load. Very useful, and easy to use.

-In-game cheats:In order to activate, do the same thing with RTS, but press START instead of SELECT. Very useful, and can be used at any point of the game itself. It uses the same cheat menu.

- Realtime Guide: I have not used this funtion yet, but it's useful for RPGs, and other few games. Although it works fine, I hear that you cannot go back to where you were last reading, so you have to find it again. This may be fixed in the future, but in the current times, it's a little uncomfortable to use. But like I said, it works fine.

- Homebrew Soft-Rest: One of my Favorite features. Currently, SCDS1 and Cyclo are the only ones that have it, and only the SCDS1's is perfected, not out as a beta, like Cyclo. It lets you Soft reset from homebrews. You don't have to turn the DS, off and on, just to go somewhere else on it.

- DMA Mode: A mode you can select, where it speeds up the Micro SD/HC you have. Only recommended for Slow micro sd's. If you're using Japanese Kingston, or A-data, or Trancend Class 6, you shouldn't need to use it at all. It's useful for my Sandisk card. It does eat up more battery when put in use.

Multi-save: Lets you save more than once. It creates a few different SAV files, and you can choose between them. This feature is important if you're sharing the flashkart with someone else. Very neat feature.


Others

The GUI:
The GUI uses a hacked Moonshell, version 1.41. It has the same sound quality as the newest Moonshell, but the watching the video on the GUI is not recommended, for it really lags alot. But since you don't have to activate the Moonshell to listen to music and all, it's still very convienent. And you can use the touchscreen to click onto music.

<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/346798815_9c533d2349.jpg?v=0" border="0" class="linked-image" />

The Tripple Loader: It's not a feature, but a great discovery.This lets you swap between, a SCDS1, a DSTT, and YSmenu of DSTT. The instructions and all are here: <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=75805" target="_blank">http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=75805</a>

If you have a slow micro sd card, like myself, then change it into a DSTT, and play games this way. Surprisingly, even the Castlevania OP, that lagged on the SCDS1, runs smoothly on the DSTT. Other games work fine as well. It has the DSTT compatibility. I've tried it myself, and Loved it. However, I really don't want to convert all my save files, so I decided to use it for speed needed games. 

Conclusion

Most people currently say it's one of the best Flashkarts available. In my opinion, it is. It has tremendous support from the team, great features, very cheap, and great quality product. But if you're buying this, just get a fast memory card. If you have a slow Micro sd, all the games work fine, but most of them freeze every once in awhile. It's kind of annoying, but it doesn't freeze so much that it makes the games unplayable. Even though this is my first flashkart, I'm enjoying it very much. It suffers very minor problems, but can be fixed very easily in the future.

Pros-

- Perfect game compatibility out of the games tested.
- 100% download play with the games tested with.
- Great support, and frequent updates from the team.
- Nice extras in the box
- Solid, and well built cart
- SDHC support
- Realtime save, Realtime Guide, and other features, making it the most featureful cart available.
- In-game cheats
- Multi-save option.
- Tripple loader, Lets you choose between, DSTT, SCDS1, and YSmenu of DSTT.
- Auto DLDI patching.
- Very customizable menu
- Playing music on the hacked moonshell works fine. Even less problems than the real one (Music wise)
- Cheap, compared to other carts. The best bang for the buck. Only 28 bucks.

Cons-

- Still picky about micro sds.
- Moonshell is not up to date, therefore, suffers a few problems, such as the video.
- A slow GUI, compared to some of the Flashkarts out there.
- Not the best cart for a first timer, for it might be a little more confusing than other carts.
- The team doesn't respond much to questions on forums.
- Less frequent firmware updates, compared to the Cyclo.
- Making a skin for this might take you a while, seeing you'll need a lot of places to cover.


Score: 9/10

Thanks for reading, and ask me anything to add on it. I'll do my best to do so.

JPH · Apr 27, 2008

Awesome. Looks really nice, oj.

Also, you said what should be added...
How about some images?

I too am reviewing the SuperCard DS One SDHC card.
It should be up in a couple of weeks

Minox · May 4, 2008

Just as a correction, the Scds1 Os is based on a hacked version of Moonshell 1.41 and for the problem with a DS not recognizing the Scds1 it should be: "Paste a piece of paper on the back of your Scds1".
I would also point out that Super Mode using a Pc-side client is outdated and shouldn't be used at all.

Otherwise, a nice review

Saladman · May 13, 2008

You might want to mention in the 'setup' section about setting the mem card speed correctly and saving it, as it's the most important part of setting up a scds-1. Otherwise game tests like Castlevania POR/DOS won't run correctly on default speed set by a fresh install.

edit, btw great review, nice a simple yet informative. Seems strange COD4 doesn't work as it used to on older software, maybe it needs the 4th of april core update which fixed an error with some roms from the original v3.0sp3 software.

edit.. set mem speed x4 or use 'other', then goto special/save menu option and save, if you don't save the mem speed is not set.

suppachipmunk · May 23, 2008

Excellent review. I love my SCDS1, although the menu is a little unresponsive.

Keep up the good work.

Prime · May 23, 2008

I'd like to see more pictures

Pictures brake up the wall of text quite well.

Upperleft · May 23, 2008

Nice review there

the one thing that i REALLY loved in the SCDS1 is the RTG
i use Guides ALOT and it really bothers me when i have to close my game in order to view them (when i use the R4)

thanks again!

ojsinnerz. · May 24, 2008

I can't take any pictures at the moment, because

1. My camera is somewhere in my room, but cannot find it at the moment
2. Too lazy to take the pictures.

However, I'll get the pictures by the end of June.

Urza · May 24, 2008

There'll be a better review by the end of June.

JPH · May 24, 2008

Urza said:
There'll be a better review by the end of June.

Are you talking of my review, or yours?

BTW, ojsinnerz review is actually pretty good. Would be better with more images, though.
Otherwise a good review.

gizmo_gal · May 25, 2008

Nice effort. But I have to say it should be reformatted to make it a little easier to read, and that long list of game files is a nightmare. Make a heading for games that "Run and save fine" and one for "Games that run but dont save" and list everything under it or something.

ojsinnerz. · Jun 3, 2008

Well, it seems like JPH's review is up. It's pretty good.

ojsinnerz. · Jul 9, 2008

The list of ROMs test. I removed it from the review, because it was too long. Instead, I'll just write the number of how many roms tested.


[*]<div align="left">- Osu tatakae! Ouendan- Works and saves fine
[*]- Sonic Rush- Works and saves fine
[*]- Mario & Luigi PIT- Works and saves fine
[*]- Nanostray- Works and saves fine
[*]- Phoenix wright- Works and saves fine
[*]- Trama centre- Works and saves fine
[*]- Big brain acadamy- Works and saves fine
[*]- Mario hoops 3 on 3- Works and saves fine
[*]- Final fantasy III- Works and saves fine
[*]- Kirby - Squeak squad- Works and saves fine
[*]- Phoenix wright: Justice for all- Works and saves fine
[*]- Hotel dusk: Works and saves fine
[*]- Bleach the 2nd: Works and saves fine
[*]- Puzzle quest: Challenge of the warlords- Works and saves fine
[*]- Etrian odessey- Works and saves fine
[*]- Megaman Starforce leo- Works and saves fine
[*]- Digimon world: Dawn -Works and saves fine
[*]- Sonic Rush adventure- Works and saves fine
[*]- Race Driver: Create & Race- Works and saves fine
[*]- Bleach: Blade of fate- Works and saves fine
[*]- Megaman ZX advant- Works and saves fine
[*]- Phoenix wright: Trials and Tribulations- Works and saves fine
[*]- Geometry wars: Galexy- Works and saves fine Wii to DS connection unknown.
[*]- Bomberman 2: Works and saves fine
[*]- Assassin's creed- Works and saves fine
[*]- Professer layton- Works and saves fine
[*]- Apollo justice- Works and saevs fine
[*]- Ojarumaru DS- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Space invaders extreme- Works and saves fine
[*]- Brother's in arms- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Final fantasy: Ring of chronicles- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Contra 4- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Dementium- Works and saves fine. 
[*]- Dragalade- Works and plays fine.
[*]- Final fantasy 12: revenant wings- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Advanced wars: Days of Ruin- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Jump ultimate star: Fan translation - Works and saves fine.
[*]- Luminous arc- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Tales of innocence- Works fine, but never saved, so not too sure.
[*]- Ouendan 2- Works and saves fine
[*]- nanostray 2- Works and saves fine
[*]- Rondo of Swords- Works and saves fine
[*]- Rune factory- Works and saves fine
[*]- Summon nights: Twin age- Works and saves fine
[*]- Worms : Open warfare 2- Works and saves fine
[*]- The world ends with you- Works and saves fine
[*]- Gundam 00- Works and saves fine
[*]- Ninja Gaiden DS- Works and saves fine
[*]- Meteos- Works and saves fine
[*]- Daigasso Band Brothers- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Mario Kart- Works and saves fine
[*]- Metroid prime hunters- Works and saves fine
[*]- Starfox: command- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Tetris- Works and plays fine
[*]- Planet puzzle league- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Taiko no tatsujin DS- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Taiko no Tatsujin ds 2 - Works and saves fine.
[*]- Mario party DS- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Izuna Legend of the Unemployeed Ninja- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Pokemon Diamond, Pearl- Works and saves fine.
[*]- Juiced 2 hot import nights - Works and saves fine.
[*]- Mugen no Frontier - Super Robot Taisen OG Saga - Works and saves fine
[*]- Super dodgeball brawlers - Works and saves fine
[*]- Luminous Arc 2: Will- Works and saves fine. 
[*]- Trauma center: Under the knife 2- Works and saves fine. 
[*]- Nanoshi no game/The nameless game: Will- Works and saves fine. 
[*]- Call of Duty 4- Works and saves fine.
 [*]- Arkanoid DS - Works and saves fine.
[*]- Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced 2 -  Works and saves fine.

</div>

List of games that doesn't work at all.
None. COD4 didn't work at first, but now offically works.

100% compatibility

pokemongalaxy · Jul 10, 2008

nice review, really great

My Review of the SCDS1 SDHC

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