Testing the new EZ-Flash Parallel

[Jemtao]

Spoiler: TL;DR

Since 1.06 kernel:
Still the same as below. Lag fix was marginal (games still lag), with "majority" of fixes going to literal bricking issues.

Since 1.05 kernel:
Same as original below with the added bonus that the console can now sleep instead of strobe.

Original TL;DR since 1.04 kernel:
The EZ-Flash Parallel is not worth 30€$. Get something else cheaper like a Bootleg Gold R4i Pro, or save up 70-100 for a DSTWO or DSTWO PLUS. The EZP has major slowdown issues, especially games with cutscenes. Even bootleg carts are faster than this.

Spoiler: Product details

EZ-Flash Parallel: https://www.ezflash.cn/product/ez-flash-parallel/
Official EZ-Flash firmware download page: https://www.ezflash.cn/download/
Vendor I purchased from: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1933705?spm=a2g0o.detail.0.0.2259wPolwPolru

Spoiler: Page updates

Update 2024-04-27: I haven't updated this post with the new info from comments yet, but EZ-Flash has already uploaded two more versions, the newest one having an interesting comment (but with nothing more added):

Update part 2: Now EZ-Flash themselves have written a few messages on this post and have given light to what the updates are about. Apparently some ROMs, when opened, will brick the Parallel cart. Their message.

Update part 3: I bought the Parallel cart at around 30 USD a few weeks ago. I just noticed that it is now cheaper on AliExpress, but at the same time marked up (discount). Either there is some shenanigans going on with EZ-Flash's MSRP or the market is growing greedy:

Update 2024-04-09: this post was created/written as of the 1.04 kernel update

Greetings!

I'd like to start off with a question: what has your guys' experience been with the EZ-Flash Parallel?

Since it's still relatively new flash cart and I struggle to find information on it with many opinions at all, I decided that I'd start collecting some data on my own, likewise from other users. Also, corrective information will be very much appreciated if I get anything wrong!

For starters, I'll boil down key points that I've already gathered:

PROS

Pro	Notes
Is from a reputable brand (EZ-Flash)
Fancy chassis / attractive-looking product
Longer-lasting system battery
Supports Micro SD and SDHC
Supports all/most menu skins for Wood kernel carts by default
NTRBOOT support for soft-modding 3DSs (yes, "3DSs" is grammatically correct)
No time-bomb
Supports soft-resetting (e.g. in Pokemon games you can press L + R + START + SELECT to reboot the game)
Pre-installed cheats	Cheats can be expanded by installing more to the SD card
Pre-installed anti-piracy patches	They aren't activated by default from my experience. You have to manually activate them for each game in the cheats menus.
Can change device brightness in-cart	but only NDS, not DSi
Allows basic file management on the SD card itself

CONS

Con	Notes
EZP Kernel is based off of the oldest Wood kernel version from R4
Costs 2-4x more than a bootleg flash cart (I paid $29 on AliExpress, launch MSRP was $13 just like a bootleg R4)
Is more "buggy" (slow, render issues) than a bootleg flash cart using YSMenu
No IR sensor for Pokemon games / other	would also make price skyrocket immediately, likewise no flash cart has drivers for IR sensor integration
Doesn't support SDXC natively	It's still possible to use SDXC cards if you format them to fat32 and a particular cluster size (usually 32kb) using 3rd party software
Slow micro SD read speed (1 MB, according to a Reddit user)	This is slower than any cheapest, fake/bootleg cart
Cause the DS/i to voltage-strobe in sleep mode	Update: since 1.05, they have introduced a pseudo-sleep mode when closing the lid. The screens and audio turn off, but the device LEDs still glow as if it was active and not sleeping.

PERFORMANCE & COMPARISON

With product details out of the way, this is my experience so far. Before I digress, I must give a brief legend of my scoring system:
[*] Broken = Game is completely unplayable (e.g. will not boot at all)
[*] Unplayable = Game has too many issues to make playing worthwhile
[*] Partially = Game has significant issues that can hamper an enjoyable experience
[*] Playable = Game is playable with minor issues/inconveniences
[*] Native = Game feels like it's running natively on a dedicated, OEM cart

With that out of the way, so far, the games I've tested (alphabetized):

Note: I will also be drawing comparisons to my Bootleg Gold Pro R4i 2019 Cart.

EZ-Flash Parallel

Scoring	Game	Notes
Playable	Animal Crossing: Wild World	Significant lag in the main menu, input lag in main menu, render bugs, main game plays okay, long transitions
Partially	Bionicle Heroes	This game lags with more than 3 enemies on screen, input lag, movement lag, general lag, etc. Not fun.
Playable	Call of Duty: MW3 Defiance	Plays very cleanly with occasional brief render issues (black stripes) and stutter
Playable	Mario Kart DS	Feels native
Playable	Pokemon Black 2	Occasional lag, most lag is noticeable at title screen. Cutscenes lag massively.
Playable	Pokemon Platinum	Occasional lag with lots of entities on screen, bag-menu slows down, input lag in menu, long transitions
Native	New Super Mario Bros.	Feels good besides the long transitions.
Playable	Super Princess Peach	Stutters often (albeit negligible), long transitions

Bootleg R4i Gold Pro 2019

Scoring	Game	Notes
Native	Animal Crossing: Wild World	Accounting for the game lagging on an OEM cart as well, feels native. Main-menu lag is no where near as bad as the Parallel's.
Native	Bionicle Heroes	Feels good. One minor thing I noticed is that it lags an extra second when swapping heroes. That's it.
Native	Call of Duty: MW3 Defiance	Feels good
Native	Mario Kart DS	Feels good
Native	Pokemon Black 2	Feels good
Native	Pokemon Platinum	Feels good besides the bag-menu being a tad slow. Not as bad as the Parallel
Native	New Super Mario Bros.	Feels good
Native	Super Princess Peach	Feels good

SETTINGS

Because EZ-Flash's documentation about the settings is broken English as well as partially complete, I have taken the liberty to write my own descriptions for the settings for anyone that is in the same boat as I was on being confused on what they do.

Settings Menu	Setting	Description
System Settings	user interface style	change skin of the GUI
System Settings	Language	Currently only English / Chinese
System Settings	Set file list type	Should the GUI display only .NDS extended files, .NDS and .SAV, or all files?
System Settings	Safe mode	"Yes" will lock the user out of settings, file management, and disables the ability to modify configurations/cheats for games (I couldn't figure out how to remove this besides reinstalling the kernel)
Interface settings	Scrolling speed	how fast you scroll through games holding the DPAD
Interface settings	Filelist style	"Old school" --> text and file names only; "Modern" file names and icon; "Internal" ROM title and publisher
Interface settings	Animations	"on" enables icon animations (useless if "filelist style" is set to "Old school")
Interface settings	12-hour clock	"on" sets it to military time, "off" to AM/PM
File system settings	show hidden files	"On" shows files that Windows marked as hidden
File system settings	Trim rom when copy	reduces file size of the NDS ROM before running it (removes "empty bytes" that are used to fill space)
File system settings	Save extension	what extension the flash cart saves saves as. By default uses ".nds.sav" (recommended: ".sav")
Patches	Cheat in game (AR)	"AR" is short for "Action Replay". "on" allows cheats to work when booting games
Patches	Reset in game	Allows soft-resetting to work in games when set to "on"
Patches	Reset in homebrew
GBA Settings	Universal sleep	enforce sleep when closing the lid if set to "on"
GBA Settings	Backup save at startup	When set to "on", it uses the save method that EZ-Flash Omega / DE uses (saves the .sav upon next boot)
GBA Settings	Slot-2 mode

Some settings I have left blank, as I haven't gotten around to using them or understand what they do.

SYNOPSIS

If you're going to buy this device regardless of it currently being inferior to a bootleg cart, I would recommend to buy it soon before another price increase and hope EZ-Flash releases bug fixes. Otherwise, just play on your bootleg cart if you already have one. I, myself, am disappointed by this device. If they don't release updates in the future to fix bugs and lag, I'd consider this a big waste of money and will not recommend this product until they do.

 

[DSoryu]

I will comment only on the points where you have some wrong concepts and add additional information when required:

• Has an FPGA chip (can be programmed to do certain functions)

As any other flashcard out there, is just that they're just hidden under a black blob to avoid Reverse Engineering.

• The FPGA chip isn't being used (written at the time of the 1.04 kernel release)

That's wrong, that's the whole flashcard brain, it's what makes it possible to make the DS communicate to the SD card, that's what it is for, no less no more.
And no, that FPGA can't be used for homebrew as a hardware enhancement.

• Pre-installed cheats
• Pre-installed anti-piracy patches (though, you have to manually activate them...)

1. Cheats don't need to be installed, is just a file you drag and drop to your SD card, and you can get it from @DeadSkullzJr database site
2. Pre-installed AP patches shouldn't need to be "enabled", they're supposed to run automatically, which other flashcards already support.

• EZP Kernel is based off of the oldest Wood kernel version from R4

That's because Wood is closed source, and they're also violating GPL by using the last version that still was open source.

• No IR sensor for Pokemon games / other
• No NOR writing like the EZ-Flash Omega / Definitive Ed.
• Doesn't support SDXC

1. The first two points here are no easy task, and would make any card price skyrocket immediately, plus, NOR writing doesn't make sense if you already can load any game just fine, and good luck finding 500MB cheap NOR memory flash.
2. Well, IR sensor, while being possible, is not suited for the board design most flashcards and parallel use: for that, you need a different whole design, such as an open source option (which is being developed as I write this).
3. SDXC formatted with the exFAT standard isn't supported by any NDS homebrew or lib, so even if the card manages to give support for it, you would end having every piece of DS homebrew (Wood included) totally broken. You need to format your SDXC cards to FAT32 if you want to use them in this and every other flashcard.

• According to a Reddit user, reads the Micro SD card at 1 MB speed, which is less than 1/2 the speed of bootleg carts ([link]())
• Sleep doesn't work and just voltage-strobes the heck out of your system

Yes, speed is ridiculously slow, which takes an impact on performance with some games and homebrew. Even the cheapest flashcard out there doubles it's current speed.

* [2 Pts] Animal Crossing: Wild World --> Significant lag in the main menu, input lag in main menu, render bugs, main game plays okay, long transitions

Animal Crossing also lags like that in a retail card, so it's expected.

Every other point you mention is ok.

Now, in my personal opinion, the EZ-Parallel unfortunately is a mediocre attempt of a flashcard, considering that almost every other cheaper option works fine out of the box without much left to do by the user, excluding time-bombed carts which only need a quick YSMenu installation.

That being said, the only single thing I like from this card is the design, it looks sick af, despite it's faults regarding the bad pin contacts.

 

[splaca]

Thanks OP for the write-up and @DSoryu for the clarifications!

The current state of this product is indeed disappointing, I hope most of this stuff can and will be fixed by updates at some point so we can have a reliable option to the sea of clones.

Pros:

• (...)
• Longer-lasting system battery

I'm curious about this point, has anyone conducted at least an informal test on this?

 

[PotatoStatic]

That's wrong, that's the whole flashcard brain, it's what makes it possible to make the DS communicate to the SD card, that's what it is for, no less no more.
And no, that FPGA can't be used for homebrew as a hardware enhancement.

I think people are getting that from Tito's video:

 

[PlantedWave5190]

I got an EZ-FLASH Parallel, now how am I going to get TWiLight Menu++ installed on this thing? I'm not sure if it supports this particular flashcard, as it's still new.

 

[The Catboy]

The two things I keep hearing about this cart is that the kernel is outdated and it’s slow as fuck. Kind of disappointed to keep hearing that

 

[Jemtao]

I will comment only on the points where you have some wrong concepts and add additional information when required:



As any other flashcard out there, is just that they're just hidden under a black blob to avoid Reverse Engineering.



That's wrong, that's the whole flashcard brain, it's what makes it possible to make the DS communicate to the SD card, that's what it is for, no less no more.
And no, that FPGA can't be used for homebrew as a hardware enhancement.



1. Cheats don't need to be installed, is just a file you drag and drop to your SD card, and you can get it from @DeadSkullzJr database site
2. Pre-installed AP patches shouldn't need to be "enabled", they're supposed to run automatically, which other flashcards already support.



That's because Wood is closed source, and they're also violating GPL by using the last version that still was open source.



1. The first two points here are no easy task, and would make any card price skyrocket immediately, plus, NOR writing doesn't make sense if you already can load any game just fine, and good luck finding 500MB cheap NOR memory flash.
2. Well, IR sensor, while being possible, is not suited for the board design most flashcards and parallel use: for that, you need a different whole design, such as an open source option (which is being developed as I write this).
3. SDXC formatted with the exFAT standard isn't supported by any NDS homebrew or lib, so even if the card manages to give support for it, you would end having every piece of DS homebrew (Wood included) totally broken. You need to format your SDXC cards to FAT32 if you want to use them in this and every other flashcard.



Yes, speed is ridiculously slow, which takes an impact on performance with some games and homebrew. Even the cheapest flashcard out there doubles it's current speed.



Animal Crossing also lags like that in a retail card, so it's expected.

Every other point you mention is ok.

Now, in my personal opinion, the EZ-Parallel unfortunately is a mediocre attempt of a flashcard, considering that almost every other cheaper option works fine out of the box without much left to do by the user, excluding time-bombed carts which only need a quick YSMenu installation.

That being said, the only single thing I like from this card is the design, it looks sick af, despite it's faults regarding the bad pin contacts.

Hi, thank you very much for your informative comment! I shall update the post with this new information for better accuracy on product details.

And, I must agree with your closing statement. It definitely looks and feels like a high quality product, but lacks in the performance department... which is where it matters the most regarding an item like this.

Post automatically merged: Apr 11, 2024

I think people are getting that from Tito's video:

Correct! That's where I got that piece of information from. Although, hearing it again, he says "It isn't programmed to do anything special," which is partially misleading and easily misinterpreted. Thank you for your comment

Post automatically merged: Apr 11, 2024

Thanks OP for the write-up and @DSoryu for the clarifications!

The current state of this product is indeed disappointing, I hope most of this stuff can and will be fixed by updates at some point so we can have a reliable option to the sea of clones.



I'm curious about this point, has anyone conducted at least an informal test on this?

And thank you for reading!

I wish the same. The EZ-Flash Omega Definitive Edition is a very nice cart in my opinion. It has all the features one can ask for emulation (as far as I'm knowledgeable on it), and is priced accordingly. The Parallel... is lacking.

 

[branchus]

Thanks for testing, I hope I saw your testing a lot earlier. I got my parallel, but it is sitting in my drawer. I kinda hope the new kernel/firmware will bring this cart up to a certain level.

 

[ThatBassoonist]

Had the card for about a week and I'm so disappointed, especially when the Omega DE and Junior have worked flawlessly for me. It's hit or miss which games actually run. I was really hoping to use this as a way of carrying my entire game collection on one cart, but I guess that won't be the case until they hopefully fix the kernal.

 

[Jemtao]

Had the card for about a week and I'm so disappointed, especially when the Omega DE and Junior have worked flawlessly for me. It's hit or miss which games actually run. I was really hoping to use this as a way of carrying my entire game collection on one cart, but I guess that won't be the case until they hopefully fix the kernal.

Thanks for your comments! I am the same way. To get some use out of it, and due to sentimental reasons (like ones in your comment), I have decided to try and play the games that are playable with the Parallel until I either beat them or the new kernel updates are released. The bug with the "sleep-surging" is definitely bugging me (pun unintended haha).

 

[Ryccardo]

• Supports soft-resetting (e.g. in Pokemon games you can press L + R + START + SELECT to reboot the game)

You know, at the very least since the first R4 flashcards have been advertising obvious/tautological claims to extend their list of features...

Cause the DS/i to voltage-strobe in sleep mode

...including this one, a well solved issue by any Slot-1 card (or Slot-2 as long as a valid Slot-1 product is also inserted), well until this one
Might be a firmware problem (lack of implementation) and/or a missing IRQ line on the PCB

You need to format your SDXC cards to FAT32

at which point they're in violation of the SDXC standard, in fact the reason why most every product with this limitation doesn't falsely advertise SDXC support

* Safe mode --> "Yes" will lock the user out of settings, file management, and disables the ability to modify configurations/cheats for games (I couldn't figure out how to remove this besides reinstalling the kernel)

The settings are all saved in a text file, you can edit or remove just that one

* Reset in homebrew -->

Should be the same as "reset in game" but for homebrew (note how if you press Y on DS programs the product code won't be displayed for homebrew, even though they have one and it's supposed to be "PASS" for Slot-2 flashcard compatibility)

* Slot-2 mode -->

When you select Slot-2 in the level above the root, you get the choice of running it in GBA or DS mode (in other words you can use Wood as a NoPass, as you can do with an Action Replay and many other Slot-1 products before during and after the original R4 age), this option skips the popup and forces one of the two!

The two things I keep hearing about this cart is that the kernel is outdated and it’s slow as fuck. Kind of disappointed to keep hearing that

Well as said above by @DSoryu this is using the last open source version of Wood, which is maybe 50 versions of actual improvements behind the last official R4/R4iDS.cn one (in turn probably a ripoff of AKAIO on which Wood is based)

The conclusion is always the same - not rarely, piracy is the superior option for the end-user

I'm so disappointed, especially when the Omega DE and Junior have worked flawlessly for me.

Consider their history:

• Good reputation DS flashcards (EZ-5 and 6), suddenly abandoned and not because they had a replacement out, their proven and better known GBA products also off the market at that time
• Brickway clone (EZ-Redux, Supercard also did one with the DSTwo+) much later than the others at a time both should have known better; what
• EZ-4 microSD, major update for all EZ-4s, EZ-Reform - fair and solid products, though still based on an existing design and therefore probably not huge efforts
• EZ-Omega - legitimate innovation (though prompted by new competition by Krikzz) and not sufficiently idiot proof for people who don't read the manual (the DE went back to SRAM - actually FRAM - and save backup on next kernel run), fair amount of complaints about compatibility with pimped/clone consoles too, seems to be already abandoned
• EZ-Junior, Omega DE - really same points 1 3 and 4 of the Omega

Extras for context:

• We didn't know that at the time but Brickway is a post-sellout "New Xecuter" (AKA TrueBlue, Stargate, SX) product
• In 2018 there were a couple of legitimate and rather expensive innovations in the PS2 scene, like PS2NetBox, requiring a closed source ripoff of major homebrew to support it at all, that got abandoned maybe 6 months later

My conclusion: While probably the same company and not just a name that went to the highest bidder, it's not the same men that did the EZ-1/2/3/4/5/6 with enough interest in their products and reputation

 

[PotatoStatic]

Had the card for about a week and I'm so disappointed, especially when the Omega DE and Junior have worked flawlessly for me. It's hit or miss which games actually run. I was really hoping to use this as a way of carrying my entire game collection on one cart, but I guess that won't be the case until they hopefully fix the kernal.

Personally, I use Twilight Menu on my 3DS. Works fine for everything I've played. On DS I use an R4 DS Pro with Bl2ck firmware. Works literally perfectly. It's a $4 card ($6 after shipping).

 

[ThatBassoonist]

Personally, I use Twilight Menu on my 3DS. Works fine for everything I've played. On DS I use an R4 DS Pro with Bl2ck firmware. Works literally perfectly. It's a $4 card ($6 after shipping).

I love TwilightMenu on my 3DS as well, but nothing beats playing DS games on a Lite for me. I thought this cart based upon my previous experience with EZFlash would be perfect for me. I suppose I’m stuck waiting for an update or giving up and choosing a different cart like the one you mentioned.

 

[Sonicx64]

New firmware was released, hasn't fixed the lid closing issue unfortunately.

 

[stl25]

My question is what games were fixed? The changelogs are extremely vague. Has anyone noticed games working in 1.05 that did not work in 1.04?

Kernel 1.05
Rom compatibility fix almost done

Kernel 1.04
Fixed another bunch of AP roms

Kernel 1.03
Fixed a bunch of AP patching, a few remained.

From 1.02 to 1.03 many AP games were indeed fixed, but the few games that did not work (not even AP games) still do not work in 1.05.

 

[rloopz]

Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow (FMV intro stutter) and Metroid Prime Pinball (Audio stutter) are still problems using the v1.05 kernel, so the read speeds doesn't seem to be fixed, I didn't notice any improvements.

 

[Jemtao]

You know, at the very least since the first R4 flashcards have been advertising obvious/tautological claims to extend their list of features...

...including this one, a well solved issue by any Slot-1 card (or Slot-2 as long as a valid Slot-1 product is also inserted), well until this one
Might be a firmware problem (lack of implementation) and/or a missing IRQ line on the PCB



at which point they're in violation of the SDXC standard, in fact the reason why most every product with this limitation doesn't falsely advertise SDXC support



The settings are all saved in a text file, you can edit or remove just that one

Should be the same as "reset in game" but for homebrew (note how if you press Y on DS programs the product code won't be displayed for homebrew, even though they have one and it's supposed to be "PASS" for Slot-2 flashcard compatibility)

When you select Slot-2 in the level above the root, you get the choice of running it in GBA or DS mode (in other words you can use Wood as a NoPass, as you can do with an Action Replay and many other Slot-1 products before during and after the original R4 age), this option skips the popup and forces one of the two!



Well as said above by @DSoryu this is using the last open source version of Wood, which is maybe 50 versions of actual improvements behind the last official R4/R4iDS.cn one (in turn probably a ripoff of AKAIO on which Wood is based)

The conclusion is always the same - not rarely, piracy is the superior option for the end-user



Consider their history:

• Good reputation DS flashcards (EZ-5 and 6), suddenly abandoned and not because they had a replacement out, their proven and better known GBA products also off the market at that time
• Brickway clone (EZ-Redux, Supercard also did one with the DSTwo+) much later than the others at a time both should have known better; what
• EZ-4 microSD, major update for all EZ-4s, EZ-Reform - fair and solid products, though still based on an existing design and therefore probably not huge efforts
• EZ-Omega - legitimate innovation (though prompted by new competition by Krikzz) and not sufficiently idiot proof for people who don't read the manual (the DE went back to SRAM - actually FRAM - and save backup on next kernel run), fair amount of complaints about compatibility with pimped/clone consoles too, seems to be already abandoned
• EZ-Junior, Omega DE - really same points 1 3 and 4 of the Omega

Extras for context:

• We didn't know that at the time but Brickway is a post-sellout "New Xecuter" (AKA TrueBlue, Stargate, SX) product
• In 2018 there were a couple of legitimate and rather expensive innovations in the PS2 scene, like PS2NetBox, requiring a closed source ripoff of major homebrew to support it at all, that got abandoned maybe 6 months later

My conclusion: While probably the same company and not just a name that went to the highest bidder, it's not the same men that did the EZ-1/2/3/4/5/6 with enough interest in their products and reputation

Thank you for the lovely information! I will update the post using this information when I can. The more the merrier.
And thank you for your interesting comment!

Post automatically merged: Apr 21, 2024

My question is what games were fixed? The changelogs are extremely vague. Has anyone noticed games working in 1.05 that did not work in 1.04?

Kernel 1.05
Rom compatibility fix almost done

Kernel 1.04
Fixed another bunch of AP roms

Kernel 1.03
Fixed a bunch of AP patching, a few remained.

From 1.02 to 1.03 many AP games were indeed fixed, but the few games that did not work (not even AP games) still do not work in 1.05.

I just tested Animal Crossing: Wild World this morning and have noticed no change at all. Of course, that's probably a less cared about game for compatibility than, let's say, the Mario and Pokemon franchises.

Out of skepticism, I performed a hash check on both of the `.dat` (1.04 and 1.05) files just in case. They are definitely different files, so something was changed. What? Don't know, since it's obfuscated code.

Proof:

Caption: Top hash = 1.04 dat, bottom hash = 1.05 dat.

For anyone who doesn't know, hashes are uniquely generated "numbers" for files, and these are fixed. Once anything is changed of the file, the hash is different.

 

[TiredKorok]

I will comment only on the points where you have some wrong concepts and add additional information when required:



As any other flashcard out there, is just that they're just hidden under a black blob to avoid Reverse Engineering.



That's wrong, that's the whole flashcard brain, it's what makes it possible to make the DS communicate to the SD card, that's what it is for, no less no more.
And no, that FPGA can't be used for homebrew as a hardware enhancement.



1. Cheats don't need to be installed, is just a file you drag and drop to your SD card, and you can get it from @DeadSkullzJr database site
2. Pre-installed AP patches shouldn't need to be "enabled", they're supposed to run automatically, which other flashcards already support.



That's because Wood is closed source, and they're also violating GPL by using the last version that still was open source.



1. The first two points here are no easy task, and would make any card price skyrocket immediately, plus, NOR writing doesn't make sense if you already can load any game just fine, and good luck finding 500MB cheap NOR memory flash.
2. Well, IR sensor, while being possible, is not suited for the board design most flashcards and parallel use: for that, you need a different whole design, such as an open source option (which is being developed as I write this).
3. SDXC formatted with the exFAT standard isn't supported by any NDS homebrew or lib, so even if the card manages to give support for it, you would end having every piece of DS homebrew (Wood included) totally broken. You need to format your SDXC cards to FAT32 if you want to use them in this and every other flashcard.



Yes, speed is ridiculously slow, which takes an impact on performance with some games and homebrew. Even the cheapest flashcard out there doubles it's current speed.



Animal Crossing also lags like that in a retail card, so it's expected.

Every other point you mention is ok.

Now, in my personal opinion, the EZ-Parallel unfortunately is a mediocre attempt of a flashcard, considering that almost every other cheaper option works fine out of the box without much left to do by the user, excluding time-bombed carts which only need a quick YSMenu installation.

That being said, the only single thing I like from this card is the design, it looks sick af, despite it's faults regarding the bad pin contacts.

Are you able to link any way we could keep up to date with the open source ds flash cart project you mentioned that might support IR sensor?

 

[ThatBassoonist]

1.05 does seem to fix issues for me. Games with FMV intros now load and just about all the games I tested ran at full speed except Animal Crossing Wild World.

 

[PotatoStatic]

1.05 does seem to fix issues for me. Games with FMV intros now load and just about all the games I tested ran at full speed except Animal Crossing Wild World.

Games with FMVs loaded before. The problem is that they stuttered a lot. The changelog doesn't mention fixing any of the speed issues (and you know they would mention it if it was fixed because of all the people talking about it).