People in the comments are reminding me of something important I left out of the video: the "timebomb feature" some of the sketchier R4s have. This will prevent you from saving or sometimes even booting your R4 after a certain amount of time. This is not something that I've experienced, but it seems some of you have. There are ways to circumvent this, but I think the easiest one is to just wipe the MicroSD completely and just start with a fresh Firmware, like the TwilightMenu that I outlined in this video and linked in the description.
EDIT: (People have told me the DS lite does not have an SD slot, so none of this is valid. I assumed because the dsi had one the lite would as well) You can also just use an sd card and use twilight menu. Twilight menu also comes included with a lot of emulators for other devices. This also works with the newest update unlike some older r4 cards. You of course already know this. [the setup is a lot harder than using an r4, but if money or reliability is an issue this way is recommended]
As someone who used to be very well engrained in the Nintendo homebrewing community, said timebomb can literally be circumvented by setting back the clock on the DS, it does not do permanent damage to the console nor the flashcart itself, it just reads the date and if it's past a certain date is doesn't boot. Going for a third party launch is definitely the way to good to prevent it still, especially since the base launcher on a lot of these flashcarts tend to struggle to load games with heavier anti-piracy features. I remember back in 2017 or so I had a hell of a time finding a menu which was able to load one of the later Professor Layton games without triggering the anti-piracy.
@@appleua4807 Came here for this comment. I don't know about DS/DS lite, but from the DSi onward at least you could set TWLmenu form the console sdcard and never worry about the R4. The R4 is only being used to launch TWL anyway, I don't think any guide even mention using factory firmware from the flashcarts
The BEST is the “New” 3DS (not xl) I have my R4 cartridge for DS. It’s modded with the H Shop with 256GB for the 3DS, and then I installed retro arch for full speed NES/SNES/GB/GBC/GBA/Game gear/Genesis games. You could even do more consoles in retroarch, I just don’t play anything else. That’s the ultimate build I personally have and the one I sell at my Etsy store. It has almost the exact same perfect form factor of the DS lite. The “time bomb”’is almost a non existent thing anymore. If you do have one it’s easy to remove. Edit :forgot to add in GBA under retro arch.
3:57 Factor spilled broken glass shards into many of their meals and tried to hide it from customers, only offering the bare minimum notice via email and we had to BEG for refunds.
Just to add, this was 2-3 years ago and was apparently the fault of their rice supplier, only affecting specific meals. That seems to have been the end of it, as I can't find anything about it in the two years since.
I remember my Dad buying both my sister and I original R4 cards for our Nintendo DS Lites back in 2007. Thinking back it's crazy my dad found out about them. I still have it to this very day.
@@SwEtchinmusic The labels, if it comes in plain colors (like black, white, etc.) then it's fake. If it comes in black label with grey circular pattern then it's a legit one.
I love the R4, I was like 10 when I was using my DS Lite alot and my Dad felt bad for not wanting to buy my little brother and I some games we wanted (understandably so, shit was expensive) and one day we came home from school to find out he got us a new "game" the R4. From then on buying games obviously was a non issue and he was happy to find games for us since we were still VERY new to navigating the internet. Probably one of the best things he's gotten for my little brother and I, and it was the exact same R4 you're showing off. Never thought I was going to see it again lol, my old ones been lost to time and I sadly have no clue where my old DS is but it was a lot of fun while we had it. Thanks for reminding me of that cool piece of tech.
I took my DSi out of my desk drawer a few weeks ago, bought a ten dollar micro sd card with an adapter, and loaded up twilight menu. Because it's apparently a little more powerful than the DS lite to support the camera, it runs everything pretty well! Just make sure your ROMs are clean. Edit: After a bit of finagling I was able to transfer my saves of stuff I had played on RetroArch on my laptop over as well. I'm just getting into this kind of stuff and was intimidated at the thought of having to buy a new handheld emulator/ second hand DS Lite plus R4 and flash carts simply due to cost, but it was SUPER easy to breathe new life into this console I've had since I was 8, and now I can play any game I could've wanted as a kid. And Rats! AND! I can revert back to normal DSi functionality and menu if I ever really want to. Literally the most painless mod you can imagine, if you can even call it a Mod. So, if you are like I was and have your childhood DSi hanging around and are feeling discouraged by the lack of GBA port, never fear! You too can emulate some great games! Would a 2DS like Bob suggested be better? Yeah, probably, it can do all this plus play 3DS games. Someday I will play MarioKart 7 or Samus Returns, and my life will have meaning again, but until that fateful day, I'll use my 10 dollar emulation box and be contented. If you've made it this far, thanks! This is really just a little 2am love letter to the DSi for coming in clutch and being a much needed distraction in during midterms at university. Now back to some Advance Wars
I also modded my DSi, and its great, easy to do and works great. I am currently on vacation, and for my flights, I just kept it in my pocket, which could be harder with some of the 3DS versions.
From what I can remember the GBA CPU is used by DS games as a secondary CPU, but what you can't do is access the DS CPU from the GBA Slot, meaning that flashcarts and stuff that go in the bottom slot can only run GBA homebrew, whereas flashcarts in the top slot can run DS and GBA homebrew. Because the GBA CPU is used by DS games it had to be included in the 3DS so that it could play DS games, which is why GBA Virtual Console games on 3DS actually aren't emulated, which is why they don't support the features that other Virtual Console games on 3DS use - because they run natively.
The "GBA core" is used for stuff like I/O with DS games, yes. But DS games can't run GBA homebrew or games. The DS slot is too slow for that. Also, you can run DS software in some cases from GBA slot. Early DS hacking was done with a "hacked slot-1 device" (e.g. PassMe) or a custom firmware on DS and a GBA cartridge which was booted in DS mode. This feature is missing on modern GBA flashcarts.
@@Flashcardsinfoif I remember correctly (it’s been a while) there was also a method using the memory expansion for the DS web browser to load GBA games, because the extra RAM on the expansion was enough to load any GBA game and gave it full access to the GBA slot for the required speed. It’s been like 15 years since I messed around with a DS/R4 though. I should pull mine out…
@@VeshSneaks Possible. The DS Web browser RAM expansion has 8MB which would fit many games (but not all). But saving wouldn't be possible because the RAM expansion doesn't have hardware for that
@@BrunodeSouzaLino You can emulate them on 3DS with mGBA, but you can also play them natively with VC injects or open agb firm. The 3DS CPU even has a GBA flashcart "baked in" to support the games
Damn good console as well. I own 6 different 3ds’ of all the variations and stick to a purple 2ds xl because its sleek, light, and a solid middle ground between the New3ds and New3ds-xl.
i love my 2ds xl....i had a 3ds xl for years but even w the 3d off it was hard to play games for more than 40 min at a time without getting a migraine (i get them chronically)....i do not have that problem with the 2ds at all : ) cant tell you why but im very happy about it. it's also lighter and fits in my bag easier....just wish there had been some more colorways and accessories released before the line ended lol
@@muckpuppy Tbh the only gripe I got with the 2dsXL is the edges where your palms rest against it. Not many people talk about it but dang it does feel like it’s sloooooowly cutting into my hands.
@@WorsePoke yeah probably because alot of people don't have em so they get upcharged, some of my friends didn't even know it existed, If people knew about it there would be more available for resell then they'd be priced like $150 or $100 because that was the orignal price range when it came out. Supply and Demand my friend no one is selling a rare item for less than retail.
Personally, I think the New 3DS XL is the best handheld, VC injection makes older games run perfectly (except for some obscure gba games), and you can stick a r4 in there for ds games
I heard R4s for Ds is Iffy and difficult is that just half truths or our propaganda? I have seen a few for under $125 used and was tempted to try and make a handheld emulator with it for the kids
@@lost0thech4I bought the first one I saw for my New 3DS in like 2018 and it's still working like a charm to this day 👌Only the games with DS-exclusive accessories are somewhat incompatible (like Guitar Hero)
Once upon a time there was the EZ-Flash 3in1. It's a mess to get working sometimes and it essentially requires you to use a 3rd party tool to get games into it (GBAExploader) but it works nicely and you can have it flush in the DSL.
I’ve got a DSI LL for my original DS games and a Black Friday N3DS for everything else. I am so happy with that pairing as I can play basically everything I want on there. For everything else? I’ve got a deck and my switch oled! So good!
I gave up on a lot of handheld emulation devices after modding a 3ds. Really the DS and 3DS are such great handhelds, I'm glad the still get the nod when it comes to emulating. Also the pink gold DS lite looks so nice
I recently got my r4 and I've been playing my nintendo ds daily for the past three weeks. It's great to finally play all those games I never got a chance to own
in college, when I didn't have a cellphone, I would turn on my DS Lite, and using AIM or MSN I would message my friends. this was BEFORE smartphones (Android /iPhone), it had an MP3 player I would play over AUX in my car. there's a world where Nintendo DS rather than the flip phone evolved into the modern smart device, it was already much closer to the goal.
GBA compatibility will be worse because it's not native. But yeah, the DSi is a really good console and I prefer the DSi screens and feel over the DS lite ones
The R4 carts come with a built in time bomb that stops them working after a year or 2, simply change the clock on your DS back a few years and the R4 cart will work again.
I just bought a GBA SP and swapped the shell, threw a USB C port on it (messed up taking off the old connector so no USB C audio, but oh well), put an IPS screen in it and man it really makes a huge difference. I would definitely recommend that over a Gameboy Micro
Dang dude, your story about how you got the DS Lite, what you played on it vs Emulation, the R4 Card... It's almost exactly my same experience with that device. Still have my DS Lite on the counter next to me - with the R4 card in!
Just put Hshop on my New 3DS XL last week and I'm having more fun with it than I ever have. Well worth it, and thank you for bringing it to my attention!!!
After having played DS games on a 3DSXL, I got exactly this setup with an R4 and an EZFlash. It looks incredible and feels incredible to hold. There is also a gbaswitch file that you can install which gives you a button in your R4 menu to switch to the GBA slot. Some flashcarts require you to instantly boot to them, so it's really handy.
R4 is nice, but I'm still glad I got a Supercard DSTWO. You can fluidly emulate DOS with a fast i386 in protected mode with the extra CPU and play the classics like Commander Keen. With the stylus, even Dune 2 controls surprisingly well. Not many other RTS on the DS so I loved that. The Neogeo Emulator also just works which is awesome. A Supercard DSTWO plus an overclocked GBA flashcard for extra RAM can run Quake 2! Quake 1 also looks way better this way.
I had an R4 back in the day, but gave it away after feeling guilty over stories about how piracy was hurting publisher relationships with Nintendo (GTA: Chinatown Wars was the big story I remember). I've been thinking about picking up another one for years. I can't justify paying those second-hand Kirby Superstar Ultra prices.
Still play my DS to this day. I have handheld emulators( geezus do I have handhelds ), but my DSi xl and R4 is one of the first units I reach for when taking multi day trips. When I want GBA, it’s the lite. You can’t beat ‘em!
I bought my DS Lite in the brief time I lived in Tokyo. They had only recently come out and were in big demand and always sold out. We were in Akihabara one weekend and they just happened to have them in stock. I can't remember what the pirate system I bought at the time, but it required a GBA cartridge that had the SD card reader in it. I should dig it out of storage. I loved it.
I was born in 2005 and the ds lite was my first handheld which my parents only got me coz I kept nicking my sister's. Loved it to bits and still have it.
Note about the screen yellowing: It's just the digitizer, very cheap and easy to replace with modern repo parts, and something you can theoretically remove entirely on a gba macro build, might wamna replace it witha piece of similarly sized acrylic or glass to protect the lcd though.
i remember learning about flashcarts when i was younger, and i ordered an Acekard 2i. it arrived the day before i left on a vacation so i was able to load it up with roms and play them during a long car ride that summer.
The miyoo mini has official DS compatibility now, I’m surprised you didn’t know that yet! Unless of of course you mean the miyoo technically can’t play 2 screen games properly, but DS has been running on miyoo for months now.
The DS Lite with an R4 was my first Nintendo handheld. I played the hell out of it. My house was burgled by some kids 10 years ago, and the DS is one of the things they took. I've always wanted to replace it, and now this video has me REALLY missing it. It really is a fantastic setup.
Yup, came to say this. The OnionOS guys worked hard to get DraStic working on the Miyoo. Yeah, sure it's only one screen but it's workable for the majority of games and there are layout options.
I already went down the R4 & EZ-flash route a long time ago, I highly recommend it. Also I remember the modding community making portable PS2's & what not...ahhh good times.
Cause of you, I went out and bought a 2ds xl and modded it. Now I have it all at my fingertips. But now I am thinking of getting a DSlite for strictly ds and gba gaming.
You should be able to use newer micro SD cards with an old r4 if you format them to fat32. Windows won't let you format anything over 32 GB to fat32 natively, but with third party tools (or on mac or linux) you can do it pretty easily.
Man, I wish I still had mine, I've got a dsi xl and a "new"3ds. I used to be really bad about the trade-in thing constantly getting rid of stuff for the "newer and more exciting" thing. Which I've come to realize was a mistake, so I've been trying to rebuild my collection.
This is the exact setup I have. It is beautiful and easy to use, everything you need to still have fun if you are forced to sit and wait for hours on end. Thanks for the video!
100% agree its such a great system / factoring in it's flash cart options / real backwards compatibility. It was sweet getting my M3 real cart with plenty of life cycle still in the system during my college years. There was definitely no time bomb in that as it still works and with it's gba cart it came with runs the gba roms natively. I do find the OG DS a little more comfortable to use with it's trigger style.
My first experience with an R4 card was at ymca camp when I was 9 years old everyone always brought their ds and played Pokémon and Mario party together, one day one kid showed up with a loaded up r4 and we were all so amazed, the kid that had it used the built in cheats to get a bunch of shiny Pokémon and immediately became the most popular person in camp but the power got to him and he started charging people 1 dollar per shiny that kid made bank
GBA Runner is running GBA games with the GBA hardware, it just does it through DS mode. It makes the DS mode access the GBA backwards compatibility. I would like to mention Twilight Menu. Twilight Menu is an amazing software for DS, DSi, and 3DS that lets you run many things. The thing it is best for in this case is that you can run DSiWare on a DS or DS Lite. It's amazing that this was able to be done, and I love it. This is why it works on DSi and 3DS as well. You're using it, but the features here are amazing and there was no mention of it in this video. DSiWare on those older DS consoles is really cool! Glad you enjoy your DS Lite and R4!
The DS Lite was my first Nintendo handheld, and I bought it as an adult in my mid 20's to play Pokémon. I now own a 2DS XL, two Switches, a Steam Deck, and an RG35XX Plus. I guess you could say it was my gateway drug into handhelds and retro gaming in general.
Totally in agreement that the DS Lite is one of Nintendo’s greatest (if not the greatest) pieces of hardware they’ve ever made. I owned a PSP and DS lite at the same time back in middle school, and I only really look back at the DS with fondness. It’s experience is timeless.
I’ve been playing Soul Silver on my 3DS but have another copy set up on my DS Lite with a messed up screen for trade evolutions. The colors on the DS lite look so much better with more contrast
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve gifted a DSi + R4 combo. It rules. I’m excited because I only this week discovered the GBArunner2 you mentioned. Soon I’ll be loading up a bunch of GBA games on my micro sd.
I just got a DSi for christmas, and it's god-like. The design is possibly the best handheld ever, so pocktable yet refined and attractive. Always get compliments on it. It trades the GBA slot for cameras on both sides, but it's modded anyways so it can still play the entire GBA library. Can't wait til a knockoff clamshell dual screen handheld comes out, but honestly it's going to be hard to top the DSi design. (The DSi and DS Lite design is almost the same, but I think the DSi takes the cake with its matte finish which hides fingerprints.)
i was 5 years old when the ds released. I am now 22 with a job with a ds in my back pack at all times. My ds lite was everything to me, still is til this day.
Why not the new 3ds (not xl)? I'm confused. Like, it does the same but better and with no need for an r4. It runs, not emulates, gameboy advance games from roms, as opposed to your ds lite. It even emulates some psx games perfectly. It's insane. And do you happen to know about a little thing called 3hs?
I've owned many DS's from the Lite to the New 3DS but honestly, much of my nostalgic actually comes from the R4 cards and how I was able to play any game I want and more importantly, with any _cheats_ that I wanted. Sad to say though that many of them bricked and just didn't work after a while and not to mention the fact that Even if it did, for certain games like Pokémon it just wouldn't save I remembered the constant times I would be forced to restart my save file over and over until I was sick of it. The there was one game I completed on the R4 though, and it was Awakening, and considering it was my first Fire Emblem game, it definitely left an impression on me. Honestly seeing this video now unlocks all those memories for me and I kind of want to black dip my toe back into the r4 catalog. So yeah Wolfie, what do you suggest for me to buy then cuz while it makes more sense to buy a 3DS given you can play DS games and 3DS stuff but how much you went on about the impressiveness hardware of the DS Lite, I'm open to suggestions. The most important part though is what type of R4 I should get cuz given my experience with them and how flimsy they could be. I'm not too confident though last that long. So which card do you recommend and where do I buy it from?
It sounds like what you experienced was the "time bomb" feature some R4's have. I think the easiest way to circumvent this is just to format the MicroSD and use the TwilightMenu firmware that I outlined in this video. That way you can be sure there's no sketchy stuff hiding in the firmware
For a while, I considered a DS Lite as an all in one emulation solution, utilizing both a slot1 flashcart and an EZ Flash DE Edition. However, to me, the original DSi is a much more premium feeling DS that is the same size as the DS Lite, and I much prefer it over the DS Lite. With a flashcart, I’ve been able to load up any DS rom hack on the DSi which is an amazing experience. However, of course, the DSi is missing the GBA functionality of the DS Lite, and cannot run GBA games nearly as well. GBARunner has not yet progressed far enough to rival GBA performance on the DSi, as it still can’t play decomp GBA rom hacks, and sometimes even has issues loading standard GBA games on a DSi. Instead of a DS Lite, my solution ended up being getting an Anbernic RG353M to supplement my DSi. The RG353M is a beautiful emulation console that has an incredibly similar form factor to the bottom half of the DS Lite/DSi, and not only can it play GBA games/decomp ROM hacks, but it can play everything up to PS1 if you wanted to, some PC ports like Stardew Valley (which feels AMAZING on a console the size of the DS), and even Pokemon fan games made via RPGmaker such as Infinite Fusion via JoiPlay on the Android OS side, so now you can even play complete Pokemon fan games that aren’t even based on a ROM on a DS sized handheld device. Anyway, the DS Lite is an amazing handheld for emulation, especially after nearly 20 years, but figured I would share my journey of finding my perfect handheld setup with the DSi + RG353M. Emulation handhelds are great but there truly is nothing that can play DS games like the original DS consoles. A console called the Ayaneo Flip DS recently came out that is actually a dual screen Windows handheld that can play DS/3DS games as well as literally anything else, but it’s quite bulky and awkward. The DS is a very special console and I don’t think anything will ever replace it; the same can’t be said for consoles such as the GBA, as there are many different emulation handhelds that have created a better experience than the original hardware.
I picked up a DSi XL for my collection a while back and I was blown away at how good DS games look on those larger screens. The screens are quite a bit bigger than the original DS’s, but what makes them special is that they’re the same resolution! So DS games look *flawless* on it. Sure, you have to give up on GBA support and I’m still looking for an equivalent experience there, but I can’t see myself playing DS games on anything else now.
I think the reason why ds is really good is because nintendo made the controls feel well but also be in a cooler design and be more flashy flashy in design as well. And because the cards actually had space.
I think the best way to describe the DSLite is "Overbuilt", as a kid I dropped mine a lot, and definitely wasn't kind to the hinge or the battery with how I used it, and still to this day it holds charge and the screen has that nice, satisfying click to it. Only downside is it's the lightblue version, so there is noticable dirt and grime in the grooves of the console.
Emulation handhelds and a DS Lite still can't beat my galaxy fold 4 with the USB-C Gamesir X2. DS and GB games are small enough file sizes that I can keep the entire console libraries on my phone and still have 300gb worth of space to fill with regular phone things.
I don't have an attachable controller for my phone, so I'm very limited on the genres that I can play comfortably. I just stick to pinball games such as Dragon's Fury.
When I was 10 or 11, I let one of my best friends borrow my DS Lite. It was the onyx black model. She lost it not too long after, and then we moved away. My brother eventually let me have his DS Lite, which he had gotten a few years after I had gotten my DS Lite. His had the red top and black bottom, but the plastic felt cheaper somehow - and the hinge broke shortly after I started using it for seemingly no reason. Soon after that the touch screen's inputs started to "drift," with everything being pushed horizontally from where I was actually touching. I still have that one to this day.
No denying, the DS was my original/gateway portable emulation machine (lookup "max media player" if you wanna feel old) but I was always let down by it's SNES performance and that's the reason I never use it for emulation. I started gaming life on the VIC 20 and grew up with NES but SNES and PS1 are my sweet spot and if the machine can't play those two libraries I just can't hang. I keep a couple DS lites around because I like the DS library and its GBA capabilities but that's the only reason.
Rght there with you Wulff. I just happened to pull my DS Lite out from the bottom drawer a few weeks ago. A new stylus and battery and my old DSTT cart was up and running. I am using it for my commute and frequent business travel and it is great how portable the DS is when the Switch takes a whole compartment of my backpack. Playing Castlevania DS right now. Battery life is insane with a new 2000 milliamp-hour battery.
@@dragtogo2735 it's targeted towards kids and people on a budget. The removal of the hinge is for durability and to make it cheaper. It isn't made to fit in your pocket. Just like the Nintendo switch.
I think this is what I’m gonna end up doing. I just found my old DS Lite and I had a conversation with one of my buddies who’s really into retro emulation and he told me I could use my Lite as an emulator. I didn’t believe him at first but it looks fairly simple and I’m gonna try it out. Thank you for the instructions on how to do so!
With the r4 wood (probably others too), you can boot straight to the DS cart and it then lets you choose if you want to use the slot 1 (DS) or slot 2 (GBA) cart. This still bypasses the DS menu and you can also adjust stuff like brightness from the same boot menu
I loved the DS Lite I had as a kid. It was the blue model and I always thought it was the most mature design on a Nintendo handheld. Unfortunately it had hinge issues which turned into screen issues and its completely busted at this point. Ya know what though I should give it a shot and try fixing it up.
I got an R4 in 2008, the same original you were showing off. It was my favorite thing for quite some time, between trying out tons of new DS games, various homebrew applications, making my own custom R4 skins, and more -- it was a blast. I even eventually sought out physical copies of games I originally tried on R4 (Electroplankton and Clubhouse Games for example). I loved the emulators; I originally played EarthBound on it through SNES emulation. I loved it so much it became my favorite game of all-time. Less than 2 months after playing EarthBound I got the original cartridge for free from a friend--and it's all thanks to the R4. I got it early on in my senior year of high school and it made the year really memorable, played so many multiplayer games with friends. I remember being paranoid that the R4 was perhaps fake, and I was able to verify it was authentic. I don't have the R4 anymore. I gave it away in 2014 to a friend. There were many DS games he wanted to play that he never got a chance to, and I knew it was time to give it to someone who would use it more than I would. No regrets--it's a cool thing to have and a piece of history for sure, but I know in my heart it's being taken care of. Sorry for the rambling lol
There's also the option of the DSi. I don't know what price it is nowadays, but you don't even need a flash cart, you can just softmod it and directly install Twiligt Menu on it and it plays GBA exactly like the 3DS and an R4 on a Lite. The DSi XL is my personal favorite, it has way bigger screens (while keeping the original resolution, so no weird upscaling and a bigger picture than the 3DS), they're IPS instead of TFT, it has the clicky buttons of the DSi that I prefer over the squishy ones on the Lite and it can also be softmodded with a simple SD card.
Interesting to see this video, a few weeks back I was cleaning out stuff in my attic and found my red and black DS lite with the same black R4 card. I decided to charge it and to my surprise, the battery is still in great shape despite owning it for many years
Bought a 3DS XL before they were retired after college - one of the best purchases I ever made. Recently got a 2DS to try home brew and worked amazing; I’m so happy to have access to a whole library I never would have dreamed of.
you can put an ez flash pak in the gba slot and there was a function inside r4 (or it was a homebrew, i dont remember its been 10+ years) that copies the gba rom onto the ezflash from within the r4 menu. that gba rom was thenn permanently on the ezflash and even ran on actual gba. there was a ds lite sized version of the ez flash that didnt stick out of the ds lite. and that homebrew
I still have my DSi and every few years I will bust it out for a play through of Chrono Trigger. I also put an unreasonable amount of hours into Animal Crossing on that thing. I agree that the DS Lite/DSi design was absolute perfection. To this day it's still my favorite handheld form factor.
Another great thing to check out is the DSI/dsi xl since you can install custom firmware onto an sd card and you don't even need a flashcart to play all the games you want. Especially because its still a clamshell, its got a nicer bigger screen, and its cheaper than a 3ds.... and probably also is going to be in better condition than most 3ds consoles since people hardly even touched theirs back in the day due to the lack of gba slot.
I still have my original DS lite and R4. The R4 was originally my friends, but when he upgrade it he gifted me his old one. The DS got a ton of use back in the day. The hinge won't lock anymore and flops open. The L and R buttons don't work, and the case is yellowed and cracked. One of these day I really should get around to refurbishing it. Mine still has something called moonshell on it for the browser/launcher. I'm sure it's really outdated. NES and GBC games are a really good experience on it. I remember SNES not being great though. Didn't use it much for that.
I just picked up a DS Lite at Beep in Akihabara for only 3000 yen. It is missing the wall adapter and stylus, but for that price I couldn't pass it up! $10 later and both are ordered from Amazon. Also picked up a few DS titles from Beep. Can't wait to try it out and maybe give the R4 a go. Thanks!
ive had a homebrewed 3DS for a long time, but i know that DS games just look crisper on those displays! they scale the pixels up on 3DS’s and it doesnt look as clean as it would on the original ds consoles. I gotta try homebrew sometime - ive got a dsi xl which i could tinker with.
People in the comments are reminding me of something important I left out of the video: the "timebomb feature" some of the sketchier R4s have. This will prevent you from saving or sometimes even booting your R4 after a certain amount of time. This is not something that I've experienced, but it seems some of you have.
There are ways to circumvent this, but I think the easiest one is to just wipe the MicroSD completely and just start with a fresh Firmware, like the TwilightMenu that I outlined in this video and linked in the description.
EDIT: (People have told me the DS lite does not have an SD slot, so none of this is valid. I assumed because the dsi had one the lite would as well)
You can also just use an sd card and use twilight menu. Twilight menu also comes included with a lot of emulators for other devices. This also works with the newest update unlike some older r4 cards. You of course already know this. [the setup is a lot harder than using an r4, but if money or reliability is an issue this way is recommended]
As someone who used to be very well engrained in the Nintendo homebrewing community, said timebomb can literally be circumvented by setting back the clock on the DS, it does not do permanent damage to the console nor the flashcart itself, it just reads the date and if it's past a certain date is doesn't boot. Going for a third party launch is definitely the way to good to prevent it still, especially since the base launcher on a lot of these flashcarts tend to struggle to load games with heavier anti-piracy features. I remember back in 2017 or so I had a hell of a time finding a menu which was able to load one of the later Professor Layton games without triggering the anti-piracy.
These timebomb carts generally support RetroGameFan firmware though which naturally circumvents the timebomb
@@appleua4807 Came here for this comment. I don't know about DS/DS lite, but from the DSi onward at least you could set TWLmenu form the console sdcard and never worry about the R4. The R4 is only being used to launch TWL anyway, I don't think any guide even mention using factory firmware from the flashcarts
The BEST is the “New” 3DS (not xl) I have my R4 cartridge for DS. It’s modded with the H Shop with 256GB for the 3DS, and then I installed retro arch for full speed NES/SNES/GB/GBC/GBA/Game gear/Genesis games. You could even do more consoles in retroarch, I just don’t play anything else. That’s the ultimate build I personally have and the one I sell at my Etsy store. It has almost the exact same perfect form factor of the DS lite. The “time bomb”’is almost a non existent thing anymore. If you do have one it’s easy to remove.
Edit :forgot to add in GBA under retro arch.
3:57 Factor spilled broken glass shards into many of their meals and tried to hide it from customers, only offering the bare minimum notice via email and we had to BEG for refunds.
Everyone upvote. Let it be known in mass.
Just to add, this was 2-3 years ago and was apparently the fault of their rice supplier, only affecting specific meals. That seems to have been the end of it, as I can't find anything about it in the two years since.
Factor also mass spammed advertising using AI and it was disgusting.
@@bananatoofat Um.. Bob is entertaining?
reminds me of how people are still advertising betterhelp even though they sell your therapy info to advertisers.
I remember my Dad buying both my sister and I original R4 cards for our Nintendo DS Lites back in 2007. Thinking back it's crazy my dad found out about them. I still have it to this very day.
No time bomb?
@@SwEtchinmusicTime bomb only exists on the bootlegs R4.
Real R4s don't have time bombs @@SwEtchinmusic
@@garburias oh. Didn't know that. How can you tell if it's bootleg or not?
@@SwEtchinmusic The labels, if it comes in plain colors (like black, white, etc.) then it's fake. If it comes in black label with grey circular pattern then it's a legit one.
I love the R4, I was like 10 when I was using my DS Lite alot and my Dad felt bad for not wanting to buy my little brother and I some games we wanted (understandably so, shit was expensive) and one day we came home from school to find out he got us a new "game" the R4. From then on buying games obviously was a non issue and he was happy to find games for us since we were still VERY new to navigating the internet. Probably one of the best things he's gotten for my little brother and I, and it was the exact same R4 you're showing off. Never thought I was going to see it again lol, my old ones been lost to time and I sadly have no clue where my old DS is but it was a lot of fun while we had it. Thanks for reminding me of that cool piece of tech.
He's a good dad
That’s a heartwarming story. Dads are the best.
I took my DSi out of my desk drawer a few weeks ago, bought a ten dollar micro sd card with an adapter, and loaded up twilight menu.
Because it's apparently a little more powerful than the DS lite to support the camera, it runs everything pretty well! Just make sure your ROMs are clean.
Edit: After a bit of finagling I was able to transfer my saves of stuff I had played on RetroArch on my laptop over as well.
I'm just getting into this kind of stuff and was intimidated at the thought of having to buy a new handheld emulator/ second hand DS Lite plus R4 and flash carts simply due to cost, but it was SUPER easy to breathe new life into this console I've had since I was 8, and now I can play any game I could've wanted as a kid. And Rats!
AND! I can revert back to normal DSi functionality and menu if I ever really want to. Literally the most painless mod you can imagine, if you can even call it a Mod.
So, if you are like I was and have your childhood DSi hanging around and are feeling discouraged by the lack of GBA port, never fear! You too can emulate some great games! Would a 2DS like Bob suggested be better? Yeah, probably, it can do all this plus play 3DS games. Someday I will play MarioKart 7 or Samus Returns, and my life will have meaning again, but until that fateful day, I'll use my 10 dollar emulation box and be contented.
If you've made it this far, thanks! This is really just a little 2am love letter to the DSi for coming in clutch and being a much needed distraction in during midterms at university. Now back to some Advance Wars
DSi is always my recommendation for first handheld softmod. Easy and VERY effective
I also modded my DSi, and its great, easy to do and works great. I am currently on vacation, and for my flights, I just kept it in my pocket, which could be harder with some of the 3DS versions.
From what I can remember the GBA CPU is used by DS games as a secondary CPU, but what you can't do is access the DS CPU from the GBA Slot, meaning that flashcarts and stuff that go in the bottom slot can only run GBA homebrew, whereas flashcarts in the top slot can run DS and GBA homebrew.
Because the GBA CPU is used by DS games it had to be included in the 3DS so that it could play DS games, which is why GBA Virtual Console games on 3DS actually aren't emulated, which is why they don't support the features that other Virtual Console games on 3DS use - because they run natively.
The "GBA core" is used for stuff like I/O with DS games, yes. But DS games can't run GBA homebrew or games. The DS slot is too slow for that. Also, you can run DS software in some cases from GBA slot. Early DS hacking was done with a "hacked slot-1 device" (e.g. PassMe) or a custom firmware on DS and a GBA cartridge which was booted in DS mode. This feature is missing on modern GBA flashcarts.
@@Flashcardsinfoif I remember correctly (it’s been a while) there was also a method using the memory expansion for the DS web browser to load GBA games, because the extra RAM on the expansion was enough to load any GBA game and gave it full access to the GBA slot for the required speed.
It’s been like 15 years since I messed around with a DS/R4 though. I should pull mine out…
@@VeshSneaks Possible. The DS Web browser RAM expansion has 8MB which would fit many games (but not all). But saving wouldn't be possible because the RAM expansion doesn't have hardware for that
They are emulated on the New 3DS though, which is a similar move between the first PS3 and the later PS3 models in regards to PS2 compatibility.
@@BrunodeSouzaLino You can emulate them on 3DS with mGBA, but you can also play them natively with VC injects or open agb firm. The 3DS CPU even has a GBA flashcart "baked in" to support the games
I think people forget the 2DS XL is a thing which is basically a 3DS without the 3D
Damn good console as well. I own 6 different 3ds’ of all the variations and stick to a purple 2ds xl because its sleek, light, and a solid middle ground between the New3ds and New3ds-xl.
i love my 2ds xl....i had a 3ds xl for years but even w the 3d off it was hard to play games for more than 40 min at a time without getting a migraine (i get them chronically)....i do not have that problem with the 2ds at all : ) cant tell you why but im very happy about it. it's also lighter and fits in my bag easier....just wish there had been some more colorways and accessories released before the line ended lol
@@muckpuppy Tbh the only gripe I got with the 2dsXL is the edges where your palms rest against it. Not many people talk about it but dang it does feel like it’s sloooooowly cutting into my hands.
I've been searching for an used 2ds XL, trust me, they know... Because I can't imagine them not knowing and putting 200$ USD as a price
@@WorsePoke yeah probably because alot of people don't have em so they get upcharged, some of my friends didn't even know it existed, If people knew about it there would be more available for resell then they'd be priced like $150 or $100 because that was the orignal price range when it came out. Supply and Demand my friend no one is selling a rare item for less than retail.
Personally, I think the New 3DS XL is the best handheld, VC injection makes older games run perfectly (except for some obscure gba games), and you can stick a r4 in there for ds games
I heard R4s for Ds is Iffy and difficult is that just half truths or our propaganda? I have seen a few for under $125 used and was tempted to try and make a handheld emulator with it for the kids
@@lost0thech4If your 3ds is already hacked you can make any r4 cart work
@@lost0thech4I bought the first one I saw for my New 3DS in like 2018 and it's still working like a charm to this day 👌Only the games with DS-exclusive accessories are somewhat incompatible (like Guitar Hero)
@@lost0thech4a done card is like $8 or so on Ali. That's all you need.
You don't even need an r4 on a 3DS. Just use Twilight menu.
I've fixed like 20 DS Lites and yours has the best screen I've ever seen, no wonder you like this one so much.
It’s true his screen is amazing and white no yellowing. Must be a brand new console.
I love my DS lite with R4 to this day. Something about the form factor, library of games, good battery life, and yes...nostalgia.
I know what you mean still got my R4 and lite...That clip noise when you close it 🤌😇✌️🖖
What a throwback. Having an R4 in 2007 was life changing
R4 + Everdrive on an OG DS = Powerhouse
Diamond is unbreakable.
DSTWO + EZ Flash Omega DE = Big Powerhouse
Facts but instead an ez flash omega definitive edition now it’s perfect
Once upon a time there was the EZ-Flash 3in1. It's a mess to get working sometimes and it essentially requires you to use a 3rd party tool to get games into it (GBAExploader) but it works nicely and you can have it flush in the DSL.
@@whisperingwooper1763 That's what the DE stands for. "Definitive Edition".
I’ve got a DSI LL for my original DS games and a Black Friday N3DS for everything else. I am so happy with that pairing as I can play basically everything I want on there. For everything else? I’ve got a deck and my switch oled! So good!
I gave up on a lot of handheld emulation devices after modding a 3ds. Really the DS and 3DS are such great handhelds, I'm glad the still get the nod when it comes to emulating. Also the pink gold DS lite looks so nice
Personally, some SNES/GBA hacks are hit or miss on my New, but it works pretty good all things considered
I recently got my r4 and I've been playing my nintendo ds daily for the past three weeks. It's great to finally play all those games I never got a chance to own
Which r4 card did you get? Have an old ds lite that im looking to get some life out of.
in college, when I didn't have a cellphone, I would turn on my DS Lite, and using AIM or MSN I would message my friends. this was BEFORE smartphones (Android /iPhone), it had an MP3 player I would play over AUX in my car.
there's a world where Nintendo DS rather than the flip phone evolved into the modern smart device, it was already much closer to the goal.
Moonshell on CycloDS was my MP3 player during college/post-secondary. Loved rocking that.
I remember when my parents would take my notebook at night and I would spend HOURS chatting with my high school girlfriend through MSN on the DS lmao
the things i like about the ds is its reliable and just works
@@batmabel
Talking to a girlfriend for hours?
That's a simp's chore.
Whilst you were talking to her she was likely taking another boy's jiz.
That's neat, but I think you're describing a DSi, not a DS Lite.
DSi is also worth considering. It can do all this stuff without having to buy flashkarts, just a regular SD card and a GBA BIOS will be fine.
I tried adding a GBA BIOS for Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission but they still wouldn’t work.
@@Joel-bt4ttthen you didn't do it right. It's literally a drag and drop into a folder.
GBA compatibility will be worse because it's not native. But yeah, the DSi is a really good console and I prefer the DSi screens and feel over the DS lite ones
@@Flashcardsinfo It is native actually if you use GBARUNNER2 on twilight menu the dsi just doesn't have a cart slot
even with the 3ds
Thanks!
The R4 carts come with a built in time bomb that stops them working after a year or 2, simply change the clock on your DS back a few years and the R4 cart will work again.
Literally genocide.
this only happens to some ones, and in case you could change the firmware to ysmenu or similiar to remove the bomb
@namesurname4666 if you change it to the firmware bob used in the video will the timebomb thing be fixed?
@@Wavystarj yes
The actual R4 brand ones don't. But now it's pretty much impossible to tell if what you're buying is legit or not.
Thanks man! I have one of those laying around in a drawer somewhere from my daughters. I will have to dig it out and give it a go.
I use a DS Lite with the EZ flash Omega in the Game Boy slot add an R4 in the DS slot and I can play every Nintendo game from the DS backwards
Everything besides N64?
I have a golden retriever puppy and every time I feed her I mimic Bob's "ya hungry". So she got excited about the factor ad 😅
The DS is still one of the sleekest and sexiest consoles to ever exist. Still one of my favorite consoles
Facts
How ?
@@floki2095 cuz it’s sleek and sexy that’s how duhhh
@@AUGUSTIN-MUSIC😅
@@Rdott82 😉
I have a white DS Lite with an R4i and EZ-Flash. An unbeatable combination. Also have a N3DS XL and 2DS, so the entire gamut is covered.
I just bought a GBA SP and swapped the shell, threw a USB C port on it (messed up taking off the old connector so no USB C audio, but oh well), put an IPS screen in it and man it really makes a huge difference. I would definitely recommend that over a Gameboy Micro
If you ripped the pads you can bypass them to the audio test pads and get audio working. Use some enameled wire.
That's a project I'd love to try someday, it sounds like fun.
Game boy micro is also crap.
Dang dude, your story about how you got the DS Lite, what you played on it vs Emulation, the R4 Card... It's almost exactly my same experience with that device. Still have my DS Lite on the counter next to me - with the R4 card in!
2:53
Dammit, Bob, I didn't need that kick to the gut.
Dam that did hurt
The GBA is 23 years old now... You're welcome 😢
@@kimkrimson*got an n64 when they released*
Help
Just put Hshop on my New 3DS XL last week and I'm having more fun with it than I ever have. Well worth it, and thank you for bringing it to my attention!!!
After having played DS games on a 3DSXL, I got exactly this setup with an R4 and an EZFlash. It looks incredible and feels incredible to hold. There is also a gbaswitch file that you can install which gives you a button in your R4 menu to switch to the GBA slot. Some flashcarts require you to instantly boot to them, so it's really handy.
Dude, the DS was my first console… you saying that is 18 years old hits extremely hard 💀
R4 is nice, but I'm still glad I got a Supercard DSTWO. You can fluidly emulate DOS with a fast i386 in protected mode with the extra CPU and play the classics like Commander Keen. With the stylus, even Dune 2 controls surprisingly well. Not many other RTS on the DS so I loved that. The Neogeo Emulator also just works which is awesome.
A Supercard DSTWO plus an overclocked GBA flashcard for extra RAM can run Quake 2! Quake 1 also looks way better this way.
I have a homebrew 3DS with H shop and an R4 with 300 DS games on it, perfect combo for the 3DS
The coincidence of this video coming out the same week I finally got around to modding my 3DS is not lost on me
Miyoo Mini can play DS games btw. They added it like 6 months ago.
I had an R4 back in the day, but gave it away after feeling guilty over stories about how piracy was hurting publisher relationships with Nintendo (GTA: Chinatown Wars was the big story I remember). I've been thinking about picking up another one for years. I can't justify paying those second-hand Kirby Superstar Ultra prices.
Cant hurt their feelings anymore lol. Just do it and have some fun!
They don't care about hurting our feelings
@@gabe5918right !?
It's kinda crazy with the advancement in dedicated emulation devices that the DS lite & PSP3k are still two of the best options.
Still play my DS to this day. I have handheld emulators( geezus do I have handhelds ), but my DSi xl and R4 is one of the first units I reach for when taking multi day trips. When I want GBA, it’s the lite. You can’t beat ‘em!
I bought my DS Lite in the brief time I lived in Tokyo. They had only recently come out and were in big demand and always sold out. We were in Akihabara one weekend and they just happened to have them in stock. I can't remember what the pirate system I bought at the time, but it required a GBA cartridge that had the SD card reader in it.
I should dig it out of storage. I loved it.
EZ Flash! I should have waited until I finished the video before commenting.
I was born in 2005 and the ds lite was my first handheld which my parents only got me coz I kept nicking my sister's. Loved it to bits and still have it.
3DS DOES have GBA hardware, it's only missing the gamecart slot, but it can run GBA games natively via VC injects or via open_agb_firm.
Love these videos when I’m at work, thanks Bob! It must be Thursday I have my Wulff Den hoodie on.
Note about the screen yellowing: It's just the digitizer, very cheap and easy to replace with modern repo parts, and something you can theoretically remove entirely on a gba macro build, might wamna replace it witha piece of similarly sized acrylic or glass to protect the lcd though.
i remember learning about flashcarts when i was younger, and i ordered an Acekard 2i. it arrived the day before i left on a vacation so i was able to load it up with roms and play them during a long car ride that summer.
The miyoo mini has official DS compatibility now, I’m surprised you didn’t know that yet! Unless of of course you mean the miyoo technically can’t play 2 screen games properly, but DS has been running on miyoo for months now.
It runs a lot of DS games pretty poorly
The DS Lite with an R4 was my first Nintendo handheld. I played the hell out of it. My house was burgled by some kids 10 years ago, and the DS is one of the things they took. I've always wanted to replace it, and now this video has me REALLY missing it. It really is a fantastic setup.
This just brought back so many memories, and I have my 3DS XL and Gameboy Micro (which I didn’t realize is rare now??) still working
Hey Bob! Miyoo mini can now run drastic emulator and NDS games! Just some slowdowns and hiccups but not bad at all!
Yup, came to say this. The OnionOS guys worked hard to get DraStic working on the Miyoo. Yeah, sure it's only one screen but it's workable for the majority of games and there are layout options.
@@PWRSLV trying to figure out my "save data cannot be accessed/ saved" error on some NDS games but some work fine
After buying and returning literally 8 emulation devices, i bought a 3ds xl and modded it and haven't looked back. It's fantastic
I’ll be back when the ds lite can drink
In the eu it already can
I already went down the R4 & EZ-flash route a long time ago, I highly recommend it.
Also I remember the modding community making portable PS2's & what not...ahhh good times.
The DSI wants a word.
Excellent alternative if you don't care about gba physical carts. R4 and gba games are there, and it's a bit better CPU I think
Cause of you, I went out and bought a 2ds xl and modded it. Now I have it all at my fingertips. But now I am thinking of getting a DSlite for strictly ds and gba gaming.
You should be able to use newer micro SD cards with an old r4 if you format them to fat32. Windows won't let you format anything over 32 GB to fat32 natively, but with third party tools (or on mac or linux) you can do it pretty easily.
Man, I wish I still had mine, I've got a dsi xl and a "new"3ds. I used to be really bad about the trade-in thing constantly getting rid of stuff for the "newer and more exciting" thing. Which I've come to realize was a mistake, so I've been trying to rebuild my collection.
I still have my SupercardDSTWO drains the battery like nothing else but worth every second
This is the exact setup I have. It is beautiful and easy to use, everything you need to still have fun if you are forced to sit and wait for hours on end. Thanks for the video!
Goes over and picks up their DS that's been sitting for 5 plus years... You're still alive. (the battery)
100% agree its such a great system / factoring in it's flash cart options / real backwards compatibility. It was sweet getting my M3 real cart with plenty of life cycle still in the system during my college years. There was definitely no time bomb in that as it still works and with it's gba cart it came with runs the gba roms natively. I do find the OG DS a little more comfortable to use with it's trigger style.
Still can't believe there were ever believers in the lie that a New 3DS was required to play SNES games...
It kinda works, its a nice as a demo, but its not good.
Bruh Snes9X on 2ds/o3ds worked great. Never had any problems
My first experience with an R4 card was at ymca camp when I was 9 years old everyone always brought their ds and played Pokémon and Mario party together, one day one kid showed up with a loaded up r4 and we were all so amazed, the kid that had it used the built in cheats to get a bunch of shiny Pokémon and immediately became the most popular person in camp but the power got to him and he started charging people 1 dollar per shiny that kid made bank
GBA Runner is running GBA games with the GBA hardware, it just does it through DS mode. It makes the DS mode access the GBA backwards compatibility.
I would like to mention Twilight Menu. Twilight Menu is an amazing software for DS, DSi, and 3DS that lets you run many things. The thing it is best for in this case is that you can run DSiWare on a DS or DS Lite. It's amazing that this was able to be done, and I love it. This is why it works on DSi and 3DS as well. You're using it, but the features here are amazing and there was no mention of it in this video. DSiWare on those older DS consoles is really cool! Glad you enjoy your DS Lite and R4!
The DS Lite was my first Nintendo handheld, and I bought it as an adult in my mid 20's to play Pokémon. I now own a 2DS XL, two Switches, a Steam Deck, and an RG35XX Plus. I guess you could say it was my gateway drug into handhelds and retro gaming in general.
Totally in agreement that the DS Lite is one of Nintendo’s greatest (if not the greatest) pieces of hardware they’ve ever made. I owned a PSP and DS lite at the same time back in middle school, and I only really look back at the DS with fondness. It’s experience is timeless.
I’ve been playing Soul Silver on my 3DS but have another copy set up on my DS Lite with a messed up screen for trade evolutions. The colors on the DS lite look so much better with more contrast
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve gifted a DSi + R4 combo. It rules. I’m excited because I only this week discovered the GBArunner2 you mentioned. Soon I’ll be loading up a bunch of GBA games on my micro sd.
I live for the "YAHUNGRY!?" yell in the factor ads. Cracks me up every time. 🤣
I can't believe how I just put one of these into my wishlist at about 10 dollars when you post this and possibly inflate their prices again 😂
I just got a DSi for christmas, and it's god-like. The design is possibly the best handheld ever, so pocktable yet refined and attractive. Always get compliments on it. It trades the GBA slot for cameras on both sides, but it's modded anyways so it can still play the entire GBA library. Can't wait til a knockoff clamshell dual screen handheld comes out, but honestly it's going to be hard to top the DSi design. (The DSi and DS Lite design is almost the same, but I think the DSi takes the cake with its matte finish which hides fingerprints.)
It not runs GBA cartridges :/
i was 5 years old when the ds released. I am now 22 with a job with a ds in my back pack at all times. My ds lite was everything to me, still is til this day.
Why not the new 3ds (not xl)? I'm confused. Like, it does the same but better and with no need for an r4.
It runs, not emulates, gameboy advance games from roms, as opposed to your ds lite.
It even emulates some psx games perfectly. It's insane.
And do you happen to know about a little thing called 3hs?
I've owned many DS's from the Lite to the New 3DS but honestly, much of my nostalgic actually comes from the R4 cards and how I was able to play any game I want and more importantly, with any _cheats_ that I wanted.
Sad to say though that many of them bricked and just didn't work after a while and not to mention the fact that Even if it did, for certain games like Pokémon it just wouldn't save
I remembered the constant times I would be forced to restart my save file over and over until I was sick of it. The there was one game I completed on the R4 though, and it was Awakening, and considering it was my first Fire Emblem game, it definitely left an impression on me.
Honestly seeing this video now unlocks all those memories for me and I kind of want to black dip my toe back into the r4 catalog. So yeah Wolfie, what do you suggest for me to buy then cuz while it makes more sense to buy a 3DS given you can play DS games and 3DS stuff but how much you went on about the impressiveness hardware of the DS Lite, I'm open to suggestions.
The most important part though is what type of R4 I should get cuz given my experience with them and how flimsy they could be. I'm not too confident though last that long. So which card do you recommend and where do I buy it from?
Just set the date back. That's what bricks it
It sounds like what you experienced was the "time bomb" feature some R4's have. I think the easiest way to circumvent this is just to format the MicroSD and use the TwilightMenu firmware that I outlined in this video. That way you can be sure there's no sketchy stuff hiding in the firmware
For a while, I considered a DS Lite as an all in one emulation solution, utilizing both a slot1 flashcart and an EZ Flash DE Edition. However, to me, the original DSi is a much more premium feeling DS that is the same size as the DS Lite, and I much prefer it over the DS Lite. With a flashcart, I’ve been able to load up any DS rom hack on the DSi which is an amazing experience.
However, of course, the DSi is missing the GBA functionality of the DS Lite, and cannot run GBA games nearly as well. GBARunner has not yet progressed far enough to rival GBA performance on the DSi, as it still can’t play decomp GBA rom hacks, and sometimes even has issues loading standard GBA games on a DSi.
Instead of a DS Lite, my solution ended up being getting an Anbernic RG353M to supplement my DSi. The RG353M is a beautiful emulation console that has an incredibly similar form factor to the bottom half of the DS Lite/DSi, and not only can it play GBA games/decomp ROM hacks, but it can play everything up to PS1 if you wanted to, some PC ports like Stardew Valley (which feels AMAZING on a console the size of the DS), and even Pokemon fan games made via RPGmaker such as Infinite Fusion via JoiPlay on the Android OS side, so now you can even play complete Pokemon fan games that aren’t even based on a ROM on a DS sized handheld device.
Anyway, the DS Lite is an amazing handheld for emulation, especially after nearly 20 years, but figured I would share my journey of finding my perfect handheld setup with the DSi + RG353M. Emulation handhelds are great but there truly is nothing that can play DS games like the original DS consoles. A console called the Ayaneo Flip DS recently came out that is actually a dual screen Windows handheld that can play DS/3DS games as well as literally anything else, but it’s quite bulky and awkward. The DS is a very special console and I don’t think anything will ever replace it; the same can’t be said for consoles such as the GBA, as there are many different emulation handhelds that have created a better experience than the original hardware.
I want a ringtone on my phone that goes
YAAAHUNNGRRYYYYYYYY
every time someone calls ...
Wouldn't that soundbite work better as a notification noise instead?
I picked up a DSi XL for my collection a while back and I was blown away at how good DS games look on those larger screens. The screens are quite a bit bigger than the original DS’s, but what makes them special is that they’re the same resolution! So DS games look *flawless* on it. Sure, you have to give up on GBA support and I’m still looking for an equivalent experience there, but I can’t see myself playing DS games on anything else now.
I think the reason why ds is really good is because nintendo made the controls feel well but also be in a cooler design and be more flashy flashy in design as well.
And because the cards actually had space.
I think the best way to describe the DSLite is "Overbuilt", as a kid I dropped mine a lot, and definitely wasn't kind to the hinge or the battery with how I used it, and still to this day it holds charge and the screen has that nice, satisfying click to it. Only downside is it's the lightblue version, so there is noticable dirt and grime in the grooves of the console.
Emulation handhelds and a DS Lite still can't beat my galaxy fold 4 with the USB-C Gamesir X2. DS and GB games are small enough file sizes that I can keep the entire console libraries on my phone and still have 300gb worth of space to fill with regular phone things.
yeah i still have the NES, SNES e.t.c on my fold 4 so i can play them when i'm bored while i'm on the go
I don't have an attachable controller for my phone, so I'm very limited on the genres that I can play comfortably. I just stick to pinball games such as Dragon's Fury.
When I was 10 or 11, I let one of my best friends borrow my DS Lite. It was the onyx black model. She lost it not too long after, and then we moved away. My brother eventually let me have his DS Lite, which he had gotten a few years after I had gotten my DS Lite. His had the red top and black bottom, but the plastic felt cheaper somehow - and the hinge broke shortly after I started using it for seemingly no reason. Soon after that the touch screen's inputs started to "drift," with everything being pushed horizontally from where I was actually touching. I still have that one to this day.
0:15 couldn’t be more wrong, game boy screens were amazing outside during the summer, you only like backlits because you’re a caveman
Objectively bad take
No denying, the DS was my original/gateway portable emulation machine (lookup "max media player" if you wanna feel old) but I was always let down by it's SNES performance and that's the reason I never use it for emulation. I started gaming life on the VIC 20 and grew up with NES but SNES and PS1 are my sweet spot and if the machine can't play those two libraries I just can't hang. I keep a couple DS lites around because I like the DS library and its GBA capabilities but that's the only reason.
Emulation in general can never beat real hardware.
Rght there with you Wulff. I just happened to pull my DS Lite out from the bottom drawer a few weeks ago. A new stylus and battery and my old DSTT cart was up and running. I am using it for my commute and frequent business travel and it is great how portable the DS is when the Switch takes a whole compartment of my backpack. Playing Castlevania DS right now. Battery life is insane with a new 2000 milliamp-hour battery.
The 2DS is Not Ugly 🤦🏻
The New 2ds xl isn't. The 2ds is.
@@dragtogo2735 The widescreen game and watches look so much cleaner than the dual screen ones ✋😭
@@dragtogo2735 it's targeted towards kids and people on a budget. The removal of the hinge is for durability and to make it cheaper. It isn't made to fit in your pocket. Just like the Nintendo switch.
I think this is what I’m gonna end up doing. I just found my old DS Lite and I had a conversation with one of my buddies who’s really into retro emulation and he told me I could use my Lite as an emulator. I didn’t believe him at first but it looks fairly simple and I’m gonna try it out. Thank you for the instructions on how to do so!
Soon people will find a way to explain why the Atari 2600 is great for emulation
With the r4 wood (probably others too), you can boot straight to the DS cart and it then lets you choose if you want to use the slot 1 (DS) or slot 2 (GBA) cart.
This still bypasses the DS menu and you can also adjust stuff like brightness from the same boot menu
0:42 Cool story, bro.
DSI XL is definitely worth looking at! Feels much more premium with accurate scaling and larger screen!
There's no scaling in the XL or LL models because both screens have the same resolution.
I loved the DS Lite I had as a kid. It was the blue model and I always thought it was the most mature design on a Nintendo handheld. Unfortunately it had hinge issues which turned into screen issues and its completely busted at this point. Ya know what though I should give it a shot and try fixing it up.
I got an R4 in 2008, the same original you were showing off. It was my favorite thing for quite some time, between trying out tons of new DS games, various homebrew applications, making my own custom R4 skins, and more -- it was a blast. I even eventually sought out physical copies of games I originally tried on R4 (Electroplankton and Clubhouse Games for example). I loved the emulators; I originally played EarthBound on it through SNES emulation. I loved it so much it became my favorite game of all-time. Less than 2 months after playing EarthBound I got the original cartridge for free from a friend--and it's all thanks to the R4. I got it early on in my senior year of high school and it made the year really memorable, played so many multiplayer games with friends.
I remember being paranoid that the R4 was perhaps fake, and I was able to verify it was authentic.
I don't have the R4 anymore. I gave it away in 2014 to a friend. There were many DS games he wanted to play that he never got a chance to, and I knew it was time to give it to someone who would use it more than I would. No regrets--it's a cool thing to have and a piece of history for sure, but I know in my heart it's being taken care of.
Sorry for the rambling lol
There's also the option of the DSi. I don't know what price it is nowadays, but you don't even need a flash cart, you can just softmod it and directly install Twiligt Menu on it and it plays GBA exactly like the 3DS and an R4 on a Lite. The DSi XL is my personal favorite, it has way bigger screens (while keeping the original resolution, so no weird upscaling and a bigger picture than the 3DS), they're IPS instead of TFT, it has the clicky buttons of the DSi that I prefer over the squishy ones on the Lite and it can also be softmodded with a simple SD card.
Interesting to see this video, a few weeks back I was cleaning out stuff in my attic and found my red and black DS lite with the same black R4 card. I decided to charge it and to my surprise, the battery is still in great shape despite owning it for many years
Bought a 3DS XL before they were retired after college - one of the best purchases I ever made.
Recently got a 2DS to try home brew and worked amazing; I’m so happy to have access to a whole library I never would have dreamed of.
you can put an ez flash pak in the gba slot and there was a function inside r4 (or it was a homebrew, i dont remember its been 10+ years) that copies the gba rom onto the ezflash from within the r4 menu. that gba rom was thenn permanently on the ezflash and even ran on actual gba. there was a ds lite sized version of the ez flash that didnt stick out of the ds lite. and that homebrew
I still have my DSi and every few years I will bust it out for a play through of Chrono Trigger. I also put an unreasonable amount of hours into Animal Crossing on that thing. I agree that the DS Lite/DSi design was absolute perfection. To this day it's still my favorite handheld form factor.
Another great thing to check out is the DSI/dsi xl since you can install custom firmware onto an sd card and you don't even need a flashcart to play all the games you want. Especially because its still a clamshell, its got a nicer bigger screen, and its cheaper than a 3ds.... and probably also is going to be in better condition than most 3ds consoles since people hardly even touched theirs back in the day due to the lack of gba slot.
I still have my original DS lite and R4. The R4 was originally my friends, but when he upgrade it he gifted me his old one. The DS got a ton of use back in the day. The hinge won't lock anymore and flops open. The L and R buttons don't work, and the case is yellowed and cracked. One of these day I really should get around to refurbishing it. Mine still has something called moonshell on it for the browser/launcher. I'm sure it's really outdated. NES and GBC games are a really good experience on it. I remember SNES not being great though. Didn't use it much for that.
I dug out my dsi recently. After updating from Twilight v.19 to v.26, its so smooth and responsive. Im really enjoying playing on here again!
I just picked up a DS Lite at Beep in Akihabara for only 3000 yen. It is missing the wall adapter and stylus, but for that price I couldn't pass it up! $10 later and both are ordered from Amazon. Also picked up a few DS titles from Beep. Can't wait to try it out and maybe give the R4 a go. Thanks!
ive had a homebrewed 3DS for a long time, but i know that DS games just look crisper on those displays! they scale the pixels up on 3DS’s and it doesnt look as clean as it would on the original ds consoles.
I gotta try homebrew sometime - ive got a dsi xl which i could tinker with.