CYCLODS EVOLUTION

Yet another flash cartridge by your most infrequently updated website. Here we are with a review of teh Cyclops DS Evolution, if you haven't guessed it by now. This is a cartridge which has evolved from nothing more than a cheap rip off of an already well established product on the market, the Supercard brand, and the initial products named CycloDS MiniSD and MicroSD really were nothing more than a waste of time or money as it offered nothing new what-so-ever. Question is, has the this evolution actually something good and innovative to offer? Here's a list of the features provided by the manufacturer. Completely plug & play - no FlashMe, PassMe or PC software required 100% game compatibility, supports clean ROM's - works on any OS Full NDS download play support, including problem games such as Mario Kart DS Action Replay compatible cheat code engine, comes bundled with cheat codes for over 300 games! Uses MicroSD card, both FAT16 and FAT32 supported Supports the MicroSDHC specification, allowing for high capacity memory cards Save type is automatically detected, no need for a save type database Save directly to MicroSD rather than onboard flash User friendly, easily skinnable interface. Both touch screen and button operation supported Multi-lingual user interface "Enhanced Mode" which provides powerful, unique features during game play. Enhanced features are activated through an in-game menu. Enhanced mode features include: Adjust LCD brightness during game play (NDSLite only) SlowMotion mode which can be used to slow down game play to make fast paced action sequences easier to master Return to CycloDS Evolution Menu (aka soft reset) More features to come! Excellent homebrew compatibility thanks to the DLDI auto-patcher 2 megabytes of onboard flash memory which contains the CycloDS Evolution OS and will be utilised in the future to add exciting new features. A recovery mode is also included. Autoboot mode which when activated will directly boot into the last ROM or homebrew application executed Moonshell included to provide media playing functionality PassMe function (boot from slot 2) Supports rumble and memory expansions A lot of these features will we take a closer look at in this review. Please note that this review is based on a CycloDS Evolution with firmware V1.12 installed. WHAT YOU GET The packaging is quite nice, a tin box which reminds me of Blaze and G6 products. The included items are cut to the bone, all you get is the CycloDS Evolution cartridge and a USB MicroSD adapter and that's it, though I've heard that some people also received a tiny piece of paper exlpaining a little bit about the cartridge?. I've said it before but I guess it has to be repeated - it would be great if the manufacturers wuld care to include a manual and maybe software on CD, even if it's outdated, so that the new users of DS flash carts would have a chance to learn how to use the product eventhough it's as easy as scratching ones ass and I doubt anyone ever needed a manual to be able to do that? THE HARDWARE AND HOW IT WORKS Like most, if not all, current DS flash carts the Evolution uses MicroSD cards for game storage. One thing I noticed is that the Evolution is supposed to support MicroSDHC (High Capacity) which is the "new" 4 gigabyte microSD cards available. I do not own one of these high capacity cards but I would say that this indeed is good news, but I suspect that most other DS flash carts supports microSDHC as well. The cartridge is the exact shape of a normal DS cartridge, and to be honest I wouldn't expect it not to be. It fits perfectly in the cartridge slot on my old Nintendo DS, but something went wrong during the design as it seems to be a little difficult to eject the cartridge unless you press at a certain area of the cartridge. This may seem a bit silly to mention this, but I actually find it quite annoying as you usually press the center of the cart to eject it, but this isn't possible with the Evolution, here you have to press within the green box I've marked on the picture above. Another sad thing is that you can't eject the microSD card unless you eject the entire Evolution cart. Other DS carts like the R4/M3DS features a microSD eject mecanism which isn't available in the Evolution, and sadly gives the cart a cheaper feel to it. The USB microSD card reader is of good quality and seems to be the same used with the M3DS flash cart. The funny thing is that some promo pictures of the Evolution features a card reader with the CycloDS logo on it, somehow it didn't make it into the final product sadly. Anyway the microSD reader plugs into the USB slot of your PC and installs itself automaticly (Windows XP at least). Evolution uses FAT16 or FAT32 formatted microSD's for ROM storage, which this technically doesn't make it a fullblooded flash cart the idea is brilliant as you are able to choose the storage size yourself instead of being limited to the size of internal storage like the DS-Xtreme. A great feature is that ROMs can be placed in directories so everything can stay sorted, though I kinda wish the system would use a "save" folder for savegames instead of placing them in the same folder as the ROM, but maybe that's just me... Unlike the M3DS and R4DS the CycloDS Evolution doesn't require menu (firmware) files to be placed on the microSD card which is the best feature I've seen in a long time. The firmare is of course upgradable. By placing a new firmware file on the SD card the Evolution will automaticly detect the file during startup and as wether you'd like to upgrade at this point or not. With this procedure things could go wrong though as a power off during the upgrade probably could kill the cartridge, I haven't tested this though, but I love not having to remember to place extra files on the microSD just to be able to boot the NDS flash cart. Another feature included is the "soft reboot" which allows you to return to the Evolution menu from a ROM being played. The feature is not on by default but by enabling the "enhanced mode" in the settings menu you'll be able to activate it as well as few other nice features as seen on the picture above, though I don't think the realtime save feature is included just yet. Oh yeah to enter the enhanced mode from a game press and hold A, B, X, Y, L ,R. USER INTERFACE (OS) The user interface, firmware, design is one of the better I've seen in a long time, even though it's very similar to the one used by the R4/M3DS and invented by the Movie Player team way back. Sadly it seems that most flash cart developers these days rely on the Moonshell for MP3 playback and other media features which is very sad if you ask me, why? because we never see anything new and innovative and besides that I have to say that I hate the moonshell interface. A new feature included is the cheat option, yeah other carts have this feature as well but it's still cool and I'll still credit Cyclops for it even though the R4 (and M3DS) has it as well. Having an Action Replay included in the firmware is probably the best new feature in a long time even if cheating isn't cool. ROMS AND SAVEGAMES We have scrapped the test results of various roms, but out of those 20+ tested none had any problems, but this is not my word for that the Evolution will run any game or homebrew you test, actually I believe you'll get the most problems while trying out homebrew stuff. I could've listed a long list of homebrew but because there's so much stuff around now it really would be no good and would not give a clear picture of working and non-working homebrew. As the Evolution uses the same save file type as the R4/M3DS, you're able to load save files from at least these two other cards. Great feature. CLOSING WORDS I'm having a little difficulty saying wether the Evolution is nothing more than a cheap clone of the R4/M3DS, but the fact that the User interface isn't placed on the microSD makes me think it's only similar and yet superior because of that feature alone. It's cost about $10 more than the R4/M3DS, which doesn't really make sense but then again, the firmware feature may very well be worth the price difference. Firmware in the actual DS flash cart and not the microSD (like the R4) Extremely easy to use, drag 'n drop roms to a microSD card. Great (commercial) ROM support. Great save support (even from other flash cart types). Supports clean roms (a must for a DS flash carts now) Action Replay built-in Soft boot feature (exit a game and return to the Evolution menu) Realtime save (when implemented) Problems ejecting the cartridge. No spring in the microSD slot to easily eject the microSD. Lacks "extra" features... relies too much on moonshell (as everyone else these days?) PRODUCT RATING The rating given here is our overall impression of the device, 4 start means that this cartridge is well over average but still needs the final touch to make it a true master piece.