stargazer
Offline
SLC, UT

As bit shifter said, the EMS USB carts have some crazy bank switching issues. From what I can tell, when you plug it in to your computer to put roms on it, it messes up the bank switcher. Possibly gives the capacitor too much charge? It wears off eventually, but there was a 'break in' period where it just didn't really work at all. So they're great, but just don't really plan on switching the roms out a lot.

Also, one thing about them that hasn't been mentioned is that they can only hold one sav at a time. It also seems that roms in bank one overwrite the bank two savs. I have lsdj in bank one, and if I fire up a bank two rom and save it doesn't delete my lsdj sav, but it loads the sav up into lsdj which can produce some crazy stuff. All I do is reload the song within LSDJ.

I agree with bit shifter, the smartboy carts are probably a better bet, as they come with a transferrer. Good luck getting one from Japan in any form of a timely manner though!

herr_prof
Offline
Unsubscribe
stargazer wrote:

Also, one thing about them that hasn't been mentioned is that they can only hold one sav at a time. It also seems that roms in bank one overwrite the bank two savs. I have lsdj in bank one, and if I fire up a bank two rom and save it doesn't delete my lsdj sav, but it loads the sav up into lsdj which can produce some crazy stuff. All I do is reload the song within LSDJ.

Ah so it nukes the work sram when you toggle banks?

Jansaw
Offline
Canada

It attempts to replace the sram once the rom on the other page stores its .sav, but only once it saves.
There are lots of 'games' that don't store sram that people burn onto their second bank.

Rei Yano
Offline
California

the Smartboy actually looks pretty sweet!

thinking about getting one of these... especially with that cart reader... hey can you use this cart reader to rip the images from a GB camera?

kitsch
Offline
matt's mind

yes, you can.

the only issue with smartboy carts i've had, or have heard others having, is the crazy long wait time, or them simply not fulfilling orders.  hmm

Cartoon Bomb
Offline
VA

Just get one of those evil stolen code carts (if you can that is), they're awesome.

Rei Yano
Offline
California
kitsch wrote:

yes, you can.

the only issue with smartboy carts i've had, or have heard others having, is the crazy long wait time, or them simply not fulfilling orders.  hmm

aw that sucks. did you not stock these once upon a time?

Rei Yano
Offline
California
Cartoon Bomb wrote:

Just get one of those evil stolen code carts (if you can that is), they're awesome.

bleep bloop carts are actually pretty nice. the moral implications? well I guess that is a subjective topic. on that note he is (well, last I heard from him was late last year) working on some new carts that are completely his own work. Waiting for some news on those carts (remember infinity cart? don't know if that is still the name)....

Last edited by Rei Yano (Feb 7, 2011 5:15 pm)

Awol
Offline

Haha. So my options are overpriced, malfunctioning, or nonexistent. Maybe I should wait for the Do A Heaps Cart.

Rei Yano
Offline
California
Awol wrote:

Haha. So my options are overpriced, malfunctioning, or nonexistent. Maybe I should wait for the Do A Heaps Cart.

I am actually thinking of getting one of those as well. smartboy too.

Awol
Offline
Theta_Frost wrote:

Everdrive for the GB is on the horizon as well!

Tell me more.

BR1GHT PR1MATE
Offline
BOSTON

i have a smartboy cart & transferrer, 3 old EMS and 3 BB carts (2 USB) which all work dazzlingly. I have had load troubles with 2 EMS64 USB carts (sold them both) and the smartboy cart, but the smartboy *transferrer* is MUST HAVE. The way i work now is ultra paranoid, so i basically have 3 main carts and 3 perpetually updated backup carts and multiple-redundancy SAV files... I love you smartboy transferrer.

/2 cents

concealed
Offline

To be fair, as long as you use the EMS cart only for LSDJ (i.e. putting LSDJ on both banks), the weird bank-switching defect is a non-issue as far as I can tell.

low-gain
Offline
Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

I only use 1 copy of LSDJ on the 64MEg usb carts i get form Kitsch. They work perfectly fine. and you can't beat that price.
I've converted all my carts of to the 64Meg carts and have yet to have any problems with them.
been using them since they came out.

Rei Yano
Offline
California
BR1GHT PR1MATE wrote:

i have a smartboy cart & transferrer, 3 old EMS and 3 BB carts (2 USB) which all work dazzlingly. I have had load troubles with 2 EMS64 USB carts (sold them both) and the smartboy cart, but the smartboy *transferrer* is MUST HAVE. The way i work now is ultra paranoid, so i basically have 3 main carts and 3 perpetually updated backup carts and multiple-redundancy SAV files... I love you smartboy transferrer.

/2 cents

what problem do you have with the smartboy carts?

BR1GHT PR1MATE
Offline
BOSTON
Rei Yano wrote:

what problem do you have with the smartboy carts?

Interestingly, I had problems loading/flashing with the smartboy programmer! Error messages and upload cancellations and such. Nothing big, but I havent had any issues with other carts in this regard.