EZ Flash Parallel Review (NEW! Flash card for the Nintendo DS)

[@mikehawk669]

Remember the time bombs on those clone R4s can be circumvented by turning back the clock on the DS/3DS to an earlier year

[@RetroGameCouch]

True. Still, they shouldn't have an expiration date at all.

[@Mullratte]

You could also just install TwilightMenu or YSmenu which is a much better kernel than stock R4 anyways I think it’s highly unethical for them to add these time bombs to begin with but the fixes are super easy so 🤷

[@checob224]

Or installing a different kernel that doesn't have the time bomb.

[@nousagi7437]

​@@RetroGameCouch That's correct, the main advertisement of these cards mention 'no timebombs at all' and so far no one has complained about such scenario

[@anotherthing]

There's a power strobe glitch with the card on DS and DS Lite. Instead of going to sleep when it closes, it strobes between sleep and normal mode fairly rapidly. This is with all firmware so far, including 1.04.

[@israel9350]

Bought mine a week ago, still waiting for delivery, but am already anticipating writing a review once I do

[@FireFlux73]

It's been a while. Great video and keep up the good work, take care. :)

[@RetroGameCouch]

Thank you!

[@Jupidness]

Sick review! Simple and straight to the point. Absolutely love your green DSi btw haha, greens my favorite color. I own an r4 gold from 2019 and it's awesome, removed the time bomb but, would you recommend the ez flash? I know ez flash does great work since I have their omega definitive edition for my GBA. Or do you think it's better to wait and see what they come up with in future iterations?

[@RetroGameCouch]

If I were you I'd wait tbh.

[@bgjck]

Love your videos! do you think that you'll ever do any more VS Challenge videos? I remember how fun your VS Challenge videos were 😁.

[@RetroGameCouch]

Of course we will! And thank you!

[@Junier-Hussein]

Cool colour I have the same 😊 Great video

[@RetroGameCouch]

Thank you!

[@jackipiegg]

5:02 Too bad this doesn't have DSONE features which makes DSONE still the KING of ds cards. 1) It can auto skip health screen on dslite 2) It has IN-GAME options, yes you heard that right, no need to reboot to access options. 3) For OG DS+ ds lite, IN-GAME option lets you change brightness which is not possible. 4) It has real-time save, but yea this one is not used much tbh, but 20 year old dsone has this feature and not this.

[@JtwasLuck]

Give them some time, they are still on some very old FW, 1.25. Once they get to 1.64 we might see some of these features =D

[@Electric_Doodie]

​@@JtwasLuck"once they get to 1.64" .. you know that this isn't a Original R4, which has up to Wood 1.64 support, right? They never reach a "1.64", they use a different sort of Wood, which ended at 1.25 and then was modified for some Cards (Ace3DSPlus) up to 1.62, which is still inferior to the original 1.64 Wood. Even the Original 1.64 Wood has no In-game Menu and other stuff, so it's very very unlikely this card gets that. Also they haven't been able to fix the sleep issue (power strobing the system) for 3-4 months now (basically since release of the module), aren't even giving you any change log when a new update comes, just a "New AP Fixes", when every single brand back then had FULL Change logs, even if it was 2000+ words of just "ROM Number - ROM Name - Issue X/Y/Z Fixed" for Days. Seeing such a half assed product coming from EZ is really disappointing lol

[@JtwasLuck]

@@Electric_Doodie 1.64 or 1.62 that is missing the point. They are updating the FW from 1.25 to 1.XX who knows. But 1.64 is the highest version. Apparently once they hit 10k sales they will be serious and update the FW to modern standards. The sleep issue is definitely a problem and I'm sure it will be fixed eventually. There is a lot of potential with something like this, I mean I'm down to use my other cards like the EZFlash Vi or Acekard 2i, but the shell on this thing is on another level. Once everything has been worked on, this WILL be the definitive edition to recommend to new users.

[@Electric_Doodie]

@@JtwasLuck No, the 1.62 is based on a open source Wood Kernel that was stuck at 1.25. While the 1.64 (the original) is a closed source Kernel. If I remember it right the 1.25/1.62 is more akaio based too, but don't quote me on that. Besides having a "only if we sell X Units, we add Feature X/Y/Z" or "only then we take this more serious" is already a really really bad start IMO. Besides the Shell, the EZ has currently and probably even in the future, nothing to offer what other cards can't already do, either by default Kernel or with Twilight Menu on it (which is miles ahead in terms of AP Patching / ROM Hack compatibility etch).

[@JtwasLuck]

@@Electric_Doodie Thanks for the info. EZ don't have to do anything different TBH, being able to recommend a cart that's easily available without having to delve down into fake R4 cards (various versions with and without timebombs that require different software) is definitely a HUGE plus. On top of that, there is one big advantage of the EZFlash Parallel, it consumes less power than even an official cart!

[@kodyporter]

Do you have a link to the theme in the thumbnail?

[@RetroGameCouch]

Yes, of course! gbatemp.net/download/red-and-black-cyberpunk-theme-for-woodr4.38062/

[@kodyporter]

@@RetroGameCouch thank you so much!

[@candyoti]

How about playing 3ds roms. I cant find any info for 3ds roms on the parallel card

[@jamesalexhowlett]

I use mine for homebrew applications.

[@3dhYT]

Very nice channel. Thanks and best regards.

[@RetroGameCouch]

Thank you!!

[@giluisangel]

Can that flashcard be used to connect the DS to the Wii in Pokemon Battle Revolution? or in general DS games with Wii

[@RetroGameCouch]

That should work, as for the DS it's just an inserted game cartridge. But I haven't tested this myself, so be sure to verify before you buy.

[@VampireKillerCrypt]

That sd card is so darn hard to get out

[@pepsipoint]

i cant get this to work on my 3ds

[@ClemensWennersMusic]

Great video, mate! Learned a few things about these damn R4 cards.. those were the days! 🤣 I had completely forgotten how ugly that OG Nintendo DS is.. yuck!

[@RetroGameCouch]

Time bomb is some shady sht.

[@ShadowDSi]

What is the name of that red/black theme?

[@RetroGameCouch]

Red and Black Cyberpunk theme - gbatemp.net/download/red-and-black-cyberpunk-theme-for-woodr4.38062/

[@kiraryu2710]

Some games don’t even load at all

[@pierrepaj2367]

Bonne carte pour ma DS LITE ,fonctionnement parfait sur cette DS LITE . TRES MAUVAIS FONCTIONNEMENT sur ma DSi XL par contre .

[@RetroGameCouch]

Tres bon!

[@Chuck15]

whats the point of FPGA if it can´t run GBA "natively"

[@ACuteAura]

all DS consoles don't have to emulate GBA, even the 3DS still had the hardware onboard. the hard part is safely getting into AGS mode from DS mode and GBARunner2 does pretty well. the only reason the slot was removed was to make later devices thinner. this is still a terrible card because the FPGA isn't actually special, it's independent because it's made in china. and it makes IO super slow.

[@noyukikun]

its not perfect but its not that good dosnt support a few save types and no ir just brings this down to same shit diffrent day

[@k.o1802]

Por qué recomendar algo que no funciona, no sirve para el guardado de partidas de los títulos de Pokémon, tiene problemas al cerrar la tapa de la DS ya que se distorsiona el sonido sin mencionar que tiene bajones de fps😢 lo único bueno es que el material es de buena calidad Pero por el precio y ya casi a cumplir el año es una total desgracia

[@jackscalfani555]

Don't bother buying the EZ Flash Parallel. It has already been abandoned by the developers and it has a serious bug where sleep mode is broken and you can't close the DS lid. The EZ Flash Parallel was hyped up by the big KZbinrs and it has been quickly forgotten ever since.

[@AnotherViewBot]

Genuine question how do you know it's abandoned by the devs? I'm aware of the sleep mode bug, it enters sleep mode but then there is a weird clicking sound even with speakers off, which is concerning.

[@ACuteAura]

@@AnotherViewBot the last lifesign from EZ regarding the Parallel is that they're having issues with their "production line", which likely means there's a factory defect in the current revision. but that was months ago.