M3 Real or R4DS?

A Little Bit of Explanation

M3Adapter is one of the manufacturers that designs and produces professional flash cards for Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite. Its products include M3 SD, M3 miniSD, M3 Lite, M3 DS Simply and M3 DS Real.

R4DS works the same except it only offers a basic package. So, why do I need M3 or R4DS? There are more and more brands in the market that produce different types of flash cards but with the same function; to support DS or DS Lite with downloaded ROMs. In other words, you do not have to buy games if you can find the ROMs.

Both M3 and R4DS are incorporated with memory card which enables the ROMs and save files to be stored and played by DS or DS Lite.

Before this, I had been searching for articles and reviews that compare these two products but there were no solid evidences or considerable opinions as to which one is better because they all commented that both are manufactured by the same manufacturer and have the same functions. Thus, I decided to publish my own opinion on how I choose between the two similar products.

As mentioned, there are other brands in the market but I chose to shrink my selection to only R4DS and M3 Real because they are considered the pioneer in producing flash cards for DS and DS Lite. Eventually, I bought M3 DS Real Rumble RAM pack after much consideration.

M3 DS Real

M3 DS Real is sold in three different packaging; M3 DS Real Perfect Bundle, M3 DS Real Rumble RAM Pack and M3 DS Real Rumble Pack. Initially, I was confused about these three packages but after much searching, I found an article about the differences. The perfect bundle includes the Rumble RAM pack and supports GBA ROMs with Slot-2 expansion cards. The Rumble RAM pack supports additional RAM which is required for internet browsers while the Rumble pack does not support internet browsers.

R4DS

R4DS is less complicated. Even though it supports Slot-2 expansion cards, the manufacturer sells it as it is which is without Slot-2 expansion cards package. In addition, all the resellers do not seem to sell individual Slot-2 expansion cards and only M3 DS Real packages that are included Slot-2 expansion cards.

Why I choose M3 DS Real?

I believe the differences between the two are not many. M3 DS Real supports the latest SDHC version of microSD while R4DS only supports normal microSD. The capacities range of SDHC card is from 4GB to a maximum of 32GB whilPe tPhe normal microSD is only up to 4GB. Even though, I am using 2GB normal microSD, I feel that it is quite important to purchase something which is able to support future technology.

The Slot-2 expansion cards are extras and I chose Rumble RAM pack because I may be tempted to try Nintendo DS Lite browser feature in the future. I do not have any old GBA cartridges and I believe that GBA expansion card is not useful for me.

M3 Real Rumble RAM Pack

This package comes with a card reader, Slot-1 M3 DS Real flash card and Slot-2 Rumble RAM pack expansion card. The Slot-1 card is not as solid as it claimed. I am quite worried when I have to take it out from Nintendo DS Lite to copy some files into it. Even though I have read some users comments that they have problems with their M3 DS Real, I do feel that it is their memory card which is causing problems to M3 DS Real.

When I first bought my PSP, I purchased a 4GB Sony MMC from Amazon marketplace because it was very cheap. However, it was the so called fake memory card. It worked fine if you only copy files but it just did not work with my PSP. Fortunately, I was able to refund it and bought a 2GB Sandisk which works perfectly until now.

The installation of M3 DS Real software is easy; download from the website and drag and drop into the microSD. The menu is simple and easy to use with stylus support. All the ROMs are displayed in the game menu. There is also brightness control which is not available from the original DS Lite menu.

Illegal?

Personally, I do not feel that it is illegal depending on how you manage them. I will buy the games if they are fun to play. However, I will still keep the ROMs because playing games from memory card is faster than playing from the game card. I will then delete the ROMs which I do not own the original game card.

Verdict

Overall, I am satisfied with the package because it does what it meant to be. The quality is not something which I expected with the price I paid. I bought M3 Real based on the compatibility with SDHC and also the support for internet browser feature using Slot-2 Expansion RAM.

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