First off I would like to thank GBAtemp and the Acekard Team for giving me a wonderful new flashcart, I am having a lot of fun with it!
Now on to the review!
Contents
Review Set-up
Settings/Options Used while Reviewing
Package Contents/Cart Build Quality
Games Tested
Homebrew Tested
Other Features
Final Opinion/Conclusion
Settings/Options:
For this review I am using the following options/settings:
• a SanDisk 1GB MicroSD manufactured in Taiwan
• running firmware v4.07a13
• All Roms were trimmed using Tokyo Trim (Newest Release)
• Soft-Reset was enabled while reviewing
Package Contents/Cart Build Quality
When opening the package literally what you see is what you get. Included is the Acekard2 itself and also a MicroSD reader. There is an insert included that contains a set of short instructions telling the basics of setting up your new cart.
While other reviews have said that the cart itself isn’t very sturdy, I found mine to be very sturdy. It seems to me like it could survive quite a couple drops if it had to. Compared to my M3 Real, this cart has not only a much sturdier feel, but the plastic used seems sturdier as well. As for the MicroSD reader, my opinion is once again different. Having tried it three times, I have not gotten it to work yet. While it seems to be sturdy, I found it very hard to insert it in my computer’s USB slot. After inserting nothing happened. On the other hand though, inserting the MicroSD into the reader itself wasn’t too bad, it fit almost perfectly.
From the outside of the cart its chip can be felt, but despite this it slides in and out of my DS Lite quite smoothly (In comparison my M3 Real which has to be pressed in on its right side, otherwise it won’t go in to be read.). After inserting the cart there is about 1 millimeter of it left sticking out of the slot, not very noticeable, but some people are picky about these things so I thought I should include it.
Games Tested
As to be expected all games that were tested worked perfectly. The games that I tested included: Castlevania (bot PoR and DoS), Transformers: Decepticons, Clubhouse Games, Pokemon Diamond (With the 493 Hack in place), Taiko no Tatsujin DS, Nintendogs Dachshund & Friends, Pokemon Trozei, Space Invaders Extreme, Soul Bubbles and Tetris DS.
As for WFC compatibility, all games tested worked flawlessly. These games include Clubhouse Games, Pokemon Diamond, Space Invaders Extreme and Tetris DS.
As for the speed test, with the microSD I was using Castlevania DoS’s opening video lagged quite a bit, but ironically the more troublesome PoR opening played at full speed.
The cart’s cheat support includes ARDS cheats and they work as they should, though it is important to note that each game has to have its cheats compiled by its user. Also many others have been experiencing problems with this feature resulting in an unusable cart. This so called bad batch was said to have been fixed, but there are still issues coming up from even the newest supply of carts.
Homebrew Support
The homebrew support is also very good, all programs that I have tried worked flawlessly. They include the very troublesome Visual Novel DS, Bunjalloo, Flight from the Dark, and Tetris the Grand Master.
Other Options
Though the Acekard2 lacks on features as result of being a budget card, the Acekard team was nice enough to release a skin editor/maker. While the interface looks simple and easy to use, for beginners the program needs to be tinkered around with before you can actually create your own skin. This is a result of there being little to know labels as to which entry field controls what. Aside from the learning curve, the editor is overall easier to use than other methods where you have to create, resize and reformat like on other cards. Also it is important to note that the editor works well on Vista, so no worries there.
Final Opinion
Thus far I can say that I have been very pleased with my Acekard2. Despite minor issues like the card sticking out and the odd skin editor, I can say that the card is definitely worth its budget price. Of course if you are seriously thinking about getting this card please note that there has been a bad batch recently and check with your supplier to make sure that their stock is up to date and they have had no recent issues. Otherwise I would recommend it to anyone looking for an easy to use card that is not feature heavy or someone who would like a cheap cart who doesn’t mind using the more feature heavy Bliss loader. If the bad batch issue is solved and the Acekard team can keep us up to date with loaders I believe this thing has the potential of becoming the next R4.
