M3 simply and R4(DS) review, special thanks go to Mod-Chip.com and M3adapter.com 5th of januari 2007

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Notice 2

The packaging and contents of the M3 (and content wise the R4 too) have made it to revision two. This revision is made of a cardboard box with a plastic holder inside. Though I personally like this boxing less then the previous one (as it is less sturdy and won't handle rough shipping as well), this is easier to store and ship. As for the content, the M3 now only ships one plastic shell (white or gray dependent on your reseller) due to fabrication problems which are probably only temporary, a new microSD card reader (which seems to get quite hot during use) and a new carry case (which is much better then the previous one that was very hard to open). Thanks to Mod-Chip.com for sending me a new sample.

Notice

I've tested the DLDI patches from chishm's website with both products and it works perfectly. M3 have also sent me the I/O FAT library of their product which I have hosted online here. Feel free to download it.

Introduction

You may be wondering why I'm reviewing two products in one review. Well both the R4 and the M3 simply are the same product hardware wise..... No really ;). Here are the specs from both according to their boxing (left R4, right M3):

Because the R4 and M3 are the same product I will go about this review a little differently then normal reviews. Logically things that are the same for both products will be covered together, and things that are different will be covered separate. I will however also try and cover why I personally prefer a choice of one product over that of the other (for example which boxing I like best). I need to thank both Mod-chip.com and M3adapter.com for sending me the samples. Because both sent me samples I can now provide this review.

The review

The packaging

M3: The M3 packaging is made out of plastic rather then cardboard. This is similar too the packaging of the Neo2-TF. Inside the outer shell there are multiple cardboard and plastic parts holding all things together.

As the packaging of the Neo2-TF this plastic packaging has been made to open easily and to be re-usable (you can close it again), rather then the normal plastic where you need a knife to open it up (rendering it useless). As with the plastic of the Neo2-TF I ask the question “Was this a good choice?”. I'm more of a box fan but this is a fairly properly made container. The fact that you can see the product you've bought is a big plus. A lesser point is box-art as it's very plain and simple. It doesn't really appeal to me very much, even though features are quite clearly stated at the back.

A big plus is that this packaging feels like it will survive rough shipping with great ease. Knowing the M3 team that is probably how they came to the decision to use this packaging.

R4: The R4 wins it for me when it comes to looks; It's simply quite stylish and clear. Because of the square shape it is also easier to store it. What makes it so stylish is the sleeve that is holding the actual box. When you remove the sleeve you are left with a plain white box with the text R4 printed on it (sence and simplicity ;-)).

A plus is that it comes in a plastic shrink wrap. The cardboard of the box is however quite thin, and is relatively easy to compress. My sample was sent in a normal (bubble wrapped) envelope and apparently had a rough transport; one side got compressed though not much damage was done. It will survive shipping and keep the product itself safe, and that is of course the main purpose.

Left M3 simply, right R4 DS

Package content: Both packages come with mainly the same content:


• An USB-microSD adapter
• The product (either R4 or M3) (interestingly enough, my R4 came in a white casing, and my M3 in a black one)
• A replacement casing in the opposite color (white vs. black)
• A special container that can hold the product (see image)
• A CD with product files*



*The CD was only supplied with the R4, however I have received confirmation from M3 that it will be shipped with consumer products.


Build quality

The build quality of both products is very high. Though the plastic is quite thin it seems to be tough. Both parts of the shell fit onto each other like an official game and even better the cart really matches original carts while the PCB is fully encapsulated. By that latest I mean that there is no chip sticking out from under the sticker which is the case with many other slot-1 solutions.

Because replacing the shell is a feature dismantling the M3/R4 is very easy. The cart is held together by one very small screw in the lower end of the back of the cart and a series of clips/pins. To remove the shell all you need to do is remove the screw and gently pull both parts apart (I used my fingernail along the sides and top to wedge the shell open). It is however wise to try and pull them apart steadily along all sides. Else you might risk breaking the plastic!

The microSD slot is spring loaded which is another good feature (especially because the slot is now fully inside the cart). To make it easier to remove the microSD card a groove has been made in the casing. Now I've read in other reviews that people report that it is possible (read “very easy”) to remove the microSD card without removing the M3/R4 from your DS. Personally I don't know how they came to that conclusion. It is possible that much is true, but most of the time I end up removing the whole cart as opposed to just the microSD card.

The connector pins also seem to be of high quality, normally carts tend to get scratch marks on the pins (even some original games) but this isn't the case with the M3/R4.


Looks
General: The black/gray cart closely matches the color of original carts which is good. What I like best about the looks of the cart (if you can call it that) is that they've printed an image on the cart showing how to insert your microSD slot (to make sure you don't try and force it in the wrong way). The fact that you can choose from two casings is a fun addition, but personally I don't find it very important. Both shells are of the same quality and that's what matters to me.

Product specific (the sticker): The sticker that sticks out the most is that of the R4 as they have decided to use a reflecting sticker. As for the sticker of the M3, it matches the name of the product; M3DS Simply. It's a plain white sticker with the M3DS logo and the M3 URL at the bottom.

The goodies
The microSD adapter: Both adapters work fine but there is one difference between the two. With my samples two different adapters got shipped. One of the two (M3) has a metal housing, and the other (R4) has a plastic housing. The one in the M3 box seems to be of the highest quality (metal instead of plastic) and it also is the smallest of the two as it doesn't have “fins” (see image). Another pro is that it is spring loaded which the R4 one isn't. Inserting and removing your microSD card is however quite hard as the card goes in fully and there is no hole made for your fingers (using your fingernails is a must). Now because if you look at the boxing of the M3, and look closely at the hole for the microSD adapter you can see that the hole also has “fins”, I am unsure if this metal version of the adapter will be shipped with every M3 simply.

The container: Now the container is a fun addition. It's composed out of a plastic shell that has a metal cord attached with a hook so you can attach it to things, and a rubber inside. The rubber inside is made so the cards fit perfectly, don't start moving around and can be removed relatively easily. Opening the casing can be a pain though as you need to apply a lot of pressure to open it.

The use of the M3 and R4
PC side / before use
The first thing you have to do is put loader software on your microSD card. In the case of the R4 you can use the files provided on the CD, but I don't recommend it. You are much better of downloading the latest files from their website (as with the M3). I've noticed that sometimes their website can be incredibly slow, so I suggest you use some sort of download manager to do so.

For the R4DS there are already newer firmware versions available and multiple skins which isn't the case with the M3. As for the impact of this I am unsure but in the end the files are pretty much the same.

You'll download (or take from the CD) a set of two files and one folder. The files are “_DS_MSHL.NDS” which is moonshell for the M3/R4 and “_DS_MENU.DAT” which is the loader software. The folder is the shell folder that is needed for moonshell to work. Currently the loaders are not interchangeable.

Now you can proceed with putting other files such as .nds or .mp3 onto your microSD card. Because moonshell is available you can also put files in the .dpg format on your card and thus watch movies and etc.. Thankfully you can also place them in directories as the M3/R4 loader supports this.




You can also decide to first trim your games/images. The M3/R4 comes with (or can be separately downloaded) a ROM trimmer. Games are never (or very rarely) the exact size as the chip it's in. That means that when you dump a game/chip you will also dump the excess data (in hex they are all F's). This tool removes those F's from the end of a file.




And if you already own a backup solution and have save files from there (or have recently made backups of your savegames using REIN to a non M3 simply/R4 format) and want to preserve them and pickup where you left off a tool has been provided that can convert the save files from other carts into M3 simply/R4 compatible files. These can then of course be placed (with the same name) on your microSD card. According to the tool itself it will work with SuperCard saves, M3 saves (.dat), DSlink save files, AceKard save files, EZflash IV save files and Ewin save files. Something you will immediately notice is that the M3 simply and R4 save files are always 512kbytes.

Now dragging and dropping files on your microSD card can of course be done via any OS. The trimmer and save tool however require you to have Windows installed. Maybe it runs via Wine, but I haven't tested this.

On to the DS part ;)
Now the most noticeable when you start your M3 simply or R4 DS is that it boots automatically. You will get the health warning (or not if you have FlashMe installed; non-stealth) and then the M3 or R4 menu. Personally I don't like this very much. I want to be able to set my brightness settings and such before I start playing. This can of course still be done by simply leaving the M3 / R4 out of your DS first, but still.

Because only the skin (looks) are different but not the menu itself I have only included screenshots of one adapter

The menu: The main menu is fairly simple. The top screen shows the M3/R4 logo and what version M3/R4/loader software you have. The bottom screen shows three options (blinking menu items); Game, Multimedia and Boot Slot-2. It also shows the current version number of the loader you are using and the time (according to your DS of course). The menu is touch sensitive so you can select the options by tapping their icon.

Menu transitions are made (partially at least, one can hardly call it smooth at this point) to fade. When you select for example “game” the (bottom) screen will slowly turn white then poof into the game menu.

In the game menu the top screen is used as file manager whereas the bottom screen is used to show the header icon (directories have an icon), header information (directories are called directory), creation date and file name. By pressing select you can enable the file manager to show not only .nds files and directories (its standard function) but also all other files. Unknown files (anything not .nds, .sav, .bmp, .mp3, etc.) will also get an icon and header information (Unknown) but can't be started. By pressing B you go up a level, by A you either start a file or open a dir. Better still by pressing start you can go back to the main menu. If you do so and then go back to the game menu the position you where in (directory wise) will be remembered and you will be returned there. This part of the menu is also touch sensitive, by touching the icon/header information displayed you can start a game/application. That is of course not quite what one would expect to see when a touch screen menu system is advertised, but it is a start. Let's hope they switch the screens around so you'll have a real touch interface. They shouldn't change that one can see the file name and directory layout on screen (think along the lines of the DSlink).

The best thing about the file manager is that files and folders are displayed alphabetically rather then on creation date! This makes it very much easier to start your games and files. Also Japanese games get properly detected and the header information is shown correctly.

If you start a game or file you will be told (if you haven't precopied a save file to your microSD card) that there is no save file for a game/app yet (also for homebrew). You will be given the option to either create one, cancel the operation or simply ignore the fact that there is no save file. The only annoying part about this is that if you don't create a save file you will be asked the same question the next time you try to start this app/game. This is logical but for for example homebrew it is not necessary.

Multimedia boots a modified version of moonshell (can also be started from the game menu) which I won't explain any further.

Booting slot-2 is the main/only extra feature of the M3/R4 unit. I've tested my hardware (EZflash IV, SC-SD, G6lite, M3lite, Ewin2, GBAMP, Dsmem and Neo2-TF) and all hardware could be started with great ease. It's a nice addition, but most people who own the other adapters will probably also own a means of booting them.

In the newest loader version for the R4 (currently only available in Chinese) you can also make your own skins. This is done by simply replacing .bmp files. It allows you to change both the top and bottom screen backgrounds and the three icons, but nothing more. Let's hope this feature will be expanded more in the future and will also be added to the M3's arsenal.

Running games/backups
Running backups is a breeze with this unit. Starting a game is as explained above very easy and compatibility is already very high. Even with my relatively slow microSD card (just a standard SanDisk 1gB) I noticed hardly any slowdowns (maybe one very small one in the Castlevania intro movie) on either unit. The best part (I've only experienced this once before) was that when saving a game it goes much, much faster then on original carts! The save files are written directly to the microSD card which is a big plus, but apparently this also makes games able to save much faster. To give you an example when saving with Gyakuten Saiban 1 or 2 you don't even have to wait. You press Save and you are immediately taken to the title screen.

The GBA link feature also works like a charm. First I tried Opera DS using both the original memory pack and the SC/M3 hack, both went great. Then I tried the unlocking feature in Gyakuten Saiban 1, this also worked perfectly and I was able to unlock all cases.

There is however one thing that did bother me about playing games with the M3 simply/R4. No download play capability. I've tried a standard set of games namely Yoshi touch and go, Polarium, Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime Hunters, Super Mario 64 and Brain Training, none of which were capable of sending a proper download play game. Dodgey at best so to speak (although it wasn't mentioned to work specifically by either companies of course).

Running homebrew
Starting homebrew files performs as to be expected. Most .nds files boot and run however some better then others. When I started Aztec Challenge for example everything went fine (of course I couldn't save). However Omalone started but without sound and stopped working as soon as a game board appeared on screen. NDSmail also didn't work and gave me the “Check Init” message as soon as it started. Some homebrew such as Alite didn't even make it past the loader (progress bar stayed at 0%). There are already DLDI files for both units (one should do for both) and I think I/O libs have been released so with a bit of luck this will improve. Currently however things are still a bit dodgey.

Is the loader interchangable?
Sorry to say for those hoping the answer was yes, because the loader isn't interchangable. If you load the loader from one and use it on the other you'll get this message (of course with the graphics of the card in question).

Conclusion

This is quite the flashkit. Both the R4 and M3 simply perform very well, however only in their limited spectrum. Running backups works like a charm with these devices with hardly any (if any) slowdowns (tested with my microSD card of course, results may vary). The build quality is also very high end both in the PCB and shell. Homebrew is something that could still be worked on however. The menu system also has pro's and con's but let's hope that most off the cons will be ironed out (it all is still in a very early stage of course, and the flaws are all software).

As for extra features, don't expect too much from this kit at it's current state. Currently it only boots slot-2 media (adapters) as an extra and that's it. You do however get an USB-microSD adapter and a carrying case with the kit which is of course a nice addition.

As for buying the M3 simply over the R4. Well for one the I think the packaging of the M3 is much more sturdy than that of the R4, but more importantly what you buy when you buy the M3 is a good product supported by a well known competitor. They have known support that is known to be good from previous products. You also know that the support will last for a long time as both the M3(, GBAMP) and G6 are still supported by the M3/G6 team. For those products they have regular updates and have for example recently also added support for other languages such as French, Spanish and Dutch. That is mainly what you pay for.

A message to the R4 team, try to get updates out both English and Chinese at the same time (or at least with less then a day in between). That makes all the difference.

Overall rating for the R4DS and M3 simply slot-1 media adapters
Discription	R4DS (out of 10)	M3 simply (out of 10)
Design Boxart, manual and product appeal	8	8+
Hardware Hardware design, durability and features	8.5	8.5
Compatibility Overall Homebrew and NDS game (if applies) compatibility score	9	9
Product future What this products future looks like	promising	very good
Features (Built in) extra features of the NDS media (adapter) card	Boot slot-2	Boot slot-2

The insides of both carts (left M3, right R4)

I hope you all enjoyed my review and found it useful.

-Simon van de Berg

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