EZ Flash Vi Review

Hey everyone, before I start this review I would like to thank for suppling me with this EZ Flash Vi sample!

Introduction:

When I first received the EZ Flash Vi, my expectations were at a normal level, which was “Just another flashcart”. The EZ Flash Vi is the successor of the EZ Flash V Plus, which only worked on the DS and DS Lite. The Vi was released and was compatible with the DSi. This review will cover most of the features that are featured with the EZ Flash Vi.

Packaging:

The packaging on the EZ Flash Vi is standard among flashcarts. A compact size, and a plastic inside that holds everything inside it together. Although, the package had trouble fitting the contents, when I tried to put the plastic tray back into it, it took a bit of effort and a bit of a rip in the box, but it's nothing too concerning, unless you collect the boxes of the flashcarts you own.





The deluxe version comes in a box that contains a stylus(Varies on sizes), a thumb slider, a micro SD USB reader, and of course, the EZ Flash Vi.




On the front of the package, there is a little bit of a darker, glossy shade, and a little red light, representing a DSi. On the front of the box, is a URL to the website where you download the firmware for the EZ Flash Vi.

The packaging is very standard and common for flashcarts, it also has a bit of pizazz to it. I give the packaging 9.5/10.


Build Quality:

The build quality of the EZ Flash Vi is pretty amazing. It gives the standard DS cartridge look to it, except for the plastic teeth.





The EZ Flash Vi is held all together with adhesive glue, like a normal DS cartridge. There is no screw or anything on the back. Also, as you can see, the SD slot is on the side of the cartridge, instead of on the top.

Behind the EZ Flash Vi's sticker are two windows, both components of the inside of it, the ASIC component is a Xilinx Spartan XC3S50a being on the left, and the one on the right is is a stacked memory (CMOS FLASH MEMORY & CMOS SRAM) RENESAS TECHNOLOGY M6MGB641 S8TP.(Thank you so much Mbmax!)



The two little windows kind of interfere with the way the cart slides out of the ds, it kind of gets stuck when you push down to eject. You have to pull it in order to get it out. It's not like a normal DS cartridge where you can push down to eject and make it go flying. I kind of like how it sticks, rather than flying out, so I won't lose it if that ever happens.

I give the build quality a 9/10 because it reminds me of a classic NDS cartridge, but the two windows behind the sticker interfere with injecting and ejecting the cartridge into my DS, causing some of the EZ Flash's sticker to wear down a bit around the edges, taking off the shiny finish the sticker has.

Software:

Ah, the EZ Flash Vi Kernel. A real great piece of work and effort the EZ Flash team has made. Although, rather confusing to set up if you are a first time user. When I visited the EZ Flash website, I clicked on the download link and it brought me to the English forum of the EZ Flash site, then to FileTrip to download the kernel. I couldn't really just go to their site and find a direct download. I was actually kind of confused when I was trying to find out where to download it, but I finally got it and got it all set up.
In order to set it up, you have to download the file fromHere and extract all the files. Once that is done, put all the files onto your Micro SD card and boot up the EZ Flash Vi. The .nds file that comes with it is the updater, if you hit the settings button, and if it is different then “VER: H[805] F[101] K.30 OB1” then you need to run the .nds file and make sure you follow the on-screen instructions, and update it, the new update has a bunch of new features, including better compatibility.
When you first boot up your DS, you are introduced with a game title. The EZ Team's choice was the game title “Tak, The Great Juju Challenge”. I can see why that they didn't do a popular title from Nintendo, like New Super Mario Brothers, because they could get into a lot of legal trouble from Nintendo. Aside from the choice in game title that you have to look at for all of two seconds when you start up the actual flashcart.



The main menu:

When you boot up the flashcart, you are met with the main menu of the EZ Flash Vi, which is usually at the root of your Micro SD card.




The top screen of the DS is the file browser, the bottom is a little menu. The “V” symbol is the power, you can turn your DS off using that switch. The night sky switch is used for loading Moonshell, if it is present on your Micro SD card. The light bulb is to adjust the brightness of the DS, and the screwdriver and wrench is the settings. All of these switches are pretty self-explanatory.

File Browser:

The file browser that is on the EZ Flash Vi is very neat, it doesn't show every type of file, but it shows more or less the necessary files that you need to see, like save files. Moonshell is meant for most of the file viewing, like JPG, MP3, TXT formats, but the main file browser of the EZ Flash is a very good browser, much better than the SuperCard DS One file browser, in my opinion.

Settings:

The game settings are based on a game by game preference. As in, each game has its own set of preferences, whether the soft reset is turned on, whether the in-game menu is turned on, if you have a game guide, turn on cheats, use special mode, or even turn on the real time save. These settings can be very frustrating if you play several games, because then you would have to change the settings for every single game. There is not even a way to change all the settings at once, it takes time and patience if you play every game on your flashcart and need to put all the same settings for each game.



Compatibility:

The EZ Flash Vi has amazing compatibility! I tested quite a few games on them for at least a few minutes, or where the anti-piracy measure was supposed to kick in, and it still seemed to work! Here is a compatibility list for NDS games:

Maple Story DS English Patch: Yes
Tetris Party Deluxe: Yes
DQ IX: Works
Super Mario 64: Works
Mario Kart DS: Works
Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time: Works
Super Princess Peach: Works
Tetris DS: Works
Metroid Prime Hunters: Works
Pokemon Heart Gold: Works

All the games I tested worked one hundred percent that I threw at it, a very good flashcart for compatibility

There were also some homebrew games I tested with the EZ Flash Vi, and most of them seemed to work, here is another list for compatibility:

CLIRC: Works
Lameboy: Works
NesDS: Works
SnemulDS: Works
SSBDS Crash: Works
ZeldaDS: Gives black screens

For some reason, ZeldaDS would just freeze, but other than that, everything worked one hundred percent.

GBA Mode:

The GBA mode on the EZ Flash Vi requires that you have an EZ Flash 3in1 cartridge. I did not get to test out the NOR mode much because the battery in my 3in1 is dead and I need to replace it, but I still tested some games to see how well they loaded and how quickly they loaded. The PSRAM write does not take long at all, but the NOR writing takes quite awhile to erase it and write the GBA rom onto it. One thing that has me complaining is the save patch. You have to wait for the save patch to finish in order to start playing the GBA rom. In my case, when I try to load Super Mario Advance 2 – Super Mario World, the save patch freezes halfway through, making me turn off my ds and turn it back on.

All in all, the kernel for the EZ Flash Vi is quite amazing. You can even make your own skin using the EZ Skin Forger. It is a computer program for windows that let's you design your own skin, including the start-up animation.

I give the software a 8.7/10 because overall it is good, but the GBA usage isn't up to par. Some games won't get passed the Save Patch, like Super Mario Advanced 2. In my opinion, the M3 GBA Launcher is better because all the games I tried worked successfully. I also didn't really like the fact that the game settings were on a per-game basis. I can see that some people may like it, but I find it frustrating that I cannot use a global setting to turn the in-game menu or soft-reset on and off.

Conclusion:

The EZ Flash Vi is an excellent cartridge! It has a wonderful, designable, ease of use software it has makes it the perfect cartridge to purchase as your first flashcart. It is really simple to use, and has a basic GUI, just amazing if you are a first flashcart owner.

Packaging: 9.5/10
Build Quality: 9/10
Software: 8.7/10

Overall: 9.1/10

**One last thanks to for the review sample and Mbmax for clarifying some hardware!