EZ-FLASH Reform announced for the GBA
On the 18th of October, the EZ-FLASH Reform was quietly revealed to the public. It works on the GBA series, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite.
Design:
Here’s a picture of the cart.
As you can see, the cart does look quite modern and you can see a Micro SD slot on the side of the top and bottom. The website says ‘We’ve put huge effort on reducing the PCB size significantly. With the spare case in the box, you can easily change the card size to suit all GBA compatible consoles in you hands.’. The bottom item pretty much looks like a normal GBA Cart apart from the modern design I mentioned above.
Lets take a look at the box.
The box also has quite a modern look with a Nintendo DS on the front with an orange box (The cart I think) on the DS. It says in the bottom left corner that it supports Micro SDHC Cards. In the bottom right corner it says that it supports GBA, DS and DS Lite, as I said above. The website claims that it works similarly to the EZ-Flash IV. It says that the battery is replaceable (it uses a CR1220 battery) and supports SD Cards up to 32GB which should be enough for the entire library of GBA Games and features a new EZ4Kernel. There is no current release date or price, but you can always follow along with their development on their website at http://www.ezflash.cn/
That’s pretty much everything we know on the EZ-FLASH at the moment, so i’ll see you in the next article!
I still have my original E Flash for Gb and GBC great devices but need a serial port to program.
I’m pretty sure the “new” kernel mention is a reference to the autopatching update for the EZFLASH-IV released in June. They’re just saying the Reform will ship with that update.
So yeah, pretty cool and all but,
for what does it work?
For the price of around 40€ the regular EZ Flash IV is an absolutely fine GBA cart. Everdrive of course is better but costs more than the double and sticks out a bit.
I’ve been getting into flash carts recently. Replaceble battery is a great idea!
But why? for something that is so outdated…and made obsolete with emulators of all kinds out there…I am really curious on why.
Some people like their original hardware, and don’t want to hunt down carts which could cost a fortune.
I doubt the emulators work 100% like the original hardware.
Emulators, especially the ones on PC, come pretty darn close. Some even run games better than the original hardware.
varies widely but input lag on emulator can be terrible
I use emulators to play old TV based consoles (2600, SNES, MaterSystem etc), because those games look terrible on modern displays, and an emulator can do a lot to improve that. I also use emulators for N64 and PSP games, as I can upscale the games to run at 720, 900 or 1080.
On the other hand, I use an AGS-101 for playing Game Boy games. It’s solid Nintendo hardware, and the games will always work well, as they’re fully optimised for the console I’m using to play them on.
My Game boy has a lithium ion battery that charges from USB, and (thanks to EZ Flash) runs any games I chuck onto a Micro SD card (you can literally install the entire catalogue of GB, GBC and GBA games on a ten quid card). It’s a lovely console, and only cost about £150 for the console, a complete set of accessories, a new battery, a new case and a limited edition (Famicom 20th Anniversary tribute) screen cover. It’s one of a kind, and I love it.
what you are saying is completely illogical. either a person wants something genuine, or they don’t. it doesn’t matter if they already own the system and simply don’t want to pay scalpers. there’s no middle road.
Of course there’s a middle road. You can want genuine hardware and simultaneously not care about owning genuine software. Seriously, GBA emulators predate the release of the GBA by SIX MONTHS. There was never a need to buy a flashcart unless you specifically wanted to play the games on an actual GBA, and, well, a nonzero number of people own flashcarts.
Really? I had no idea the GBA was cracked so soon.
Troll much?
exactly… emulators… pretty much any mobile device can run emulators these days. my crappy $20 phone can run GBA titles just fine. what is so important about a genuine system if you are just going rip off the game? to trade up pokemon? the game isn’t genuine therefore neither are the pokemon. just hack them into whatever game you wanted to trade them up to.
other than that… some people may make the claim they are just backing up old games, or even already have old games backed-up and the original is too damaged these days. but considering there isn’t any official or first-party method to do this… then i am not even sure if a person is actually entitled by the rights granted from purchase to make such back-ups.
yeah, lets screw private trade and settle for some half-*** genuine experience. again, there’s no middle-road. you either want something that is genuine, or you don’t.
(if we are entitled by rights from the purchase to make back-ups… then cool. maybe there are some people out there who could benefit from this type of product in a non-illicit manner. however, i don’t think those types of rights extend to video games, if i recall correctly.)
That middle road you keep saying doesn’t exist DOES exist, at least in the minds of anyone who’s ever purchased a flashcart. I get that you’re not interested in flashcarts, and that’s fine! There is no product that can be all things for all people. But like I said, there are people who care about playing on the original hardware – whether due to nostalgia, ergonomics, price, battery life, or anything else – while simultaneously not caring about authentic software. In many people’s minds, hardware has a more substantial impact on the experience of playing a game than authenticity of software, and there’s no hypocrisy in that.
(On a related note: it’s perfectly possible for someone to care about the in-game process of obtaining a particular Pokemon without caring about ownership and/or intellectual property rights.)
you don’t seem to understand how something is either genuine or it isn’t. playing a pirated copy of whatever title on any genuinely owned system in the end still stands as a non-genuine experience. one thing is one, not the other. pretty simple to understand. can’t have it both ways. if you don’t care about owning a genuine copy of whatever title than there is ZERO point in caring about owning the genuine hardware. legit hardware and non-legit title? it is self-defeating, there’s no point to it.
just grab an emulator and download the friggin ROM to play it through there. hells… at least one can achieve internet link-ups and still play multiplayer through an emulator, all the more reason to say screw the original hardware.
a product reborn that would allow people to rip from an already existing legit cartridge would be far more worth spending money on than this thing. however, this can actually be achieved through some amount of legit means as well. that is, on the old DS systems with a GBA slot.
at any rate… i wasn’t saying it isn’t possible for people to enjoy whatever they enjoy. it is their time and money. things are so old these days it is difficult to enjoy anything without being ripped a new ***.
emulators are great and all. and they even bring back functionality long lost. but i still wouldn’t buy a DS or any other hardware to rip from a cartridge already owned. simply because, again, that is self-defeating. there’s no middle road. again, just download the emulator and ROM and enjoy.
however, i can’t really say that either. that is, unless if people are trying to scalp for hundreds of dollars. i mean… myself sure as heck isn’t paying thousands of dollars to complete some obsolete collection. especially not since you can just emulate things on some already existing platform, and again revive long lost functionality. otherwise, save of the money and/or get a job.
either way… there’s no middle road. there’s a fork there and you must choose which path to walk.
gen·u·ine
ˈjenyo͞oən/Submit
adjective
adjective: genuine
truly what something is said to be; authentic.
“each book is bound in genuine leather”
synonyms: authentic, real, actual, original, bona fide, true, veritable; More
antonyms: bogus
au·then·tic
ôˈTHen(t)ik/Submit
adjective
adjective: authentic; adjective: auth.
1.
of undisputed origin; genuine.
“the letter is now accepted as an authentic document”
synonyms: genuine, real, bona fide, true, veritable; More
antonyms: fake
made or done in the traditional or original way, or in a way that faithfully resembles an original.
“the restaurant serves authentic Italian meals”
based on facts; accurate or reliable.
“an authentic depiction of the situation”
synonyms: reliable, dependable, trustworthy, authoritative, honest, faithful; More
antonyms: unreliable
it is whatever… not like i am trying to say people aren’t allowed to do what they want to with this kind of stuff. again, people have their own time and money. if this want they want to do and can enjoy the experience gained from it… then so be it.
but if you are looking for an authentic, or genuine, experience… these flashcarts won’t provide that. again, there’s no middle road.
the last time i tried to play emulators on my phone the input lag was so *** terrible, though i’m sure the bluetooth controller didn’t help.
the reason many play games on real hardware is because of input lag.
ahhh… sorry for the double-post here. the previous post had a few words i thought were maybe preventing it from being posted. it no longer showed my previous posts, or that they were waiting approval. whoever approves these, please remove the double-post, or original posts. thank you!!
No ones going to pay scalpers to be parasites when you can get the same 1’s and 0’s off flashcarts. You’re straight ***.
If it’s like the EZ-Flash IV, then it’s a hack that doesn’t work like original cartridges, and is therefore unreliable and is a pain for save management.
The battery of both my EZ-Flash IV and EZ-Flash 3-in-1 GBA cart are dead and no longer work. I still have my GBA Advance somewhere around. If the GBA injection on the 3DS was much better I wouldn’t need this.
If anyone wants a decent honest dealer I finally found one:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232562807468
These guys are excellent. Had a slight problem with the battery but I contacted them and they were great about it. After dealing with so many awful resellers I think these guys should be noted for doing the right thing for once.