Special thanks to the AceKard Team for providing the review sample.
- Introduction -
The AceKard 2 has received lots of positive feedback from many users. Being the successor to the enormously pricey AceKard RPG, which is sometimes named the best flash cart, the expectations are ridiculously high. A quick flashback to the AceKard RPG is needed to understand the concept behind the AceKard 2. The AceKard RPG is the only Nintendo DS flash cart that uses both forms of memory, MicroSD and built-in NAND memory. The skins are also the most customizable, you are able to place buttons in different locations, remove parts of the default skin completely and obviously manage images and such. But even more impressive is the firmware itself, being able to copy and paste files through the dual memory allows for game sharing, supporting cheat engines, etc, with all the source code available for developers to fiddle around with.
Here is the AceKard 2 with its big brother, the AceKard RPG.
The major problem with the AceKard RPG was the price, at a price of over $70 for just the cart alone, it is understandable that most users would opt for something cheaper. That is where the AceKard 2 comes in, an affordable version of the AceKard RPG. This can be done by taking out the really nice packaging, the internal memory, and arguably, everything that made the AceKard RPG the talk of the scene. The price of the AceKard 2 is anywhere from $25-$35, which is far more affordable than the AceKard RPG.
Keep an eye out for crazy deals for the AceKard 2, they are everywhere.
With a price that is as low as the cheapest flash cart in the market, a reputable team, and a similar firmware to the famed AceKard RPG, we can see immediately why the AceKard 2 is popular, but how well does it hold up?
Has a nice feature list too.
- Design -
The packaging of the AceKard 2 is not spectacular, but not all that bad either. I was hoping to see the nice white case with the clean designs that came with the AceKard RPG, instead I got a clear plastic box with a simple cardboard flap that has the name, the website, and basic instructions.
The beauty of packaging, has to be simplistic, functional, and beautiful.
Included in the package is a MicroSD reader and the AceKard 2. The MicroSD reader is almost all plastic, it is sturdy and relatively fast. I’ve been using mine for 2 months now without trouble, although some people have said that it could corrupt your MicroSD. I haven’t had a single issue with it yet, and the AceKard logo on the top just makes it that much more professional. It is definitely smaller than most of the MicroSD readers I’ve seen, and very functional, it didn’t take long before it became my favourite, as it is reliable, functional, and solid.
As much as I love MicroSD readers, the AceKard 2 is the star of the show.
The actual AceKard 2 itself doesn’t have the best build. I’ve bought several AceKard 2 carts, and I never had an issue with any of them, but there have been batches of AceKard 2 carts that have stopped working, many people believe it is due to the contacts that don’t touch properly, which causes errors. Let’s start with the contacts then, they don’t have the little plastic bars protecting them, which makes the contacts more vulnerable to dirt, scratches and just contact with anything. But it seems that this design is now relatively popular, appearing on many flash carts, I don’t see why though, it makes the overall design look cheaper.
I can't imagine how much money they can save by removing those bars! Really though, there must be a real reason they removed them.
Next complaint is the clips on the side, once again, several flash carts (notably from the M3 team) have incorporated this design; it allows users to change shells easier because the cart is no longer held by a screw. But the AceKard 2 has no replacement shells for sale, and the plastic used in this cart is pretty stiff and inflexible. What does this mean? The clips are an utterly useless feature that jeopardizes the build quality of the cart. The stiff plastic is great for the actual cart because it makes the cart feel strong, but when the clips are opened the plastic turns white, and sometimes even snaps, if this happens you lose the part that hold the cart together.
Don't open it just because you are curious, they are very fragile.
Other than those two complaints, the AceKard 2 is built fairly well, the shell is very hard and solid, the MicroSD slot is spring-loaded and works efficiently, and the chip sticking out the front is quite manageable. The sticker is a nice shiny silver, the simple design is much appreciated, and it feels nice too.
Even with the exposed chip, it doesn't take too much effort to push it into the DS.
- Software -
The AceKard 2 runs clean roms, has auto-DLDI, etc. So there is no software needed if you simply wish to run games or homebrew. But the software that is released is the skin editor. Previously, editing skins for the AceKard 2 was a gruelling task, you didn’t have any visuals, just coordinates and features and pictures all bundled together in one giant folder, but with the new software, it is quite easy to make a skin. As well it can also modify the global settings file, which, correctly set, could speed up your AceKard 2 a little, and of course change what you like and what you don’t like. I won’t be going into much detail into the software, but it runs fairly well, and is quite self-explanatory, makes things a lot easier, but if you hit an error, a bunch of Chinese characters pop out and you lose all your progress. It frustrated me a lot, but overall the program was quite nicely done, and if you save often, it is a huge time saver.
The software for skinning is still pretty new, and it was originally made in Chinese, so glitches and such are forgiveable.
The firmware updates for the AceKard 2 is also worthy of discussion. The AceKard team has released many updates, from a week to 2 weeks apart with fixes that are necessary, rarely any new features though, at the time of writing there has been a new update. As mentioned before, the AceKard RPG is open sourced, and the AceKard 2 has a very similar firmware. That being said, one of the major custom firmwares (with an insane amount of extra features) for the AceKard RPG headed by Bliss is constantly ported over to the AceKard 2, but at the time of writing, Bliss has just decided to stop his project.
These features first appeared on the custom menu designed for the AceKard RPG, then was ported over to the AceKard 2.
- Use -
Here is a quick demonstration of the menu.
When the DS is booted up, you can select the nice AceKard 2 icon. It boots almost instantly, then you get to select MicroSD card or Slot 2 card in the main menu, and the setting is saved for the next time you boot the AceKard 2. The top of the menu has a clock, your name, a calendar, etc, all depending on your skin. For this review, I will be using the latest version of Bliss’ custom loader. It will pretty much be the same as the official firmware except it has a few extra features, I highly recommend using it instead of the official firmware.
The top and bottom screens on the DS when the AceKard 2 is first booted, minus my Bleach shortcut.
Selecting the MicroSD card brings you to the files placed. Of course, clicking a folder brings you into the folder, clicking a game gives you a loading bar for a split second then to the actual game. The X button brings you to the comprehensive cheat engine that they have, which supports a DAT and XML, as they will convert it to its own format. Clicking Y will give you the properties menu, allowing you to make the game a shortcut in the main menu with the MicroSD card icon and the slot 2 icon. Select changes the list view, L changes brightness, and R is to go up one directory. Clicking a GBA game loads it into an EZ Flash 3 in 1 if you have one.
The properties menu allows you to change settings for individual games, as well as gives you information about the games.
The most important button is start, as it gives you access to the start menu (you can touch the start button instead). The first few options are copy, cut, delete, and paste, which does exactly what it says it does, the AceKard series is probably the only series that allows you to manage files like this. It was much more useful in the AceKard RPG because you could copy over to different MicroSD cards, the AceKard 2 is quite a bit more limited as you are most likely just moving roms to different directories. The next option is patches, this allows you to toggle support for download play, soft-reset, autorun (boot the last played game automatically), cheats, and in Bliss’ loader, support for the EZ Flash 3 in 1 (adjusting rumble settings, support for NOR, and booting in SRAM mode).
I use all the features offered in a flash cart quite heavily, but some casual users might not even touch them.
The next button is system options, which lets you change the skin, language, brightness settings, what files are listed on the menu (such as only NDS files, or including SAV files), and whether you would like to automatically trim roms on the cart. The last option is to access properties, which is just to see the properties of the selected rom.
Changing settings isn't much of a hassle because the settings save instantly, you can change features using buttons or the touch screen, and overall, it is much more solid that what other carts can offer.
The menu, in my opinion, is very slick and flashy. It displays roms in a very colourful way, it showcases its features really well, and just makes the firmware look a lot better than it really is. I think that the amount of features in the AceKard 2 is really quite limited, the menu, although flashy, isn’t the most efficient (I absolutely hate how the cheat menu is formatted, all the toggles, the conversions, every bit of it). The menu is blazing fast and very pleasing to the eye though, which is a fair trade for many people.
The start menu amazed users on the AceKard RPG, and even now it is a point of interest on the AceKard 2.
- Functionality -
The AceKard 2 can be considered a budget flash cart, some might not consider it that way. 100% compatibility is expected on every cart now, and needless to say AceKard 2 lives up to the name, it can run all the latest games (except Daigasso Band Brother’s WiFi), it gets patches when it can’t run new games, and basically you can expect to play everything fine. Unfortunately it doesn’t have all that many features, and even the ones that are present, they aren’t done perfectly. I have found that soft reset and the cheat engine does impair the 100% compatibility, it isn’t bad, but there are a few roms that just don’t work with soft reset, and it seems to change depending on what patch you are using.
Cheating is nice and all, but just enabling the feature impairs compatibility, and being able to run cheats designated for other carts means that the AceKard 2 has a lot of issues when running a code not designed for itself.
Although it can run all games, it is unfortunate that the AceKard 2 still lags. Demanding games such as the two Castlevania games or the Tony Hawk games show lag regardless of what MicroSD you use. Thankfully, a new BETA patch that has just been released has managed to cure some of the lag, Castlevania games can run fine if you have a decent MicroSD card, but Tony Hawk still lags beyond the point where it is deemed playable.
At least the actual loading of the game is quite fast.
The AceKard 2 uses auto-DLDI patching for homebrew, as with almost all flash carts, it runs homebrew perfectly fine. I tested 10 applications, and they all passed, they can read and write just fine, nothing to praise or bash.
There was no point in testing the homebrew loaders for the EZ Flash 3 in 1 as Bliss' custom menu supports it natively.
Download play is an option that must be turned on from the options. Without it, the download play compatibility is quite horrid, but with it, the compatibility is perfect. As usual, my MicroSD card reserved for download play tests with the download play games ran perfect, all the games transferred fine, played for about 10 minutes before the next test.
Working
Tetris DS
Mario Kart DS
New Super Mario Bros.
Club House Games
Big Brain Academy
Bomberman Land Touch
Elite Beat Agents
Super Mario 64 DS
Meteos
Quickspot
Mario Hoops 3 on 3
Nanostray
Metroid Prime Hunters
True Swing Golf
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
Winning Eleven Pro Evolution Soccer DS
Not Working
NONE
- Conclusion -
Is the AceKard 2 a worthy successor to the AceKard RPG? I think it is a huge success, being able to balance price and features. Being the owner of an AceKard RPG, it is indeed sad to see some of the features stripped away, but it is also nice to see that new users are picking up the AceKard 2, thinking it is a budget cart, but getting much more out of it, understanding that the difference between a low end cart and a high end cart is huge. The AceKard 2, at a price of $25, is a steal, it is a serious contender.
This cart has been placed side by side with the R4 and DSTT in many of the local shops near my house.
The AceKard 2 lacks features, even the few that they have, such as cheats lack polish, the build quality of the cart is questionable, and some games lag. The confusion behind custom and original kernels and software could mean that users don’t get the most out of their cart. As well the level of customization also brings on the same problem, frankly I didn’t know about one of the features until after a whole month of usage (the shortcut system), and frankly I might be missing out on more.
The AceKard 2 isn't perfect, just look at this chip sticking out the front.
The AceKard 2 does have an incredibly fast menu, and some of the nicest designs out for any flash cart out. It also plays games fine, and offers users a level of customization for their skins that is unheard of. All this is offered at a price that rivals the cheapest of flash carts, and you get a very active team that supports their cart.
The customizable aspect of the AceKard 2 pairs up nicely with the amount of users demanding skins, as a result we get lots of high quality themes being made.
How does the AceKard 2 stack up to its competitors? You have to answer that for yourself. This review has explored how the AceKard 2 is used, the flaws and its strengths, and in today’s expansive market, it is hard to say exactly. With competitors like EDGE, iTouchDS, M3DS Real, and EZ Flash V dominating the “budget cart” market, and carts like the CycloDS Evolution, AceKard RPG, and Supercard DS ONE being offered as high end carts, the AceKard 2 seems to offer a nice balance of the two categories. If you like what you read, and don’t mind sacrificing a few features for a high end menu, then the AceKard 2 is for you.
There have been quite a few budget carts released lately, and I have no doubt the AceKard 2 is better than the R4, N5, DSTT, but against the EDGE and the iTouchDS, it will be a tough decision for customers.
Special thanks to the AceKard Team for providing the review sample.
If you are interested in more information about the AceKard 2, including more videos, pictures, and another huge wall of text, head over to the DSDatabase blog, which was where the first impressions of the AceKard 2 were done.
