U2DS Review

I just posted up my U2DS review on the DSDatabase forum. The direct link is http://dsdatabase.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1065. Or you can read it below. I actually don’t know what to say for this cart, it runs YSMenu and that is it. I wasn’t particularly fond of it, nor could I bash it too much. Hopefully it was a fair assessment. The simplicity of YSMenu meant that I didn’t have very much to talk about, not much to grade the cart on.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy reading it. 🙂

Special thanks to ahtin and the U2DS team for providing the sample!

– Introduction –

The U2DS came out as an extremely cheap alternative for a DS flash cart.  It simply plays all games, all homebrew at an incredibly cheap price.  I’ve been agonizing over how to write this review for weeks now simply because of the fluctuations of prices on the market.  At the time of release, the U2DS was exactly as described, the cheapest cart on the market, but still fully functional.  Unfortunately as time passed, a few carts, such as the AceKard 2, the EDGE and the DSTT have lowered drastically in price.  The DSTT has lowered to about 60% of the price of a U2DS, while the AceKard 2 almost matches the price of the U2DS.

I guess people just don’t care about the special features anymore.

As well, the U2DS is basically a flash cart that can only run YSMenu, which is a free menu distributed by Yasu Software.  It can be run on many flash carts, including the cheaper DSTT.  So what sets the U2DS apart from the DSTT?  Asides from price and name, you might include the lack of functionality and the build quality.

But of course they don’t use Yasu’s skin, they have to label it with the U2DS all over the place.

– Design –

The box that the U2DS came in had a dumb slogan at the top “Enjoy your time!!”, a design I couldn’t quite grasp, but a superb looking tray.  It protected the MicroSD reader as well as the U2DS, and I was quite happy with the box.  Sure it had a ton of grammatical errors and one of the worst designs ever, but it served the box’s main purpose, the protect the goods.

I see, the U2DS box has a pretty horrible design.

Considering the cheap price, the one bonus that the U2DS came with is a surprisingly well built MicroSD reader.  The orange color and the dog was pretty random and ugly, but then again I heard that they ship out with different color schemes from time to time.  The quality of the reader is top notch, it might not be as good as a store bought reader, but it is definitely one of the better ones that ship with flash carts.  It reads and writes pretty fast and seems pretty strong.

At least it has a great MicroSD reader. By the way, it read my MicroSDHC cards just fine as well.

The U2DS itself was also quite amazing.  This is the only advantage I’d say that the U2DS has over the DSTT.  The build quality is top notch, easily the best I’ve had in quite some time.  It might not be built to be extra durable like the EDGE, but it feels exactly like a genuine cartridge.  There aren’t any bits that are odd, no chips sticking out, the teeth are still there.  There is also a white U2DS which should have the same build quality, but the grey one I have closely matches the color of the genuine cartridges.

Wow, it is really surprising to see a cheap flash cart with such a good build.

The MicroSD slot is not spring loaded, but thankfully memory cards slide in and out extremely easily, so the memory slot shouldn’t be a worry either.  It also supports SDHC just fine, I tested the cart with a 4GB AData MicroSDHC as well as my new 8GB Sandisk MicroSDHC.  Both worked without a hitch.  Overall the build quality is fantastic, one of the best for this generation, reminds me very much of the R4 v2.

Looks good doesn’t it?

– Software –

The U2DS team hasn’t been around for long, in fact I wasn’t able to contact them myself.  I have no clue about their credibility or how long this cart will stay afloat.  This is a serious problem.  In fact, just recently their website has completely disappeared, although this happens often at the end of the year with cheaper websites.

I would say, be very wary of the U2DS.  They aren’t even using their own software, it is using a direct copy of YSMenu which is provided free by Yasu Software.  It isn’t as if I don’t trust Yasu to keep putting his firmware out with updates, but it worries me that updates are already far apart, he’s been known to take down download links and basically this is being done by someone as a hobby.  Once YSMenu updates halt, you are left with a completely useless U2DS.

I guess you could always stalk Yasu instead of the U2DS team if you are looking for updates.

– Use –

A quick video demonstration should be more than enough to show what the U2DS is really about.

The U2DS is really, the easiest flash cart to use on the market.  It isn’t pretty, it isn’t fancy, but it does its job well.  I have always thought that YSMenu looked pretty bad, and I haven’t been a fan of YSMenu ever since its release, and I continue to look down upon it, but I know that there are people that like the fact that YSMenu does what it is supposed to do, and can be skinned to look decent.

This cart is probably as close as you’ll get to plugging it in and playing immediately.

Again, I am not one of those people.  If you want a list of games without pretty graphics, fine by me, but know that there are carts that let you scroll through games just as fast as the YSMenu without looking as bad, there are flash carts that show more information, while scrolling just as fast, and there are flash carts that can do much more, with even better speeds.  That being said, I know that this is a touchy issue, and there are definite conflicts between the points of view.  So I’m going to try and describe how it works as best I could so that you can judge for yourself.

The U2DS is one of those carts that automatically boots, skipping the warning screens and the DS menu and going straight to the menu.  You see a loading screen for a fraction of a second, and then you are presented with YSMenu.

Don’t worry, you can always skin the YSMenu.

The top screen is essentially a list.  On default, it will show only folders and DS games.  Folders are labelled with DIR on the right hand side, and roms have a size attached to it instead.  When you click select, the next option is to show only folders and saves, which is quite similar.  In this section, you are given the option to backup save files with a .bak file.  This is definitely a key feature that I use on YSMenu.  It is extremely important to backup save files when you are using special features such as cheats, I’ve lost countless hours of gameplay because the flash carts that I use don’t offer this feature.  The last option is simply a display of all files and folders.  Clicking left and right lets you scroll pages up or down at a time.

I can’t imagine going back reading through the 200 DS sized pages looking for the one I’m at.

The bottom screen simply shows more information about the file or folder, as well as presents some options.  First you have a button on the top left hand corner, which allows you to toggle the brightness settings.  When your selection is placed over a folder, you have the name, and the time it was last accessed (on computer, which means this information is quite useless).  The same is true for backup files, save files as well as unknown file types (MP3 files, skins, etc).  For games, you have the time it was put in, the last time a save file was created and your options.  The options are DMA, Reset and possibly Cheat.  DMA is merely a compatibility toggle, and you should keep it at its default unless the game isn’t working.  Honestly though, when a game didn’t work, the DMA didn’t exactly help, but supposedly it could help sometimes.  Reset is the soft reset toggle, which lets you reset to the menu in-game.

Nothing special here, just the DSTT menu rearranged to be quicker.

Cheats can only be enabled when there are actually cheats for the game.  A good site to update cheats operated by Narin is cheats.gbatemp.net.  Once you enable cheats, simply click on the button labelled “…” to toggle cheats individually.  It is quite simple and self explanatory, hover over a cheat, click A if you like it, some codes have special instructions, etc.

Cheats seem to be advancing really quickly on all carts, the U2DS doesn’t fall far behind.

Once you’ve set things up, clicking A over a rom will run it.  It doesn’t exactly boot up fast, it takes a second to go into a black screen then proceeds to type out your percentages as well as what it is doing, then boots the game.  Sometimes these zoom by in a second, maybe two, but for larger games, it could take as long as 5 or 6 seconds.  This is forgivable due to the fact that the rest of YSMenu performs extremely fast.

One of the slower games, taking its sweet time.

Asides from that, the YSMenu also has extensive support for the EZ Flash 3 in 1.  However, I don’t have one on hand, so all I can say from past experience is that you can run GBA games straight from the menu.  I will update this section of the review later on when I receive the new EZ Flash 3 in 1+ carts.

– Functionality –

YSMenu is known to be an excellent replacement menu for other flash carts.  And the reason behind that is that the functionality is just excellent.  You have great support for the EZ Flash 3 in 1, roms, homebrew and it is fast.

You have an autoDLDI patcher already implemented, so most homebrew works fine.  There’s great compatibility for NDS roms, but not 100%.  The last update was quite some time ago, and since then a few games have not been working.  I’m quite sure that the next YSMenu release will implement fixes, but until then, these games don’t work.  This definitely did not live up to the claim of “best compatibility” labelled on the box.  I was thoroughly disappointed.

Thankfully lag is also brilliantly handled.  Unfortunately I don’t have any slow MicroSD cards to test, but all games run extremely smooth on my class 6 MicroSDHC cards and my 2GB Made in Japan Kingston MicroSD cards.

This picture is self explanatory, the Dawn of Sorrow intro video runs flawlessly.

Download play is fully supported and so is WiFi.  Cheats and soft reset doesn’t seem to hurt compatibility at all, so you can cheat to your heart’s content.

– Conclusion –

Why was the U2DS put out?  It was an extremely cheap solution for users that don’t require much.  But since then, it has lost its purpose.  There are better carts for a cheaper price.  For example, the DSTT can run YSMenu just as well as the U2DS.  For a cheaper price, not only do you get the same YSMenu, but you get the option to use a superior menu as well.  You also have carts such as the AceKard 2, which is priced equally, with thousands of users backing it up, and a team that is actually there to support the cart.

I cannot say that I don’t recommend the U2DS, nor can I say that I recommend it.  There are certainly better options, but the U2DS does happen to be a decent cart.  To use YSMenu on other flash carts, there is some patching required, and some technical know-how.  If you don’t have the patience, the U2DS bundles it in already.  The price of the U2DS hasn’t been adjusted since the release, if it were priced competitively, as it did during the release, it might be a good option for those entering the market.

It’s not likely you’ll see this cart in my DS ever again.

The price of the carts on DealExtreme.com may not be the best indicators.  Lots of people buy locally, and from what I’ve seen, the U2DS beats the DSTT in terms of price locally simply because the DSTT has built up quite a name.  In that scenario, you may want to consider the U2DS.  What I described, does it suit you?  That is the real question.

On the plus side, the U2DS has the best build quality I’ve seen recently, beating down the recent batches of the DSTT to a bloody pulp.  It is also a fully functional menu, and it is priced surprisingly low.

You really have to feel this cart in person to truly appreciate how nicely it is made.

On the other hand, you have a completely unreliable team, with a menu that is developed isn’t developed by them.  There are many other options in the price range, and the U2DS isn’t exactly popular.

In conclusion, I’d put the U2DS in a pile along with my R4 and R4 clones.  If you happen to really want one, so be it, go grab one and don’t complain about it.  If you find one for extremely cheap, or still feel that it is the perfect cart for you, then again, go straight for it.  These flash carts aren’t bad or horrible, it is simply the fact that other options are available that come highly recommended.  If you don’t want to take these recommendations, go straight ahead, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed unless you compare the cart with others on the market.

If you’re really stubborn about getting one, go ahead, but if you want my opinion, you have better options. Then again, if you are worried about carts that break due to bad build, the U2DS might be worth considering.

– Score –
Design – 5/5
Software – 1/5
Use – 3.5/5
Functionality – 15/20
Tilt – 5/5
Overall – 29.5/40

Special thanks to ahtin and the U2DS team for providing the sample!