N5 First Impressions

DSDatabase’s First Impressions of the N5 Revolution for the DS

First, I would like to thank shan-store.com for immediately sending out a review sample of the N5, they were one of the first to sell it, and have a fairly reasonable price, and definitely the fastest shipping from China to Canada that I have ever seen.

Back to the N5, pretty much all the posts on GBATemp point out that the N5 is an R4 clone, it is slightly cheaper, and much easier to find.  However, it has been concluded by many that the N5 is inferior to the original products, the R4 and the M3DS Simply, despite the fact that it shares a lot of similarities.

The first test I initiated was to determine whether or not SDHC MicroSD cards were supported.  As initial specs of the N5 claimed to fully support SDHC.  Unfortunately for R4 users that want SDHC support, the N5 is not what you are looking for.  So to speak, I only have 1 MicroSDHC card to test, the AData 4GB MicroSDHC, so it could be that this single MicroSDHC does not work, but many reports have said that their MicroSDHC cards do not work. 

It simply hangs on the loading screen.

Now, I reverted back to my trusty Kingston 2GB MicroSD card, and everything worked just like the R4.  I assume all the readers here would know how the R4 works, if not, you can find the DSDatabase.org review of the R4 under the reviews section. 

The two major differences are that the R4 and the N5’s chip designs are slightly different (the N5 is clearly modelled like the original R4), and that the N5 uses a decrypted firmware file from the R4. 

 

We don’t really know how it affects the cart, but we do know that something is definitely wrong because three problems appear:

1.  The Castlevania intro videos that run smooth on the R4 suffer from pretty severe lag on the N5.

2.  The N5 supposedly heats up after long usage.  But after my own tests, it doesn’t seem to be a huge problem.  After about 4 hours of intense use (Mario Kart DS with DS to DS multiplayer) it got very slightly warmer.

3.  Unlike the completely flush R4, the N5 has a chip sticking out slightly.

Sure the N5 has its problems, but it has some definite advantages.  It is a fully functional cart, it works fine, and it has all of the features that the R4 has.  It also has full access to R4’s cheat databases, skins, save files, etc.

So my save file for Dungeon Explorer from my CycloDS Evolution, as well as the R4 ported over just fine with no need to convert.

Here is a nice skin by MeteoraTC that I just downloaded from NDSThemes.com.  The N5 displays all of R4’s skins just perfectly, in fact the skins that come bundled with is are clearly stolen.

So to conclude all of this, I wouldn’t exactly recommend the N5, but I don’t think it is a bad option either.  There are plenty of better carts on the market, but I know how many people are just suckers for the R4.  If you are looking for an R4, and they are just sold out everywhere, then the N5 might be your solution.  Keep in mind that the N5 is a clone, and it does have faults, not only because it isn’t as good as the R4, but also because the R4 isn’t the best cart on the market.

Keep your eyes out for my full review of the N5 on DSDatabase.org!