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GeekNights 080805 - Nintendo DS Homebrew

edited August 2008 in GeekNights
Tonight on GeekNights we discuss the state of DS homebrew. In the news, Strong Bad is coming to WiiWare, Diablo fanboys get pwn3d, and PAX EAST.

Scott's Thing - Don't talk to the police
Rym's Thing - Tribes 2 Shrike pilot
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Comments

  • PAX East in Washington DC. I can only hope. BCC is great but....D.C.
  • edited August 2008
    The lawyer & cop videos were great.

    Scott, which M3DS software did you install? The new version, M3 Sakura, is much better than the original. Many of the apps and emulators are still shit but at least the main menus and multimedia stuff work well.

    I only use mine to, ahem, 'demo' games before buying them, and watch converted videos. The new video player is a huge improvement but if you're already using the iPhone there's probably not much point. There is a big benefit to being able to play GBA games since it's almost impossible to find non-pirated ones on eBay, and the cartridges are so chunky it's a pain to carry more than a few. DS games on the other hand are so small and easy on the battery that I'm happy to keep using my collection.
    Post edited by Paulathon on
  • edited August 2008
    Ok, I am going to record and edit a complete guide to how to own an R4 properly. Am I fine to post it here for people to listen?
    Why did you get Doki Doki when you could have had Ouendan? It's a rhythm game, low language barrier.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • Scott, which M3DS software did you install? The new version,M3 Sakura, is much better than the original.
    Awesome, I'll try it when I get home.
    Ok, I am going to record and edit a complete guide to how to own an R4 properly. Am I fine to post it here for people to listen?
    You definitely should. All the howtos and tutorials I found on Google were super old and incomplete. There really needs to be a single well-written comprehensive guide somewhere.
    Why did you get Doki Doki when you could have hadOuendan? It's a rhythm game, low language barrier.
    To touch witches, of course.
  • To touch witches, of course.
    But if they get excited, does that imply witchery? Or an absence of witchery?
  • Editing in progress.. I tried using the "Turncate Silence" feature in Audacity 1.3 Beta but it didn't work as something about my microphone causes it to flatline above zero when there is no sound playing, odd. About half way through manual editing.
  • To touch witches, of course.
    But if they get excited, does that imply witchery? Or an absence of witchery?
    From what I've read, the game is really a "detective" game. You are trying to find out which girls are witches. You touch them to find if they have a "witches mark" on their bodies.
  • From what I've read, the game is really a "detective" game. You are trying to find out which girls are witches. You touch them to find if they have a "witches mark" on their bodies.
    I know. I just wanted to bust out the Penny Arcade line.
  • From what I've read, the game is really a "detective" game. You are trying to find out which girls are witches. You touch them to find if they have a "witches mark" on their bodies.
    I know. I just wanted to bust out the Penny Arcade line.
    Ah, I feel bad. I don't remember that comic.
  • Yeah, I just found it with Pipe Four.
  • To touch witches, of course.
    But if they get excited, does that imply witchery? Or an absence of witchery?
    From what I've read, the game is really a "detective" game. You are trying to find out which girls are witches. You touch them to find if they have a "witches mark" on their bodies.
    I am one of the sad individuals who actually had this pre-ordered (the limited edition box at that), and it takes about forty-five minutes to get to the actual touching. There are also some irritating stylus puzzles that weren't in the first game...Once you get into chapter two they open up the "witch check training" mode where you can periodically go and brush up your skills on witch and non-witch characters alike.
  • I am one of the sad individuals who actually had this pre-ordered (the limited edition box at that)
    You're scaring me.
  • I wanna touch witches.
  • I wanna touch witches.
    I don't think we are talking about the same kind of touching..
  • Was it a good touch or a bad touch?

    Also:
    image
  • edited August 2008
    I'm not done with the episode yet, but there are a few things wrong so far...
    You need that GBA slot adapter thingy in order to play GBA games on DS flash cards. Otherwise they (being the gba roms) won't work. It has something to do with RAM, I believe.

    DS game roms are no where near 256mb. The biggest ones I've downloaded were 128mb, most games falling somewhere near 30-60mb. Regardless, though, they do add up.

    Advising to get a 4gb micro sd card is a bad idea. I don't think that every flash cart out there supports higher than 2gb. Be sure to check before you buy...

    As far as emulators go, SNES ones are usually kinda shitty. Otherwise, I haven't had any problems with NESds or Lameboy.

    Regarding battery life, that's another thing that fluctuates vastly from cart to cart. I've noticed a little worse battery life with my CycloDS, but it is REALLY not that bad.

    About pirating- I'm with you on this one, Scott. I'm using my flashcart to pirate anything I'm on the fence about or just want to try out, and then I'm continuing to buy stuff that I definitely want (FFTA2, Disgaea, Chrono Trigger, Daigasso Band Brothers 2, etc).
    Post edited by Dkong on
  • edited August 2008
    Just to clear up what Kong is saying:
    • If your DS thing came with something to go in the GBA slot to play GBA games then it is probably using power when you aren't using it's capabilities. You might want to consider swapping it for the original dust cover when you aren't using it.
    • Most SD cards above 2gb are actually SDHC cards which only work with a few carts.
    • 256MB roms (such as Ouendan) are rare. I recomend getting a rom trimmer as a lot of that is just empty space.
    • For SNES emulation you want to be using SNEmulDS, to be talked about in my upcoming recording.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • edited August 2008
    If your DS thing came with something to go in the GBA slot to play GBA games then it is probably using power when you aren't using it's capabilities. You might want to consider swapping it for the original dust cover when you aren't using it.
    No. I was commenting on how Scott said he got a slot 2 (gba slot, fyi) adapter when he bought his shit. That is the only way you can play gba games with a flash cart. If you just get a flash cart and a micro sd card, you will not be able to play gba games.
    For SNES emulation you want to be using SNEmulDS, to be talked about in my upcoming recording.
    Yeah, but even that isn't that great. It works a hell of a lot better than anything else I've tried, but you still have to dick around with sprite layers and what not. Regardless, I've gotten some good Yoshi's cookie, Super Metroid, and Arkanoid enjoyment out of it.

    As for good japanese games to get:
    - Ouendan 1 and 2 (1 is worth buying, 2 really isn't)
    - Daigasso Band Brothers 1 and 2 (1 is worth buying...and 2 has a weird save feature, so it doesn't really work with most flash carts...so yeah)
    - Jump Ultimate Stars
    - Rhythm Tengoku (if you can play gba roms)
    - Taiko Drum Master 1+2
    - Electroplankton (not worth buying, too fucking overpriced...but it's a damn awesome game for free)

    Most of those are rhythm games, but those are very easy to enjoy even with the language barrier.

    As for the "no use other than piracy", that's mostly true...but I have come across a few great apps: Colors (drawing app), Animanatee (animation app), DSaim (aim client, works great, though when and where you'll have a need for this is kinda beyond me), LemmingsDS (fucking awesome), Pocket Physics, Protein/DScratch, Still Alive DS (decent 2d Portal rip off game).

    So what I would say:
    - get a R4 or CycloDS. I have a Cyclo and a few of my friends have an R4. They both get good battery life. The R4 is cheap. The Cyclo can use SDHC cards. So on and so forth.
    - get Snemul, nesDS, and Lameboy...and a ton of SNES, NES, GB/GBC roms
    - get a few DS games that you wanna try out, or just pirate
    - browse around and test out various homebrew apps, keep what you want, ditch what you don't want.
    - don't bother with media playing unless you don't have an mp3 player. The biggest downfall, IMO, is that you're limited to the size of your micro SD card. It might only have room for 512mb-1gb worth of songs, depending on how many games you have on the card and how big your card is.
    Post edited by Dkong on
  • How ironic, I just picked up Etrian Odyssey 2 today! Let's just say you convinced me to buy it, Scott, so karma balances out.
  • edited August 2008
    .
    Post edited by daemonkryn on
  • You need that GBA slot adapter thingy in order to play GBA games on DS flash cards. Otherwise they (being the gba roms) won't work. It has something to do with RAM, I believe.
    My understanding is that the GBA (slot 2) bus speed is faster than slot 1.
    Advising to get a 4gb micro sd card is a bad idea. I don't think that every flash cart out there supports higher than 2gb. Be sure to check before you buy...
    The M3DSReal that Scott bought will support 4GB; other popular ones won't. The reputable vendors should list which ones are problematic. Also, don't just buy any old MicroSD card as many are too slow to run properly with the DS.
  • edited August 2008
    As for saving money through, uhh, "downloading" games being the main reason why one would do the homebrew thing - as I'm getting older and wiser (and richer) I find that money is not the only thing I spend. Often, it's not even the main thing. For me, time is usually the much more precious resource.

    An okay game for, say, $15 sounds like a good deal, $15 plus 30-40 hours is nowhere near as good a deal for only an "okay" experience, considering what else I could have done with my time. In fact, some things wouldn't be worth it even if they were free.

    The same holds for books. I don't have to think about spending $6 for a paperback anymore, but it's the hidden "10 hour"-price that makes me look twice at what I'm getting in return. We earn only 24 of those per day, and it's a fixed salary.
    Post edited by tektonick on
  • My Kingston 4gb MicroSDHC works great with my M3DSReal.
  • edited August 2008
    For me,timeis usually the much more precious resource.
    And you will never have both time and money in abundance at the same time. I have much time, little money.
    I gave up editing my guide 10mins from the end. I'm going to write this up instead.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • Was Scott purposefully mispronouncing "Chipotle"?

    Sometimes I can't tell...
  • I think it may be one of those cases where in fact everyone except Scott mispronounces "Chipotle"
  • edited August 2008
    Cunt!! I just spent the whole morning writing the guide in wordpress and I clicked fullscreen, next thing I know the whole post had been blanked and saved.
    Holy fuck, thank the developers for the post revisions feature!
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • Cunt!! I just spent the whole morning writing a guide and I clicked fullscreen, next thing I know the whole post had been blanked and saved.
    That's happened to me a few times, which is why I tend to write my lengthier posts on a notepad doc. :P However, I would really like to see a guide. I'm interested in doing this. ^_^
  • edited August 2008
    Holy fuck, thank the developers for the post revisions feature!
    Damn, I've still lost most of it. Down from 1300 words to 400..
    Post edited by Omnutia on
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