DS Fanboy's (semi) ultimate homebrew guide

by Alisha Karabinus { May 20th 2008 at 11:00AM }

Where there's a system, there's a community of hobbyist programmers willing to tear it down, build it back up, and make it better, and they've been doing it to the DS from nearly the moment the handheld hit shelves. As the necessary hardware has grown cheaper, easier to use, and more widely available (when not sold out), the DS homebrew community in turn has grown stronger, producing some applications that are so good, they rival (or better!) similar commercial products.

But with all of the homebrew solutions available, how does someone new to the scene know where to start? A quick search for guides returns information that can seem complicated and confusing, and many DS owners are wary of spending money on hardware that may not work with their particular system or with the applications and homebrew games they're interested in trying out. The reality is that homebrew on the DS is much easier than it seems, thanks to breakthroughs in the scene, and DS Fanboy is dedicated to helping you navigate the ocean of user-generated content available. From searching out Slot-1 solutions to taking you through them, we've got all the information you need to get started, no matter how little you know about DS homebrew. If you're really lost, check out our handy homebrew glossary for help.

It's worth mentioning that we're focusing solely on the newer flash carts for DS homebrew here. With the advent of the all-in-one Slot-1 flash cart, there's little reason for anyone to go with the more complicated Slot-2 devices. While we cover some of that terminology in our glossary, we do so only to help provide a guide for those DS owners just getting started, who may encounter such terms as PassMe and wonder just what it might be.

From here, you can hit the jump to see an index of this article's contents, or simply follow the arrows if you'd like to go through step by step. Comments are open on every page, but you can always return here to the main discussion by way of a DS Lite icon on each page.


		CycloDS Evolution

Tags: cyclods-evolution, flash-cart, flashcart, hb08, joystiqfeatures, m3-real, m3ds, r4, r4ds

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

John Bentley @ May 20th 2008 11:53AM

I'm kind of disappointed that you didn't write about the Games n' Music. It is as good as any of the others plus it doesn't support piracy. I recommend extracting the prepached DSOrganize to the root directory and renaming it to bootme.nds and it will automatically load it.

GuyPerson @ May 20th 2008 12:04PM

Yeah, I have a Games n Music too. What about that?

Alisha Karabinus @ May 21st 2008 1:56AM

Unfortunately, there's lots we didn't cover, because the array of options is really huge. We had to pick and choose, which is why it's a -semi- ultimate guide. ;)

Covarr @ May 20th 2008 2:04PM

As good as the others? No, it reads at really slow speeds, causing all sorts of trouble for video viewing on Moonshell.

John Bentley @ May 20th 2008 2:24PM

True, it is a bit slower. On the other hand MoonShell is a piece of junk. DSVideo is better.

SephFinale @ May 20th 2008 6:03PM

Yay! This is the perfect article for me, since I didn't know where to start with the homebrew stuff. But I always figured I'd just get an R4 and ask some of my friends.

Donald @ May 20th 2008 7:25PM

So is the EZ V 3-in-1 recommended for someone who wants to try GBA homebrew and already has a Slot-1 device (R4)?

kaosdragon @ May 24th 2008 5:06PM

out of the three more well known products, which one would you recommend? R4DS, CycloDS, or the M3 Real?

ojsinnerz @ May 25th 2008 12:04PM

R4 is outdated, overpriced, and featureless. Get the CycloDS. It's one of the best carts available.

MrTyzik @ May 30th 2008 8:28PM

I second getting the CycloDS Evolution. I have nothing but good things to say about it...on the flipside, I have nothing but bad things to say about the M3 DS Real (I do have both).

Vicki VanV @ May 25th 2008 1:39PM

I just read a Wired article about how to turn a Nintendo DS into a paint pad, and I was thinking about giving it a shot for my 12yo (aka Picasso Jr.). What I know about all this stuff would roll around in a thimble, so this may be a dumb question, but--if we do this paint-pad hack, will the Nintendo DS also still function normally with all the game cartridges we have?

hdofu @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:11AM

Paint pad hack? If you get a card like say the super card or the m3 real or cyclos (which is pricer then you'd need) you could get a program like colors ds and put it on the card, you take the card out and wala it's the same old ds it was before you put it in.