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It's been very difficult for many people to figure out what they should purchase for the NDS and what they can do with it. From movie players to a full blown media player, the choices are many, and the concepts are very confusing. I'm going to try to make things a tad easier by explaining the basics here. Feel free to comment with additions.

"what version NDS do i have?"

You'll first ask, why the hell do I need to know this... and then that question is quickly answered by "it's necessary to know this so that you purchase the right equipment for your NDS"

Easy enough, do the following

Check the manufacturing date of your DS. Most likely, if you have a DS that is purchased in the summer of 2005 to present, you'll require the "2nd gen" version of a particular device we'll be talking about in a few minutes. If it's before that, then you'll need the "1st gen" version of the device.

ok, so now you've gotten down that you need either a 1st gen or 2nd gen of this "device" I spoke of. Write that down somewhere, we'll come back to it in a bit.

What is NDS homebrew, and what can I do with it?

NDS homebrew is essentially a term for anything made by a programmer (usually not employed by Nintendo) which is for the NDS. This can vary from a PDA organizer to an advanced web browser. Homebrew is a valuable asset to the community and adds a certain value to your gaming experience. Now, homebrew can vary from customized apps to customized games as well.

Anything made homebrew for the NDS will require "authentication" by the NDS. It's similar to trying to play some custom made application in your XBOX and realizing it won't work without a modchip. Anything not made or authenticated by the manfucturer will normally require "authentication". This is where all these media carts and PASS ME devices come into play.


What is a PASS ME device and why are there so many of them?

A passme device (originally named by the guys at www.dspassme.com) is a device that has certain programmed code on it that will allow it to authenticate NDS homebrew. These carts have a variety of names, normally based on their manufacturers... i.e. EZ PASS (ezflash company), SUPER PASS (super card company), PASSCARD (m3 company), etc. All in all, they all do the same thing in the long run, authenticate NDS homebrew. Remember when I said you should take into account which version DS you have? Well, this is where it counts. Older (1st gen) DS will require the 1st gen of the PASSME devices. Each company has a 1st gen pass me device. If you have a 2nd gen NDS or an NDS lite, you will require the 2nd or 3rd gen PASSME device from the appropriate company. How they do it and how advanced they are, varies.

Long story short, to play any NDS homebrew on your NDS, you will require authentication, as we've already stated. This authentication is achieved by inserting a PASS ME device into your NDS slot. These devices are merely authenticators.. they don't carry any media on them, that is what the media carts are for.. which leads us to our next question...

What is a media cart, why are there so many, what do they do?

Media carts, movie players, etc, all various names for essentially the same concept. You'll notice a variety of names. Supercard, M3, EZ Flash, G6, Movie Players, etc. What these carts/adapters do is plug into your GBA slot of your NDS and allow you to .. via either a flashmemory or insertable flash memory (i.e. SD card, CF card, Micro/Mini SD, etc)... play media (movies, music, games, ebooks, pictures). Wonderful thing, right?

Why are there so many? Well, different companies like to compete, and different companies offer just a small twist on the basic concept.. so you might pick theirs over another company's card.

What do they do? Like I've said, they play media off your flashrom or your insertable memory. It's a great concept if you think about the wonderful things you can now do with your NDS. You can play your music on it, watch movies, watch pictures, read e-books, and run NDS homebrew (if you have your PASS ME device, remember?)

Ok, so why buy one over the other, what are the various benefits?

You've got 3 big boys...

- M3
- Super Card
- EZ Flash

For the sake of not confusing anyone, we'll state that all three will play movies, music, pictures, e-books, games. To further simplify, they all require a PASS ME device. Now, lets talk about their differences

M3
M3 has 2 types, M3 Perfect SD and M3 Perfect Mini SD. Understandably, the basic difference is the Mini SD uses Mini SD and is slimmer than the regular SD. The Mini SD is the size of a GBA game. The reg. SD is about an inch taller.

Reason why people purchase the M3 over others may be due to its nice and simple design, a fairly easy software to manage your media, a nice browser, and the wonderful "plug and play" Passcard 3. The M3 mini fits snug in the NDS, and juts out about 9 mm in the NDS lite.


Super Card
As with the m3, the super card has 2 basic sizes. Supercard and Supercard Mini. Yep, you've guessed it.. the difference is the size of the memory card. Regular SD vs Mini SD. The supercards have long been the more affordable version of these carts and are very popular. They have easy to use software and their newest Superkey passme device mimics the functions of the Passcard 3 (plug and play passme).

As far as size and whatnot, the supercard mini is a snug fit in the NDS. It sticks out a tad in the NDS lite, about 13mm.

EZ Flash 4
The EZ flash team has 2 new cards.. The EZ 4 and the EZ 4 Lite. The EZ 4 is the size of a gba game, flush with the NDS but about 13 mm sticking out with the NDS lite. The EZ team has been noted as being a long time competitor and is known to provide good software updates and products.

The EZ4 Lite is a NDS LITE only product, it fits snug in the NDS LITE and uses MICRO SD vs mini or regular. The EZ 4 uses MINI SD. The EZ team uses the EZ PASS/PASS2 device concept for passme and it is a programmable (via parallel port) device. They have no plug and play passme device at this time.

Uhh, so which one should I buy?

Take into consideration a few things..

- price
- ease of use
- compatibility
- looks

For the price, your Super Card/SuperPass combo is your cheapest deal, usually under 70 bucks.

For the ease of use, I'd say the M3/Passcard3 is your best combo for plug and play, costs around $95

For compatibility, you've got a split. The EZ team tends to update quite often with many compatibility upgrades, so I'd give them the plus here. The M3/Supercard guys have the edge on the NDS homebrew apps, which work much better, if not only, on the M3/Supercard.

For looks, your EZ 4 Lite on the NDS LITE is your best bet. Its snug fitting, and from personal use, I appreciate the fact that nothing jutts out of the NDS LITE while I play. The NDS LITE is so small, having something jutt out is pretty annoying when playing games, so I find the edge to be to the EZ team.

Take into those factors, and make your decision. From a modchipman.com personal standpoint, we'd say that if you have a regular NDS, grab the M3/Passcard 3 combo because of its ease of use. Get the M3 Mini and you'll have a flush GBA cart so you won't have anything sticking out.

If money is an issue, definitely go with the Supercard/SuperPass combo. You're not getting a raw deal by going cheaper, its a great combo, works very well, and you won't be disappointed.

If you're an NDS LITE owner, definitely go with the EZ4 Lite. It's snug fitting, and works great. You'll have to put a few more minutes of effort into programming the EZ PASS 2 so that NDS homebrew can load, but it's well worth it when you're playing with a cart that can fit snugly into your GBA slot and even comes in 3 color cases so it'll match your NDS LITE color.

Hopefully after reading this tutorial you've established some sort of basic concept of what these things are, what they do, and maybe even have decided which one is the best for you.