G6 Real 16Gbit Review

G6 Real 16Gbit
Written by Brakken
October 2007

Introduction

Welcome to my review of the G6 Real 16Gbit version for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite. This small yet powerful homebrew development and backup solution allows you to enjoy the free works of many members of the console gaming scene and also protect your valuable investments from wear and tear. G6/M3's products are always top of the line with well refined features, a slick and precise user interface and great compatibility. I'll admit, I'm fond of their products, but I have good reason to be which I will explain over the course of this review.

When it comes to features the G6 Real has a ton of them and of course some are trivial and some will make or break a product. Features such as clean ROM support, perfect compatibility and legacy slot 2 booting is something that any new cart on the market can't afford to leave out. The inclusion of MoonShell and their own Crystal Engine media player also adds to the wow factor as you'll be able to playback multimedia files including video, audio and pictures without the need to install anything else. The inclusion of their own PDA application is also a treat as it's now fully translated to English which is something I've been wanting for a really long time.

Features

With these features plus the rest at first glance it seems that the G6 Real has all of it's bases covered.

100% Game compatibility
Extreme simple to use: just drag and drop files to the G6 Cart / No drivers & any software required
Work as U disk with USB 2.0 ultra fast burning speed / Standard FAT system support
Build-in high speed memory (run game without lag or slow down / speed of all the games as same as original)
Exclusive Super Cheat Function:
Fully AR Cheat Code compatible engine
A Ready-Made Cheat Code database file is available for download (English, Chinese, Japanese)
Support reading individual cheat code file too (xml, cht, dht)
Special Game features can be enabled during game playing: (such as: SlowMotion mode…)
Software reset function
The highest download play compatibility. ( Support single card download play even with trouble games such as: Mario Kart & New super Mario etc...)
100% clean dump supported without the need for any patching. (no update is necessary for patching)
Hardware automatically game save type detect . (No need to update the save type database file frequently)
Excellent homebrew support thanks to the DLDI auto-patcher
Upgradeable system (no size limitation of Flash rom)
Robust & skinnable GUI
Built in PassMe (NO need for any boot cart/passcard etc.)
Supports Slot-2 expansions card. (Rumble, Ram, Browser memory and GBA Game card etc.)
Boot Slot-1 automatically. Users may also select to appear Console Main Menu first or begin G6 Main Menu directly (Convenience for download play)
Includes a fully touch screen & button control operating system / GUI Menu
NDS-GBA Linkage works fine
The strongest media features: Built-in "Media-Extend" application + "Moonshell" media player
Super E-book function (supports Word/ Txt file directly)
Super picture viewer function (supports BMP, JPG, GIF and PNG directly)
Built in PDA (Worldwide Time, Memo, Note, Phone Book and Calculator)
Supports DS sleep mode
Brightness adjustment within GUI

Contents

G6DS Real
USB Linker
Dual DS Card Case
Wrist Strap
Mini CD-ROM
USB Cable

Installation

Preparation is the key to success! The G6 Real comes ready-to-go out-of-the-box as all you will need to do to get up and running is plug the cart into your Nintendo DS and turn it on. Well, sort of. While the G6 Real is fully operational without the need to tinker with it what it is missing is the multimedia files (games, homebrew, music, videos, books and pictures) that you're going to be using.

Once you plug the G6 Real into it's USB adapter your PC will automatically recognize it and assign it a drive letter. Once this is done you can simply copy over your multimedia files you wish to use and you're good to go. As the G6 Real supports clean ROM images there is no pre-conversion necessary - just copy your games over and you're set.

The same rings true for homebrew. Due to the G6 Real's internal DLDI on-the-fly patching you don't need to prep any of your homebrew games, demos, emulators and/or applications before copying them over. This is a great feature and it's not to be overlooked when making your decision on what unit you're going to be considering for purchase. It saves you a lot of unwanted time if you're either a homebrew developer or general user.

Some multimedia files are also naively supported such as ebooks (in text format) and some image formats (JPEG, BMP, PNG and GIF). What the G6 Real (via MoonShell or the Crystal Engine Player) doesn't support is DIVX, AVI, XVID, etc movie formats. You'll need to use either DPG Tools or the Crystal Engine Converter to first transform your videos into a format that the G6 Real can understand. Once this is done you can copy them over to your portable video gaming console and enjoy them on the go. Due to the G6 Real's 2GB worth of space you can hold around three full length feature films and still have enough room for a handful of your favorite games and/or homebrew titles.

Usage

Once you've filled your G6 Real with the multimedia files you wish to use simply insert it into your Nintendo DS and turn the console on. Unlike it's predecessor the G6 Real 16Gb will boot directly into it's own menu system allowing you easy access to your files. Once you've booted up you'll be brought directly to the game list which features each game listed in alphabetical order with it's internal icon and size displayed. From this list you can also access the other features of the G6 Real using your stylus. These features include MyCard, pdaDS, MediaPlay, Boot and Settings.

MyCard will simply let you browse your G6 Real and select from games and/or homebrew that aren't in the main game directory. pdaDS will launch the recently translated to English PDA system. MediaPlay will launch the MoonShell media player. Boot will allow you to boot the card in Slot 2. Lastly, Settings will allow you to toggle the boot icon and also change the current skin/theme. Lastly, if you're using this on a Nintendo DS Lite you can change the brightness setting of your LCD screens via a small icon in the lower left hand corner.

When you go to boot a game from the Main Boot Menu you're presented with a list of options to choose from. These options are Cheat Switch, Soft Reset Key, Slot Motion Switch and Slow Motion Level. You can also access the Cheat database for the particular game you're going to play by using the menu selection on the top. The various "switches" allow you to assign from a pre-defined list the key press combinations you wish to use for the particular function. The Slow Motion Level is how slow you'd like your game to go when you press the corresponding key combination you select.

Gameplay is 1:1 of your original games. No slowdown, graphical glitches or crashes in problem prone games such as the Castlavania series. The full motion video playback is fluid and your game won't crash on you while playing. The slowmotion and cheat features work as advertised so you'll be able to slow your game down to get past tricky spots and also be able to cheat your way to success if you're into that sort of thing.

All of the English using customers have a bonus this time around as the G6 Team have finally translated their very useful PDA type application pdaDS to English! Once selecting "pdaDS" from the Main Menu's drop down selection you're presented with a handful of utilities including NDS Game, Password, Time, Phone, Notes, Units, Calculator and Memo. The NDS Game will allow you to boot a game, password will set a master password to access the PDA application, time displays the time, phone is a phone number list, notes allows you to enter some notes using the styles, units is a measurement tool, calculator is what is says and the memo is an extended note taking system. This is a really great addition to the G6 Real and shouldn't be overlooked when making your purchasing decision.

MediaPlay is of course the commonly used MoonShell multimedia playing application for the Nintendo DS. Using MoonShell you can listen to MP3 audio files, read plain TXT files, view images and watch DPG format movies. Music playback is crisp and clear with no real issues other then the lack of bass. Movie playback is great, but as mentioned above requires you to use a tool named DPG Tools to convert your movies from formats such as DIVX, AVI and MPEG to the DPG format before you're able to play them. One good thing about this conversion process is it really compresses the movies allowing for you to store multiple full length feature presentations on the G6 Real.

The Boot menu will allow you to boot into NDS or GBA mode using your Slot 2 solution. This is useful for legacy devices such as the M3 Perfect or older G6 models. The settings menu will allow you to toggle the boot icon and also change the current skin you're using.

Conclusion

Overall the G6 Real does everything it's advertised to do without a hitch. Game playback is perfect, compatibility great, all homebrew is automatically patched and runs perfectly and the cheat function is a nice addition to the product. Having the PDA translated to English is also a great feature. Although you're limited to it's internal storage space most users won't have a problem as 2 Gigabytes is plenty of room for you multimedia content.

Negatives

Limited to Internal Storage Space
Casing Seems Flimsly
USB Linker Doesn't Like USB Hubs

Positives

Perfect Compatibility
Automatic Homebrew DLDI Patching
Flawlessly Intergrated Cheat System
PDA Now Translated to English

Links

G6 Real's Website

-=[ G6 Real 16Gbit Review Discussion Thread ]=-

www.g6flash.com Product(s) were received from the website above. ISO-420 will always link back to whomever sent the product(s) *respect*, but please remember that the reviews are independently written by our staff and are not subject to alteration by whomever supplies us with the review product(s).

Nintendo DS Flash Carts also known as "Development and/or Backup" units are intended for expansion of the Nintendo DS's abilities including running "homebrew" software which is created by amateur unlicensed developers. Homebrew is totally free and legal to use as long as you follow the licensing agreement that comes with each title. Homebrew comes in many forms, but most "Flash Carts" come with homebrew that allows you to listen to music, watch movies, read books and look at pictures. These flash carts also let you run other homebrew titles. The use of homebrew does not infringe on Nintendo's or any of it's related companies rights. Flash Carts also allow you to make and playback backups of original and third party games for safe keeping purposes. Making backups of your data is also a non-infringing action. However, it is illegal to download and play ROM images of games you do not personally own. ISO-420 Reviews and TehSkeen.com do not encourage using Flash Carts in any illegal manner and do not endorse or condone users to "pirate" ROM files. Please support game companies and their developers by purchasing your games.