CycloDS Evolution Review

Written by Brakken
June 2007

Introduction

Welcome to my review of Team Cyclops CycloDS Evolution a Slot 1 development/backup solution for the Nintendo DS. Using this solution one can easily boot unsigned and signed code on their portable dual screen gaming console opening up a world of fun including the ability to play homebrew/backups, watch videos, listen to music and read ebooks. Not only can you do all of this, but the CycloDS Evolution offers some advanced functionality including slow motion gameplay, automatic DLDI patching, an Action Replay (tm) compatible cheat engine and SDHC support. With all of these features and the fact Team Cyclops claims their CycloDS Evolution has 100% compatibility with commercial games including perfect Download Play support the product seems to be, at least on paper, the best choice currently on the market. Does it live up to all of the hype? Read on the find out in this ISO-420 Certified Review.

Features

Completely plug & play - no FlashMe, PassMe or PC software required
100% game compatibility, supports clean ROM's - works on any OS
Full NDS download play support, including problem games such as Mario Kart DS
Action Replay compatible cheat code engine, comes bundled with cheat codes for over 300 games!
Uses MicroSD card, both FAT16 and FAT32 supported
SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) support - MicroSD cards up to 32GB supported!
Save type is automatically detected, no need for a save type database
Save directly to MicroSD rather than onboard flash
User friendly, easily skinnable interface. Both touch screen and button operation supported
Multi-lingual user interface
"Enhanced Mode" which provides powerful, unique features during game play. Enhanced features are activated through an in-game menu. Enhanced mode features include:
   o Adjust LCD brightness during game play (NDSLite only)
   o SlowMotion mode which can be used to slow down game play to make fast paced action sequences easier to master
   o Return to CycloDS Evolution Menu (aka soft reset)
Excellent homebrew compatibility thanks to the DLDI auto-patcher
2 megabytes of onboard flash memory which contains the CycloDS Evolution OS and will be utilised in the future to add exciting new features. A recovery mode is also included.
Autoboot mode which when activated will directly boot into the last ROM or homebrew application executed
Moonshell included to provide media playing functionality
PassMe function (boot from slot 2)
Supports rumble and memory expansions

Contents

CycloDS Evolution
MicroSD USB Reader/Writer

The CycloDS Evolution comes packaged in a professionally looking metal box with a high quality logo printed on it. Inside you'll find the flashcart and an USB based MicroSD reader/writer. The flashcart seems a bit cheap as it's made with some thin plastic and has an offsentered sticker on it. The USB MicroSD reader/writer has been made with high quality plastic and looks darned cool. Overall I'd say the initial appearance is that the CycloDS Evolution is your average flashcart, but I guess it's not the appearance that counts, but the fact it offers so many features packed into a small Slot 1 solution. (Link: Hi-Resolution Picture of Contents)

Installation

The CycloDS Evolution is virtually a plug n' play device as all you need to do to get it working is insert it into your Nintendo DS or Nintendo DS Lite and turn it on. Other then that you'll probably need some multimedia files to actually work with which requires the use of either a MicroSD SD or High Capacity MicroSD card which you will need to fill with your files using your computer. As the CycloDS Evolution supports clean ROM images out of the box along with auto-DLDI patching all you will need to do to be able to play your homebrew and/or commercial ROM backups is copy over the ROM images to your MicroSD card, insert it into the CycloDS Evolution, select the one you wish to boot and you're good to go. As Team Cyclops claims it has a 100% compatibility rating you won't need to worry about pre-patching your ROM images (like some other flashcarts require) before you can actually play them. (Link: Hi-Resolution Picture of Contents & MicroSD Card)

As the CycloDS Evolution states it can support multimedia files you'll need to download and copy over the modified version of MoonShell which is the multimedia application the CycloDS Evolution uses to playback audio, video, images and ebooks. Once you've copied over Moonshell and some multimedia files (bmp, jpeg, mp3, text and video files) you'll be ready to view/read them.

For review purposes I used the latest and greatest firmware (v1.11) to test out the CycloDS's functionality with. Along with this firmware I also downloaded a handful of homebrew games, applications and emulators and used a select few commercial ROM image backups which I'll use to test the CycloDS Evolution's download play capabilities. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to obtain a HCSD MicroSD card for this review and will be using a normal 1GB model.

Once I had all of the multimedia files I was going to use I plugged the MicroSD card into the included USB v2.0 based MicroSD Card Reader and started to copy over the files. It took a good 9 minutes to copy over 900~ MB worth of data. After the data was copied over I inserted the MicroSD card into the CycloDS Evolution and then the Evolution into the Nintendo DS. One minor annoyance was the fact both the USB based reader and Evolution's MicroSD cart slots don't have an eject mechanism - so you'll be stuck removing the card using your fingernails (or in my case a pair of tweezers).

Usage

When I turned the Nintendo DS on I was brought to it's main menu which featured an icon in the Nintendo DS box which allowed me to boot up the CycloDS Evolution. After a brief loading process the CycloDS Evolution's main menu came up and I was presented with three options - Game, Multimedia and Setup. The Game option brings you to a directory listing of what's on the card and also displays the internal name and icon of your Nintendo DS games (which can be toggled to display the normal file name if you desire). The Multimedia option is linked to the version of Moonshell you have installed and will basically load into it with a press of the touchscreen or a button. Lastly, the Setup screen presents you with a few options to enhance your gaming experience.

The first thing I did was browse to the folder with the v1.11 update in it, but it displayed no file. So I went back and read the readme file (I should know to read these things first!) and it said that the update file needed to be in the root of the MicroSD card and that the CycloDS Evolution would auto-detect the file along with it's version and ask you if you want to update if it's a newer version then what you currently have running. So I moved the file and sure enough on rebooting the CycloDS Evolution's OS asked me if I wanted to update. I picked yes and started the update, but as I wanted to test it's fail-safe update feature I turned the Nintendo DS off (even though it told me not to) and turned it back on. Low and behold the CycloDS Evolution still worked! If I were to do this with a ton of other flashcarts I would of been left with broken cart. So this time I let the update run it's course and restarted the Nintendo DS, but the thing still asked me to update! I guess the checking routine was a bit flanky, so I removed the file and got ready to test out the multimedia files I had copied over.

As I'm a homebrew fan I started with the ones I had copied over. Luckily, as advertised, the auto DLDI patching worked like a charm. Gone is the hassle of having to pre-patch your homebrew. This feature saves a lot of time. Here are my results of the homebrew titles I tested.

A Touch of War v0.9a The Real Time Strategy Game featured in Datel's collection worked great. No issues at all.

DSLinux w/Built in Links Web Browser Failed to load

DSMaster Plus This Sega Master System / Game Gear emulator loaded file, loaded ROM's file and worked great.

DSOrganize v2.7 Alpha 3 The uber organizer application that rivals your Palm Pilot worked without a hitch.

Lameboy DS v0.8 This Gameboy Mono/Color emulator loaded file, loaded ROM's file and worked great.

LemmingsDS v0.7 Alpha DLDI Edition This Lemmings remake failed to load.

nesDS (6/14/07) DLDI Edition This Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator loaded file, loaded ROM's file and worked great.

PicoDrive DS v0.17 This Sega Genesis/Megadrive emulator loaded file, loaded ROM's file and worked great.

PuzzleManiak A puzzle collection that features the ability to upload your rank via Wifi to a web server worked out fine.

R-Type Digital Space Failed to load

So, three out of ten homebrew titles had issues which isn't bad at all. I'm pretty sure the issues were homebrew specific and hopefully the DLDI patching can be updated to fix these problems. Overall I was impressed with it's functionality.

Next comes the backup testing. For download play I tested Mario Kart DS and Yoshi Touch n' Go. Both worked fine. I know there are other games out there that feature download play, but I basically wanted to test problem games that don't work on other solutions. After testing the download play I tested various other games and there were no issues such as sound problems, lagging video playback, white screens of death and saving issues. Of course, I can't verify the 100% compatibility as I'd have to be very rich and very insane to test every single game, but due to the fact the CycloDS Evolution borrows it's design from most of the other Slot 1 solutions (they all seem to work about the same) it would be safe to say it offers at least 99% compatibility.

One unique feature is the ability to auto-boot the last game you were playing. This saves time as you won't have to navigate through the menus to launch the game. To do this simply hold L+R when booting your Nintendo DS and the game will load. I tested this feature and it worked like a charm.

Now it's time to test the extra functionality included in the CycloDS Evolution which can be accessed be the Setup menu. The extra features are Enhanced Mode, Cheat Codes, LCD Brightness and Language. I skipped the Language option as I can't read anything, but English.

First I turned on the Enhanced mode that allows you to bring up an onscreen menu during your game to access these features: Adjust LCD Brightness, Toggle Slow-motion, Real Time Save and Load. The Brightness works fine on a Nintendo DS Lite, but can't be used on the older consoles. The Slow-motion works really well too and helps get you past parts in fast paced action games. Sadly, both the Real Time Save and Load options aren't implemented yet, but when they are will be really useful as you'll be able to save your game at any position which will come in very handy if you have to suddenly turn off your console.

If you're a cheater (I'm not) you can enable the Cheat Codes from the Setup menu. Once enabled when you go to start your game you have the option to select which codes (if any) you wish to use. The CycloDS Evolution comes with a cheat database for 300 some games, but you can add your own (somehow) in the future. One bonus is the fact that the cheat codes are in the same format as the very popular 3rd party Action Replay device so you won't have to worry about creating or converting your own codes as you can easily download them from various sites on the Internet including the very popular Game Software Codes Creator Club.

One neat feature is the ability to use your CycloDS Evolution to boot a device in Slot 2. Basically, accessing this option in the menu and selecting it will let your CycloDS Evolution act as a legacy PassMe device so you can boot your Slot 2 solutions (which allow GBA playback, of course) without having to take the CycloDS out and use a normal PassMe. It's a great feature and worked fine with various Slot 2 solutions including the M3 Perfect CF, SuperCard MicroSD, SuperCard CF and probably a lot more products.

Lastly, I tested out Moonshell which, like I mentioned above will let you listen to MP3's, watch videos, read ebooks and view pictures. I used the DGPTools to convert a few MPEG1 music videos over to the DGP format and they played back perfectly. DGP is the video format that Moonshell uses and the converter allows you to convert most popular formats including DIVX so you can watch them on your Nintendo DS in full screen with good quality sound.

Conclusion

Overall I'd have to say Team Cyclops CycloDS Evolution is the best Slot 1 solution one can currently find on the market today. I am claiming this due to it's enhanced features such as Slow Motion, Action Replay compatible cheats, automatic DLDI patching and of course it's ability to use SDHC cards allowing you to utilize up to 32GB of data on a single MicroSD card (although the highest capacity card I could find was 8GB). All of these features plus 99-100% compatibility with commercial backups including perfect download play support makes this my current product of choice for Nintendo DS users. I would highly recommend this product to anyone currently seeking a Slot 1 solution and will make sure to let anyone I know about this gem.

Negatives

CycloDS Evolution Made Out of Cheap Quality Plastics
No Ejection Mechanism in MicroSD Slots (USB Reader/CycloDS)
CycloDS Evolution Sticker is a bit Flimsly

Positives

100% Compatiblity
SDHC Support
Extra Features (Slowdown, Auto DLDI, AR Cheats)

Links

CycloDS Evolution Website
Official Reseller Links

-=[ CycloDS Evolution Review Discussion Thread ]=-

www.cyclopsds.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.