Flash carts have become a solid part of the retro gaming landscape these days. These wonderful devices allow easy access to thousands of titles all in one place and can be used to play pre-release prototypes, fan-translated titles, homebrews and other hacks on original hardware.
Once upon a time, there were only a few options on the market, but in the past decade or so, this has changed dramatically. Not only do we have flash carts for systems like the SNES and Game Boy, but we also have bolt-on options (such as the SD System 3) and Optical Drive Emulators (or ODEs) which perform the same trick, but with disc-based consoles.
Below are some of the recommended options, along with specs and comments.
NES / Famicom
EverDrive N8 Pro
- Cyclone IV FPGA
- Hard gold plating for cartridge contacts
- 16MB of ROM memory. 8MB for PRG and 8MB for CHR
- 256K of battery ram for saves
- Real time clock for logging date and time of saves
- High quality 6-layers PCB
- ARM based 32bit I/O co-processor for SD and USB operations acceleration
- Up to 1024 files per folder, or unlimited if file sorting disabled
- In-game menu. You can save game or return to system menu without physical reset
- Multi slot save states. 100 independent slots for save states
- Instant ROM loading
- USB port for development and system update without removing micro SD card
- Improved audio mixing circuit with op amp
- Dedicated button, which is used for swap FDS disk side or as alternate method to call Save State menu
- Built-in NSF player with expansion chips support (VRC6, VRC7, Sunsoft-5b, Namco-163)
- Battery voltage monitoring. Battery can be replaced in time if it going dry
- Ultra low battery ram consumption. Estimated battery life 25 years
- Wide range of supported mappers
- NES2.0 partial support
- Game Genie cheats support
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Sega Master System / Mark III
Master EverDrive X7
- Max ROM size: 4MByte
- Max SAVE RAM size: 32KByte
- Save States function and In-Game menu function
- Instant loading
- SMS and SG-1000 games are supported
- Low power consumption
- High-quality 4-layer PCB
- Hard gold plating for cartridge contacts
- Soft reset to menu
- Micro SD cards are supported
- OS supports up to 1000 files per folder
SNES
Super EverDrive X5
- Max. ROM size up to 7.5MByte
- Max. Save RAM size up to 128KByte
- Instant Loading
- SuperKey. This function eliminates region locks
- Improved EverDrive menu (compared to previous super-ed generations)
- MicroSD cards support up to 128GB
- GameGenie cheat codes
- Low power consumption
- High-quality 4-layer PCB
- Hard gold plating for cartridge contacts
- OS supports up to 1000 files per folder
- Supported with any SNES/SFC16 system
Super EverDrive X6
- Max. ROM size up to 7.5MByte
- Max. Save RAM size up to 128KByte
- Instant Loading
- SuperKey. This function eliminates region locks
- Improved EverDrive menu (compared to previous super-ed generations)
- MicroSD cards support up to 128GB*
- GameGenie cheat codes
- Low power consumption
- High-quality 4-layer PCB
- Hard gold plating for cartridge contacts
- OS supports up to 1000 files per folder
- Supported with any SNES/SFC16 system
Supported enhancement chips:
- DSP-1/1B
- DSP-2
- DSP-3
- DSP-4
FXPAK Pro / SD2SNES
This is the king of SNES flash carts, and offers 99.8% compatibility with the entire SNES / Super Famicom library. This is because, unlike its rivals, it is capable of supporting almost all of the 'enhancement chips' that were found in SNES titles.
- MicroSD/ support (tested up to 200GB; no exFAT support so Micro SD cards must be reformatted using FAT32)
- Fast ROM loading (~9MB/s)
- Fast menu navigation
- Hard gold plating for cartridge contacts
- Directories are sorted automatically, no need for FAT sorting tools
- High-resolution menu (512×224) for adequate display of long file names
- Real-Time Clock
- Supports ROM size up to 128MBit (96Mbit actually implemented)
- Automatic near-time SRAM saving to micro SD Card.
- Enhancement chip support (see below for implementation status)
- MSU-1 can be used in conjunction with all enhancement chips
- SuperCIC key (SNES CIC clone):
- -enables operation on unmodified consoles of all regions
- -supports software 50/60Hz switching on SuperCIC enhanced consoles only
- Auto region patching
- High-quality 4-layers PCB
SUPPORTED ENHANCEMENT CHIPS:
- BS-X memory map / Satellaview base unit registers (clock)
- DSP-1/1B
- DSP-2
- DSP-3
- DSP-4
- ST-010
- Cx4
- MSU-1
- S-RTC
- OBC-1
- GSU (Super FX)
- SA-1
- S-DD1
Atari Lynx
Lynx GameDrive
Atari Jaguar
Jaguar GameDrive
The only flash cart available for Atari's 64-bit monster, the GameDrive also allows you to boot CD titles.
Game Boy / Game Boy Color
EverDrive GB X3
- Max ROM size: 8MByte
- Max SAVE RAM size: 128KByte
- Instant loading
- Low power consumption
- High quality 4-layers PCB
- Hard gold plating for cartridge contacts
- GameGenie cheat codes
- Soft reset to menu
- Supported mappers: MBC1, MBC2, MBC3, MBC5
- Micro SD card support
- Compatible with all systems which supports GB and GBC cartridges, including Super Game Boy
- OS supports up to 1000 files per folder
- PCB Rev.B (Fixed compatibility problems with Game Boy pocket)
- Same as X5 but required reboot in menu to save game progress stored in SRAM (Like Mega-X3 or ED64-V2.5)
EverDrive GB X5
- Max ROM size: 8MByte
- Max SAVE RAM size: 128KByte
- Instant loading
- Low power consumption
- High-quality 4-layers PCB
- Hard gold plating for cartridge contacts
- GameGenie cheat codes
- Soft reset to menu
- Supported mappers: MBC1, MBC2, MBC3, MBC5
- Micro SD cards are supported.
- Compatible with all systems which supports GB and GBC cartridges, including Super Game Boy*
- OS supports up to 1000 files per folder
- PCB Rev.B (Fixed compatibility problems with Game Boy pocket)
- Same as X7 minus save states, in-game menu and RTC
EverDrive GB X7
- Max ROM size: 8MByte
- Max SAVE RAM size: 128KByte
- Save States function and In-Game menu function
- Isolated RTC function. "Isolated" means that multiple games can use RTC without interference. Each game will have own copy of time
- Instant loading
- Low power consumption
- High-quality 4-layers PCB
- Hard gold plating for cartridge contacts
- GameGenie cheat codes
- Soft reset to menu
- Supported mappers: MBC1, MBC2, MBC3, MBC5
- Micro SD cards are supported.
- Compatible with all systems which support GB and GBC cartridges (including Super Game Boy)
- OS supports up to 1000 files per folder
- Compatibility problems with Game Boy Pocket were fixed in Rev. B
Game Boy Advance
EverDrive GBA Mini
- All save types supported, no ROM patching required
- Fast Loading (most games load within 1 - 2 seconds)
- Hard gold plating for cartridge contacts
- 256Mbit PSRAM (32MByte) ROM memory
- 1Mbit SRAM (128KByte) save memory
- Real-time clock support
- Low power consumption
- FAT32 support
- Supported with GameCube player, some revisions of Super Retro Advance adapter and other GBA accessories
- NES, GB and GBC ROM formats are supported (emulation mode)
Game Gear
EverDrive GG X7
- Max ROM size: 4MByte
- Max SAVE RAM size: 32KByte
- Save States function and In-Game menu function
- Instant loading
- GG and SMS games are supported
- Low power consumption
- High quality 4-layers PCB
- Hard gold plating for cartridge contacts
- Soft reset to menu
- Micro SD cards are supported
- OS supports up to 1000 files per folder
Neo Geo Pocket / Neo Geo Pocket Color
NeoPocket GameDrive
Created by RetroHQ, the NeoPocket GameDrive cartridge works slightly differently from the other flash carts on the market. Rather than running the games direct from your SD card, it has 15MB of onboard FLASH memory, to which you can dump a selection of titles. You can then move these games back to the SD card to free up space, taking save data with them. Granted, it's not quite as elegant a process as using an EverDrive, but it's the only option available for the Neo Geo Pocket at the moment.
Neo Geo
Neo SD Pro (AES & MVS)
Terraonion's Neo Geo flash cart is available in both AES and MVS flavours and will be a godsend to those of you who want to play on original hardware but don't have bottomless pockets to purchase all of those insanely expensive physical games.
Note: Terraonion previously sold a standard Neo SD cart, which has since been discontinued. Also, the Pro model is currently out of stock.
Mega Drive / Genesis / Mega CD / 32X
Mega EverDrive X3
- Sega Genesis, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System, and 32X files supported
- 64mbit (8mbyte) PSRAM.
- 56mbit (7mbyte) max ROM size.
- FAT32 file system supported.
- Micro SD cards up to 32GB.
- Fast loading (2-4 sec).
- Built-in audio playback. GYM, TFC
- Regular game battery back-up saves.
- CD BIOS loading.
- Cheats feature. Game Genie and Play-Action Replay format supported.
Mega EverDrive X5
- 64mbit (8mbyte) PSRAM
- 56mbit (7mbyte) max ROM size
- 128Kbyte Battery RAM
- FAT32 file system supported
- microSD cards up to 32GB
- Fast loading (2-4 sec)
- Built in audio playback. GYM, TFC
- Regular game battery back-up saves
- Sega Genesis, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System, and 32X files supported
- Hardware MEGAKEY
- CD BIOS loading
- CD RAM cart feature
- Cheats feature. Game Genie and Play-Action Replay format supported
Mega EverDrive Pro
- Cyclone IV FPGA
- 16MB PSRAM and 1MB SRAM memory
- High-quality 6-layer PCB with hard gold surface finish
- Supported ROM formats: Genesis, 32X, Mega-CD, Master System, NES
- Ram cart for Mega-CD
- CD bios swap function turns off region locks for Mega-CD games
- Hardware MegaKey turns off region locks for Genesis games
- YM2413 core for Master System games
- SVP core support
- Pier Solar mapper support
- In-game menu. You can save game or return to system menu without a physical reset
- In-game menu supported for Genesis and Master System modes
- Full EEPROM saves support
- Real-time clock for logging date and time of saves
- ARM-based 32bit I/O co-processor for SD and USB operations acceleration
- Up to 1024 files per folder or unlimited if file sorting is disabled
- Multi-slot save states. 100 save states slots for each game
- Instant ROM loading
- USB port for development and system update without removing Micro SD card
- Battery voltage monitoring. Battery can be replaced in time if it runs dry
- Game Genie cheats support