M3 DS Real Sakura Firmware - 9/10
Well, as i am one to post here on cards i have tried and being brutally honest... I know i really should be writing full reviews and really would like to, well maybe i will who knows. But for now the focus is on the M3 Sakura software for the M3DS Real card...
What is it? Simply a new and advanced software/firmware written for the a card called the Sakura (M3). It is in japanese release only for now but the firmware works on the M3 with a translated version available for download with a quick google. It is in my eyes the standard to which all other firmwares need to work up to, as it does everything on its own from playing games, running homebrew, as well as music and movies better than any card to date!
After trying many cards, the M3DS Real was my first... and no matter what you get for a first card, it leaves an impression... At first i would have recommended it to everyone and their brothers, it seemed so awesome! But then you decide to try another card, and begin to see why there are so many cards in the first place. They are all different, and have their share of pluses and minuses. But it all tends to boil down to one factor, and that is the sofware. Where i had listed the M3 as garbage compared to others out there, the Sakura software has now made it a top contender second only to the Cyclo DS... and that is ONLY if you want or need the real time save feature, which is nice, but for me takes a backseat to the M3 now.
Granted the Sakura is a hacked version to get to run in english, it is superior to anything going now on the market. So what makes it better? For starters it is faster than anything seen on the M3 before, intuitive, and oh so easy (a dream) to use. a touch screen interface that works and works well! A media player that is the best i have ever seen thus far of any card. DPG movies play beautifully!
Simply install it on your card like any other software, which means drag and drop the system folder to your microSD and create folders for whatever you wish to have on there... Load up those folders and turn it on! what you get is different than other cards, gone from the old M3DS Real firmware is the 7 button interface which was not so hot. Gone are the 3 button interfaces of the old R4 and Cyclo interfaces... What you DO get at first startup are your folders, and the system folder... Simply click on a folder and you are presented with what is in there with the icons and titles of the files. Simply double click something, or slide it to the side (very neat) and it loads and does so quickly! It remembers the games you played, and when next you turn it on, it presents you with a list of last used programs so you can quickly get back into it, or tap the tab at the top and go back to the list of files on the card. Gone also is the need to press a button to enter multi player mode. Now just do it and it works! I have to say much impresses me with the new setup, but everything tends to have some sort of drawback here or there, how does it stack up here?
Well, as i said this is a hacked version of the software to run in english language, and the original version is not complete. But do not let that deter you from trying/using it as it is to me the new standard in how things could and should be for any slot 1 device! The cheat codes should you be one inclined to use them are there. There is a soft reset which is not implemented as of yet, sad not to have it, but it is only temporary. Skins, though there is support for skinning, it is vastly different from what we know and are used to. No more images of whatever (cars/games/whatever) and the normal button scheme below. This uses images as more of a background, so things are pretty, but more subdued. Now i have not tried making a skin to see what might be possible with the images and how they may look, but i think something too busy would only serve as a distraction to what you are trying to see listed on the screen. However a good handfull of skins have been made already and were included in the version of Sakura i am using, and they are nice to me! Yeah some of the skins maybe missed, moreso by my kids i suppose, but one must face the facts of what you are gaining versus what 'may' be lost as we dont know what skinning will hold in the future. Personally i would rather get to what i turned the DS on for than to stare at a skin i have seen a zillion times already.
The only real concern i have is how tight the M3DS Real card itself fits in my DS, and it is better than the other one i have which is extremely tight! Granted i have first gen M3's out of the first batch made, one can only hope that is something they addressed in later batches. Though i will find out as i plan to get 2 more at least! All thanks to a revolution in software!
As for a rating, I love it! plain and simple. It is not complete or even an offical release to be used on english cards. It works and when they do put it out, and iron out any kinks they may currently have (other than the soft reset there are none really to notice other than some rougher translation issues on some of the skins), it will be the best on the software front of any slot 1 card on the market! So while in the market to buy a card, do not look past the M3DS Real now.
I only am going to give it a 9 as it is not the complete version that is coming. But unless they change everything about it, it will be a 10 in my book!
If you already own an M3, it is well worth giving a shot!
Submitted by Darminator
02/07/2008
106
0
Join MyDS to vote for your favourite story!
More Info:
MyDS Miscellaneous
Other Reviews:
Related News:
Related Videos:
Related Guides: