How EZ is the EZ-Flash IV? (GBA microSD flashcart)

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MN12BIRD

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Published on December 7, 2020 3:30:02 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRyuNitjcpw

Duration: 18:48

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What can I say about the EZ-Flash IV? Well, it's a microSD based flashcart for the GBA that came out around 2015. The product was developed in China and is basically an Everdrive clone. The cartridge appears to be well made and contains both RAM, NOR Flash (similar to EEPROM?) and battery backed-up SRAM. The product has gone though several firmware upgrades over the years that seemed to have improved usability. I upgraded to version 2.05 and this allows GBA ROM's to be patched in real-time rather than being required to be patched before coping to the SD card. Technically GB and GBC games can be played BUT they require Goomba to be patched into the ROM files ahead of time even with the latest firmware.

This device is very slow with larger GBA games taking up to a minute to patch and run from RAM and several minutes or more to flash into NOR. Once a game is flashed into NOR it can be run instantly even after a power cycle. I've also found the interface to be glitchy and don't care for the "GUI" as they've gone for a highly stylized "fake OS" look rather than a simple text interface. The "GUI" can be changed including custom backgrounds if you want to figure that out. The official Chinese website admits that their own patching software (that was required for GBA games pre firmware 2.x) is buggy and also that their english translation isn't great. The instructions aren't the greatest. Anyone looking for more information is best to find forums or other videos on YouTube rather than going to the official website.

With all that said the thing does work and seems to work fine. Most GBA games I've tried have worked and I assume most of the ones that didn't are bad ROM's on my part. The simple fact is it does work and once you get the firmware updated and understand the basics it works fairly well. This guy will cost you half, or even less than half, the price of an Everdrive for the GBA. The modern Everdrive is faster, easier to use, has an RTC for games that use it, in game save states too. Oh and has better support of course. I think for many it would be worth spending the extra on a real Everdrive. But if you just want to play a few GBA games this thing will do.

This device was given to me by a co-worker as a thanks for modding his GBA and GBC with IPS screens. He purchased the screens (and shell etc) along with this EZ-Flash directly from China and waited 2 months for arrival. The cost (from what I can tell) was apx $40 USD but can be found on websites like Amazon for apx $50 with faster shipping if you want one of these but don't want to wait.