XGFlash 256M GBA flash cart

XGFlash 256M GBA flash cart

The main characteristics of the XGFlash carts:

• Flash memory size 256M for storing gba game roms
• 2M seperate SRAM Save Game memory for .sav files
• Directly support below files: *.txt / *.html / *.htm / *.bmp / *.dib / *.gif / *.jpg / *.wmf / *.emf / *.ico / *.cur etc.... (note: *.gif and *.cur can show the first frame only)
• Directly support PCE / GB / NES / SEGA GG and ZIP file format
• Can upload the cart game save data to PC or download the game save data from PC
• Full set include 1 pcs XG cart / 1 pcs XG USB Loader and 1 pcs USB extension cable.

More Detailed New XG2CMV0.7 installation manual

XG Flash Review
By Guyfawkes

The XG Flash is a device from XGFlash2.com which allows you to play your homegrown and commercial ROMs (backed up of course) on your GBA. It compromises of a Flash Cartridge (64M to 1G, currently only available upto 256M) which can be written to many times and a Linker which flashes the cartridge, this connects to the PC via a USB cable (USB v1.1 and v2.0 standards compatible) On the right is an image of the XG Flash Linker and Cartridge, the XG Flash is available in several different colors including Black, White and transparent. Ideal if you want to match the colour of your GBA!

XG Flash Linker with Flash Cartridge

XG Flash Box

The XG Flash comes packaged in a sturdy printed cardboard box with see through plastic on the front showing the Linker and Flash Cartridge. These are held securely in place with plastic holding the linker, cartridge and USB cable in place. Nicely packaged and it should hold up to the battering it gets when being delivered :) The first thing I noticed is how small the linker is. It is around 2.5" by 2.5" slightly larger than the width of a GBA cartridge! Compared to the Xtreme Linker for example which is very large the XG Flash is currently the smallest linker available.

Now onto the installation. I didn't receive any manual or guide on how to install the XG Flash, fortunately its easy to install but the first time buyer may have problems. You install the XG Flash as you would with a normal USB device, first install the drivers then connect the XG Linker to your PC, the hardware will be found and then you proceed with installing the drivers for it. Hardly rocket science but it would have been good to provide some kind of documentation on how to install for people unfamiliar with USB devices in general. As you may know GBAEmu is the official overseas support site for the XG Flash and I will be writing a guide on how to install and use the XG Flash so this is only a short term problem.

The supplied cartridge reading/writing software is named 'GB-A XG Flash Manager' (currently version 2.0). It has all the features you expect, read and write ROMs to the cartridge, read and write save games, format, erase and so on.

The software itself looks basic compared to Little Writer but its not, it does everything you need. By the way, Little Writer is fully compatible with the XG Flash due to it being a clone of the EZ Flash, this is great news as Little Writer is the best available software for writing your ROMs. Something not found in other standard writing software is that you can delete and add roms from the cart without having to flash the entire cart again, this is a great time saver!

There was one thing that Windows XP users should take note of, the current version 2.0 has a small problem where you cant fully see the status of the program at the bottom of the window (see above screenshot), this will be fixed in a future release but its something to take note of as this information you do need as it displays the writing process etc.

Compatibility with games is pretty much the same as the Flash Advance, as with the other makes of cartridges you will need to EEPROM save patch games that use this type of save method. I recommend using FAT which is a great tool that patches the majority of games that use EEPROM saving. Again, as its Little Writer compatible you don't need to worry about patching as the software does this for you if you decide to use this program.

The XG Flash Linker is powered by the USB power so you don't have to worry about using batteries or a power adaptor. This caused a lot of problems for devices such as the Flash Advance and Flash2Advance. This especially comes into play when writing ROMs to the cartridge as you should get fairly constant speed when doing so. A 64M ROM takes on average 95 seconds to write to the cartridge compared with an average of 131 seconds using a Flash Advance Linker with Xtreme Link v1.25 software. It is currently the fastest writing speed available.

Here is a roundup of the advantages and disadvantages of the XG Flash:

Advantages

- Matching linker and cartridges colours for your GBA.
- Small linker, doesn't take up alot of desktop space, small enough to fit in your GBA case.
- Supplied software is very good, also fully compatible with Little Writer.
- Upgradeable software making it more futureproof.
- Two official support forums, one on the homepage and one at GBAEmu