The folks over at EZ-Flash have just released a brand new flash cart for the Nintendo DS called the Parallel. EZ-Flash has made a name for themselves making solid value flash carts for portable game consoles, such as the OMEGA for the Game Boy Advance and the Junior for the Game Boy/Color. These are a solid alternative to the Krikzz flash carts and have largely been proven quality devices.
Now, when you look at the flash cart market for the Nintendo DS, I would argue that there is one that always comes to mind. And that’s the R4 carts that have remained unchanged for many years now, with plenty of cheap knock offs available on Amazon and AliExpress. So, with a relatively stagnant DS flash cart market, does the Parallel bring anything new to the table?
The short answer is “not really”. The Parallel pretty much function like any R4 cart and actually uses a version of the WOOD kernel that many legacy carts also utilize. So I can already hear you asking, “well if it’s not any different than an R4 cart, is there anything special about it?”
My response to this is that there are a few unique things about this device that “may” make this a better purchase in the long run. First, the build quality and the looks of the Parallel is an improvement over many of the R4 carts that are currently available. The clear shell does feel a bit more sturdy and the way the micro SD card slot is oriented (on the side as opposed to the bottom like R4 carts) will prevent it from accidentally coming out and getting lost. Additionally, it has the backing of the EZ-Flash team which, in additional to offering a 1 year warranty on the device, are also maintaining their version of the WOOD kernel, so hopefully we can see some unique and regular updates to it moving forward. And lastly, the EZ Flash team have integrated a small FPGA chip onto the device. While at the moment it doesn’t do anything special, there is some headroom for potential new functionality in the future.
So then, who is this device for? EZ-Flash has certainly positioned the Parallel as the premium DS flash cart option. I’d say that if you don’t currently own a flash cart for the DS and have some expendable cash, than the Parallel may be worth picking up. However, if you want the cheapest option that simply works at loading DS games from a SD card, then getting a R4 card will do the trick just fine.
Check out the video for more details, and if you’re interested in picking up a Parallel for yourself you can save 10% at Retro Game Repair Shop by using the coupon code TITO at checkout.
LINKS (Affiliate):
- EZ-Flash Parallel: Purchase Here
