Gaming consoles are among the world’s highest selling gadgets. The first gaming console came out in the year 1972 and the perhaps the world was never the same. Nintendo is among the worlds leading game console manufacturers. It has been entertaining gamers since 1977. Originally these consoles were not designed for portability. But due the demand of the times portable game consoles came into being. One great example is the Nintendo DS, launched in 2004.
In order to gain portability, the DS had to be designed much lighter than regular consoles. Therefore it has no in built storage device. Therefore in order to save content on the device, external storage devices popularly known as flashcarts or flashcards have to be inserted in the device. There are specific slots in the device for such cards.
There are various types of storage cards, each with unique set of features.
There are different cards for different models of the DS device. Among the most popular cards is the R4 card. This card has been hugely popular among Nintendo DS users. There are different models of R4 cards for different models of the Nintendo DS- the original DS model, the DS Lite model, the DSi model, the DSi XL model and the latest Nintendo 3DS.
The original R4 DS cards are compatible with the original DS and DS Lite models. They will not work with other models such as -Dsi, Dsi XL and 3DS. For the Dsi and DSi XL consoles you have the R4i card. They can be used with the DS and DS Lite, but it is not recommended. For the latest Nintendo 3DS model you have the R4 3DS card. This card can run on all other models of the Nintendo but it is better not use this card with them.
With a good number of R4 cards available on the market now, you need to ask yourself “which one do I need?” All R4 cards look almost the same but their ability to work with particular consoles vary. The most important fact about buying a R4 card is that it cannot work on its own. The R4 card needs a suitable micro SD memory card for use as this is where the operational files are stored for it to function. No version of the R4 card, be it the R4ior anything else, can work without a memory card. The more the storage capacity of memory card, the more data can be stored any time without having to delete previously stored data. For normal users, 2GB memory card is quite sufficient but for the more hard core users a 4GB or 8GB micro SD card is much more suitable.
If you want a preconfigured R4 cards, with the updated software already on the memory card, then you will have to purchase a R4 card together with a memory card as otherwise there will be nothing to insert the software on. If a R4 card is purchased without a memory, you will need to download and apply the latest software for your card.
Source by Shane R Gooch
