Features of M3DS Real:

- 100% compatibility - works on any DS.
- Extremely simple to use. Just drag and drop files onto the memory card and insert into the M3DS Real. Standard FAT system.
- Supports the Micro SDHC specification, allowing for high capacity memory cards up to 32 GB at present.
- The M3DS Real supports running programs without any lag or slow down on any micro sd card, even lower-speed ones.
- Special features can be enabled while programs are running (eg. SlowMotion mode, etc.)
- Automatic save type detection eliminates the need to provide a save type database file.
- The M3DS Real writes all files permanently to the micro sd card. Power interruptions cause no save data loss.
- Excellent homebrew support. DLDI auto-patcher.
- Upgradeable system. Operating system has virtually no size limitations.
- Robust & skinnable GUI.
- Built in PassMe (No need to insert TF card, no need to use with any boot cart/passcard etc. Supports booting Slot1-NDS, Slot2-GBA, Slot2-NDS, etc.)
- DirectBoot: Supports direct booting of applications.
- Supports Slot-2 expansions cards. (Rumble, Ram, Browser memory, GBA expansion card, etc.)
- Includes a full touch screen & button control GUI.
- NDS-GBA Linkage works fine.
- The M3DS Real has some of the strongest media features:
  Built-in “Media-Ex” application + “Moonshell “ media player.
  i) Supports playing MP3, OGG music & DPG / DSM / GBM movies
  ii)Super E-book function, supports Word / Txt files directly.
  iii)Super picture viewer function, supports *.BMP, *.JPG, *.GIF, *.PNG files directly.
- Built in PDA (Worldwide Time, Memo, Note, Phone book, Calculator.)
- Multi-Language support, including French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, Thai, Japanese...
- Supports DS sleep mode.
- Brightness adjustment within GUI.

Official download website:
http://www.m3adapter.com/

Setting Up & Using

The main menu

One thing that I find nice is the ability to sort the ROMs by tapping the column label, for example tapping 'Name' lets you organize your ROMs by name, either ascending or descending (the same applies to the 'Size' column). Scrolling down the menu is quite fiddly, as the scrollbar is very small, but you can tap it anywhere above the 'moving block' to move up, and anywhere below it to move down, so it's not that bad. You can also scroll through 4 ROMs at a time by using the L or R button which has the same effect as tapping the scrollbar. To load a ROM you tap it, or highlight it with the D-pad and press A, which takes you to a menu screen where you can choose some loading options.

The file browser and the loading options menu

Firstly, there is a button saying 'Select File...' which allows you to choose which cheats database you want to use.
You can choose whether cheats are off, on, or be able to activate/deactivate them with a button combo (SELECT+LEFT = Enable, SELECT+RIGHT = Disable). Next you can choose what buttons to press for soft-reset, either L+R+B+A+X or L+R+B+A+Y. Personally, I prefer to press L+R+A+B+X+Y, but it's good that it's the user's choice. Soft-reset is one of my favourite features of any flashcart, so it's good that the M3DS Real implements it well. Thirdly, you can choose which buttons to press to enable slow-motion, either SELECT+L, SELECT+R or off. The last option lets you choose how slow the slow-motion is, ranging from Level 1 (Slow) to Level 5 (Slowest). Like with all other flashcarts that have slow-motion, the music isn't affected, however with the M3DS Real, slow-mo only seems to work when soft-reset is turned on, and even then it doesn't always work. Sometimes, the game just freezes when you press SELECT+L/R then starts again when you release the buttons... These settings are saved for individual games which is very handy.

At the top of this options screen there is another tab, which takes you the cheats menu. Here you can choose what cheats you want to use. To enable a cheat you tap it with the stylus, or highlight it with the D-pad and press A. Scrolling with the stylus is a bit fiddly as the scrollbar is very thin, but I found out that you can tap the actual scrollbar itself, not the buttons, which makes it easier. The game's game code is shown at the bottom (for example, Club House Games is 'ATDE'). If the name of a cheat is truncated, you can see the full name at the top of the screen. Once you have chosen which cheats you want, you click the 'Config' tab at the top which takes you back to the previous screen with all the options on, and saves which cheats you have enabled. From the 'config' tab you can launch the game normally, or press Y to launch it with download play (single-cart multiplayer) compatibility.

The GBA file browser and loading options menu

The second button on the main menu allows you to load GBA games placed in a folder called 'GBA' in the root of your MicroSD card. The file list is the same as in the 'NDS' loader, but this time there are no game icons; every GBA ROM has the same generic GBA icon (see pictures). When you tap the name of a ROM you get the same options screen, but with different options. This time you can choose the cheat database as always, but this differs slightly from using cheats with NDS games. You have to choose the cheat file for the individual games, they aren't automatically detected. This also means that there isn't a 'cheats' tab in the loader which confused me at first, so I loaded the GBA game and I found the menu. Once the GBA game has loaded onto the slot-2 expansion pack, a cheat menu appears in GBA mode. To turn cheats on and off, you use the D-pad to move up and down to highlight a cheat, then you press A to either enable or disable it. The menu is very easy to use, and there's even an option at the top to turn all cheats on or off. Some handy messages alternate on the bottom grey bar, telling you (among others) that SELECT disables all cheats, START loads the game, and B returns to the main menu (however, the B button doesn't actually seem to do anything except make the cheat menu reset).

The next option you have when you load a GBA game is whether to have RTS (real-time save) enabled or not. If you do, you press A+B+L+R in game to bring up a small menu in the same style as the GBA cheats menu. There are three options: to save the game, load a previously saved game, or restart the game. B resumes the game, and A lets you confirm your choice once you have highlighted it with the D-pad. Saving and loading both take a couple of seconds, and don't always work, but it's a nice feature to have for games that do work (but make sure you test it somewhere near the beginning of the game so you don't lose a lot of gameplay). If you look down in the 'Performance' section I've tested a selection of games, and the compatibility is pretty good. The one thing I wish this function would have is a 'Are you sure you want to save/load?' message, because all too often I have accidentally pressed the wrong option and overwritten my save file or lost all my progress by accidentally loading the old one. The last option you have on the GBA loader is what patching method to use. 'Fast Load' simply writes the ROM to the slot-2 cart, whereas 'Patch' lets you use cheats and save the game.

Finally, when you have chosen all your options (it remembers the options you used to last load that game, so it doesn't take long) you can press the start button to begin loading your GBA game onto the slot-2 expansion pack, from where it will be launched so you can play it.

The GBA cheats menu (launched once game has loaded) and the in-game RTS menu

It was at this point in the review that I realized my Ewin Expansion Pack had been in my DS throughout this entire GBA section, not the M3DS Real GBA Expansion Pack. So I opened them both up.

From the front, they look completely different, but if you turn the PCB of the Ewin Expansion Pack over, you can see that now they both looks remarkably similar. There are two large chips, both the same size and similar location, and one of them is Altera Max II. They are from different moulds, and are made from a different type of plastic, but it's interesting to see how they can be used interchangably.

Going back to the opening menu, to the third button. This lets you access a simple file browser. This is exactly the same as the NDS and GBA browsers, but again, only commercial ROMs have icons. The other files (GBA ROMs, homebrew etc) simply have generic icons, which I found odd, because most of the homebrew I have has an icon, it just doesn't show up in this loader.

The fourth button on the main menu is a PassMe/NoPass, but with a special feature: It lets you choose whether to boot the slot-2 cart in GBA or NDS mode, which is really useful in some situations. I only have two slot-2 carts to test it on: a SuperCard Lite and an EZ-Flash 3 in 1 Expansion Pack, both of which is launches in GBA mode and the SuperCard in NDS mode.

The built in NoPass and the Settings menu

The fifth button (first on the second row down) takes you to GBalpha's media player (it behaves like a modified version of MoonShell), which isn't bad. It plays DSM movies (converter included on the disc that comes with the M3DS Real), a memory card browser (from which you can't load NDS or GBA ROMs), a music player that plays MP3s slightly faster than my PC does, an eBook reader and a picture viewer. It's not bad, and it it's nice that a media player is included instead of just asking users to download Moonshell. You can get back to the main menu through the 'Settings' button, or by pressing Start.

The sixth button takes you to the TouchPod PDA software which I won't go into in much detail, but it has an NDS launcher (which takes you back to the main M3DS Real menu), a clock and calendar, a small scribble pad, a units converter (which is actually useful!), a calculator and a memo pad. It's quite fiddly to use, and it's a bit slow, but like the media player, it's nice that they include it instead of using third-party software like DSOrganize.

The built-in media player and PDA software (respectively)

The last button on the main M3DS Real Menu is the settings. There are 4 settings: One is called 'BootIcon' and the only option you can choose on the M3DS Real is 'NO'. On the G6DS Real, this option lets you choose whether the cart automatically skips the health and safety warning and goes straight into the menu, or if it appears in the DS's menu like a normal game would. The next setting lets you choose the skin (there are 5 included with the firmware, I prefer 2, the Vista-y one, the most). Unfortunately, the entire operating system of the M3DS Real is in a nasty generic serif font similar to Courier New which spoils the smooth appearance somewhat, I hope this is fixed soon. The next option is really useful, it lets you choose whether to go to the main menu or the NDS launcher when you boot the M3DS Real, and the last option lets you choose the language from English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Korean or Thai.

Overall, the firmware is full of features, most of them working, and it's generally user-friendly. The biggest annoyance in it is the lack of a 'Back' button, which spoils the stylus-only navigation. There is plenty of room for it in the title bar at the top of the screen on the right, so I hope they implement this...