*Click to enlarge* A new review for a new Everdrive! Hello Pals, some of you may already know that a new flashcart for Nintendo 64 has come over to compete against Neoflash’s, not only in terms of price but also with interesting pros and few cons, so just go ahead and read the review! Introduction The Everdirve 64 is a cart that will allow you play the Nintendo 64 roms that you play in the emulators, in the very console as if it was the original game. You can even save the game in the SD and so you do not lose your progress in the games that require battery, it also allows you to play NES emulated games in the Nintendo 64 console. About the reviewer [FONT="]My nickname is usually Aleomark, in some webpages of CR I am also known as Sousuke, but internationally and officially I prefer Aleomark, and I want to add in this section that I have already done several reviews in the past, both in English and in Spanish, about flashcarts for different companies and retro scene accessories, so you can take for sure that in my analysis you will find a broad perspective about comparison and, most importantly, neutrality when it comes to analyzing and writing my reviews, I thank those who sponsored my reviews sending me samples, but when doing the analysis I am as objective as possible, so that you, the readers, can make sure you are reading a good review which you may use to base a decision of acquiring the product.[/FONT] In short, what is the Everdrive 64? The Everdrive 64 is the all in one solution, it has the appearance of an official cartridge in which you can insert a SD with the N64 roms that you use in emulators in order to play them in the console as if it was the original game. Thus, you can play the roms, currently available in the internet, of the games that you always wanted but you could not get them because they weren’t sold in your region or canceled (ex: 40 winks), or even modified or translated roms. How does the Everdrive 64 look like? This time you can buy it with or without case in almost all available stores, basically, the Everdrive 64 is a PCB with multiple chips and a slot for a SD. When buying it, you have to choose the correct CIC type corresponding to your region: CIC-6102 for NTSC systems and CIC-7101 for PAL systems, or you can buy it without CIC and weld the CIC yourself. In my case, when I received mine (a final version used as a prototype), I got it as it is shown in the pictures, ready to use, just requiring a cover and a SD with all the necessary files and games. *Click to enlarge* As you can notice, when opening the case you see a couple of parts made of aluminum and one made of plastic to make the PCB more stable once it is placed within the case. You just have to place the SD, previously loaded with all the roms and files required (OS64. V64 and emu.nes in the ED64 file that should be found in the root of the SD) (LINK FOR FILES). *Click to enlarge* You can also create your own label for the case or you can download one from the official forum; for example, I did this one myself: *Click to enlarge* I print it in adhesive glossy paper and watch the final result: *Click to enlarge* *There are resellers that sell the cart with case and label but the price is more expensive. *You can use rs-mmc to avoid the SD-slot in the case, but take into account that it would bound the use of the SD for the Everdrive solely because if you want to use it for other purposes, you will have to open the cart again. What does the product include? What you get is the flashcart Everdrive 64 and that is it, but for playing you only need the cart and an SD anyway. In regards of the case, it is optional, but it’s important for protecting the PCB, your console won’t explode if the Everdrive 64 doesn’t have a case. Written instruction manual not included- a common issue with this kind of devices, no matter the company. Manufacturer Specifications -64Mbyte (512mbit) SDRAM for ROM data (max size 64Mbyte). -It plays SD, SDHC, MMC cards. -It plays FAT16/FAT32. Limitless partition for fat32. -Transfering from SD to SDRAM (4.5 - 5 Mbyte/s speed). -Emulation possibility. -It plays gamepack saves (SRAM, SRAM128Kbyte, EEPROM16k, EEPROM4k). -free region, it plays PAL roms in NTSC systems and vice versa. -CIC boot emulator with cic6102/7101, enough to play all the games and not take extra cartridges or PC software. -It plays byteswoped and no byteswoped ROMs. -USB port 800k - 1Mbyte/s (optional) Updates and support There's new firmware version 1.12, needed to add flashram games compatibility, the OS version is 1.02, both are very stable although it’s possible for new OS version to come out in the future to enable the playing of FRAM roms and to fix roms reported as not working. The OS updating is a simple thing to do, just copy the file of the new OS in the ED64 folder in the root of the SD and that’s all! Regarding the firmware, there is no notice of updates, but if eventually you need to update it and there is a new version available, you’ll need a JTAG cable and an interpreter suite. Menu The menu is simple and nice, it’s just white letters on a blue background, yellow folders and the roms are shown in white color too. In my case, I have all the games classified alphabetically. *Click to enlarge* Before loading a game, you can change the saving type that you are going to use in case the system does not recognize it automatically. Furthermore, at the bottom you can see the region that the rom you have marked belongs to. Once you load the game, you will see a remaining bytes countdown, in this point Krikzz’s work remarks itself because all the games are loaded pretty fast (aren’t they Neo Myth64!?). It’s really cool that the games load fastly, you don’t waste your time watching the “loading” in the screen for a cartridge system not used to spend so much time loading games. *Click to enlarge* Compatibility The compatibility for this cart is very high, now it's 99%, by now the only games you cannot play are: Jet Force and Banjo Tooie cause they are roms with extra security verifications likely to produce playing problems unless you find hacked roms of that two games, also FRAM saving games don’t have the codes implemented yet, but it’s expected that new OS updates could solve this situation there's the new update by firmware update to add flashram games compatibility. In addition, all NES games tested with the emulator have worked perfectly so far. Some tested games screenshots: *Click to enlarge* Here is the list of games tested by EOL’s forum users:
Snowboard Kids PAL and Extreme-G PAL do not boot with the latest firmware and OS on both 6102 and 7101 ED64's. Well, they may actually boot like once in 10 or 20 attempts. This has been confirmed by several people. NTSC counterparts of these games boot fine.
