4 Things you must do before buying an R4DS
The Nintendo DS is currently one of the best selling handhelds in modern gaming currently with 2 variations selling over 100 million units worldwide when all combined. The latest variation, which is the Nintendo DSi, has seen success right from its launch breaking record sales in the UK. Although the DSi is highly praised with the new features that the original DS and DS Lite lack, people are still coming up with good reasons to look for a 3rd party device that would unlock the DSi to its full potential.
The DSi is being viewed by DS enthusiasts as “more than a handheld gaming device”. It physically has the potential to store multimedia files and play them and the only thing that is missing is special software that Nintendo fails to include. It also lacks the ability to play any homebrew games that are developed by fans and indie developers.
Doing a simple search for a solution to this problem reveals plenty of results regarding this certain “R4DS” device that is supposed used to enhance the Nintendo DS and recently DSi’s capabilities. With people praising the R4DS, this could be the device that solves your problems. But before buying the R4, consider these 4 things first.
1. Understand what the R4DS Does and what you Need
Because of its complicated past, it is very difficult to get any decent information on the R4DS. The R4 is a cartridge with an SD slot that enables homebrew games and applications to be played. It also comes with useful 3rd party applications that turn the DS or DSi into a more “PDA-like” device capable of reading many formats including audio and video. All of this is accomplished without modifying any of the DS or DSi’s internal components.
For this to be of any use to you, you should have homebrew games or applications that you are want to run. You can find these homebrew titles just by searching online or visiting the different communities and forums detected to DS homebrew. If the R4DS that you are getting doesn’t come with an SD or SDHC card, be sure to get one of those too as it is needed to play homebrew games or play any files on demand. If are going to stick with playing the original retail games and not using the DSi for anything else, the R4 isn’t worth the purchase.
2. Get the Right Version for your Console
If you’ve got a Nintendo DSi then you will need a different version of the R4 to the one you would use with a DS or DS Lite. If you have a DSi, make sure you are buying an “R4i”. The R4i box looks very similar to the standard version but by the white “R4” characters (on the bottom half of the front of the box), there is a small “i” in a white circle. The standard R4 as well as the R4i are both compatible with the original DS and DS Lite so it doesn’t matter which version you buy.
3. Watch out for Fakes
Once you start looking for places to buy the R4, you will be overwhelmed with results and stores selling R4s that are claimed to be genuine. Claims of genuine R4DS units should be taken with a pinch of salt because of the split of the original R4 team in 2008 that resulted to former team members creating their own version of the R4 each varying in quality. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy a “genuine R4”, you should just check that customers are happy with the quality of the R4DS units being sold by a particular retailer.
Also ignore R4DS units that have other names associated to it like “V3” or “Version 3”. Even labels like “R6”, “E7”, and other short codes give hints that it is a fake or poorly made clone. It’s not easy to know what a genuine R4 DS is but follow the advice here and you can at least improve your chances of getting a good quality R4.
Look out for fake R4DS cards
4. Don’t get ripped off
Don’t get ripped off with a cheap, low quality R4 DS which fails to work. Simply have a look at our R4 DS Customer Satisfaction Comparison before making a purchase.
As long as you have checked each of the 4 things off, you can buy an R4 with confidence. Your reward for taking your time to purchase with care will be enjoying the best experience from your DS or DSi.
