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Micro NinjaDS Review
NOTE: Support for the Micro NinjaDS from the makers has seemed to be dropped with no updates in many months. This will result in newer games possibly not working. Our advice is to buy a better supported cart such as the R4 or CycloDS Evolution. You can find reviews for them at their respective links.
The Micro NinjaDS features:
- Just Plug & Play!!
- Micro SD based DS size Slot 1 cartridge supporting up to 4GB cards.
- Run clean ROMs/Homebrew, needs no PC pre-patching.
- No need to modify your Nintendo DS Firmware.
- No need to use Passme/Passcard/etc.
- SAVEGAME auto detection. Drag & Drop and Play.
- MULTISAVE. Use up to 10 savegame slots (i.e. 10 Nintendogs saves). Enjoy and Share your DS and Micro NinjaDS with Families and all your Friends keeping your saves safe.
-MULTIBOOT. Boots up to 10 ROM’s directly using Key Combos without the need to enter the Microninja's Menu.
- No need for special File systems or add system files or List.
- MP3/WAV/S3/XM/JPG/BMP/GIF/PCX Player and Viewer.
- FTP WIFI Server & NinjaME (direct .NDS Files Wifi Booter).
- Easy and Intuitive Menu, Customizable Skins, Personal Avatar, Analogue Clock, MultiRom Booting, Motion, languages.
- 2 Mbytes Bios Flashrom.
- Compatible with M3, Supercard, Opera, Rumble Kit.
- 2 Versions: Blue Steel (Metal) & Red Ninja (Plastic).
Packaging and Contents
A manual is not included with the package but one can be downloaded shortly from the homepage. A manual is not really needed as everything is fairly straightforward and this review covers all of the features, but if you have any problems the manual should help.
The Micro NinjaDS Cartridge
I am reviewing the Blue Steel version of the Micro NinjaDS which has a very cool metallic case. As you can see, both the front and back of the cartridge are metallic with the NinjaDS logo on the front.
On the top left of the front side is the Micro SD card slot which when one is inserted, sits flush with the cartridge, one point to note is that the Micro SD slot does not have a spring loaded mechanism, this isn’t a major issue as the SD card is firmly held in place and won’t fall out easily.
The physical size of the cartridge is nearly the same as a standard DS cartridge; it is ever so slightly longer in length, around 1mm. When inserted into the DS is doesn’t make any noticeable difference in regards to the cartridge sticking out due to its slightly larger size.
The build quality looks and feels great, unlike the MK-4 slot 1 device we reviewed late last year where the cartridge was cheap looking plastic like it was rushed to put together, this looks very professional and the metallic casing adds that extra touch of class.
 Micro NinjaDS Front |  Front View of Original DS Cart - Micro NinjaDS - MK-4 Mini |
 Micro NinjaDS Back |  Back View of Original DS Cart - Micro NinjaDS - MK-4 Mini |
Click for larger images
Setting up the Micro NinjaDS
As mentioned earlier in the review, no PC side software is required to use the Micro NinjaDS, all that is required is a compatible Micro SD card reader for your PC in order to transfer the files to the Micro SD Card. The first thing you will need to do is format your card for use with the Micro NinjaDS, it supports both FAT16 and FAT32 but FAT16 is better supported at the moment so I would suggest using that.
Your card is now ready to be used with the NinjaDS, so you can now drag and drop your files to the card with your file manager software such as Windows Explorer. I will talk about compatible files further on in the review.
Upon inserting the Micro SD card into the Micro NinjaDS and then inserting the cartridge into the DS you can now switch it on. If you chose the Manual Boot from the DS Menu, upon booting up you will see the familiar DS Menu with the Micro NinjaDS cartridge listed in the DS slot, simply press the button or touch the icon to boot the cartridge as you normally would. If you have chosen Automatic boot, the DS menu will skip as normal and boot straight to the Micro NinjaDS launcher.
A tour of the Micro NinjaDS Menus
Upon booting up the Micro NinjaDS you are presented with the NinjaDS logo on the top screen and on the bottom touch screen is the Main Menu. The menu software can be controlled with either the DS Joypad and buttons or the touch screen with your finger or stylus.
Top Screen View | Bottom Screen View |
From top to bottom of the screen you can see in the top right corner a customisable avatar (the E for Emuboards logo), central left of the screen are the three main menu options; Launcher, Media and Wifi, central right; an analogue clock and in the bottom right corner a GBA cartridge boot icon and a Micro SD card speed setting. I will talk about each of these items further on in the review.
The Launcher
The Launcher allows you to run your DS software, both commercial clean ROMs and homebrew ROMs are supported in the standard .NDS format. The Micro NinjaDS fully supports libfat and DLDI (Dynamically Linked Device Interface) for homebrew software which is a new filesystem that allows greater compatibility between the many various DS cartridges. DLDI is a fairly new system so not all homebrew software supports it but developers are supporting this in new releases and many are updating older software when possible to support it.
The Launcher lists the .NDS files and any folders found in the current directory, you can fully navigate between the entries using the DS Joypad and buttons or the touchscreen. If you move the pointer over a ROM you can take advantage of a feature called Multisave, this allows you to change the save slot to any of the available ten by pressing the Left and Right shoulder buttons, the file names are named game.sav, game.sa1, game sa2 ... game.sa9. This is a great feature if you have a game that only allows one save position and your friends want to play without affecting your own save.
When you first load a game, the Launcher will automatically create a save file on your Micro SD card, this process takes a couple of seconds. Future running of the game doesn’t require this and the game will load straight away.
Top Screen of Launcher | Automatically creating a save file |
Media
It is almost standard for flashcart makers to say they have media support, nine times out of ten it is because the homebrew software Moonshell can run on their cart and they actually have no propriety software. The Micro NinjaDS has its own custom made built in Media player software which allows you to view images in .JPG, .BMP, .GIF and .PCX, and music in .MP3, .WAV, .S3 and .XM formats. Moonshell is of course supported but the included Media sofware is a nice addition.
The Image Viewer
The included viewer allows you to navigate your Micro SD card for supported images and view them. The viewer uses both DS screens to display the image and if it is larger you can use the stylus or D-Pad to scroll around the image. You can also zoom in and out of the image to get the optimal size to display on the screen. There were some minor problems some .JPG files where they wouldn’t display properly, other than that I did not have any problems and it works fine.
Music Player
As with the Image Viewer you can navigate your Micro SD card for supported music formats (.MP3, .WAV, .S3 and .XM) to play on your DS. The top DS screen is used to display files and folders and the bottom screen to display the information on the current song being played. There are also touchable buttons to Pause/Play, Previous and Next Song.
Music Player Top Screen | Music Player Bottom Screen |
If you close the DS lid the software will go into ‘travel mode’ which when headphones are connected can be used to continue listening to your music. In this mode you can use the Left and Right shoulder buttons to play the Previous and Next song in the folder. While the Media player is not as advanced as others it is good enough to use for day to day use but you can always use Moonshell if you require more advanced features.
WiFi
There are two ways of sending files to your SD Card. The first is to upload any files such ROMS, MP3 or images to your SD Card via FTP, the second is to receive and execute small .NDS files to your DS and run them, much like the WiFiMe program. Unfortunately I cannot test these features as my router is 802.11g WPA and the DS doesnt support this (damn Nintendo), I could change my router settings but I had problems in the past getting it to work correctly and had more problems getting the original configuration working.
Remaining Menu Items
Custom Avatar – The Menu software allows you to display your own avatar for some personalisation. You can do this by adding a 32x32 256 colour avatar.pcx file in the /NINJADS/BACKGROUND/ folder of your Micro SD card.
GBA Icon – Touching this icon allows you to boot the GBA cartridge if one is inserted into the DS. It is very useful if you have a Slot 2 cartridge and want to continue using it as the Micro NinjaDS also acts as a Passme device.
SD Speed Icon – Touching this icon will change the setting of the Micro SD reading speed between from 1, 2 and 3 (slower to faster). By default the speed is on 2, 3 is a little faster but I didn’t experience any problems leaving it on the default speed.
There is one bug I noticed that can affect the loading of software, I am not 100% sure of the cause but it seems if there is more than one screen of ROMs it will sometimes load a different ROM than the one you chose. The developers are aware of the problem and it should be fixed in the next firmware update.
Other features
Customisable Boot Options – If you have some favourite software that you regularly use you can choose to add them to the XML configuration file found in the /NINJADS/ folder on your SD card. By holding a button on the DS when switching it on you can boot straight to your favourite software. For example, the following entry in the configuration will automatically run moonshell.nds when the Right shoulder button is held while switching the DS on:
<keyR name="/moonshell.nds"/>
You can also boot straight to the GBA Cartridge by using ‘/PASSME’ which is a useful setting if you regularly use your GBA Cartridge.
Recovery Mode – If you happen to have a firmware flash accident (i.e. a power cut) you can enter a recovery mode by holding the Left and Right shoulder buttons while switching on or booting the Micro NinjaDS. A recovery menu will appear and you will be able to reflash the Micro NinjaDS. This means it should be very hard to ‘brick’ your cartridge.
Skinnable Menu - The Micro NinjaDS GUI can be skinned and customised to your preference. The images should be in JPG format and named MenuUp.jpg, MenuDown.jpg, PlayerUp.jpg, PlayerDown.jpg, ExplorerUp.jpg & ExplorerDown.jpg. You can also edit the config file to choose wether or not to display the clock, enable/disable button animations and more. I havent personally tried making my own skin as I have zero graphics skills but it shouldnt be too hard if you have any
There are some skins made by other NinjaDS owners which can be downloaded from the homepages forums.Performance
ROM Compatibility
I have tested a handful of random games and a couple that are known to have issues when first released due to new save versions which are usually the cause of white screens.
42 All Time Classics – Works
Advance Wars: Dual Strike – Works
Animal Crossing - Works
Big Brain Academy – Works
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Works
Elite Beat Agents – Works but can randomly crash sometimes
Final Fantasy III – Works
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - Works
Magnetica - Works
Mario Kart DS – Works
Micro Machines v4 – Works
New Super Mario Bros – Works
Point Blank – Works
Super Mario 64 DS- Works
Tetris DS – Working but displays save corrupt messages resulting in freezing. A second reload of the game and it works fine.
Ultimate Spiderman – Crashes (works in the new unreleased firmware due out shortly)
For a full compatibility list created by owners of the NinjaDS please visit http://wiki.scorpei....patibility_list.
One additional note I should point out is that software will not load if the ROM file is found to be fragmented; you can fix this either by running chkdsk or by formatting your card and copying the files back to it. The reason for this is to ensure that the game data is read as smoothly as possible as fragmented files can slow down the accessing and read time.
Homebrew Compatibility
Basically any homebrew software that needs to access the SD card and isn’t either libfat or DLDI compatible won’t work. Thankfully DLDI is starting to be used in more and more software as it is a great filesystem that will work on a variety of carts as proven by Moonshell which supports just about every flash cart.
On the NinjaDS homepage there is a good selection of homebrew that either works or has been recompiled to work on the NinjaDS; these include DS Doom, Hexen DS, Picodrive DS, ScummVM DS, SNEmulDS and more. There are also other software compiled to run on the homepages forums. As said, the old way of accessing SD cards was generally very messy, so once DLDI is more established there shouldn’t be any problems playing new releases. As an example of the great compatibility already found, I downloaded the Drunken Coders Competition pack and out of the 18 or so DS entries all of them worked.
Compatibility with Slot 2 carts
While I don’t have them all to test, the Micro NinjaDS is compatible with M3, SuperCard, Opera and the Motion Cartridge and more. In past experiences I have found most Slot 2 carts to work providing they don’t need any specialised data read from a Slot 1 device such as the Neo2 and MK4.
Firmware Upgrading
The Micro NinjaDS is very easy to update, this is performed by entering the Ninja Recovery Mode which is done by holding the Left and Right shoulder buttons when booting the Micro NinjaDS. When you have downloaded the firmware update from the homepage, you copy the update.bin to your SD Card and enter the Ninja Recovery Mode as described above. As always make sure you are connected to a power supply in case of your battery dying! When you are happy to update the firmware simply press the A button to begin.
The process takes approximately twenty seconds and the screen keeps you updated as to what's happening, when it is complete you are prompted to press a button to boot to the Micro NinjaDS menu. If by some chance your firmware update fails you can still load the Ninja Recovery Mode and flash the update again. I updated the firmware to a newer beta version and didnt have any problems at all.
To finish off, here is a video from the developers of the Micro NinjaDS which shows their cartridge in action.
Conclusion
The build quality of the Micro NinjaDS is the first thing I want to praise, with its metallic casing it feels strong and even looks better than the official DS cartridges. Ease of use is an important issue and the Micro NinjaDS passes with flying colours, simply drag and drop your ROM’s onto the SD card and you are ready to go, there is no need for prepatching or having to set compatibility settings! The menus have a good default design which are easy to navigate and use, and takes advantage of both DS screens when necessary. The added extras such as skinnable menus, multisaves, multiboot, booting a Slot 2 cartridge and firmware recovery are all great and all work as they should do. Full marks for everything here!
The claim of 99.9% ROM compatibility is a little high, there are a very small number of commercial games that do not work. For this review I am using a newer 1.04 beta firmware than it is shipped with and most of the unworking games are fixed, a new public release is expected soon which I have been told will fix the remaining issues. Homebrew compatibility is very good and as DLDI is already supported it can only improve as developers use this file system.
The recommended price is fairly good, it is 50 Euros (around £32/$62 at current exchange rates), you will need to purchase a Micro SD card which depending on the size can cost anything from £5 (for a 512MB) upwards. So in total you would be spending at around at least £40 which I think is pretty good.
Like with all flash cartridges it is important that developers continue supporting their hardware with firmware updates when needed, providing they do this I can see a great future for the Micro NinjaDS! I can’t really find any fault with the Micro NinjaDS, it does exactly what it is supposed to do and does it very well. I highly recommend this if you are looking for a Slot 1 DS cartridge.
Final Score: 9.5 out of 10.
Homepage: http://www.ninjads.com/
Forums: http://www.ninjads.c...hpBB2/index.php
References Used:
DLDI Homepage - http://chishm.drunke...DLDI/index.html
NinjaDS Compatibility List - http://wiki.scorpei....patibility_list
Drunken Coders - http://www.drunkencoders.com/
This review may not be copied and pasted elsewhere without prior permission, please link to this review instead.
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