Flash Cart Review Central: KRIKzz EverDrive 64 Nintendo 64 Flash Cart Review

Flash Cart Review Central review of the...

Manufactured by:

Review sample supplied by: KRIKzz

By The Technologist - 17th December 2013
Review Contents & Index:

Installation - Hardware

Installation – EverDrive 64 Menu

Transferring ROMs

Usage - General

Usage – Nintendo 64 Games & Homebrew

EverDrive 64 GUI (Menu)

ROM Compatibility

Save Type Support

NES Emulation

Introduction
One of the most profound names in retro gaming flash cart creation, KRIKzz, has created his latest product: a Nintendo 64 flash cartridge. His device, the EverDrive 64, is another device that is not made in China. This time, it was creatively designed and produced in the Ukraine.
So what is so creative about this device? It is compact, feature filled, and simple to set up and use. The circuit board only has one slot for a full sized SD card and has the CIC chip built in. This, in addition to the PCB (printed circuit board) being clearly labeled on both sides which side faces the front and the back of the console, along with the simple one step drag and drop menu configuration and ROM support makes this device quick to set up and play.
This review will detail how to set up and run the EverDrive 64 flash cart and also go into detail about which ROMs are compatible and how to play NES ROMs on the latest version of its menu software.

EverDrive 64 Features:

64Mbyte (512mbit) SDRAM for ROM data (Maximum rom size is 64Mbytes)
SD, SDHC, and MMC cards are supported
FAT16 and FAT32 support with unlimited partition size for FAT32
SD to SDRAM transfer speed is 4.5 - 5 Mbyte/sec
emulation features
Gamepak saves support (SRAM, SRAM 128Kbyte, EEPROM 16K, EEPROM 4K, and FlashRAM)
Region free. Can play PAL ROMs on NTSC systems and vice-versa
CIC boot emulator. Enough to have CIC6102/7101 for playing all games
Byte swapped and non-byte swapped ROMs are supported (V64 and Z64 ROM types)
USB port 800k - 1Mbyte/sec (optional)

Packaging and Contents

The EverDrive 64 ships inside a plain white bubble pak envelope with a pink anti-static bubble pak bag and cardboard sleeve surrounding it.
Inside are the following items:

Cart Design
Let's take a closer look at the EverDrive 64 flash cart.

KRIKzz's EverDrive 64 sample came as a bare PCB with no housing. This will fit inside a standard N64 cartridge housing of the end user's choice.

The SD card slot is on the top "FRONT SIDE" labeled portion of the PCB. This will be too tall to fit inside a cartridge case without modifying the plastic. A dremel or a file will be able to take care of the job.

On the obverse site of the cart, the "BACK SIDE" (which will point toward the rear of the N64 when viewed from the front with the Nintendo 64 Logo and joystick ports), is where the pin headers JT and AS (on the left) are located as well as the mini USB port on the right side when viewed accordingly.
This sample did not ship with a USB port pre-soldered in, so that will be omitted from this review.
Setting Up & Using
Installation - Hardware
First, a SD card is chosen. Then the card is inserted into the SD slot on the FRONT SIDE of the cartridge. The SD card's label will face toward the front of the cartridge. This slot is not spring loaded, so when it is removed it is simply pulled out with minimal effort.

After installing the menu on the SD card, the EverDrive 64 is ready to be plugged into the Nintendo64 deck and the deck to be powered on.
The EverDrive 64 cart does not require nor have a provision for a cartridge to be plugged into it as a dongle for CIC microchip protection. There is a CIC 6102 soldered onto the printed circuit board of the EverDrive 64. Most other solutions still required a separate cartridge in order to bypass security lock out and to allow commercial or homebrew software to run.
Installation – EverDrive 64 Menu

Plug the CompactFlash or MicroSD card into an available USB reader and make sure that the drive appears in the operating system you are using (this part is not operating system dependent as long as you can copy files onto the flash card).
Like most modern day flash carts, which primarily are for handhelds, the menu software installation is drag and drop to the SD card. On KRIKzz's home page are links to his various products. At the bottom of his home page is the link to the EverDrive 64 and when navigated to lists the features and hyperlinks to sections related to this flash cart. Select the "OS Update" hyperlink and within each folder is the corresponding version of the menu software. For this review, Version 1.13 NTSC is used which is OS64.v64. This file is not compressed.

Create a folder in the root of the SD card called ED64. Then download the OS64.v64 file and copy it into that folder on the SD card.
Transferring ROMs
Since this flash cart uses SD cards, ROMs can be dragged and dropped. In this review, we are using a full size SD card adapter to MicroSD. MicroSD, MiniSD, or SD can be used with the EverDrive 64.
This flash cart does not support compressed files, so the ROMs need to be uncompressed prior to copying to the SD card.

Also, in order to run .nes files (emulation mode of the EverDrive 64), the NES emulator needs to be renamed to emu.nes and placed in the same ED64 folder on the SD card where the menu resides. Emulators have been supported since version 1.02 of the menu software. As of this review, we are only aware of the NES emulator for this feature so no other emulators will be tested.
Usage - General
Now it is time to show how to use the EverDrive 64. Plug the EverDrive 64 into the N64 cartridge slot with the side of the PCB labeled "FRONT SIDE" facing toward the controller input ports and Nintendo 64 logo. Now power on the console and the green LED on the right should flash once very quickly and then the red LED next to it will flash several times and then both lights will be off on the device.

For the boot sequence on the TV screen, the OS initialization screen is shown and then system is brought to a listing of the root of the SD card. The subdirectories are displayed first in yellow and the files in the root (if any) are displayed in white on a gradient of dark blue going down to a medium or navy blue toward the bottom of the screen. At the bottom are two lines displaying the page number and save type information as well as the menu (OS) version and firmware version of the EverDrive 64.
The N64's joy pad controls navigation of the entire menu system. A file is selected using the d-pad and the start button loads the ROM into the EverDrive 64's RAM and launches the program. Subdirectories are entered by pressing the A button and the B button is used to go to the previous folder.

ROMs load in a few seconds on this device which is very impressive. Most previous solutions took half a minute to a few minutes to load a game.
Usage - Nintendo 64 Games & Homebrew
All N64 games that loaded and played on the EverDrive 64 ran perfectly. Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, and Jet Force Gemini needed their patched/cracked variants copied to the SD to run. It was also found that Banjo-Tooie's crack resides within the auto-patching feature of the latest EverDrive 64 menu so the end user is not required to search the internet for it unless using a previous version or custom menu. These games tend to be problematic for copiers in general and coders are constantly working on ways to try to combat the anti-piracy features in these games.
The EverDrive 64 menu allows changing of the save type prior to launching a ROM. This is done by pressing the L/R buttons to cycle through the different cartridge save types.
The majority of homebrew ROMs function fine as well. As usual, some ROMs will not run at all due to being a bad copy of the original homebrew or just a poorly coded ROM.
ROM Compatibility
The ROM only and ROM with SRAM games I tested are:

1080 Snowboarding (NTSC/U)PASS
Asteroids Hyper 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
Automobili Lamborghini (NTSC/U)PASS
Banjo-Kazooie (NTSC/U) (NTSC/U)PASS use V1.0 f1 ROM (Crazy Nation crack). All other ROMs do not work.
Banjo-Tooie(NTSC/U)PASS No longer needs CIC 6105 lockout chip if using the crack or latest official menu
Batman Beyond - Return of the Joker (NTSC/U)PASS
Beetle Adventure Racing!(M3) (NTSC/U)PASS
Blast Corps(V1.1)(NTSC/U)PASS
Body Harvest (NTSC/U)PASS
Bomberman 64 - The Second Attack!(NTSC/U)PASS
Bomberman 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
Bomberman Hero (NTSC/U)PASS
Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling(NTSC/U)PASS
Bust-A-Move 2 - Arcade Edition (NTSC/U)PASS
Bust-A-Move '99 (NTSC/U)PASS
California Speed (NTSC/U)PASS
Carmageddon 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
Castlevania - Legacy of Darkness (NTSC/U)PASS
Castlevania(V1.2)(NTSC/U)PASS
Chopper Attack (NTSC/U)PASS
Clay Fighter - Sculptor's Cut (NTSC/U)PASS
Clay Fighter 63 40546(NTSC/U)PASS
Command & Conquer(NTSC/U)PASS
Conker's Bad Fur Day(NTSC/U)PASS
Cruis'n Exotica (NTSC/U)PASS
Cruis'n USA(V1.2)(NTSC/U)PASS
Cruis'n World (NTSC/U)PASS
Destruction Derby 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Diddy Kong Racing (V1.0)(NTSC/U)PASS
Disney's Donald Duck - Goin' Quackers(NTSC/U)PASS
Disney's Tarzan (NTSC/U)PASS
Donkey Kong 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Doom 64(V1.0)(NTSC/U)PASS
Doom 64(V1.1)(NTSC/U)PASS
Dr. Mario 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Dual Heroes (NTSC/U)PASS
Duck Dodgers Starring Daffy Duck(M3) (NTSC/U)PASS
Duke Nukem - ZER0 H0UR (NTSC/U)PASS
Duke Nukem 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Earthworm Jim 3D(NTSC/U)PASS
Excitebike 64(Kiosk Demo) (NTSC/U)PASS
Excitebike 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
Extreme-G(NTSC/U)PASS
Extreme-G XG2 (NTSC/U)PASS
F-1 Pole Position 64(M3)(NTSC/U)PASS
F-1 World Grand Prix(NTSC/U)PASS
FIFA - Road to World Cup 98(M7) (NTSC/U)PASS
FIFA 99 (NTSC/U)PASS
FIFA Soccer 64(M3) (NTSC/U)PASS
Fighter Destiny 2(NTSC/U)PASS
Fighter's Destiny (NTSC/U)PASS
Fighting Force 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Flying Dragon (NTSC/U)PASS
Forsaken 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
Frogger 2(Alpha)(NTSC/U)PASS
F-ZERO X (NTSC/U)PASS
Gauntlet Legends (NTSC/U)PASS
Gex 3 - Deep Cover Gecko(NTSC/U)PASS
Glover(NTSC/U)PASS
GoldenEye 7 (NTSC/U)PASS
GT 64 - Championship Edition (NTSC/U)PASS
Harvest Moon 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Heiwa Pachinko World 64 (J) (NTSC/U)PASS
Hercules - The Legendary Journeys (NTSC/U)PASS
Hexen(NTSC/U)PASS
Hey You, Pikachu!(NTSC/U)PASS
Hot Wheels Turbo Racing(NTSC/U)PASS
HSV Adventure Racing (A) [f1] (NTSC/U)PASS
Hybrid Heaven (NTSC/U)PASS
Iggy's Reckin' Balls(NTSC/U)PASS
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine(NTSC/U)PASS
Indy Racing 2000(NTSC/U)PASS
Jeopardy!(NTSC/U)PASS
Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000(NTSC/U)PASS
Jet Force Gemini (NTSC/U)PASS use the b2 ROM (this is not a bad dump. It is the Dextrose crack for the USA version of the game and changes save type to SRAM for copiers but EverDrive 64 still reports the save type saving as FLASH upon reset.)
John Romero's Daikatana(NTSC/U)PASS
Killer Instinct Gold(V1.2) (NTSC/U)PASS
Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards(NTSC/U)PASS
Knife Edge - Nose Gunner (NTSC/U)PASS
Legend of Zelda, The - Majora's Mask (NTSC/U)PASS
Legend of Zelda, The - Ocarina of Time(NTSC/U)PASS
LEGO Racers (NTSC/U)PASS
Lode Runner 3-D(NTSC/U)PASS
Lt. Duck Dodgers (Prototype)(NTSC/U)PASS
Lylat Wars (PAL) (M3)(NTSC/U)PASS
Mace - The Dark Age (NTSC/U)PASS
Magical Tetris Challenge(NTSC/U)PASS
Mario Golf (NTSC/U)PASS
Mario Kart 64 (J) (V1.1) (NTSC/U)PASS
Mario Kart 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Mario no Photopie (J)(NTSC/U)PASS
Mario Party (NTSC/U)PASS
Mario Party 2(NTSC/U)PASS
Mario Party 3(NTSC/U)PASS
Mario Tennis (NTSC/U)PASS
Mega Man 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Mickey's Speedway USA(NTSC/U)PASS
Micro Machines 64 Turbo(NTSC/U)PASS
Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 1[t2](NTSC/U)PASS
Milo's Astro Lanes(NTSC/U)PASS
Mischief Makers (NTSC/U)PASS
Mission Impossible (NTSC/U)PASS
Monaco Grand Prix(NTSC/U)PASS
Monopoly(NTSC/U)PASS
Monster Truck Madness 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Mortal Kombat 4(NTSC/U)PASS
Mortal Kombat Mythologies - Sub-Zero (NTSC/U)PASS
Mortal Kombat Trilogy(V1.2) (NTSC/U)PASS
MRC - Multi Racing Championship (NTSC/U)PASS
Ms. Pac-Man - Maze Madness (NTSC/U)PASS
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon(NTSC/U)PASS
Namco Museum 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Namco Museum 64[t1] (NTSC/U)PASS
Neon Genesis Evangeleon (NTSC/J) PASS Both IPS cracked and unpatched ROMs run fine
New Tetris, The(NTSC/U)PASS
NFL Blitz - Special Edition (NTSC/U)PASS
NFL Blitz (NTSC/U)PASS
NFL Blitz 2000(NTSC/U)PASS
NFL Blitz 2001(NTSC/U)PASS
NHL 99 (NTSC/U)PASS
Nightmare Creatures (NTSC/U)PASS
Nuclear Strike 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Ogre Battle 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Paper Mario(NTSC/U)PASS
Paperboy(NTSC/U)PASS
Penny Racers (NTSC/U)PASS
Perfect Dark(V1.0)(NTSC/U)PASS
Pilotwings 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
Pokemon Snap (NTSC/U)PASS
Pokemon Stadium (NTSC/U)PASS
Pokemon Stadium 2(NTSC/U)PASS
Power Rangers - Lightspeed Rescue (NTSC/U)PASS
Quake 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
Quake II (NTSC/U)PASS
Rakuga Kids (PAL) [f1](NTSC/U)PASS
Rally Challenge 2000(NTSC/U)PASS
Rampage - World Tour(NTSC/U)PASS
Rampage 2 - Universal Tour (NTSC/U)PASS
Rayman 2 - The Great Escape(M5)(NTSC/U)PASS
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing - Round 2 (NTSC/U)PASS
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing(NTSC/U)PASS
Re-Volt(NTSC/U)PASS
Resident Evil 2(NTSC/U)PASS
Road Rash 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Robotron 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
RR64 - Ridge Racer 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
Rush 2 - Extreme Racing USA(NTSC/U)PASS
S.C.A.R.S.(NTSC/U)PASS
San Francisco Rush - Extreme Racing(M3)(NTSC/U)PASS
San Francisco Rush 2049(NTSC/U)PASS
Space Invaders (NTSC/U)PASS
Space Station Silicon Valley(NTSC/U)PASS
Spider-Man(NTSC/U)PASS
Star Fox 64 (J)(NTSC/U)PASS
Star Fox 64(V1.1) (NTSC/U)PASS
Star Soldier - Vanishing Earth (NTSC/U)PASS
Star Wars - Rogue Squadron(M3) (NTSC/U)PASS
Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire(V1.2) (NTSC/U)PASS
Star Wars - Teikoku no Kage (J) (NTSC/U)PASS
Star Wars Episode I - Battle for Naboo(NTSC/U)PASS
Star Wars Episode I - Racer(NTSC/U)PASS
StarCraft 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
Stunt Racer 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Super Mario 64 - Shindou Edition (J) (NTSC/U)PASS
Super Mario 64(NTSC/U)PASS
Super Smash Bros.(NTSC/U)PASS
Superman(M3)(NTSC/U)PASS
Tetrisphere(NTSC/U)PASS
Tonic Trouble(V1.1)(NTSC/U)PASS
Top Gear Overdrive(NTSC/U)PASS
Top Gear Rally(NTSC/U)PASS
Top Gear Rally 2(NTSC/U)PASS
Toy Story 2(NTSC/U)PASS
Transformers - Beast Wars Transmetal (NTSC/U)PASS
Turok - Dinosaur Hunter(V1.2)(NTSC/U)PASS
Turok - Rage Wars(NTSC/U)PASS
Turok 2 - Seeds of Evil(NTSC/U)PASS
Turok 3 - Shadow of Oblivion(NTSC/U)PASS
Vigilante 8 - 2nd Offense (NTSC/U)PASS
Vigilante 8 (NTSC/U)PASS
Virtual Chess 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
V-Rally Edition 99(NTSC/U)PASS
War Gods (NTSC/U)PASS
Wave Race 64 - Shindou Edition (J) (V1.2)(NTSC/U)PASS
Wave Race 64(V1.1) (NTSC/U)PASS
Wetrix(M6)(NTSC/U)PASS
Wipeout 64 (NTSC/U)PASS
Worms - Armageddon (NTSC/U)PASS
Xena Warrior Princess - The Talisman of Fate(NTSC/U)PASS
Yoshi's Story (NTSC/U)PASS

* Do note that all save types for all of the above games save and function completely fine.
ROMs that had some issues:
This device has a mind blowing 100% compatibility with all commmercially released games that exist. Banjo-Kazooie and Jet Force Gemnini require cracks that have now been out for a while.

Blast Corps, one often forgotten RAREware game, in action.

Conker's Bad Fur Day is shown here testing the capability of the EverDrive 64 being able to play games larger than 256Mbit.

GT64 is a sleeper hit title that has very nice graphics for N64 and is a decent racing simulator.

Mario Golf plays the way it should. Nintendo kept up some really hot titles on this system.

San Francisco Rush plays fine on the Nintendo 64. Originally this game made it to the arcade using 3DFX graphics and then was ported to Nintendo's flagship console.

Smash Bros. was a great title for Nintendo 64. It plays well and is a very fast paced game.

Turok the Dinosaur Hunter was another hot title for Nintendo 64. It plays fine and still is a fun game.
All ROMs above 256Mbit function flawlessly since the EverDrive 64 has 512Mbit(64MBytes) of RAM. This includes: Conker's Bad Fur Day, Ogre Battle 64, Paper Mario, Pokemon Stadium 2, and Resident Evil 2/Biohazard 2.
Save Type Support

All save types are fully supported. When a ROM saves to cart, the EverDrive 64 automatically creates a save folder on the inserted flash card within the same folder as the ROM that is loaded. Each save game will have an extension corresponding to what type of save it is.

Command & Conquer was tested to see if FLASHRAM save type works. Upon selecting a game of flash ram save type, the menu system displays the save data type as FLASHRAM and puts the save data into a "SAVES" subfolder with the file extension ".fla" within the path ED64 where the menu is located. The Command & Conquer ROM is selected, then loaded and, knowing how this game worked on PC, a save was intuitively allowed while within a map at any point of the game. The save in this example is on the first map. This save game has been loaded after previously saving to the EverDrive 64. There was no issue with this save type during this test.
EverDrive 64 GUI (Menu)

When you turn on the N64, a menu loading screen followed by the folder and file list is displayed.

When a ROM is selected, the save type is displayed.
Homebrew Support
Homebrew ROMs also can be played from the EverDrive 64. Each ROM was successfully launched from SD and it did not take much time to figure out which variant of each ROM works. This would take considerably more time on old copiers from the 1990s due to the methods involved with storing and loading the ROM files during that era.

1964 Demo by Steb FAIL displays glitched 50hz black and white checker board
Birthday Demo for Steve by Nep[b1] PASS
Birthday Demo for Steve by Nep PASS
Chaos 89 DemoPASS
Christmas Flame Demo by Halley's Comet SoftwarePASS
Congratulations Demo for SPLiT by Widget and Immortal[b1] PASS
Congratulations Demo for SPLiT by Widget and Immortal PASS
Cube Demo[b1] PASS
Cube Demo[b2] PASS
Cube Demo PASS
Cube Demo by Msftug FAIL TV loses signal and all goes black
Display List Ate My Mind Demo by Kid StardustPASS
DKONG Demo PASS
Explode Demo by NaN PASS
Fire Demo by Lac PASS
Fireworks Demo by CrowTRobo PASS
Fish Demo by NaN PASS
Fogworld USA Demo by Horizon64[h1C][o1]PASS
Fogworld USA Demo by Horizon64PASS
Fractal Zoomer Demo by RedboXPASS
Friendship Demo by Renderman[b1] PASS
Friendship Demo by Renderman PASS
GT Demo[a1] PASS
GT Demo PASS
Hard Coded Demo by Silo and Fractal[a1]FAIL black screen and reset not functional
Hard Coded Demo by Silo and FractalPASS
Hard Pom '99 Demo by TS_Garp (POM '99) PASS
Heavy 64 Demo by DestopPASS
HiRes CFB DemoPASS
LCARS Demo by WT Riker[b1]PASS
LCARS Demo by WT RikerPASS
Light Force First N64 Demo by FractalPASS
MeeTING Demo by Renderman[b1] PASS
MeeTING Demo by Renderman PASS
Mind Present Demo 0 by Widget and Immortal (POM '98)[b1] PASS
Mind Present Demo 0 by Widget and Immortal (POM '98) PASS
Mind Present Demo Readme by Widget and Immortal (POM '98) PASS
Money Creates Taste Demo by Count0 (POM '99)[f1] PASS
Money Creates Taste Demo by Count0 (POM '99) PASS
My Angel DemoPASS
N64 Seminar Demo - CPU by ZoRAXEPASS
N64 Seminar Demo - RSP by ZoRAXEPASS
N64 Stars Demo[b1]PASS
N64 Stars DemoPASS
NBCG's Kings of Porn DemoPASS
NBCrew 2 DemoPASS
NEO Myth N64 Menu Demo V0.1 PASS freezes the console if reset is pressed
Nintendo On My Mind Demo by Kid Stardust PASS
Nintro64 Demo by Lem (POM '98)[b1] PASS
Nintro64 Demo by Lem (POM '98) PASS
NuFan Demo by Kid Stardust[b1]PASS
NuFan Demo by Kid StardustPASS
Pamela Demo PASS
Pamela Demo - Resized PASS
Pause Demo by RedboX PASS
Plasma Demo[a1] PASS
Plasma Demo PASS
Pom Part 1 Demo PASS
Pom Part 2 Demo PASS
Pom Part 3 Demo PASS
Pom Part 4 Demo PASS
Pom Part 5 Demo PASS
POMbaer Demo by Kid Stardust (POM '99)PASS
POMolizer Demo by Renderman (POM '99) PASS
Psychodelic Demo by Ste (POM '98)[b1] PASS
Psychodelic Demo by Ste (POM '98) PASS
R.I.P. Jay Demo by Ste[b1]PASS
R.I.P. Jay Demo by StePASS
Rotating Demo USA by Rene[a1]PASS
Rotating Demo USA by RenePASS
Sample Demo by Florian[b1] PASS
Sample Demo by Florian PASS
Shag'a'Delic Demo by Steve and NEP PASS
Sitero Demo by Renderman PASS
Spice Girls Rotator Demo by RedboX[a1] PASS
Spice Girls Rotator Demo by RedboX PASS
Split! 3D Demo by LemPASS
Summer64 Demo by Lem[b1] PASS
Summer64 Demo by Lem PASS
Super Fighter Demo Halley's Comet Software PASS
T-Shirt Demo by Neptune and Steve (POM '98)[b1] PASS
T-Shirt Demo by Neptune and Steve (POM '98) PASS
Tetris Beta Demo by FusionMan (POM '98)[b1]PASS
Tetris Beta Demo by FusionMan (POM '98)PASS
Textlight Demo by Horizon64[b1] PASS
Textlight Demo by Horizon64 FAIL black screen
The Corporation XMAS Demo '99 by TS_Garp[b1]PASS
The Corporation XMAS Demo '99 by TS_GarpPASS
TheMuscularDemo by megahawksPASS
Tom Demo PASS
TopGun Demo by Horizon64 PASS
TR64 Demo by FIres and Icepir8 PASS
TRON Demo[a1] PASS
TRON Demo PASS
U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64 (older)[b1] PASS
U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64 (older) PASS
U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64[a1]PASS
U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64[a1][b1]PASS
U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64[b1]PASS
U64 (Chrome) Demo by Horizon64PASS
Ultra Demo Bootcode by Locke^[h1C]FAIL TV loses signal and black screen
Ultra Demo Bootcode by Locke^FAIL TV loses signal and black screen
Ultra Demo by Locke^[a1] PASS
Ultra Demo by Locke^ PASS
Vector Demo by Destop (POM '99) PASS
Wet Dreams Can Beta Demo by Immortal (POM '99)PASS
Wet Dreams Madeiragames Demo by Immortal (POM '99) PASS
Wet Dreams Main Demo by Immortal (POM '99) PASS
XtraLife Dextrose Demo by RedboX[h1C]PASS
XtraLife Dextrose Demo by RedboXPASS
Y2K Demo by WT_Riker [b1] PASS
Y2K Demo by WT_Riker PASS

NES Emulation
The EverDrive 64 supports emulation mode when the emulator of another console is placed within the ED64 folder on the SD card. When an NES ROM is launched, the menu automatically detects the game type and runs it with the emulator program.
Neon64 was developed from 2001 - 2004 and the latest version, 1.2a, can be downloaded from here: http://hcs.freeshell.org/neon64.cgi

Extract the file "neon64bu.rom" into the same folder on the SD card that contains the EverDrive 64 Menu. Rename "neon64bu.rom" to "emu.nes".
To play an NES game, simply select it from the menu's file listing and press the start button the same way as launching an N64 game.

Conclusion
The EverDrive 64 is the last but definitely not the least of KRIKzz's creations. It uses high quality components on a very nicely designed and professionally fabricated printed circuit board. Also it sports the fairest price of all Nintendo 64 solutions available.
Although it has a few shortcomings, such as a few ROMs requiring the patched version to run and a very simplistic GUI, it is over all an excellent piece of hardware. The ROMs that require patches are easily acquired in pre-patched form and the GUI itself is very functional as well as the menu system not requiring any additional set up beyond placing it into the ED64 folder in the root of the SD.
Since Banjo-Tooie has been cracked, this device is supports 100% of all commercial ROMs that exist. This ROM is also problematic on other copiers and required a CIC 6105 chip to play. This review cannot fault the hardware or menu system itself for this shortcoming due to the fact that every copier has the same issue with this ROM.
We at Flash Cart Review Central would recommend the EverDrive 64 for anyone who wants to get the most out of their N64 console. However we would strongly recommend to buy it from a vendor with the pre-cut cartridge housing so that electro static discharge does not occur, to make it very straight forward to plug in to the N64 deck, to give it a cleaner look, and to allow just a slot to insert/remove the SD card from.
I would like to thank KRIKzz for providing the sample for the review.
I would also like to mention that from time to time StoneageGamer.com has special edition packages with printed instruction manual, black cartridge case, beautiful cartridge label, as well as a few other extras from time to time. There are also other sites that sell various packages and generally grey cut cartridge shells. Not to be biased toward anyone, but the author of this review prefers the usual official grey shell for N64 flash carts.
The EverDrive 64 is definitely the best bang for your buck and is one of the best solutions available for the Nintendo 64.
Pros
+ EverDrive 64 can store a maximum of 262,144Mbit of ROM images using a 32GB MicroSDHC card
+ Fits in an original Nintendo 64 cartridge case (with minor modification for the SD card slot)
+ Multi CIC chip compatible and all ROMs operate from an onboard single genuine CIC 6102
+ 64MBytes of high quality Micron RAM onboard
+ Supports all games of the region corresponding to the console (PAL carts ship with CIC 7101)
+ Supports all save types, even FlashRAM save type
+ Stores cartridge based saves directly on the CF/MicroSD card (Automatically creates Saves folder for you in a subfolder where the menu ROM is stored)
+ Supports homebrew ROMs
+ Most games load within a few seconds. Larger ones take several seconds.
+ Drag and drop support directly to SD card
+ No proprietary extra adapters involved
+ Supports multiple ROMs up to the capacity of the SD card
+ Supports sub folders
+ ROMs are stored indefinitely until files are deleted or the SD card is formatted
+ Continued menu, firmware, GUI, and hardware development support
+ High quality printed circuit board and onboard components
+ Does not require any special hardware or software to flash games
+ N64 menu is navigated with the gamepad
+ Uses SD to store ROMs
+ Reset button takes the user back to the N64 menu
+ Easy to use once set up properly and then recommended for the novice user (which would be those who purchased this with a cartridge shell or built one for it since the bare board should not be handled)
+ Most commercial ROMs work (* Some CIC 6105 ROMs require the patched versions still)
+ Most games which required a patch for old copiers work with or without a patch
+ Proudly manufactured in the Ukraine
Cons
- Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, and Jet Force Gemini require a software crack or they will only display black or black with vertical blue lines
- Lacks a clearly displayed N64 console user interface
- CPLD Logic Core can be updated if the cart has the mini USB port onboard. This sample did not so it would need to be soldered on which is a little bit of extra work and not easy for a novice.
- No built in cheat code program
- SD card slot is not spring loaded (however they are very easy to insert and remove)
External Links:
-Official KRIKzz Website
-Retrogate Store (Sells with precut grey shell)
Where to buy?:
-EverDrive Item Distributors
This review was written for Flash Cart Review Central ONLY. The article and all included photos are property of Flash Cart Review Central
If you see this review on any other site please let me know via reply to this blog.

Flash Cart Review Central

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

KRIKzz EverDrive 64 Nintendo 64 Flash Cart Review

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