As Nintendo matures its efforts to combat piracy, giving itself the option to push downloadable DSi firmware updates to lock out flashcarts, manufacturers of these devices are already preparing their defenses.
Supercard, for example, revealed the DSONEi, a new DSi-compatible cart with its own upgradeable firmware. If Nintendo disables the current line of flashcarts with an update, Supercard owners can patch their carts (provided that hackers find a workaround) to get it back in working order, instead of having to buy a new device.
Wanting to find out more about how this will impact this battle between game companies and pirates, I spoke with GBAtemp.net’s Narin, a prominent figure in the DS “protection bypass” scene, who says that the DSONEi isn’t as evolutionary a product as most assume, and explains why owning a DSi flashcart is technically illegal:
“The Supercard DSONEi isn’t exactly special other than it including a USB slot that allows you to upgrade the card’s firmware. The AceKard 2i and the R4i I believe (the R4i is an AK2i clone actually) can have their firmware flashed in the occasion Nintendo does release an update to block them. So, what the Supercard is doing isn’t exactly new, but it just offers a different means to do so.
The problem is the method these flashcards use to circumvent the protection the DSi has. They actually use a real ROM — albeit slightly modified to run a loader — in the firmware to fool the DSi into thinking it’s a real game, and then load up into it.
Technically, this makes all DSi flashcards illegal as they distribute copyrighted ROMs and code. In many of the DSi flashcards, you can dump the firmware and extract [their ROM info].”
According to Narin, the DSONEi isn’t the complete solution to beating Nintendo at its firmware game. Because of how DSi-compatible flashcarts are currently designed, the DSONEi is as vulnerable as other products:
“Flashcards use real ROMs to fool the DSi into loading the flashcard into a DS compatibility mode. Nintendo, if they were inclined to, could easily make a firmware update to render this method unusable making all current DSi flashcards obselete.
The problem is, this is the only method the flashcard companies have to load flashcards on the DSi. The best they can do is use a different ROM in their firmware to try to fool the DSi into thinking it’s a real game, though if Nintendo adds a check for the flashcard itself and not for the actual game, it would render the flashcards useless until the protection on the DSi is actually cracked.”
So, if you’re planning on purchasing a DSONEi — for homebrew purposes, of course — keep in mind that Nintendo could still release a system update that would make it incompatible with your DSi.
See also: Narin comments on Metaforic’s anti-piracy DS tech, Flashcarts defeating anti-piracy measures with anti-anti-piracy feature
*Narin emphasizes that these statements are his personal opinions and do not reflect the views of GBAtemp.net.
