A flash cartridge (also known as a flashcart) is a homebrew video game cartridge that uses

flash memory Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...

for storage as well as running applications. These cartridges enable homebrew applications and games to be used and played when they are inserted into an otherwise officially licensed game console. The game storage can be in the form of onboard flash memory on the cartridge, although newer cartridges usually use external memory cards as storage in place of onboard memory, such as

Compact Flash CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first manufactured by SanDisk in 1994. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the ea ...

or Secure Digital. Recent flash cartridges may also use RAM instead of ROM for flashing games to run on the console as a way to offer faster loading times than what is possible on reprogrammable ROM. These cartridges remain the best-known way to create and distribute homebrew games for many consoles, such as the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

. (another option in this case being the GBA Movie Player, which can run specially designed homebrew programs but cannot run illicit copies of commercial GBA Game cartridges due to the lack of onboard RAM for fast data access). Flash cartridges are usually not officially created or sold. Rather, they are commonly unofficially produced and released by offbrand game accessories companies, or sometimes by singular technologically experienced people who make and sell them for profit through websites like Etsy or Mercari.

Usage and storage

Linker

Games are written to the cartridge with a device called "linker". Depending on the brand of flash cartridge, the linker either connects to a link port on the console and writes to the cartridge through the console, or connects to a mini- USB slot on the cartridge itself and writes directly to the flash cartridge. These linkers usually connect to a PC through a USB or parallel plug on the other end. Most linkers that connect to a link slot are capable of copying ROM information from commercial software cartridges. Some more recent flash cartridges use digital media cards (SD, MMC, CF, etc.) in which files are placed via a memory card reader.

Flash card adapters

A number of devices have been released which use popular flash memory cards such as SD and CF for storage. These have proven popular since the development of techniques to run

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

software from a GBA cartridge, due to the smaller size of DS games and the low price of these cards compared to conventional GBA flash cartridges. Examples of such devices include the M3, R4 and Supercard.

Software

There are those that use a program calle
LittleWriter
to write games to the cartridges. However, some people (especially people with older computers) use other software to write games to the cartridge. An example of this software is X-ROM Frontend b
DanSoft Australia
Some flash cartridges use specialized software designed for the specific cartridge, such as Power Writer and USB Writer software for the Flash2Advance Ultra cartridges. This presents several conflicts in regard to homebrew, as Power Writer uses a large database for proper naming and saving of games. ROMs that are not in the database (such as emulators or any other GBA homebrew) are prone to saving issues, and editing the database manually is difficult and involves the use of a hex editor. Such cartridges often have a proprietary interface, making it difficult or impossible to use operating systems other than

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

for writing to the cartridge with a few exceptions.

Other Nintendo flash cartridges

Flash cartridges are also available for other Nintendo consoles, such as the DS, DSi, and the 3DS. The DSi and the 3DS have the ability to update their system firmware via the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

, which makes it possible for Nintendo to fix the exploit that allowed the flashcarts to work, and essentially block the flashcart from loading on the console. There are also project files existing on the Internet that guide people through creating their own flash cartridge for the original Nintendo Game Boy.

Legality

The legality of flashcarts has been called into question many times, primarily by Nintendo. In a 2010 high court case, the court ruled in Nintendo's favour, and flashcarts were outlawed in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the R4 cartridge has faced legal troubles. A distributor of the R4 was fined over $600 thousand AUD, and was ordered to destroy any leftover stock they had, and an import of R4 cartridges have been seized by the

Australian Border Force The Australian Border Force (ABF) is a federal law enforcement agency, part of the Department of Home Affairs (Australia), Department of Home Affairs, responsible for offshore and onshore border control, border enforcement, investigations, comp ...

, as well as other assorted counterfeit Nintendo products.

References

{{Homebrew Game Boy Advance Homebrew software Solid-state computer storage media Video game distribution Video game storage media Japanese inventions