M3lite, special thanks go to M3adapter.com & G6flash.com

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Introduction

Welcome to my review of the M3lite. The M3lite is the latest product by the M3 team and is the M3 team' s answer to the series of lite cards released lately. This new product has the same features as the older M3 products (the movie functionality, E-books, the newly added PDA functions, GBA functionality, etc.) and now also features changeable carts to match the colour of your NDSL (white, black or blue, pink). Unlike some other NDSL flashcarts the M3lite is side-loaded and even better it's spring loaded. And although M3 has announced it will be creating a DS cart sized device next, remember that the M3lite GBA media adapter also runs GBA games.

The review

Looking at the packaging

The packaging of the M3lite is nothing special. It is made up of a small cardboard box with a plastic holder inside. The cardboard isn't extra thick (similar to that of the GBAMP), but it will survive shipping without too much harm done to it. The boxart is quite nice and clear, though sadly it is still full of incorrect English. And although you can understand what is meant by texts like "Needn't installing.", it's a shame that such things aren't ironed out. Box content:


• The M3 perfect lite (in my sample in the black casing)
• White replacement casing
• "lite blue" replacement casing
• **Driver CD
• ***Pink replacement casing
• ***Blue replacement casing




** - This was not present in my sample, though this should be present according to the box. Though the CD is hardly needed as the latest software can be downloaded via the Internet.
*** - BamBooGaming ships all five casings (I am unsure, though doubt, if this is standard procedure with all resellers)

Build quality
The build quality of the M3 is very high. The plastic is nice and thick and the PCB design is also very good. The fit inside my NDSL (which is generally a tight fit, even with original cards) is very good, though getting it out the first time may be a little bit tough. The microSD slot is also of high quality. The M3lite (perfect) is side-loaded (I prefer side-loading as opposed to front loading) and even better spring-loaded! Getting the microSD card in is not very intuitive, but once you've done it a few times you'll get the hang of it.

There is only one thing I suggest you keep an eye on if you use the M3lite (perfect), namely the screw holding the two halfs of the casing together. The screw the M3 team used is the same screw as in the G6lite. If the screw is not fully screwed in and sticks out slightly over the casing it may get stuck on your NDSL's GBA slot. Don't be to worried though if you screw it in properly this probably won't happen to you.

Looks
The Looks of the M3lite are very nice. The colour of the black casing nearly perfectly matches the colour of my NDSL (though it seems dependent on what angle you look at it and under what type of light), and the unit fits like the original dustcover.

And because the M3lite is side loading there is no opening at the front of the card making it look even more like the original dust cover and making the DS looking very slick. The (default) menu system of the M3 is something I would suggest to be given a facelift. Though thankfully it is easily skinnable.

Using the M3

Changing the casings is very easy. It is similar to that of the G6lite and no explanation is needed on how to do it. It's a simple task of removing the screw, pulling one side down (look at my review of the G6lite), sliding the other side to match and lifting it up. Putting it back together goes is pretty much the same way and you should be able to do this yourself very easily.

As with many slot-2 flash carts there is both "GBA" and "NDS" support, the M3lite is no exception. Because of this, and because of the fact that using the M3 is very similar to using the G6flash adapter or GBAMP with certain functions, I will split up using the M3lite in a GBA and NDS section and refer to my other reviews when needed.

Patching games/homebrew: Patching backups is something that needs to be done with the M3lite. Updates are very regular and often follow closely after new releases of games (if those games prove incompatible with the last patching software). Though the M3's software requires you to take a close look when patching the first few times, once you've done it once or twice you understand what buttons are what and what's the best way to patch (for performance and compatibility).

The M3 game manager (the patching software) will first ask you if you have an M3 that uses CF cards or one that uses SD cards. As we are using the M3lite (perfect) we choose SD. The software will then ask you what language you prefer and where you have game files stored on your hard-drive. Settings you previously made will be remembered, but you will always be asked these things. Once you get past the settings point the software becomes a bit unclear. You need to tell it where the directory is where files that are patched should be placed, not where you have your files! Once you have set the path, you can choose "write NDS" (patch a NDS file), "write GBA" (patch a GBA file), delete, config (the screen you just came from) and help (a manual txt file). When patching a NDS file you are presented with a software reset option (resetting without touching the power button), trimming the file down, cheat functions, GBA linkage (linking up with a .gba file thus getting in game specials) and a few patching options:
• 1x DMA
• 4x DMA (the patching option that gets you the lowest chance of slowdown --> perfect intro movie of CV for example)
• normal (the standard option)
• safe mode (the option that has the highest chance of patching successfully, though has the highest chance of slowdown)
• directly copy (the option that will not do anything to the NDS file, but will create .dat files etc.. The patching option for homebrew)
The patching software is also capable of opening .zip files (which means some downloaded files will not have to be extracted before you can patch them). When patching a GBA file you are presented with a real time save function, a cheat codes option, an IPS patching option (a game modifying patch) and three patching options:
• Soft Patch
• Hardware Support 1
• Hardware Support 2
Once you're done putting all the files on your microSD card you just put it in the M3lite (pretty much goes by its self though you need to have done it once or twice to know how to get it in the easiest), insert the M3lite into your NDSL (not as smooth as with the original dustcover at first but after a few times it goes in just as good) and boot it up.

The modified version of Moonshell, the main NDS mode menu, file browsing (in NDS mode), loading a game (in NDS mode)

NDS mode
When you run games in NDS mode you will need to patch them first (backups will always need to be patched, homebrew will however only need to be run through the patcher if it uses SRAM because else that will get deleted). When you start your M3lite in NDS mode you will be greeted by the text that the M3 is not sponsored, licensed or endorsed by Nintendo. This message clearly shows the GBAMP background of the product (as the GBAMP also had this same message displayed in exactly the same way). The message goes away after a second or 2~3 and you will be brought to the options menu (see image above). Here you can choose from the different functions build into the M3lite. Watching a movie in the .gbm format (top row, outer most left icon), listen to music in the .gbs format (top row, second icon to the left), look at an image (top row, second icon to the right), read an E-book (top row, outer most right icon), playing a NDS game (lower row, outer most left icon), using the PDA software (lower row, second icon to the left), using the built in moonshell version (lower row, second icon to the right) and setup (lower row, outer most right icon). The movie (gbm), music (gbs), image, E-book and PDA functions are (similar to / the same as) those of the G6lite, and I will not go into too high detail about them. If you want to read more about them read (the corresponding part of) my review of the G6flash adapter. Playing movies (gbm & extent), listening to music (gbs) and looking at images (non-MoonShell / non-extend) will require you to convert your files into compatible formats. When listening to music or looking at images via the "extend" (modified MoonShell version) you can open files compatible with MoonShell without converting them (MP3s, jpegs, etc.).

Playing games with your M3lite as stated before requires you to patch them. Once you have done this you can run them by selecting them in the menu (see image above) and loading them (see image above, sadly no icons). Compatibility of the M3lite is very high and closely matches that of the G6lite. The Castlevania intro even ran (a first timer for me) at full speed (using 4x DMA)! But what I was most fond of was that during my time reviewing the M3lite, agentq added support to scummvmDS (FAT homebrew) for the M3lite! This means that the M3lite now runs .nds .ds.gba (named .nds and named .ds.gba), SRAM homebrew and FATlib homebrew (also because of the recent release of the source of the FATlib).

Booting the M3lite, the main GBA mode menu, file browsing (GBA mode), reading an E-book (GBA mode)

GBA mode:
When starting in GBA mode you get the same notice about the M3 not being an official Nintendo product, and are then taken to the GBA menu. The GBA menu is very similar to the NDS menu though does not have the PDA or Extend options. All options except for the gba game play are the same as on the G6lite adapter, so I point you once again to that review. Playing GBA games on the M3 lite is very good, with no noticeable slowdown in the games I've tried. I have however not tried that many (aiming more at the NDS side of the M3lite).

Conclusion

As I have always heard of the M3 team they deliver good products and keep up nice support. The M3lite (perfect) is no exception. The M3lite has a very nice hardware build quality and the software to match (though with one or two hiccups; the menu has a slight lag in NDS mode, the default skin is not very nice and the PC patcher could be clearer). Compatibility is very high (matching and sometimes better then that of the G6lite) both backup and homebrew wise supporting .ds.gba .nds, SRAM and FAT-lib homebrew. It works very well both in NDS and in GBA mode. The M3lite does however come with a price tag of sixty euro's. As the M3adapter team is generally (seen as) the same as that of the G6lite adapter many features of the G6lite can be found in the M3lite (sadly not the menu with icons). One can also find the built in emulators on the M3adapter which make for some good retro fun.

Overall rating for the M3 (perfect) lite GBA media adapter
Discription	Rating (out of 10)
Design Boxart, manual and product appeal	6.5
Hardware Hardware design, durability and features	8.5
Compatibility Overall Homebrew and NDS game (if applies) compatibility score	10
Product future What this products future looks like	very good
Features (Built in) extra features of the GBA media (adapter) card	Movies mp3's PDA in GBA and NDS mode

The insides of the M3 (perfect) lite

I hope you all enjoyed my review and found it useful.

-Simon van de Berg

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