Product Code Database
A flash cartridge (also known as a flashcart) is a homebrew video game ROM cartridge that uses flash memory 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 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. (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.
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 for writing to the cartridge with a few exceptions.
In Australia, 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, as well as other assorted counterfeit Nintendo products.
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