 XG-Flash
2 Lite : XG2Lite
The XG-Flash 2 Lite also known as XG2L is the successor of
the GBA XG-Flash 1 and comes in cartridge sizes of 128M and
256M. XG2L 512M and 1G flash cards are to be released shortly.
The Linker is similar to the XG1 linker and connects to the PC
via a USB cable (compatible with USB v1.1 & v2.0
).
Packaging is much like the XG1 set, a cardboard box with plastic
securely holding the XG2 Linker, Cartridge and USB Cable
in place, you also get a GBA / GBASP screen lense replacement
with the XGFlash2 website name on the bottom.
Installation of the XG2L is fairly easy, simply connect the
USB Cable and Linker to your PC and wait for the found hardware
window to appear and follow the details to install the drivers
which are supplied on the floppy disc or can be downloaded from
the website. After drivers are in place install the witer softare
and you are ready to write gba roms to the cart.
If you have the original XG1 drivers installed it would be
suggested to remove them first but as we sow haveing them doesnt
interfear with the XG2L operation. You should be aware that the
XG2 Lite drivers are not compatible with the EZ-Flash 2 and F2A
USB drivers and you will only be able to use one Flash Linker
device at a time due to driver conflicts.
On the supplied floppy disc you will find XG2 Flash Manager
software which is used to read/write gba roms to and from the
cartridge. The software is regularly updated so check the homepage for
the latest version. We tested Version 2.20 which had
the majority of features usually found in other programs. At
this time unfortunately XG2 is not compatible with LittleWriter,
although the XG1 is supported the XG2 uses different drivers
so LittleWriter fans may be disappointed. No software manual
or documentation is supplied or available for the software which
may cause problems for first time users. But the software is
very straightforward to use so you shouldn't really have any
problems.
The hardware saving feature allows you to run EEPROM and Flash
save types without patching them. For the majority of gba roms
games this seemed to work fine but there were some games that simply
refused to work such as the new Mario and Yoshis Island that needed
save game patch to work.
I tried several games for the reset feature and it seemed to
work well, the manufacturers don't claim that every game will
work with the reset feature as not all games are compatible for
various reasons. It should also be noted that a new program has
been recently released which allows the reset trick to be used
on any cartridge type such as the Flash Advance.
There was problems with some XG1 carts loosing saves overnight.
While I never had this problem a few people did so I thought
I should address this issue. I tested the XG2 flash with four
different game saves over a period of four days and the saves
were still there during this time. This problem was apparently
fixed in the second revision of the XG-Flash 1 so hopefully there
shouldn't be any more issues on this.
PogoShell, a popular program originally
for the Flash Advance cartridges is unfortunately incompatible
with the XG2L. The Flash Advance is better suited for PogoShell
because of its save management problems, while the XG2 Lite doesn't
have these problems (saves are handled automatically) it would
still be nice to see support for PogoShell as it has many other
uses.
Flashing a full 64M ROM takes ~101 seconds compared to the Flash2Advance
taking 115 seconds on average, strangely its not as fast as the
XG1 of 92 seconds on average. A comparison table of the majority
of linkers/carts times can be found here .
But please remember that this is an average time so it may be
faster or slower depending on various factors.
There isn't really alot of changes to justify upgrading from
an XG1 to an XG2L, the reset feature can be done on any other
cartridge so this is not really a major difference. The new software
is nice but this is also available (without some features) for
the XG1 so again no big difference. The only change that sticks
out is the hardware saves which is not perfect and a larger CPLD
capacity which will allow larger cartridge sizes in the future.
Having both the XG1 and XG2L I find it hard to see any big difference
between the two apart from being able to buy a larger cartridge,
it almost seems as if the XG2L is a repackaged XG1 with
new bigger size cards and new software.
Review XG2L - XG2 Lite Features:
| Packaging |
7 |
Comes in a secure box, nothing special but
you shouldn't have any problems with battered boxes on delivery. |
| Ease Of Use |
7 |
Doesn't come with any installation or user
guide. Software is straightforward to use though. |
| Compatibility |
8 |
You shouldn't have any problem running this
on your machine. Gamewise the hardware save mostly works
but you still need to EEPROM patch some games. Looses a point
for drivers not being compatible with the EZ2 and F2A USB
drivers. |
| Overall (not an average) |
7 |
Not really any big difference to the XG1 to
justify upgrading to a XG2L if you already have one. For
a first time buyer its worth considering but you really should
look at the other next gen carts such as the EZ2 and EZ-F. |
|
Download
XG2 Lite Software
