Ninjapass DS Flash
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Ninjapass DS Flash is a DS specific flash card. It's the same size as an original DS game card, has built in flash memory and NoPass functionality. It runs roms directly from the DS slot on vanilla DS or DS Lite units, with no additional equipment or firmware replacement needed. Homebrew does not work with it at all. It only works with clean dumps of licensed game roms.
As of August 2006 it is only available from Winsunx, in a "Jr" variant.[1] The "Jr." model has some problems playing more than one rom that the regular NinjaPass supposedly does not have, although it is possible to store and play more than one rom on NinjaPass Jr. (For example, Tetris DS and Bust a Move DS will both work at the same time) On the plus side, the Jr is only $35, but the shipping from Winsunx to most locations is $20-25. [2]
November 2006: ninjapass have released a new product X9TF, it's a slot1 device with a micro SD (TF) memory slot {up to 2GB). Winsunx is the main dealer and it sells for $50.
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Similarities to other cards
Ninjapass DS Flash is most likely internally identical or very similar to the Ultra FlashPass, with the feature list being almost exactly the same. Allegedly Ninjapass can use the Ultra FlashPass software as well.
Ninjapass DS Flash is NOT the same as the Ninja DS device. Most likely the company behind Ninjpass decided to use the "Ninja" moniker for brand recognition, and to separate it from the shady rep of the Ultra FlashPass brand.
The X9TF is comparable with the DS-X, which has 512MB internal memory (not expandable).
Features
DS Game compatibility is supposed to be good with no noticeable slowdowns. Known problem games like Star Fox Command and Ultimate Spider-Man are running fine.
Save compatibility with DS games is reportedly bad.[3] It is currently unknown if saves can be backed up to PC from the card.
The company claims that the roms don't need patching, but it seems they are in reality patched on the fly when you flash the card. The software used to flash the card is even named "NinjaPass Patcher". This means that when newer games are released, this software will have to be updated to support them, the same as with any of the previously available GBA-slot based DS piracy kits.
It seems newer versions of the patching/flashing tool are being released to support newer roms. As of August 2006, Mario 3 on 3 was not working with the current Ninjapass software, but supposedly a newer version of the Ultra Flashpass software supports it. But there is no knowing if these releases will be consistent given the shady nature of the company. (see the Ultra FlashPass entry for details.)
Flashing of the card is slow. A full rewrite of 512Mb generally takes about 20 minutes, but can take much longer, up to an hour has been reported. With most SD or CF based cards writing a rom that size would only take a few seconds.
The Ninjapass variant available only has 512Mbit of onboard flash memory. This is adequate for the vast majority of DS roms, but there are a handfull of games that are bigger. See PH release list search.
The X9TF features everything you want if you read the advertsing. It has a lot of potential but still isn't living up to his full potential, it accepts clean roms but not all work or save (Kinston 512MB is proving not to be compatible). A nice upcomming feature is putting roms and files on the card wirelessly.
Notes
Many people have waited for the ultimate DS piracy solution with a DS game sized card that works automagically with any rom you throw at it. If anything Ninjapass shows that this might not be as straight forward as you'd wish.
There's really nothing inherently superior about the Ninjapass compared to a GBA slot based solution, especially since those are now available in sizes that don't stick out of either the DS or the DS Lite. The Ninjapass still needs patched roms, and the saving is most likely patched too. And since the current Ninjapass Jr only supports one rom, there is no increased portability. In contrast, the GBA slot cards allow you to bring a large amount of games on a single small card.
The X9TF accepts "clean roms", however it stores a file on the TF which tells his hardware what kind of safe-type it should use. Also the sav system isn't very friendly. Everytime you start a game you have to choose a sav file.
