R4 Card / R4 DS / R4 Revolution / R4 Cards are devices for the Nintendo DS / Nintendo DS Lite / Nintendo DSi that allow you to play games, music, read books, and a world of other possibilities!The R4 card is the same size as a regular Nintendo DS cartridge. There is a slot at the back of the R4 card for a Micro-SD card. Into the Micro-SD card goes firmware, games, applications, MP3s etc. that you would like inside your R4 card.You will then get a menu on your R4 card upon booting up your Nintendo DS R4. This menu will allow you to choose from Games or Multimedia. You can then proceed to play homebrew games (or even backup games that you already legally own) or MP3s/Movies!

R4 Cards were originally manufactured by the R4 Card team, who produced the first ever Nintendo DS R4 card in 2007.

The top of the R4 Card had a small slot to push a Micro SD card inside. This made use of a spring mechanism so that a Micro SD card would lock into place when pushed. A simple second push would allow it to come back out of the R4 Card.

The R4 Card in its original guise was produced for under one year. The R4 Card team realised that the spring in the R4 Card had problems, affecting up to 5% of the card’s production. Problems with the spring could cause the mechanism to break.

This meant that Micro SD cards would no longer go into the R4 Card properly. Obviously, this was a big problem. Therefore, Team R4 set out to create a newer version of the R4 Card, fixing the problem and helping reliability. They called this card the “R4v2 Card”

The R4 Card has survived since then, but is recently starting to fall behind in some game compatibility. As a result, newer cards such as the R4 SDHC or the R4i Card, are starting to take centre stage.

The R4 Card is definitely a must-have for any Nintendo DS R4 user.

For more information, check out the R4 Card page on NDS-Gear.