The EverDrive-GB is a Game Boy flashcart developed by KRIKzz which enables you to play games (ROMs), homebrew and translations from a microSD card. It's designed to work on real hardware as well as clone consoles, behaving the same way as a real game cartridge would. It supports all mappers (excluding MBC6 or Hudson Soft's 'HuC' mappers) and is compatible with almost all games from the Game Boy and Game Boy Color library. All you need is a microSDHC card (between 4GB-32GB) which is used to store the OS, games and save files.
Everdrive GB Comparison
Three different EverDrive GB models are available for the Game Boy; each can fit a maximum ROM size of 8 MB and has 128 KB of SRAM for saves. All three are the same in terms of basic features, but some have extra quirks. The X5 model has the ability to create game saves to the SD card so that you can continue where you left off, unlike the X3, where saves are stored to the SRAM chip. The top-end model is the X7, which is a significant upgrade over the X3 and X5 versions if you want the best out of your experience, featuring a built-in real-time clock for Pokémon games and an in-game menu for loading cheats and creating/loading save states on the fly.
| Feature | Everdrive GB X3 | Everdrive GB X5 | Everdrive GB X7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $44 USD | $59 USD | $134 USD |
| Memory Type | 8MB | 8MB | 8MB |
| Save RAM | 128KB | 128KB | 128KB |
| Hardware | Lattice iCE40 FPGA | Lattice iCE40 FPGA | Lattice iCE40 FPGA |
| SDHC/XC Support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Game Saves to SD Card | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Save States & In-Game Menu | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Game Genie Codes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Soft Reset | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Real-Time Clock | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Clones
Because the EverDrive-GB is not an open-source project and because of the high cost of an official product, people have resorted to purchasing low-quality clone variants of the EverDrive-GB, which have existed for years on Chinese marketplaces and sites like eBay or Amazon, without knowing the limitations or risks when doing so. These products are listed between $15-$30 and often insinuate themselves as "upgraded" versions of the EverDrive using names such as GB Pro+, Game Color GB Pro, and Game Talk GB Max, among others. Regardless of whether this is true, the majority of which are based on the first-generation carts, as can be identified by the Altera MAX-II CPLD used instead of the later Lattice iCE40 FPGA. These cartridges were manufactured by K.Y. Technology, Ltd., a notorious manufacturer for a range of unauthorized KRIKzz products without his former approval or consent; originally, they went by the name of JACK DIY.
Marketplaces selling these devices will come inside a clear or opaque colored shell, either with a black label and text or with game cover art (such as 'Adventure Island'). They may even come with a non-disclosed microSD card pre-loaded with illegitimate copies of games organized in categorical order; the microSD card included will often be fake, using low-quality flash memory with poor performance rates. Either they will be unmarked or sometimes even use the name of a real company, such as SanDisk.
Some variants may or may not have a button for in-game reset (either on top of the cartridge or above the label) as a way of returning to the main menu that does not require power cycling the console. Other variants exist as so-called "multi-game" cartridges with a miscellaneous number of pre-loaded games set accordingly by resellers.
We strongly recommend that you purchase an original EverDrive directly from KRIKzz or from a reputable retailer if you want a high-quality product. Not only that, you are supporting the creator in continuing to develop hardware for future generations.
Issues
Real-Time Clock
2nd-generation Pokémon titles, such as Pokémon Gold or Silver which have a built-in real-time clock to hold the date and time, will require reconfiguring in the event that you continue your progress, which may be cumbersome for many owners.
Flashcart Bricks
There also comes a major risk when updating the flashcart using the official OS from KRIKzz's website, which contains a form of anti-clone protection where it will overwrite the lower region of the flash memory holding the OS and render the flashcart inoperable if it detects an invalid serial number that it doesn't expect; while updating the OS is unnecessary in some cases, whichever way you see it, it's something to bear in mind.
Users who experience their flashcart not booting with a message that says "Authentication error" can be recovered using EverDriveRescue; however, this requires an older clone of the EverDrive-GB that uses an LDO regulator and not later clones that say "Low Power Consumption," in addition to a pre-flashed cartridge with the EverDriveRescue ROM and a compatible Game Boy system with the ability to hotswap cartridges, such as the Game Boy Color. Otherwise, please refrain from purchasing these clone products in the future.