The following is a quick and easy guide for the lazy on playing downloaded games for your DS. After browsing many websites and reading about many, many (too many) different cards, here’s what I did:

#1 - Buy M3 Simply. Here’s the homepage: http://www.m3adapter.com/ and a list of dealers http://www.m3adapter.com/global_sell_net.htm (which is almost impossible to normally navigate to from the main page). The cost ranges from $43 to $50 + S&H. Don’t forget about the $15 off $30 PayPal promotion that expires at the end of March!

#2 - Buy a microSD Card. I bought this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211042. It ended up being around $18 shipped. There are now a few deals floating around for microSD cards for $10 shipped. I’d recommend getting a couple of 1GB ones for around $10-$12 each.

#3 - Download DS games while waiting for the goods to arrive. Go to your favorite torrent site (isohunt.com) or http://www.nintendo-ds-roms.com and download games.

#4 - Prepare the microSD card. Formatting the card isn’t necessary, as microSD cards come pre-formatted. All you have to do is head over to http://www.m3adapter.com/SLOT-1/Download.htm and download the latest version of the .dat file (currently: System_v1.02-English.zip) and drag “_ds_menu.dat” to the microSD card.

#5 - Drag games to the card. The M3 Simply comes with an adapter. Put the microSD card into the adapter and plug it into your USB port. My games are in the same directory as the .dat file.

#6 - Put the microSD card in the cartridge adapter. Plug it in and play.

There’s NO need to read or use anything that comes on the M3 Simply CD if all you want to do is play games - the .dat file page that I linked to will have the updated version of the system file, and the documentation on the CD is oftentimes confusing (for a primitive mind like mine.)

Enjoy!