NES Classic Edition Hacked to Add Even More Games
When the NES Classic Edition was originally announced the biggest disappointment was the fact that apart from the 30 included games there would never be an option to add any more. No USB, no inputs of any kind to put more NES magic to work… unless you can hack it, naturally.
Getting your hands on an NES Classic edition was next to impossible over the holiday stretch with Nintendo, either willfully or by staggering demand, failing miserably at keeping shelves stocked. Now that the holidays have passed it might be a little easier to find one without paying exorbitant scalper prices and if you’re brave, perhaps you too can ‘hack the planet’ and load up a ton more games on your console.
Over the past week, we’ve seen two modders (one from Japan, one from Russia) step up to say they’ve reportedly hacked the console. While the Japanese modder ultimately hacked the Japanese Famicom version of the console (so no confirmation it would work on a North American NES Classic), he still posted up instructions over on Reddit as to how he did it. As honeylab says in the comments, proceed at your own risk!
The Russian modder, Madmonkey, released not only his version of the NES Classic hack but also the tool you’d need to edit available ROMs into a playable state for the hacked console. It may not be easy but that hasn’t stopped wannabe hackers from all over from trying (and succeeding!) to hack their own NES Classics. What’s really fantastic is that the hack maintains the original GUI of the NES Classic, allowing owners to simply add the new games to the scrolling list. Even better, it opens up the option for users to add their own game art to each game.
In the interest of transparency, we’d have to state the obvious in saying that by modding your console you risk not only bricking it but the possibility of picking up a virus is also a concern. Just over the past day or so, there has been a simplified version of Madmonkey’s modding tool released called ‘hakchi2’ and it was confirmed to include a virus. Bottom line… be careful!