The free-to-play pocket monster RPG Pokémon Quest only launched on Switch at the very end of last month, but hackers have already found a way to manipulate the game's save files to net themselves as many items and PM Tickets as they like.
A member of the homebrew community has released a save reader and writer program which you can use to manually edit save files within the game. Among other things, this means that users can modify their profile's PM Ticket count (which are used to play levels in the game and would usually be obtained through purchase or time limitations) and maximise their items to a count of 999.
Of course, with Pokémon Quest being a free-to-play title that relies on microtransactions for income, a hack that bypasses any need to buy in-game items could prove to be very bad news indeed for Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. We recently saw Niantic deleting save data of Pokémon GO players who had been using illegal third party software, so could we see a similar fate here?
If you want tips on how to legitimately get your hands on PM Tickets and other in-game goodies, make sure to check out our handy guide. Have you been playing this pocket-sized adventure on your Switch?
[source nintendosoup.com]
Comments 34
F R E E 2 H A C K
Wow. Way to ruin the fun guys. It's in the journey, not the destination.
I knew it wouldn’t be long till it’s hacked. I will never homebrew my switch as I love the system, don’t wanna get that bricked.
This really should have been a $10-$20 digital game, or a budget-priced AU$40 retail game.
There's no way I'm paying $50 to basically unlock the "full version" of a digital-only game (certainly not of this calibre anyway).
Urgh. Honestly, f these hackers. Maxing everything out is just pointless. As someone says above, it's about the journey. Ah well, look forward to this happening with many more Switch games as the months roll by. Thanks Nvidia.
I've decided to make a go of it, to see if its' possible to get to the end w/o $ or grinding, and every time I think I'm stuck - opening worlds 7, 8, 9 and 10 seemed daunting - a new Pokemon either appears or gets drawn by the soup - got a level 65 last night.
Can't imagine bothering with hacking it though. It's a free single player offline game. What's the point?
Tsk....
Some peoples are Too Arrogant, Too Greedy to hack a Kiddie game just for cheating, proud themself by their dirty work and selfishness.
But can they hack into determining how does this game decide what colour a Pokemon is? Apparetly Digletts are red and Grimers are gray.
@rjejr
They were Toxic Social Butterflies.
They want attentions , even by doing dirty work just to show to us how cool to get Everything (by cheating).
If anyone's actually playing the game with hacked save data, it's likely just to eliminate paywalls and waiting times, rather than give themselves everything and not have a game to play.
But they're probably more interested in doing other things if they're able to run hacks on their Switch anyway.
There are no carry over bonus plans for other titles or leaderboards for this otherwise I’m sure better security would have been implemented. Porygon will patch this up ASAP though. If the Poké company can detect the cheaters they should make every Pokémon appear as a MISSINGNO.
This is why we can't have nice things.
As advertised on Nintendolife!!
Soon we'll read about players crying because they have been banned from the eshop or their Switch was bricked.
I say go ahead Nintendo, make us laugh!
@lifepsychedelic "So I can do whatever I want with them. I have no idea what this game is nor I wouldn't even try and find out,"
So, you want to spend the time to hack a save file for a game you don't even play? Are you going to play the game now just so you can hack your save file?
I really have no idea what your replay to my comment was getting at.
Such a shame, wish some of these guys would use their expertise for something more positive than hacking a f2p Pokémon game, smh
@Anti-Matter "Toxic Social Butterflies"
That would be a great name for a band who did covers of happy 60's hippie songs but played them like Seattle grunge bands.
yeah, but what's the point?
Homebrew hackers - please just go away.
I hope they all get Perma-banned.
Pokemon Quest may not be the highest quality game out there, but somebody put time and effort into making this game. Stealing it is not kool.
Nintendo Life, your insistence of telling us what the hackers do while ignoring more important news for Nintendo Switch is remarkable!!!
Why is anyone playing a mobile game on a console to begin with? I gave it a go but gave up the first time it wouldn't let me in to a level because my energy had run out. This type of "game" only cheapens the Switch.
Hackers are trash.
This could be a good way to brute force getting everything in the game so that we can better understand the underlying mechanics and probabilities of the game. The game is surprisingly opaque about gameplay. Want to know how to attract a certain pokemon? Impossible to know the exact recipe(s) to do so. Even once you stumble on a recipe, you can't see exactly how to recreate it, so its useless. You can't even see what type a pokemon is. There are just little colored bars on their stat page which is entirely unhelpful if you don't know them(I do, but its bad for those who don't). Could also do some good testing on the liklihood of different types of bingo bonuses on pokemon to show up and their possibility to change when evolving etc. Testing for move training could be really helpful, and just generally zeroing in on how things work. Short of a data mine, this is the next best thing.
Maximizing tickets and items in a game like this... why didn't they just hack up an option to see end credits?
I’m not a fan of grinding or micro-transactions; sell me your game at full price, and I’ll decide if it’s worth it. Anything else I don’t want to see on my beloved Switch.
As for hackers - they’re a very small minority, and this isn’t affecting anyone other than themselves. Live and let live.
You just know Nintendo is going to release an update for this game tomorrow and not allow anyone to connect online until they download it, and it will probably permaban everyone who hacks it from their network.
Meh, it isn't illegal to modify a save file.
@Folkloner No, you're wrong, it's not about the journey, it's about the intent to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different Pokemon and items.
It's a scam, don't act like these hackers aren't in the right for navigating the traps designed to prey on children and weak minded adults.
@MrAmanojaku No, they're heroes.
@SaintAn No, I had it right the first time. They're trash.
@MrAmanojaku Don't be childish and double down on your ignorance.
@SaintAn Let's make it a triple: Hackers are trash, and you are not only ignorant but you sound like someone who is broke all the time.
As a hacker/modder, in my honest opinion (and this is coming from someone who hates microtransactions), I would never ever support a mod like this under any circumstances, this is piracy.
My mods follow these rules:
It must be a single player game.
If a game has online features (leaderboards etc.), remove all the URLs so it cannot contact the server(s).
NEVER EVER give out premium upgrades for free.
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