Naughty Hackers Have Homebrew Running On Switch Now

Wow. Cracked within the first year. We are going to need more regular stability updates now.

No camera for QR code and no web browser will make it harder for the home-brew to crash Switch OS and inject exploits.

Inb4 "Whyz NL promoting hacking" wagon...

Remember, guys.
Equip your Horse Sunglasses.
Ignore that Temptation.
Keep playing in Original way.

I'd better prepare for another firmware stability patch soon, then. XD

Time to cancel my pre-order

But you can't play super mario oddysse or skyrim

@Rika_Yoshitake Cancel what preorder? I’m not sure what that has to do with this article.

Wow STABILITY WINS!

@fiben1002 put [ img ] then link [ /img ] (without the spaces in the brackets)

I usually wait until a console is discontinued then start having fun with homebrew and all that stuff

Time to bring on them stability updates! My Switch turned to jelly and fell out of its dock this morning, it's that unstable.

@Anti-Matter
They are called blinders.

Its always going to happen, although the most important thing is that whatever Nintendo does to counter this only impacts hackers and not paying customers (well at least the majority; not including a web browser hasn't exactly been a huge cause of discontent apart from serial moaners).

RetroArch on Switch is the dream, people. THE DREAM!

Finally! Get Dolphin on there.

This is why I have a 2nd Switch on 3.0.0

Screw it. Nintendo wants to continue to refuse to sell us GC VC, take matters into our own hands. Heck, we don't even know what's going on with normal VC, aside from 8 bit NES games with online (sorry, but that's just so lame).

I just want, at the end of the generation, a Switch on latest firmware which can play all games, but also has access to SNES, GBA, N64, GameCube and Wii

Boring! Just use a PC if you want to play pirated software etc.

You mean you couldn't play Mario on a launch console if the console hadn't been updated?

@Bunkerneath
I figured it out. Thanks!

@Anti-Matter Horse sunglasses?

@cfgk24 homebrew doesn't mean pirated software

I came here just for the stability jokes and was not disappointed.

@JaxonH that sounds so good

@GameOtaku Or blinkers?

@1UP_MARIO You can still play vastly superior versions of Skyrim at home or on the go.

Retro arch would be amazing! But I don't have a switch that is running on or under that firmware .

@JaxonH Somebody woke up ornery today.

Some day all the modded Switches at Switchworld are going to join together, form Skynet, and take over the world.

If some day somebody builds something that isn't hacked, that will be news. $1,150 iPhone X was hacked in 2 days. The fact that the $300 Switch has lasted this long means Nintendo did a really good job securing it, but hacking it was inevitable.

It's a little too early to hack the switch just yet. I'll give it another 3 or 4 years then attempt it. But good to hear/see progress!

Well cool for those who didn't update.

@Moon Nintendo has included firmware updates in the past on key games. I wouldn't be supprised if Mario Oddesey wasn't packing v4 firmware on the cartridge.

That was fast..

@Anti-Matter Do you mean blinders?

@Moon More than likely the firmware was included in the cartridge

So, do the hackers have access portable saves now?

😪Why do you care about it? Don't understand.

@Minch
"Do you mean blinders?"
Yup.

@Menchi187 I know but would love dolphin on the go

COME ON
didn't people excuse the lack of a web browser because it could be easily exploited to do this? ...

well that's that.

@kotag That excuse is actually still valid since it makes it a lot harder to make use of an exploit.

Reeeeeee. I hope the hacking scene exercises some self control and doesn't sabotoge the early days of the switch. I'm not anti piracy to any degree, I had an R4 like a lot of people did, but there were no software methods at the time like there are for the 3DS. And it was a lot less accessible given you both had to put some effort in as well as buy a peripheral for it that you weren't even sure would work out.

As long is it doesn't allow to play pirated games on it I'm all for it, though other than to play on it what Nintendo doesn't already offer, then I wouldn't have any use for it personally. On the Wii I had the excuse of Region locking and games loading insanely faster off an external HDD. Here games come on cartridges and the system is region free, so safe to allow myself to play some great classics of the past on the go (as in "emulators") then I wouldn't need that. And if only Nintendo wanted to bring the Virtual Console over already. Come on... it's about time Nintendo!! Then people would have no excuses to even want that in the first place, unless they're pirates, which I don't condone at all.

Just another way to pirate games.

I'll just stay here with my launch day Super Mario Odyssey thanks

@smithpa01 It isn't, but some will build upon what honest homebrewers do to facilitate piracy, so forgive me if hearing that homebrew is now possible on the Switch concerns me.

Is Nintendo going to force me to hack my Switch to play classic games like I had to hack my 3DS to play GBA games?

"[We] don't recommend doing such things here at Nintendo Life", so here's exactly how to do it and who you can ask if you have any trouble.

can't wait for this.
the wait on Wii U was worth it, now that I can play all those free games.

Pretty neat. I can use my Xbox 360 wireless joystick on my switch with the Titan One by ConsoleTuner. Cant wait.

This is outrageous! You promote hackers in the name of journalism? Are you serious? I don't want my favourite, serious Nintendo site to encourage and promote unacceptable and illegal practices.

Here's this horrible thing that we really don't recommend because it's "a bit naughty" (read: illegal in most places, a felony offense in some.) This is bad. You shouldn't do this. It's wrong. We don't encourage it at all. Here's a link.

Does your Switch like to go? You know what I mean? Does it like to go? Go, eh? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, does it like to go? Say no more! Say no more!

@JaxonH Oh snap, the "positivity guru" went negative. We're screwed. Game over, man. Game over.

No thanks

cool, multiplayer on switch is ruined now, will be full of hackers like wiiU and 3ds are... i hate this sh#t

@Cosats I don't know why but they do this here all the time.

"Besides, you'll miss out on playing Super Mario Odyssey which requires a later firmware, and we can't have that now, can we?"

We all know the end goal for homebrew is that you will indeed be able to play this game.

@Nincompoop "no web browser"
Luckily that's not true

This may be our only chance for getting virtual console on Switch

@Zefirka

I've been on 3DS for nearly 5 years, and Wii U for almost 3. I've never once seen any hackers when playing any online games. This was an issue that plagued the Wii and DS, not the Wii U and 3DS.

Although, I must admit when playing Mario Kart on Wii and DS, I always saw it as a challenge to win when there was a hacker present. Somehow, they made the race more interesting by making it harder to win.

...Fun times...

I wonder if Switch will ever get to 3DS levels of stability.

You could throw that thing off a 100 story building, and it would land on its feet, totally unharmed. You could spontaneously punch it with incredible force, and it would never move an inch. You could set the 3DS on fire, and after spending 10 hours in a maintained inferno, it would escape totally unscathed and continue to flawlessly play games. 3DS is the new Chuck Norris. (Remember that meme?)

@10-zx you are lucky then, as soon as the 3ds was hacked i had hackers in every mk8 lobby using the itemhack to get unlimited stars and mushrooms, same for wii u, every splatoon lobby i entered thete was at least 1 hacker... a big reason i bought the switch was to finally play hacker-free nintendo games online again but ye there it goes...

I will perhaps buy a switch for this. Or I go the skyrim way...

Phew! I thought I was going to miss out on all of the latest Switch hacking and custom firmware coverage! Thank you for informing us and bringing this matter to our consideration, of which we may or may not have had without you, Nintendo Life! Also many thanks for the Wololo link that users couldn't normally post.

@NEStalgia Wait... This can make your Switch go to the bathroom!? I don't care how illegal it is. I want that in my life. Best prank device ever.

Here we are once again with the gray area of homebrew. I don't mind it for tinkering/exploratory/personal development reasons, but you know that there will always be someone who will use such exploits for negative or unfair endeavors.

@fiben1002: Perfect! I was thinking of posting something similar! XD

That's awesome!
If they can fully enable the Browser (or let me install a different browser), I'd install homebrew right now.

I could totally do without the underwhelming Mario Odyssey and would happily trade it for full browser support.
And I couldn't care less about the warranty, I already put the dock into a smaller housing and am planning to change the housing of the Joycons as well.

I like being naughty!

If you all want VC then just buy a cheap device that already gives you all the emulators you will ever need,

@Zefirka

Very strange. Either I must have somehow slipped through the cracks all this time or you must have unfortunately encountered hackers with every session you partook.

Strange indeed.

@10-zx maybe more hackers in my timezone than yours, because when i used to play late night i felt it being a bit better

I'm so glad that Nintendo decided to not allow us to move or backup saves because that could be an opening for hackers. Nintendo is always ahead of them hackers.

@JaxonH the hell!?

So, you could invalidate your warranty AND be blocked from playing Odyssey, OR you could buy a Wii which when coupled with Homebrew acts exactly so much better at this stage emulating numerous generations of consoles very well...

Either is not recommended however, since stealing games is exactly that, stealing, no grey area.

Gotta love that the Switch is seemingly capable of replicating every single control option from every one of their previous consoles, from the NES to the Wii motion controls and DS touch screen, and yet it looks very much like the hackers will provide access to these games before Nintendo does.

Bummer for those of us eagerly awaiting VC for the last 8 months. And the next few still.

If virtual console never comes to the Switch for some reason, as soon as a stable version of Homebrew and emulation is all possible, I will buy a second Switch and install the games I want that way.

I am ready and willing the throw money at Nintendo for literally dozens of VC titles. The Switch is the ultimate device for VC because of it's hybrid nature - if we don't get support for that content, it's a major lost opportunity for Nintendo and will finally motivate me to learn more about Homebrew and console hacking.

@Zefirka This is on version 3 and you need the latest update to play online (So we’re safe for now!)

Nintendo's fault for not putting VC on

I'm not interested in homebrew but kudos to those that do.

I just don't think its worth it living each single day with gbatemp on my browser 27/7. Having to keep up with the latest fix that will prevent me from owning a glorified brick. F-that.

Not interested, but I won't move a finger to try and stop those who are into this sort of thing. I'm good with Switch al naturale.

We need more stability. This afternoon, my switch gave me a notification that said it liked me a lot. An hour later, a notification that just read "don't go to school tomorrow". I demand greater stability.

@Nincompoop there is an IR camera. Leave it to the homebrew community to think of a way to use heat or motion QR codes to install cia's.

@1UP_MARIO As Mace Windu would say: NOT YET.

@DancingPants for now, but it sure will improve in the future and be able to work on up to date firmware

@Heavyarms55
Ultimate device for VC, what a load of garbage. It's far from ultimate device for retro gaming

@cfgk24 Dunno mate. I like some homebrew games. Give'em a chance to develop some, this thing isn't only for pirating, you know.

Thing is this is gone and patched. No going back on versions, the switch uses a fuse burn every major update number to prevent backward compatibility . As the number of fuses are limited you can be sure that every time we get a full number update it is to close a number of security holes in the system. Seems Nintendo are doing a good job staying ahead at this point. I would presume that they would also compile in run time errors and auto updates within game code on all first party software. The current security system in use is a lot more up to date than that used on the Wii U and 3DS so I would not expect those levels of system compromise achieved on those, but time will tell.

This needs to stop! Hack the Wii U, but leave the Switch alone for at three or four more years.

This is only hurting Nintendo and it's fans.

Plz for the love of gaming god's, don't let piracy kill the switch. I know there is a difference between homebrew and piracy. I also know the doors it unfortunately opens up.

@WhistleFish It's not the ultimate device if you want that retro experience. (though why would you really?) It is because you can play all those great classic games both on the TV and on the go. That by far makes it the ultimate device for this. For years as a kid I wanted to take my NES, N64, Gamecube games and such all on the go with me, and I liked playing my Gameboy games on the TV. The Switch can supply both of that, out of the box. All they need to do is make the software and let us buy the content.

It has begun...

@zever Piracy has never killed a system. I'm not condoning such behavior in the least, but it's funny how the DS and PSP were rife with it, and yet both systems sold over 100,000,000 units. That's a mystery, isn't it?

Wii? Sold over 100 million as well, and it was pirated to high heaven
3DS? Same deal.
GBA sold tremendously well
PS2 sold tremendously well
PS3 sold tremendously well

The list goes on, there hasn't been a single console that's died because of pirated software. And no, the Dreamcast failed because Sega was failing.

Mmm Retroarch on the Switch... hell yeah... but I’m not messing with my Switch right now... I definitely will once the Switch 2 is out! I mean all SNES, GB, PSX, PCSX2, and PSP games on the Switch... cannot resist. I’m almost tempted to buy a second Switch just for home brews.

With microtransactions being the future of gaming, I say screw them... I got a jtag Xbox already... looking at getting a jail broken PS3 in the future, and I always jailbreak my phone... my Switch I’m not touching because I actually have affection for the system and I want to support the indie games and 3rd party developers... but the way things are moving I have no confidence for the next generation in gaming.

@smithpa01 I wait until the last year usually. Unless a game has an amazing online mode then I don't.

@mikegamer piracy discourages devs from making games for that system. I shouldn't have said it would kill the system. Poor choice of words. Hardware sales are not same as game sales and yes the lack of sales will hurt the system in the long run. It hurts every system in the long run.

@zever Even then, the impact on sales is negligible, I've yet to see any hard statistical data to back up such a claim. Show me sales numbers and developers backing away completely on account of illicitly copied games. Did you know some game developers consider used game purchases to be more detrimental than piracy? Sad.

@Heavyarms55
No it isn't the ultimate device for retro. For starters it ain't even got those games for switch yet and if they do eventually, it will be only selected games. OK with that said there are many device's, even hybrids that play on Tv or on the go that already have everything you want. I have a jxd s7800b device, i could if I choose to have every SNES game made, even 3rd party. It plays many emulators like N64, DS, GBA, GB, NES. also PS1, PSP, DREAMCAST, TURBO GFX, NEOGEO and NEO POCKET, AMIGA, MASTERSYSTEM, MEGADRIVE, GAMEGEAR, JAGUAR, 32X, MEGA CD, MAME, ATARI ST, MSDOS, WONDERSWAN, and yes the dolphin emulator which means Gamecube/wii games, this all means every game for every machine i just mentioned absolutely FREE of charge, also plays every Android game as a bonus and I don't mean the ones on playstore with their loot boxes that you pay for, just simply download molded versions through your browser to unlock or get infinite money for free to purchase the loot boxes. One more thing, the device has physical buttons, so none of that touch screen garbage, also a hybrid. There are other hybrids that also do the same but better than the one i have. I own a switch but it could never compete with these devices with retro gaming. Check-out GPD XD and the JXD SINGULARITY they are probably the best you can get, my JXD is a lesser model, not as powerful as the others I mentioned, they are the ultimate hybrid retro gaming machines, switch doesn't and never will come close to them. On the Otterham the switch is better than them for modern games but the singularity isn't to far behind with the latest console like android games, not that flappy bird stuff for casuals

@WhistleFish So in other words, pirate every game made before 2007? Some of us would rather not do that.

With no VC in sight I've been thinking about trading my Switch in and get a Retron 5. VC is the main reason I got a Switch to play on the go !

@Anti-Matter I had to put my horse glasses on to see that picture.

@Heavyarms55
Yep, but many others do, just the way it is mate. It's here to stay even if ppl don't like it. Regardless of that, this is the only way to have the ultimate retro device, nothing compares to them, not even the VC.

@WhistleFish No it's really not. But okay. If could be once the Switch gets a homebrew launcher and emulators (but I still don't like pirating games). The Switch has the ultimate potential because of it's hybrid nature, and that is just how it is.

You didn't read my posts correctly, the machines i mentioned are also hybrid, not only that they were available long before the switch released. Switch isn't the first ever hybrid. The JXD SINGULARITY is also more capable than the switch, it also has 4k on the go aswell as docked to your TV. I like my switch but there are better retro machines about. They are the ultimate retro machines capable of anything switch can do and yes the morpheos X300 device also has detachable controllers and it was released in 2015. The switch may be better for modern gaming but will certainly never be for retro gaming, not by a country mile. Anyways it don't even have VC yet so it's irrelevant at this point what switch might do or not do